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How To Do A Startup On The Side And Not Lose Your Family

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Re: How To Do A Startup On The Side And Not Lose Your Family

#71

Post by andyjohnson0 »

dpiers wrote: post #27
SimHacker wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually hackers are very good at logic, which precludes believing the self-contradictory bible and religious dogma, but some people are very good at compartmentalizing their brains and avoiding applying logic to some parts of their lives, apparently.

Belief in a higher power is not completely illogical. I build/design things, and take apart and analyze other people's designs. Looking at the universe, from the smallest particles to the largest galaxies, I see a beautifully complex system of interdependent cogs that mesh together perfectly to enable life to exist. I have yet to come across an intricate system that did not have a designer, and it would be illogical…

"I have yet to come across an intricate system that did not have a designer, and it would be illogical for me to believe the universe just exists."

This is called the Teleological argument for the existence of God [1]. Its been around for a long time, is the basis for creationism and intelligent design, and criticism of it goes all the way back to David Hume. Its just a weak argument.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleological_argument

Re: How To Do A Startup On The Side And Not Lose Your Family

#72

Post by ahmadss »

The one thing you mentioned in your post but, in my opinion, didn't emphasize enough, is the fact that you have a co-founder helping you with this.

I've found that it's a much easier sell a side project to the family when you have a team mate believing in this idea and willing to work at it with you. That early "validation" goes a long way in justifying time away from the family to spend hacking/coding/selling.

Re: How To Do A Startup On The Side And Not Lose Your Family

#73

Post by SimHacker »

dpiers wrote: post #27
SimHacker wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually hackers are very good at logic, which precludes believing the self-contradictory bible and religious dogma, but some people are very good at compartmentalizing their brains and avoiding applying logic to some parts of their lives, apparently.

Belief in a higher power is not completely illogical. I build/design things, and take apart and analyze other people's designs. Looking at the universe, from the smallest particles to the largest galaxies, I see a beautifully complex system of interdependent cogs that mesh together perfectly to enable life to exist. I have yet to come across an intricate system that did not have a designer, and it would be illogical…

It's illogical of you to not recurse and ask the question: "who designed the designer?" If you can't explain a complex system, then introducing a vastly more complex system to explain it is a terrible explanation, and hardly logical. It's intellectually dishonest to make such an argument, since it's so obviously flawed. No competent programmer doesn't understand recursion.

Re: How To Do A Startup On The Side And Not Lose Your Family

#74

Post by speric »

ahmadss wrote: post #72

The one thing you mentioned in your post but, in my opinion, didn't emphasize enough, is the fact that you have a co-founder helping you with this. I've found that it's a much easier sell a side project to the family when you have a team mate believing in this idea and willing to work at it with you. That early "validation" goes a long way in justifying time away from the family to spend hacking/coding/selling.

Fair point.

Re: How To Do A Startup On The Side And Not Lose Your Family

#75

Post by SimHacker »

entropy_ wrote: post #63
SimHacker wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a huge difference between a tentative belief in a vaguely defined "higher power", and a confident belief in a well defined organized religious dogma or bible full of self-contradictions and logical impossibilities. Faith in beliefs that are provably wrong is illogical (but EXTREMELY common), and that's the basis of organized religion, which presumes to provide you with all the answers to questions that don't…

There's a reply to this comment that says "belief in god" != "belief in the literal truth of the Bible". I'll add to that "belief in Christianity" != "belief in the literal truth of the Bible", because somehow you seem to equate the two. In fact most Christian denominations/faiths do not believe in the literal truth of the Bible. In fact, none of the adherents to either Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy that I've met(…

What's terrible is that many Christians who claim not to believe the bible literally still pick and choose the few parts of it that are anti-gay to justify their homophobic bigotry. So "disbelief in the literal truth of the Bible" != "not homophobic bigot". I'd wager that Brendan Eich doesn't believe the bible literally, yet he's clearly a homophobic bigot.

Re: How To Do A Startup On The Side And Not Lose Your Family

#76

Post by SimHacker »

_urga wrote: post #70
ogd wrote: post #18

someone on HN believes in God? No judgments, I just thought hacker and atheist were deeply intertwined. Perhaps I just picked up the wrong impression from Reddit.

God is not within the realm of science, science is our best effort explanation of the physical universe as we see it. Nor is God within the realm of philosophy for God by definition is beyond comprehension. God however may be within the realm of history, if at just the right time, God revealed himself in history. That is the Christian claim: Jesus died and rose from the dead in history. "And if Christ has not been ra…

God may not be within the realm of science, but most claims of organized religions are certainly incompatible with science. Religion directly contradicts science in many ways. Science is all about learning the truth, by changing falsifiable theories when proven wrong. Religion is all about having answers to every question, even if they contradict each other and reality, thanks to "faith" that lets you believe contradictory illogical things. Religion kills people, puts them in jail, and denies the truth when it's proven wrong. Religious dogma only grudgingly changes when it's forced to, and even then many people still believe the Earth is 6000 years old. If a religion is so wrong about important things like that, and has insisted on many other things we know to be false for thousands of years, and is used to justify hating gays and oppressing women, then why the hell do you trust anything it says for your moral guidance?

Re: How To Do A Startup On The Side And Not Lose Your Family

#77

Post by entropy_ »

SimHacker wrote: post #75
entropy_ wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a reply to this comment that says "belief in god" != "belief in the literal truth of the Bible". I'll add to that "belief in Christianity" != "belief in the literal truth of the Bible", because somehow you seem to equate the two. In fact most Christian denominations/faiths do not believe in the literal truth of the Bible. In fact, none of the adherents to either Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy that I've met(…

What's terrible is that many Christians who claim not to believe the bible literally still pick and choose the few parts of it that are anti-gay to justify their homophobic bigotry. So "disbelief in the literal truth of the Bible" != "not homophobic bigot". I'd wager that Brendan Eich doesn't believe the bible literally, yet he's clearly a homophobic bigot.

That wouldn't be picking and choosing parts to interpret literally. Even though some parts aren't interpreted literally(the creation story in genesis for example) the message about morality still holds(otherwise let's just discard the whole thing and burn it, it has no content).

And while I don't want to discuss this issue here(we've veered way off topic) let me just state that "does not think gay marriage should be legal" does not equate to "homophobic bigotry". You can have gay friends, have no problem with them as people, but still believe that marriage is something that has a very clear definition(sacred bond between husband and wife, for life, for the purpose of building family) which doesn't include same-sex relationships.

Re: How To Do A Startup On The Side And Not Lose Your Family

#78

Post by acconrad »

Talk about hitting home. This was me a year ago, except my girlfriend (who I then planned to marry) broke up with me.

> "By far the biggest win in my situation is the support of my wife. She not only tolerates my involvement in a startup, she actively supports me and roots for me. She wants to see us succeed."

Truer words have never been spoken. You don't lose your family by equal parts self-discipline but ALSO having a spouse that supports and tolerates that kind of craziness. It makes sense why doctors marry doctors, lawyers marry lawyers, PhDs marry PhDs...cause someone working the 9 to 5 cannot appreciate, nor empathize, with the other person's extended (and often erratic) working schedule. They'll feel neglected since they have more free time, and it will be tough to relate and feel appreciated. This I know first hand.

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