The Virtual Reality of John Carmack | Hacker News Reader

The Virtual Reality of John Carmack

dmagazine.com

145 pointsavisk93 comments

> "No, he would not leave Texas, he said. In fact, as a condition of his acceptance, he said Oculus would have to open an office in Dallas—which it has since done."

Power move

Masters of Doom does a good job detailing his logic in refusing to leave north Texas. Cheap cost-of-living and warm climate were his original reasons IIRC. Even though he could live wherever he wants, he's still extremely practical.

TIL billionaires care about cheap cost of living.

If you're someone like John Carmack, I imagine being able to get, say twice as far with your rocket project due to low taxes and cost of living is rather valuable to you.

If he spent $8 million on that in SF, I don't think he would have gotten nearly as far.

Carmack a few tens of millions, not a billionaire.

Then how is it he sank 8 million alone into armadillo?

IIRC Carmack said he had to stop working on Armadillo because his wife was concerned about how much it was costing the family. Presumably they were down to their last x million dollars.

> sank

You answered your own question, no?

They don't just care about themselves. It helps you hire people when housing is affordable and the weather's nice.

Warren Buffett lives in Nebraska.

They are billionaires because they care about the cost of living. Make no mistakes journey to riches is through the path of making tiny little sacrifices everyday.

Heck, you can make decent money and retire in your 30's if you are little care about how you live your life.

That is how most millionaires/billionaires are made. The start up riches are an exception to the million dollar club. Everybody else goes through a pretty difficult grind until they make it.

You're talking about the millionaires who became right by saving their incomes. Their net worth will be in the low seven digits.

The folks with $10, $100 or $1B got there by either building businesses, getting incredibly lucky (lottery winners) or working as top execs in big companies.

For them, the sacrifice is not of money but of time. They don't wonder "gee, should I brew my own coffee and save $1000 every year?", but "gee, should I work on this deal right now or spend time with my kids?"

You can get to a million dollars by working hard and saving. You can't get to a billion dollars that way - it takes exceptional success and scale.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Thank you for that well thought out contribution.

Sometimes an idea is so stupid that there's nothing really to say. "Billionaires are billionaires because they care about their cost of living"? It is just demonstrably untrue. Which is why we see billionaires with megayachts, penthouse suites, private jets, private islands, obscure car collections, etc.

Billionaires are billionaires because they've made amazing investments or have created companies or products worth billions. That's it. It has nothing to do with how they deal with their cost of living.

No kidding. They're hiring a Software Engineer according to their website. I'll have to keep checking back if there's ever anything I might be qualified for, like the Office Admin. I'm not joking! It's in my professional background!

You should make contact, get on their radar, and apply anyway. Lots of times available jobs never make it to a job board, but are given to people already in the common network. Go for it!

Thanks for the positive encouragement! Also the valid point about never knowing what opportunities may exist. I think I'll reach out using their available channels and do just that, make an introduction, see if anything might come about. I don't intend to waste their time, but I'd love a foot in the door, so to speak!

If you're ever offered an Office Admin position at Oculus VR be sure to mention that one of your conditions is opening an office in Hawaii.

I live in Hawai‘i so yes, please do this :)

Oculus also has a Seattle office which was probably set up to keep Atman Binstock and Michael Abrash happy. Mind you, those offices near home don't just help to attract the stars but also their local network of coworkers: Oculus pulled in a lot of ex-Valve and ex-Id people.

> "I embrace the mundane work and find insights while exploring it."

I love this quote. I'm still early in my career, and unfortunately find myself focusing far too much at the big picture and becoming overwhelmed by it. Any tips for "embracing the mundane"?

I would not discount big picture thinking, that skill on the right team is invaluable. Taming the beast is the challenge.

Regarding being overwhelmed, there are a number of tricks. I recommend 'climbing the mountain one step at a time', keep a regular cadence and move on to a different task if you find yourself stalled. I wrote some thoughts here http://www.pauric.net/blog/?p=430

Regarding finding insight in the mundane, I recommend listening to the BBC audio article and watching the Google Talk video I link to here: http://www.pauric.net/blog/?p=171

Finally, if you're a dev - the ability to see the woods for the trees is going to serve you well over the long run. A lot of good devs lack in this area, but it's something that can dig a team out of a hole.

edit: apologies, the bbc podcast I referred to is gone. If I find a copy I'll update.

>I wrote some thoughts here http://www.pauric.net/blog/?p=430

The post is really nice, however the linked images at inside.mathworks.com are gone.

Thank you, will asap

If you like eating sushi, then watching the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" might resonate enough to help you gain some insight into this passion for finding contentment in what appears mundane to the outsider.

With it being understood that what works varies a lot from person to person - I've found that doing one thing I really like, and one thing that's mundane, works for me. Over the course of a project, if you consistently make progress against the mundane, by the end there usually isn't much of a wall of it left. It's a compromise with myself, this way I avoid doing nothing but mundane work in a long-stretch.

When I was ~20 years old I'd make the mistake of pushing the mundane work off to the end, so all that I had left at that point was work I didn't enjoy. That made it a miserable grind to get to launch.

I feel that as you are plugging away on what many might consider "boring" programming tasks, you become inspired to write your code more cleanly, efficiently, faster as well as automate things and improve your process. If you are focused on one little mundane thing, you have time to really think it over and explore all of the possibilities. I find that creative people will find a way to be creative no matter the task, so nothing is ever really boring.

As you do this with more and more little, boring things, before you know it you will have developed a mastery of your craft.

Read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I've asked this question before on HN and was down voted mercilessly, so I'll try to rephrase.

