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

God's Lonely Programmer

motherboard.vice.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 339 posts

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#131

Post by Ollinson »

seccess wrote: post #73

Reading this, I'm reminded of Kary Mullis, inventor of PCR (polymerase chain reaction). PCR is widely considered to be the most important discovery of modern biology, ushering a new era of scientific research after he invented it in the 1980s. He won a nobel prize for it. Kary was a bit off though (in this case due to intense drug usage, I think). Afterwards, he went on to deny that HIV is the cause of AIDS, tried to…

Not exactly drug induced or a mental Illness but Ronald Fisher, arguably the father of modern statistics, went to great lengths to prove cancer caused smoking due to his personal convictions[1].

[1] http://www.epidemiology.ch/history/PDF%20bg/Stolley%20PD%201...

Even when you're talking about geniuses it's important to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#132

Post by publicfig »

kelvin0 wrote: post #126
kelvin0 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you seem to be on a first name basis with him, can you tell us more about him? His work, aspirations?

Man, getting sick of being downvoted for asking questions ...

I would think the downvotes were because his name was in the article and due to the fact that a good percentage of people around here know his name, people assumed you were being snarky with the question as opposed to curious.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#133

Post by btilly »

lomnakkus wrote: post #85
67726e wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents raised me to be a racist. It's not my fault, it's my upbringing. Any attempts to otherwise convince me are just a conspiracy brought on both those pesky inferior races. Wanna play have a philosophical debate? Or can we agree that someone who espouses racist ideology is, in fact, a racist.

Wrong. People may say racist things without necessarily being racist. The difference between "being X-ist" and "saying X-ist thing" is basically predicated on having a "persistent belief that X" or having a "momentary belief that X". (I'm using "belief" in the philosophical sense.)

I don't believe that you should be downvoted. If you read Paul Graham's essay http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html, it is clear that our current hypersensitivity to racism is a current moral fashion. You're not allowed to be racist, you're not allowed to think racist things, you're not even allowed to question our society's chosen approach to racism.

Which is just silly. Facts remain facts even if we don't like them. And we can't honestly discuss certain facts without sounding racist.

Here is a real example. "On average, blacks have lower IQs than whites." How careful do you have to be when saying this? Very, you could get into a lot of trouble. However this statement actually happens to be true, and repeatedly demonstrated in various places in various ways. With some bizarre consequences. For example the Supreme Court has ruled that it is illegal to make an IQ test be part of a job hiring practice because allowing it will discriminate against blacks. Don't believe me? Go read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griggs_v._Duke_Power_Co.!

But we can't even say facts like this in public. And if we can't say it, we can't start asking honest questions why it happens. And without asking them, we can't begin having honest conversations about what we can reasonably do to address the issue. Instead we're stuck at name calling and denial of reality. (And telling people who actually are racist that they can't talk about their racism doesn't actually reduce their racism - it just increases their resentment of the larger society, which ironically they are somewhat likely to take out on the group they are racist against!)

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#134

Post by kstenerud »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #115
kstenerud wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 broke…

I appreciate the perspective. I'm here to learn and to understand. It's very difficult to understand this, but I can see how it might be true. If that's the case, the only alternative seems to be not to offer help to anyone. Is that preferable, especially if the entire world starts behaving like that? It just seems like "Hey, do you need any help?" can't possibly be a negative. But I'm willing to accept I could be wr…

Another alternative is to treat them the same way you treat normal people. i.e. If they are happy where they're at, and their life isn't deteriorating, just assume that they've got a good thing going on and don't need your help.

> It just seems like "Hey, do you need any help?" can't possibly be a negative.

The first time, it's not a negative. After the 10th, it gets old. After the 20th, you start to wonder if something's wrong with you. Once you're through that and realize there's nothing wrong with your life, every single offer hurts because it's telling you that you're NOT ok. That actually you CAN'T handle yourself without help. It's an insult hidden behind good intentions.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#135

Post by robin_reala »

anigbrowl wrote: post #102
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The verbal tics in Tourettes are impossible to hold back when they come, but commenting online is not the same as verbalising. You can choose to post, and you can choose to edit your post.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#136

Post by dllthomas »

kstenerud wrote: post #134
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the perspective. I'm here to learn and to understand. It's very difficult to understand this, but I can see how it might be true. If that's the case, the only alternative seems to be not to offer help to anyone. Is that preferable, especially if the entire world starts behaving like that? It just seems like "Hey, do you need any help?" can't possibly be a negative. But I'm willing to accept I could be wr…

Another alternative is to treat them the same way you treat normal people. i.e. If they are happy where they're at, and their life isn't deteriorating, just assume that they've got a good thing going on and don't need your help. > It just seems like "Hey, do you need any help?" can't possibly be a negative. The first time, it's not a negative. After the 10th, it gets old. After the 20th, you start to wonder if someth…

I do look for ways I can help normal people. It doesn't have to be condescending, although it certainly makes more sense where there is some sort of personal connection.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#137

Post by daveloyall »

67726e wrote: post #83
seivan wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is not racist. As you said it His racism probably isn't his fault. It's probably a factor of his condition. Does not make him a racist.

My parents raised me to be a racist. It's not my fault, it's my upbringing. Any attempts to otherwise convince me are just a conspiracy brought on both those pesky inferior races. Wanna play have a philosophical debate? Or can we agree that someone who espouses racist ideology is, in fact, a racist.

I will now share some approximation conversation that I once witnessed or participated in, because I found it useful and maybe others will, too.

> [Alice and Bob debate about whether Bob is racist. Bob suspects that he is slightly racist and is looking for confirm or deny this.]

> Alice: Well, what do your black friends think about [that thing you are talking about]?

> Bob: My what?

> Alice: Happy to help.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#138

Post by emodendroket »

seivan wrote: post #75
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

He is not racist. As you said it His racism probably isn't his fault. It's probably a factor of his condition. Does not make him a racist.

The Klan was also a product of its time and prevailing social mores, and yet no one would argue it was not racist.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#139

Post by lomnakkus »

btilly wrote: post #133
lomnakkus wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong. People may say racist things without necessarily being racist. The difference between "being X-ist" and "saying X-ist thing" is basically predicated on having a "persistent belief that X" or having a "momentary belief that X". (I'm using "belief" in the philosophical sense.)

I don't believe that you should be downvoted. If you read Paul Graham's essay http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html , it is clear that our current hypersensitivity to racism is a current moral fashion. You're not allowed to be racist, you're not allowed to think racist things, you're not even allowed to question our society's chosen approach to racism. Which is just silly. Facts remain facts even if we don't like them.…

I don't see how you could possibly see any commonality between what I said and your own comment.
Post reply on HN