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Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston Interview [video]

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Re: Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston Interview [video]

#51

Post by S_A_P »

This really "humanized" them for me. Im far removed from startups and the culture out there. I've read the blogs. Its obvious PG is a smart individual, and from the outside it seemed like a culture "way above my league". Hearing this made me think it may not be so crazy to take a risk on a project I want to see happen. They both seemed very down to earth and approachable.

As a side note, due to his name, and hearing he had English roots, I did not expect the Pitts-achutsetts accent from him.I was thinking more like a toned down Roger Moore...

Re: Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston Interview [video]

#52

Post by peakdarkpattern »

wallawe wrote: post #44

Paul Graham is somewhat of a modern day hero. Forget the rappers and the athletes, he is the embodiment of a good, moral and sensible person. Great husband and parent, great sense of humor, and all of this aside from what he has done for the tech/startup community.

Unless you are an offspring or his partner I don't understand how can you say that, much less quantify it.

(Your platitude serves as much purpose as this comment, but come on, pg is not a 'god' and this casual idol worship is a bit silly.)

Re: Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston Interview [video]

#53

Post by wallawe »

peakdarkpattern wrote: post #52
wallawe wrote: post #44

Paul Graham is somewhat of a modern day hero. Forget the rappers and the athletes, he is the embodiment of a good, moral and sensible person. Great husband and parent, great sense of humor, and all of this aside from what he has done for the tech/startup community.

Unless you are an offspring or his partner I don't understand how can you say that, much less quantify it. (Your platitude serves as much purpose as this comment, but come on, pg is not a 'god' and this casual idol worship is a bit silly.)

Did you watch the interview? Jessica flat out states that he is a great father. And the fact that they haven't fought in the years they've been married once about something as huge as YC says enough about their relationship.

My point wasn't to deify Paul Graham but to give respect where it's due. There is plenty of criticism doled out on HN daily, what's wrong with a little praise?

Re: Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston Interview [video]

#54

Post by eruditely »

peakdarkpattern wrote: post #52
wallawe wrote: post #44

Paul Graham is somewhat of a modern day hero. Forget the rappers and the athletes, he is the embodiment of a good, moral and sensible person. Great husband and parent, great sense of humor, and all of this aside from what he has done for the tech/startup community.

Unless you are an offspring or his partner I don't understand how can you say that, much less quantify it. (Your platitude serves as much purpose as this comment, but come on, pg is not a 'god' and this casual idol worship is a bit silly.)

This is a very try-hard comment. Paul Graham is someone to believe in. Definitely a great guy/hero. If you cannot realize this, then the fault is in you.

Re: Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston Interview [video]

#55

Post by AnimalMuppet »

markokrajnc wrote: post #26
techtivist wrote: post #18

I was really touched that PG's greatest regret was something related to his family, and not YC or his larger professional career. As young founders we tend to forget (or are expected to anyways) where our real long term priorities should be, and I hope PG's own regret reminds us to think about it from time to time.

This "from time to time" should be daily. A very big part of happiness comes from relationships. Often you don't realize this and even make jokes like this one: Q: "Do you have time for private life in Silicon Valley?" A: "What's this?" and then LOL because you know you are doing too little for your personal life... If you would give only 15% more of your focused time to your spouse, kids, father, mother, friends...…

I wish I had really understood this 20 years ago. And I wasn't even in a startup. I just had things I wanted to work on that took time. Good things, useful things, but I put time/energy/thought into them that should have been spent on my kids.

Re: Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston Interview [video]

#56

Post by peterwwillis »

wallawe wrote: post #53
peakdarkpattern wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you are an offspring or his partner I don't understand how can you say that, much less quantify it. (Your platitude serves as much purpose as this comment, but come on, pg is not a 'god' and this casual idol worship is a bit silly.)

Did you watch the interview? Jessica flat out states that he is a great father. And the fact that they haven't fought in the years they've been married once about something as huge as YC says enough about their relationship. My point wasn't to deify Paul Graham but to give respect where it's due. There is plenty of criticism doled out on HN daily, what's wrong with a little praise?

A relationship isn't great because you've never had a fight. A relationship is great if it thrives in spite of them.

Re: Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston Interview [video]

#57

Post by leoc »

zefi wrote: post #39
yitchelle wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm..classifying a motorised skateboard as a possible solution to public transportation's last mile problem is a far stretch. The folks that could really benefit from a solution are the elderly, physically disabled and young kids. For the life of me, I would find it difficult to see the majority of these folks riding a skateboard.

think about everything YC/PG has said about 'toys' and the Altair BASIC/Microsoft comments

I don't really see the analogy. MS bootstrapped fairly naturally (with the help of a great deal of luck along the way) from BASIC to progressively more sophisticated OSes, each of which closely followed well-established pre-existing models. AFAIK (I'm not an expert) there are no viable existing models out there for a big next step from the Boosted Board.

Even assuming infinite battery life, what's the form factor? A wheelchair won't cut it. A Segway-like thing won't cut it. A unicycle won't cut it. A conventional bicycle won't cut it. A recumbent bike or trike won't cut it. Roller-skates won't cut it. Exoskeletal legs won't cut it. Many of these things are of proven usefulness, but they've never been general-purpose substitutes or augmentors for pedestrianism. A version of some of the above which folds into something unprecedentedly small and light might begin to cut it, but how is that achievable within present-day engineering constraints?

Re: Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston Interview [video]

#58

Post by EGreg »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #55
markokrajnc wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This "from time to time" should be daily. A very big part of happiness comes from relationships. Often you don't realize this and even make jokes like this one: Q: "Do you have time for private life in Silicon Valley?" A: "What's this?" and then LOL because you know you are doing too little for your personal life... If you would give only 15% more of your focused time to your spouse, kids, father, mother, friends...…

I wish I had really understood this 20 years ago. And I wasn't even in a startup. I just had things I wanted to work on that took time. Good things, useful things, but I put time/energy/thought into them that should have been spent on my kids.

Those things are like your baby but when you have a real baby then thats your BABY!

I think all people want to transcend their own death and for men, it's through creating useful things and for women the instinct is more for raising good children.

Re: Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston Interview [video]

#59

Post by tonyjstark »

wallawe wrote: post #44

Paul Graham is somewhat of a modern day hero. Forget the rappers and the athletes, he is the embodiment of a good, moral and sensible person. Great husband and parent, great sense of humor, and all of this aside from what he has done for the tech/startup community.

Hm, some of his tweets and talks don't hint in that particular direction. Your comment seems like a bit of a black white painting... To come back to the video: IMHO the editing and the overall interview style is aweful but that's only me.

Re: Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston Interview [video]

#60

Post by umsm »

leoc wrote: post #57
zefi wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

think about everything YC/PG has said about 'toys' and the Altair BASIC/Microsoft comments

I don't really see the analogy. MS bootstrapped fairly naturally (with the help of a great deal of luck along the way) from BASIC to progressively more sophisticated OSes, each of which closely followed well-established pre-existing models. AFAIK (I'm not an expert) there are no viable existing models out there for a big next step from the Boosted Board. Even assuming infinite battery life, what's the form factor? A…

You're looking at a solution that solves the problem for 100% of people. Most products don't do that. The popularity of bikes proves that.

You only need to solve the problem for the majority of people ( >50% ) to be considered a good solution. The solution may prove to be elegantly simple.

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