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LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

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Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#51

Post by daralthus »

diadem wrote: post #29
daralthus wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, if you want to do just simple programming in your life.

You misunderstand. I don't mean 'simple' as in base, uncomplicated, or trivial. What I mean is there's no programming problem so complex that it requires the use of a hallucinogenic to understand or solve.

I understand and I agree with you taking psychedelics is not an everyday task. One does not take a trip to solve a simple problem, but to find ideas and new viewpoints. Those actually could be useful, even in your field. Software or not.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#52

Post by padmanabhan01 »

diadem wrote: post #29
daralthus wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, if you want to do just simple programming in your life.

You misunderstand. I don't mean 'simple' as in base, uncomplicated, or trivial. What I mean is there's no programming problem so complex that it requires the use of a hallucinogenic to understand or solve.

It's not just about solving problems. It's also about finding the inspiration or the right approach. coding an algorithm that is predefined and coming up with something like page rank or OOP paradigm are not problems in the same category. psychadelics can definitely help in the latter category.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#53

Post by daeken »

tomlin wrote: post #36
nandemo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that amphetamines, though potentially addictive and dangerous, can actually help you do math or programming. I'm skeptical that people can code better (if at all) while on LSD.

I have ADD and am a coder. I am on Concerta (methylphenidate, a derivative of methamphetamine) and find that my interest in math, as well as programming, has increased significantly.

Note: Methylphenidate is not actually an amphetamine derivative, although it's similar in structure and function.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#54

Post by truthsayer »

jpk wrote: post #39
eof wrote: post #31

Let me chime in here with some personal experience. I am pretty much addicted to marijuana in terms of working and enjoying it. That is, I don't really enjoy programming nearly as much compared to when I am a bit baked. Mind you, I can work.. but it feels like such a chore (not always but I'm talking typically). There are a lot of us like this. As for LSD.. I have had many revelations while tripping, some I've had to…

> You set out to write a bash script to move some files, you suddenly realize an amazingly better way to do bash scripting, which makes you realize some basic change in the OS that would make UI 1000% friendlier, then you realize we shouldn't be using computers at all, then you realize you are here on earth for a purpose and you are wasting your life then your buddy is like--YO you're spacing off and the chain of thi…

Please remind me not to ask you to write any scripts for me.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#56

Post by diadem »

yid wrote: post #41
diadem wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misunderstand. I don't mean 'simple' as in base, uncomplicated, or trivial. What I mean is there's no programming problem so complex that it requires the use of a hallucinogenic to understand or solve.

Prove it. You made a statement; burden of proof on you.

I'm sorry. You're asking me to... enumerate every single problem in software engineering? I don't see the point. How about we take one of the most impressive, extreme cases of software ingenuity: launching the Space Shuttle.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/06/writestuff.html

"But how much work the software does is not what makes it remarkable. What makes it remarkable is how well the software works. This software never crashes. It never needs to be re-booted. This software is bug-free. It is perfect, as perfect as human beings have achieved. Consider these stats : the last three versions of the program -- each 420,000 lines long-had just one error each. The last 11 versions of this software had a total of 17 errors."

Do you think that perfection, that stability, in the face of lives at risk for every mistake, is a suitable place to suggest that taking LSD could make them better? These are the best programmers in the world, by many standards. And they're not writing node.js servers and map-reduce queries, they're using billions of dollars of hardware to achieve manned space flight. And they don't take LSD.

"It's strictly an 8-to-5 kind of place -- there are late nights, but they're the exception. The programmers are intense, but low-key. Many of them have put in years of work either for IBM (which owned the shuttle group until 1994), or directly on the shuttle software. They're adults, with spouses and kids and lives beyond their remarkable software program.

That's the culture: the on-board shuttle group produces grown-up software, and the way they do it is by being grown-ups. It may not be sexy, it may not be a coding ego-trip -- but it is the future of software. When you're ready to take the next step -- when you have to write perfect software instead of software that's just good enough -- then it's time to grow up."

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#57

Post by 5l »

diadem wrote: post #46
5l wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know? Have you solved every problem there is to solve? And of all the problems you have solved, have you done so in the most elegant and efficient way possible?

If I haven't solved every problem there is to solve, is my assertion less true? Is your argument "There are problems in software engineering that can only be solved by dropping acid?" The best programmers in the world -- those who work together to solve the most complex and aggressive problems asked of the human mind -- are those who come to work every day, solve problems, and write code, and go home. They don't spen…

It can't be justified, that is all. I don't know that there are problems that can only be solved only by taking LSD, but neither can I categorically say that there aren't any at all, as you just did.

How do you know? That is what I asked, and you haven't answered me. You're making assertions about the best programmers in the world that you can't possibly back up. How do you know that some of them don't take LSD?

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#59

Post by eof »

yid wrote: post #37
eof wrote: post #31

Let me chime in here with some personal experience. I am pretty much addicted to marijuana in terms of working and enjoying it. That is, I don't really enjoy programming nearly as much compared to when I am a bit baked. Mind you, I can work.. but it feels like such a chore (not always but I'm talking typically). There are a lot of us like this. As for LSD.. I have had many revelations while tripping, some I've had to…

I couldn't have said it better myself. Except for me, weed keeps pushing up the levels of abstraction (good for architecting software), but LSD makes things hypperreal. IMO, LSD should only be taken on a desolate beach at night, with people who are dear to you.

Right; I definitely don't recommend tripping and trying to code :)

Or the woods, or a psychedelic show in the woods :)

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#60

Post by [deleted] »

diadem wrote: post #46
5l wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know? Have you solved every problem there is to solve? And of all the problems you have solved, have you done so in the most elegant and efficient way possible?

If I haven't solved every problem there is to solve, is my assertion less true? Is your argument "There are problems in software engineering that can only be solved by dropping acid?" The best programmers in the world -- those who work together to solve the most complex and aggressive problems asked of the human mind -- are those who come to work every day, solve problems, and write code, and go home. They don't spen…

[deleted]
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