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God's Lonely Programmer

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Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#101

Post by sillysaurus3 »

innguest wrote: post #90
kstenerud wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm barely able to contain my rage at this moment, so I'll make it short. The ONLY time you're allowed to intervene is when someone's life and self image is visibly deteriorating. If it's stable, leave it the fuck alone. I've gotten into the habit of hiding what I've got because of people like you, and judging by the downvotes I'm getting, you're not alone in perpetuating the stigma and condescension. Every single "o…

It really makes it patently obvious, when the subject is a mentally ill person that is doing well for themselves, that the agenda of the collectivist is really about controlling how other people live, and the fact that they are mentally ill, or poor, or gay, or any other special group, is just an excuse to meddle with their lives. This doesn't affect just minorities. Oh, you want to marry someone? Well, then society…

I wish I knew how to disabuse these people from their collectivist hypnosis but as you can see from your interaction, they don't use reason - "leaving them alone isn't a good decision" is just a feel-good sentence with no substance.

Why is it unreasonable to offer help to the mentally ill?

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#102

Post by anigbrowl »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #58
GuiA wrote: post #40

I'm a huge fan of Terry's work, because he works hard, has a clear vision for what he wants to do, and makes it happen. That's more than can be said of many self-professed hackers who never see a project to completion or are motivated solely by peer recognition. You may disagree with the logical coherency of his goals - I for one think the "temple for God" thing is pure kookery - but he is a master craftsman, and in…

Every time his story comes up, there are people who respond with answers along the lines of "what can we do for him? can we find him assisted employment? can we raise money for him?" etc. While these comments are surely well intentioned, they end up being mostly condescending and out of place, as if talking about a completely helpless being. He is openly racist. He can't find a job on his own, unless it's among other…

That's a problem in the same way that Tourette's Syndrome often creates employment problems (some people with TS have an uncontrollable urge to swear a lot, a problem known as coprolalia - this can make it hard to get served as a customer in a store, never mind hold down a job).

You gotta treat God as entertainment, mostly. He's not prophetic in this. I caution against latching onto any particular thing He says. If I am not doing offerings, He says nonsense.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#103

Post by toyg »

mblevin wrote: post #38

Throughout the span of modern history, we've had gifted creators whose talent is at a minimum intertwined if not completely predicated on their mental illness. Whether it was Van Gogh or Kurt Kobain, we've seen it consistently. Terry is potentially one of the first if not the only creators of this type using a completely digital medium. TempleOS is essentially a 10-year art project.

I would add William Blake to your list: clinically insane by most parameters, obsessed with religion, but occasionally capable of producing art that could melt the most hardened atheist heart.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#105

Post by Redoubts »

euphemize wrote: post #30

From the TempleOS: AfterEgypt video[1]: "Now you're supposed to do an offering before you talk to God. [...] just get conversation, maybe being witty and charming - or praise - like 'praise god for sandcastles and snowmen and bubbles and popcorn'...hum, I'm gonna praise him for something new, which is isotopes! Like you have Carbon-14 and stuff like that. I think that's pretty cool. Didn't have to be that way, maybe.…

  *hold court*
  
  "Woman commits blasphemy"
  *punish*
  
  "Child commits idolatry"
  *really punish*

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#106

Post by hosh »

GuiA wrote: post #40

I'm a huge fan of Terry's work, because he works hard, has a clear vision for what he wants to do, and makes it happen. That's more than can be said of many self-professed hackers who never see a project to completion or are motivated solely by peer recognition. You may disagree with the logical coherency of his goals - I for one think the "temple for God" thing is pure kookery - but he is a master craftsman, and in…

I like this comment, and how the author respects the craftsmanship of Terry.

For a different cultural view of schizophrenia, here's an article written by a Western-educated medicine man of the Dagara tradition:

http://earthweareone.com/what-a-shaman-sees-in-a-mental-hosp...

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#107

Post by derefr »

GuiA wrote: post #40

I'm a huge fan of Terry's work, because he works hard, has a clear vision for what he wants to do, and makes it happen. That's more than can be said of many self-professed hackers who never see a project to completion or are motivated solely by peer recognition. You may disagree with the logical coherency of his goals - I for one think the "temple for God" thing is pure kookery - but he is a master craftsman, and in…

As you say. I think that in a sense, though, your opening is the most telling:

> Terry ... works hard, has a clear vision for what he wants to do, and makes it happen.

Mania is a double-edged sword. To not let anything stop you from your goals is to be unable to doubt that your goals, or the assumptions upon which they are based, are crazy. (This is an odd thing to ponder upon, as an entrepreneur.)

There's a rising cultural understanding of what it's like to live with depression—to doubt everything, especially yourself. There's very little cultural understanding of mania, mainly because it's a much more "obvious" problem that quickly marginalizes the people affected, rather than leaving them exposed to society.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#108

Post by yzzxy »

vinceguidry wrote: post #95
yzzxy wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would I be underestimating him? If anything, I'm underestimating his potential employers. There's a digital fossil record of what he's said online at this point, and the average hiring manager will probably just throw him out as a candidate as soon as they any of his posts, unless they take the time to understand the larger situation at play.

He's not this helpless, crazy clod, he has a network and friends and everything. His fate is not wholly in the hands of "average hiring managers".

So isn't help from friends or a professional network related to hiring EXACTLY what I described?

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#109

Post by anigbrowl »

alexbecker wrote: post #52
_exec wrote: post #41

I've stumbled upon Terry's work a long time ago...and suffice to say he's been a major inspiration. It's a shame the majority of netizens (Yes, HN and Reddit included) can't look beyond his eccentricity and mental health issues (then again, it takes some digging and google-fu to find out the full story / context behind the man...his posts don't exactly come with a disclaimer). Going down the rabbit hole of Googling,…

While regrettable, his hellban is entirely necessary. Almost every comment he makes refers to "f------- n------" (censorship mine). To quote one from his page of most recent comments: "I spend my days clubbing r----d-n------. CLUB! CLUB! DIE N-----! CLUB! R----D! N------! DIE!! CLUB! N-----!" That's not really something we can have on HN. (edit: right, asterisks are formatting here)

Inc ase people weren't aware, there's a 'showdead' option in your HN profile that lets you see dead comments and submissions, eg those from hellbanned accounts. I don't think terry's comments are so consistently offensive as suggested above but he does post a lot of stuff that is bizarre or offensive to the casual reader, so the hellban makes sense.

Other times he posts lucid informative comments on technical topics and usually someone with Showdead enabled will copy them into the thread so everyone else can see them. It's not an ideal system but it's an acceptable compromise between keeping the site usable for as many as possible without completely barring access to someone like Terry.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#110

Post by kstenerud »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #87
kstenerud wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm barely able to contain my rage at this moment, so I'll make it short. The ONLY time you're allowed to intervene is when someone's life and self image is visibly deteriorating. If it's stable, leave it the fuck alone. I've gotten into the habit of hiding what I've got because of people like you, and judging by the downvotes I'm getting, you're not alone in perpetuating the stigma and condescension. Every single "o…

That's all you have to say. "No, thank you. Please leave me alone." And then you're left alone. We live in a world where we help each other. Offering help isn't a bad thing. Some people aren't as strong as you.

I wish I could impart upon you the disempowering effect of condescension. When you "offer help" to someone who is happy with where they're at, and not in distress, you're basically telling them that they probably can't make it without you stepping in to support them. You're telling them that they, the wretched ones, are dependent upon the real people, who come down from on high to help them sort their obviously broken lives out. That HURTS. More than you could ever know.
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