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YC 120

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: YC 120

#131

Post by freehunter »

clairity wrote: post #115
freehunter wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many cultures/subcultures/microcultures place high value on being humble. This is the exact opposite of humble, it's blatant self-promotion. That's not necessarily a bad thing, in fact it's very much required in business, in interviews, in admissions, etc. But it does rub against those cultures who value humility and frown upon self-promotion. As an example I grew up in a poor farming town in the Midwest. Everyone dr…

isn't that one of the reasons you get a bmw, to exude class and status? otherwise, there are plenty of other sports sedans you could get, like a ford fusion sport or something, that embody different social messaging. this isn't a critique of your choice of cars, but your reaction is interesting. some people in that situation would have their ego boosted. others would't care much either way. but this clash of cultural…

You're entirely correct. I'm just using that point to highlight that where I live right now, it's expected that I brag about how successful I am (like someone applying to YC 120), but some people could be uncomfortable with this because a BMW in a small town attracts the wrong kind of attention.

It's a big change of culture to to want to draw attention to your success rather than drawing attention away from it.

Re: YC 120

#132

Post by rajacombinator »

curiousDog wrote: post #3

“Finally solving Physics?” Yikes.

Yea when you start with a low IQ premise like this (AGI, etc...) you’re going to get a low IQ result. It would probably be more entertaining for the YC partners to fly themselves to Colorado and watch a couple TED talks. Or they could actually do some cursory reading on these fields and attempt to educate themselves.

Re: YC 120

#133

Post by shanghaiaway »

endorphone wrote: post #83
uptownfunk wrote: post #38

The real question is, do I want to be in a room with 99 other people who wanted to be selected for this so much that they produced a video with answers to these questions? This whole thing is self-selecting for they type of person I'd rather not be having dinner with. YC produces a ton of great resources that are very helpful, but this is one that makes me scratch my head.

What type of person is that? I'm honestly at a loss because it asks for nothing more than a simple narrative for why this opportunity fits the candidate, where the complexity of the video can be "turn on my phone's front camera and recorded for 60 seconds". Is that a type of person? Is it a bad type of person? I don't understand the insinuation.

They're optimizing for people who are good at storytelling. Storytelling is emphasized on at Ivy league admissions and MBA admissions. So that's the type of people they'll get.

Re: YC 120

#134

Post by throwawayjava »

blizkreeg wrote: post #101

Perhaps a better messaging here would be - if you're working on gene editing, nuclear fusion, or some such radical and ambitious project, we want to hear. Tell us the path you took to get to this point, and your ideas for the future. Then select from everyone who writes in?

> if you're working on gene editing, nuclear fusion, or some such radical and ambitious project, we want to hear. Tell us the path you took to get to this point, and your ideas for the future. Then select from everyone who writes in?

You are describing a scientific conference, or perhaps a grant proposal.

Unlike NSF/NIH/etc., they're not really asking for people who have dedicated their lives to a problem to write up a compelling and realistic plan of attack for a hard tech problem. That can't be done in a few minutes of a video, and certainly can't be done if in that video you also have to write your ideal obituary. What they're looking for, I think?, are charismatic and driven leaders.

Re: YC 120

#135

Post by johan_larson »

uptownfunk wrote: post #38

The real question is, do I want to be in a room with 99 other people who wanted to be selected for this so much that they produced a video with answers to these questions? This whole thing is self-selecting for they type of person I'd rather not be having dinner with. YC produces a ton of great resources that are very helpful, but this is one that makes me scratch my head.

Yes, if someone set up a honeypot to catch egomaniacs it would look just like that page.

Re: YC 120

#136

Post by DoreenMichele »

endorphone wrote: post #100
freehunter wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many cultures/subcultures/microcultures place high value on being humble. This is the exact opposite of humble, it's blatant self-promotion. That's not necessarily a bad thing, in fact it's very much required in business, in interviews, in admissions, etc. But it does rub against those cultures who value humility and frown upon self-promotion. As an example I grew up in a poor farming town in the Midwest. Everyone dr…

I will give that false humility is rampant, but it's incredible (and perhaps ironic) in the context because so many seem to be saying "Well I wouldn't want to be with these people." That is the opposite of humility. Virtually all of life is self-promotion (however massaged and clouded we make it -- we see humility as a virtue because it's great if everyone else just gets out of the way), and sideways mechanisms to do…

"Men With Self-Confidence Come and See and Conquer"

Women with self confidence get put in a damned if you do, damned if you don't bind. They have substantial challenges trying to self promote. I'm convinced it's mostly systemic, not innate to women per se.

Re: YC 120

#137

Post by thanksDr »

exolymph wrote: post #112
thanksDr wrote: post #110

> What are you interested in and what are you working on? I'm working on liberating child students trapped by coercive institutions. Inmates have a reason for their incarceration, but students are trapped through no fault of their own. Unlike students, inmates in prison have the luxury of choosing what they read. > What have you done so far that shows your potential for greatness, adjusted for whatever life circumsta…

Just FYI, as someone who also considers schools to be coercive institutions, "schools are more unjust than prison" is a hugely unconvincing pitch. I'd advise you to frame it another way.

Thank you. I'm trying to come up with a good wholly-positive way of framing it in terms of benefits to leadership and innovation. I know I'm going to need a positive message to succeed.

Re: YC 120

#138

Post by shafyy »

nix0n wrote: post #120
shafyy wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can physics be solved?

As Asimov asked it, "How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?"[0] [0] https://www.physics.princeton.edu/ph115/LQ.pdf

That's not solving physics. Physics is not a problem, it's a branch of the natural sciences. We can solve physics-related problems, but it's not like if we've solved enough physics-related problems we have solved physics.

That's like saying "solve this coffee table".

Re: YC 120

#139

Post by [deleted] »

johan_larson wrote: post #135
uptownfunk wrote: post #38

The real question is, do I want to be in a room with 99 other people who wanted to be selected for this so much that they produced a video with answers to these questions? This whole thing is self-selecting for they type of person I'd rather not be having dinner with. YC produces a ton of great resources that are very helpful, but this is one that makes me scratch my head.

Yes, if someone set up a honeypot to catch egomaniacs it would look just like that page.

[deleted]

Re: YC 120

#140

Post by nix0n »

shafyy wrote: post #138
nix0n wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As Asimov asked it, "How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?"[0] [0] https://www.physics.princeton.edu/ph115/LQ.pdf

That's not solving physics. Physics is not a problem, it's a branch of the natural sciences. We can solve physics-related problems, but it's not like if we've solved enough physics-related problems we have solved physics. That's like saying "solve this coffee table".

> That's like saying "solve this coffee table".

If I can set down my mug on the coffee table, I'll consider the coffee table to be solved.

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