Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

You Are Not Late

kk.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 66 posts

Re: You Are Not Late

#21

Post by petercooper »

Animats wrote: post #7

I've been too early a few times. I was working on secure operating systems in the late 1970s. Proof of correctness in the early 1980s. My major work on the Internet was in the early 1980s. I was working on robotics in the 1980s, and legged robots in the 1990s. I was working on automatic driving in 2003-2005. I figured out how to stop search spam in the 2000s. I have issued patents and published papers on most of this…

"The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click on ads. This sucks."

Love your comment but man, I really hate this quote every time it comes up.

The "best" minds aren't doing that.. they're working on the Large Hadron Collider, doing cancer research, coming up with pioneering surgery techniques, programming and landing robots on Mars.. the relatively small group of software engineers and data scientists working on pay per click advertising are nowhere near the top of the genius ladder.

Separate thing entirely, a great example of being too early I came across recently while reading a biography of Larry Elison was Larry Ellison and the "networked computer".. only 15 years too early with that one, alas :-)

Re: You Are Not Late

#22

Post by chippy »

petercooper wrote: post #21
Animats wrote: post #7

I've been too early a few times. I was working on secure operating systems in the late 1970s. Proof of correctness in the early 1980s. My major work on the Internet was in the early 1980s. I was working on robotics in the 1980s, and legged robots in the 1990s. I was working on automatic driving in 2003-2005. I figured out how to stop search spam in the 2000s. I have issued patents and published papers on most of this…

"The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click on ads. This sucks." Love your comment but man, I really hate this quote every time it comes up. The "best" minds aren't doing that.. they're working on the Large Hadron Collider, doing cancer research, coming up with pioneering surgery techniques, programming and landing robots on Mars.. the relatively small group of software engineers and…

agreed about "best" but in terms of population it's not a "relatively small group" it's the majority.

They are all working to sell stuff - digital marketing for other companies or having ads as a core income for a site. They don't need to be devising the advertising frameworks, they just need to be thinking "how to make people click on ads".

Re: You Are Not Late

#23

Post by chippy »

Perspective.

That's what this great article delivers to us. We are not living in the most important exciting times in our respective fields. We've only just scratched the surface.

With a bit of perspective, and thought about how humans think, you will agree with me that we always think, at the time that we are living in, that the time that we are living in is the most important and exciting of all times.

It's not natural to think that in 100 years time things will be more exciting and important. It's not natural to think that in the 1980s, people were thinking that they were working on the most exciting and important times. It's not natural that we don't have perspective of the past and in particular the future, with regards to how the humans will be perceiving their present. But this thinking - that right now is the most crucial time in history ever - is not objective - it's not true - it's because our brains lack perspective.

Re: You Are Not Late

#24

Post by enraged_camel »

petercooper wrote: post #21
Animats wrote: post #7

I've been too early a few times. I was working on secure operating systems in the late 1970s. Proof of correctness in the early 1980s. My major work on the Internet was in the early 1980s. I was working on robotics in the 1980s, and legged robots in the 1990s. I was working on automatic driving in 2003-2005. I figured out how to stop search spam in the 2000s. I have issued patents and published papers on most of this…

"The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click on ads. This sucks." Love your comment but man, I really hate this quote every time it comes up. The "best" minds aren't doing that.. they're working on the Large Hadron Collider, doing cancer research, coming up with pioneering surgery techniques, programming and landing robots on Mars.. the relatively small group of software engineers and…

Hammerbacher said best minds of his generation. He is Gen Y. And the problems you listed require more domain expertise than most Gen Y people have today. I mean, pioneering surgery techniques? One needs to be a surgeon for a few decades before they can pioneer anything in that area.

Re: You Are Not Late

#25

Post by tobydownton »

This is the single best article I've read that explains why I'm writing the novel I'm writing.

It's called Solarversia, and it's about a game played in Virtual Reality by 100m people in the year 2020. I'm going to publish it on the same day that Oculus Rift goes on sale to the public, and plan to make the game for real by using the profits from the book / film to form a company (the same one mentioned in the book). My entire marketing plan is based around the book and my lofty (naive / innocent / stupid) aim is to create "the" VR app, or at least one of the VR apps that everyone knows and loves.

It's the first time in my life (I'm 38) that I feel like I'm ahead of the curve on something. Exciting times.

Re: You Are Not Late

#26

Post by jorgecastillo »

I don't know, I think the past was definitely better but there is no point in thinking about it. You just have to move forward and not lose hope.

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." - Chinese Proverb

Re: You Are Not Late

#27

Post by Intermernet »

tobydownton wrote: post #25

This is the single best article I've read that explains why I'm writing the novel I'm writing. It's called Solarversia, and it's about a game played in Virtual Reality by 100m people in the year 2020. I'm going to publish it on the same day that Oculus Rift goes on sale to the public, and plan to make the game for real by using the profits from the book / film to form a company (the same one mentioned in the book). M…

This sounds wonderful, and I wish you the best of luck.

I love the idea of a game being deliberately based on a book about that exact game. I'll buy the book, and back the game.

I assume I'll also need to buy an Oculus Rift at that point...

Re: You Are Not Late

#28

Post by grub5000 »

tobydownton wrote: post #25

This is the single best article I've read that explains why I'm writing the novel I'm writing. It's called Solarversia, and it's about a game played in Virtual Reality by 100m people in the year 2020. I'm going to publish it on the same day that Oculus Rift goes on sale to the public, and plan to make the game for real by using the profits from the book / film to form a company (the same one mentioned in the book). M…

You should read "Ready Player One" if you haven't already. The VR in the book is called Oasis. It might give you some ideas to go with yours:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/009...

Best of luck, man.

Re: You Are Not Late

#29

Post by CPLX »

wellboy wrote: post #19

Adding to this, for every new app, there are three new apps you can spin out of it. Take AirBnb, now there are dozens of AirBnb for X models. Uber? Dozens of Uber for Xs as well. AirBnb for boats, office spaces, parking lots. They all worked. You could start an AirBnb for X RIGHT NOW. :)

Airbnb and Uber are the same model.

Re: You Are Not Late

#30

Post by MichaelGG »

The difference now is that it's much harder. The overall competence and just general knowledge level is higher. Sorta like physics - essentially no one is going to make a discovery today just sitting around and thinking, unlike hundreds of years ago. Even comp sci: look at the algorithms that are named, coming from the 60s or 70s. You could invent them just by thinking about a problem. (I did exactly this. I spent a month designing some information retrieval code, because I've got no education, and then my friend pulls out a textbook and shows me my work, down to the same drawings.)

It's a good sentiment, because there still is tons of stuff out there still waiting. And not going out there and doing things is a sure way to not get s hit. But it's certainly more crowded and expectations seem a lot higher these days.

Post reply on HN