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

Chris Seaton has died

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 213 posts

Re: Chris Seaton has died

#91

Post by swader999 »

munificent wrote: post #89
swader999 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The outpouring of love in the replies on that thread. It is tough to comprehend how that wasn't enough to prevent this.

Like many mental illnesses, depression interferes with your perceptions. It's not that that love "wasn't enough", it's that a person deep in depression can't even accurately see or feel that love.

Yeah and it is especially hard for high achievers to ask for help or even consider that they should ask for help. I think its completely foreign to them.

Re: Chris Seaton has died

#92

Post by throw10920 »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #12
infinitedata wrote: post #5

He basically announced his ‘permanent-rest’ via twitter. So sad but grounding for all of us to remember that there are things way more important past the marvelous inventions we can code or make. For learning purposes, anyone knows what was his major cause of frustration?

> For learning purposes, anyone knows what was his major cause of frustration? Suicide isn't because of frustration. Everyone has frustrations, most don't kill themselves because of it.

This comment exemplifies a pattern of rather useless comments that I've seen a lot of online recently, that are analogous to "contradiction - stating the opposing case with little or no evidence" on the argument pyramid: when a commentator X states a thing, commentator Y states that that thing isn't true, with no supporting evidence, but more importantly no additional value or elaboration added - just saying "that's wrong" without explaining why, or saying what is actually the case.

For instance, here, value would be added by stating what are the actual causes of suicide - or even adding research that supports your point even if you don't want to talk about what the actual causes are.

Re: Chris Seaton has died

#93

Post by Jensson »

silisili wrote: post #84
Jensson wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I'd have preferred he not leave drunken angry voicemails every time I didn't answer the phone, and sought professional help. Which he did, eventually, but after 2 years of verbal abuse and telling us we were dead to him.

No post body was provided.

Re: Chris Seaton has died

#94

Post by ilrwbwrkhv »

If you have a lower baseline of happiness, please do yourself a favour and read Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus.

It starts with:

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest— whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories—comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer.

Absurdism is a great way to live life and understand that nothing is worth killing yourself for.

Re: Chris Seaton has died

#95

Post by pwdisswordfish9 »

HL33tibCe7 wrote: post #78

Desperately sad news. I never met him, he never met Me, but https://chrisseaton.com/army/ made a real impression on me. It’s the kind of thing that sits in your head and pops up from time to time. I found the level of dedication here alongside his professional success incredibly inspiring. Tragically, part of that article is about his young daughter. Not really sure what to think now.

This part had something about it that stuck out in light of the news (first just a bit, but then it kept going):

"My fantastic job with Shopify meets my physiological and safety needs, and the job is rewarding and intellectually stimulating (not many people get to work on their PhD work for so long with a team they’ve built around them and I’m very grateful.) But then what? What are you doing to feel alive and to know that you matter? How do you fit into something enduring and bigger than yourself? The Army challenges me every week, and those challenges better me and make me happier. I know that people are depending on me, and that if I don’t turn up and lead my Squadron then nobody’s going to do that for me."

Like you, not sure what to think.

Re: Chris Seaton has died

#96

Post by aphrax »

ngd wrote: post #82

When I was 15 I had to move high school after the death of my mother. I started to socialise at school and joined the investment club. It was a tough time for me and I desperately wanted to make friends and fit in. I wasn’t really into investing but a young man by the name of Chris Seaton was building their website and I loved computers so I wanted to help. Chris taught me how to program, first HTML websites, then PH…

This a beautiful thing to share. I wish I’d known him and I’m sorry for your loss.

Re: Chris Seaton has died

#97

Post by noneeeed »

sicromoft wrote: post #66

Tenderlove wrote a nice tribute, "In Memory of a Giant": http://tenderlovemaking.com/2022/12/07/in-memory-of-a-giant....

This bit really chimed with my brief contacts with Chris

> As a college dropout, I’ve always felt underqualified. Embarrassment about my lack of knowledge and credentials has driven me to study hard on my own time. But Chris never once made me feel out of place. Any time I had questions, without judgement, he would take the time to explain things to me.

I never once felt like he looked down on people who knew less than him, he just saw it as an opportunity to share what he knew with them.

In an industry that can sometimes be dominated by arrogant certainty, or people trying to demonstrate their brilliance, he was a breath of fresh air.

Re: Chris Seaton has died

#98

Post by sasattack »

swader999 wrote: post #67
paufernandez wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The depressed sees the same events quite differently, that's why it is so difficult to understand for many people (I can though).

Right, I've read that for them its not even seen as making a choice. Earth is too freaking hard sometimes.

It's not a choice. It's not seen as a choice. The Choice is not between life-and-death but between suffering and ending your suffering. This is how the suicidal mind thinks. When suffering becomes greater than any other emotion it It's like a pressure that has to be relieved

Re: Chris Seaton has died

#99

Post by adamc »

Jensson wrote: post #93
silisili wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd have preferred he not leave drunken angry voicemails every time I didn't answer the phone, and sought professional help. Which he did, eventually, but after 2 years of verbal abuse and telling us we were dead to him.

Quoted post unavailable.

As someone who's been through depression and has an estranged son (for reasons that were never even articulated)... being angry doesn't help. Their choices may be no more free than our own.

Sometimes the universe gives us tough choices.

Re: Chris Seaton has died

#100

Post by Jensson »

adamc wrote: post #99
Jensson wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

As someone who's been through depression and has an estranged son (for reasons that were never even articulated)... being angry doesn't help. Their choices may be no more free than our own. Sometimes the universe gives us tough choices.

Depressed people often do a lot of things they later regret. Doesn't mean they could have done it any other way, just that would prefer to not have done it.

> Sometimes the universe gives us tough choices.

Yeah, like accepting when an asshole reaches out or letting him kill himself. I don't think it is wrong to try to reach out when you are too mentally unstable to be nice to people, in fact that is probably the time when you should reach out the most because you are very likely to kill yourself then because that anger can easily turn inwards. But there really are no perfect ways to handle that, the best solution is to never get that bad to begin with but when you are there you can't really get out of it without burning something.

Post reply on HN