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God's Lonely Programmer

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Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#151

Post by fragmede »

Ollinson wrote: post #131
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.

> prove cancer caused smoking

I thought you typed that backwards, but skimming your link, that is indeed what he claimed!

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#152

Post by jkaunisv1 »

jcromartie wrote: post #118
anigbrowl wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Coprolalia: Latin for "poop talk"

I hadn't heard that term but was delighted when I paused to break it down to its roots. Shit tongues!

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#153

Post by innguest »

davidw wrote: post #111
innguest wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

From the article: > Unable to work, he collects Social Security disability He's doing ok because the 'collective' takes care of him.

I didn't know that. I'd argue that those more local to him would be in a better position to help him than the collective, which needs to pool money from all its constituents, give it to bureaucrats who take their share of it, in order to eventually make a check arrive at his inbox.

So if we really care for him, it should be eye-opening how those good intentions turned into "Everyone! Give one cent to this politician (or you'll be jailed) so he can eventually make some of this money arrive to the person that needs help". How about those around him help him? Churches want to help but current policies curb them (cue the recent 90-year old that was arrested for feeding the homeless).

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#154

Post by anon4 »

Interesting that he says he talks to God through randomness. I heard an idea along these lines not long ago - the measure of entropy in the universe is constantly increasing. But entropy is also a measure of the amount of information stored in the system (if you take a file with low entropy, it will compress to a smaller file with higher entropy). So the weird world of quantum effects is basically caused by (or is the equivalent of) information being constantly poured in the universe. In a sense, God speaks new information and quantum effects happen.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#155

Post by dasil003 »

vertex-four wrote: post #150
btilly wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

> How careful do you have to be when saying this? The issue is that in saying that, you tend to be saying that black people intrinsically have lower intelligence than white people unless you're careful to be explicit about what you mean. As it is, that's not necessarily the case - there's a lot of disagreement over whether or not IQ tests are a correct measure of intelligence over more than one culture, for a start.…

> The issue is that in saying that, you tend to be saying that black people intrinsically have lower intelligence than white people unless you're careful to be explicit about what you mean.

That's an issue, I don't think it's the issue, not be a long shot. Try being very careful and explicit about what you mean, it's not gonna help one whit, you're already on the third rail as soon as the words black, white and intelligence come out of your mouth.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#156

Post by anigbrowl »

wyager wrote: post #79
dunstad wrote: post #13

I find this guy's moments of clarity amazing. I'm not very familiar with mental illnesses in any form, but it surprises me how clearly he understands how the rest of the world views him. It makes me think about what the world might be like if we reverse the situation, and the article were about the only man who can't hear the voice of God.

>the only man who can't hear the voice of God. You may find this very interesting. I know I did. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology)

I was about the post the same thing. Jaynes' book is absolutely worth the time of anyone interested i such questions.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#157

Post by anigbrowl »

yzzxy wrote: post #22

I wonder if there is something the programming community could do to help him. I'm not sure what this could entail, but I'd hope there are people who would be willing to talk with him about his interests or attempt to set up some kind of assisted employment situation - he is by all accounts a very talented engineer.

You could help him implement his demands for VMware compatibility: http://www.templeos.org/Wb/Doc/Demands.html#l1

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#158

Post by Igglyboo »

yzzxy wrote: post #45
vinceguidry wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the wonderful things about Western society is that it's got enough social welfare structures to allow someone like Terry to exist, is wealthy enough to allow them to thrive, should they want to, and enough individualism to where he's not constantly being beaten over the head with other people's demands for him to change to fit their idea of what a person should be. As someone who has at times relied on this so…

I don't know if this is true. I find it extremely unlikely that the average employer would even consider employing someone with apparent mental health issues, so it's possible many people in similar situations just give up. I don't think he should be forced to work, or even pushed to do so. But I really don't see the harm in making an offer of employment or something similar - It's not "condescending" as some other c…

The only place he could possibly find work is in some research lab (think MSR) or academia.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#159

Post by Igglyboo »

gojomo wrote: post #24
jason_slack wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont know him, I just know his name. I think we all know him here as Terry.

In fact his chosen name here is his project name, 'TempleOS': https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=TempleOS It was previously 'losethos', when that was his project's name: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=losethos

He's got a lot of accounts actually because they all keep getting hellbanned.

Re: God's Lonely Programmer

#160

Post by phkahler »

kstenerud wrote: post #69
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you will actually read my comment, I said "ask him whether he wants help."

Or, you know, just leave him the fuck alone. He's done alright with his life by his own measure and doesn't need the condescension of "hello you poor soul, do you need help?" (which, I'm sure, he's already heard a million times by now)

>> Or, you know, just leave him the fuck alone.

Do you hold the door for a guy in a wheelchair, or let it close behind you because you fear he's gonna resent any effort to help him?

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