Why does everyone point to Zen as such a significant work? I've tried to read it on 3 separate occasions now, and I'm not "getting it". I'm fully willing to be completely wrong about this, but it frustrates me that Pirsig focuses so much on what I read as "the absolute value of quality" when - IMHO, it's merely a relative term.

I get the point he's making early in the book about "doing it yourself" vs "buying it", but as the book goes on I get more and more frustrated with what appears to me to be the central premise.

Can you point me to a "guide to reading 'Zen'" or something similar which can show me where I'm going wrong?

Without going to deep into the book (which to be honest is one of the most difficult books I've ever read), I was thinking here of a passage in which he describes fixing his engine and paying close, mindful attention to every step. He makes a comment about how the next great invention could come from an observation about the most mundane thing -- and I really believe that to be true. Some of the best ideas come when we're in the midst of flow in our work. Realizing that the mundane details of our work hold a lot of beauty -- when we really slow down and pay attention -- is a liberating idea.

IMO the whole "metaphysics of quality" thing needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt. As you find out later in the book, he actually was diagnosed as schizophrenic (and went through electroshock therapy as a result), and it becomes pretty clear throughout the book that his whole thesis doesn't actually make any sense, and is more the ramblings of an insane person.

There's a few insights to be taken from the book but I largely agree with you that after reading it a few times, it's not worth the praise that it gets.

> Can you point me to a "guide to reading 'Zen'" or something similar which can show me where I'm going wrong?

"Guidebook to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance":

http://www.amazon.com/Guidebook-Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenan...

Both Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and the Guidebook are highly recommended. Just read.

Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for!

Maybe it's not that you don't get the book; maybe you just disagree with it to such an extent that it infuriates you, just as its author disagreed with Plato.

I think there might be some insight in this video that might help you put a deeper perspective on the book

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xg5O0l7ybY

(specifically the quote about playing music)

There is a series of excellent talks on youtube by a guy named Alan Watts from the early 50s - highly recommend.

Why don't you just finish reading the book or just leave it alone? I understand there are books that are hard to read, but this is very much a do-or-don't thing. How can we help you finish a book? Just read it or don't.

Edit: I'm getting down-voted so let me put a fine point on it. Reading a book is a pretty low risk commitment. You could be reading dozens of a books a year. The book we are talking about is considered to be a "great American novel" and less risky still. No one should have to convince you to finish it. If you don't like it enough to finish it, then don't bother. http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

I'm not down voting you, but you didn't actually answer my question. I didn't ask for help to finish the book. I asked for perspective why it's a "great novel".

Because problem solving isn't finding the right action so much as finding the right perspective.

I know, but the idea of struggling with a book? Can't you just think about it after you finish reading it?

You can't just hold the entirety of the massive brain dump that is a novel in your head at once. You have to stop and think along the way. Or at least, I do.

Agree with 'dozens of books a year' but there are thousands and thousands of good books out there and one has to triage.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance felt esoteric for me. My recommendation is "So good that they can't ignore you", much more straight forward and actionable.

Everything John Carmack says he likes about Dallas is what I like about Dallas, and absolutely hated about Austin. I purposefuly fled Austin to return to Dallas years ago. There's something unique in the independent spirit in this area, and it persists year after year. I'm exceptionally pleased at his reasoning, and may quote some of his verbiage when appropriate.

Been in Austin since the late '90s. Still the best place in Texas. I find that I can't produce or succeed when I am surrounded by bible-belt teapublicans who say I am violating their religions freedom by just existing. That's just me tho...

As far as where the "weird" is in this city it's in the paths less traveled. For instance last weekend several folks let me ride their horse a few blocks on the East Side while we were drinking (horse included). If you spend all your time downtown or in the more 'affluent' parts of town it's just like any other city.

Why haven't you left Austin, if it's so bad?

I love Austin. I was referring to folks outside of Austin.

What didn't you like about Austin?

I'll just go with a running list not in any real particular order, because each of the factors can overlap:

Overly saturated music scene making it difficult to get paid, overly saturated labor market (students) making it difficult to get modest employment, terrible traffic congestion, quickly rising cost of living, and, this is the hardest to describe, an atmosphere permeating the place of superiority mixed with some of the worst customer service I have witnessed.

Basically, instead of complaining about those things which I noticed over the course of a couple/few years of being there for an obligation, I left, and I'm happy I did.

So basically like San Francisco, except with a lower cost of living and possibly with better food

Having visited San Francisco for a good stretch, I can affirm there are some parallels. The weather in Austin is a bit more to my liking though. San Fran does have the plus of being within driving distance of ocean beaches though, and I can't claim Texas or Austin has anything equivalent.

I lived in Dallas for the last three years, but you couldn't get me out of there fast enough. Couldn't stand that town.

After spending a couple of years in Austin, I always felt it had a veneer of "cool" that was mostly fake. It's cool because people say it is; it's really not a liberal oasis in a sea of conservatism, it just seems like it is. Having lived there, if you're not into going downtown or sweating your ass off doing something outdoors, there's not much in Austin that you can't find for cheaper elsewhere.

>> It's cool because people say it is.

I know a guy that moved to Michigan from LA. He said the same. People have a vision of California that dates from the 50's before the traffic, cost of living, and pollution got bad. The only thing nice about it now is the climate in his opinion. From what I've read and seen (a week in SF) he's about right.

No, the image most non-West-Coasters have of California was always a mirage. There was smog in the San Fernando Valley in the 50's.

But you can't really judge all of it from LA. California is huge, and LA is a small but uniquely artificial, plastic-y place, inhabited by pretend humans. If that's a problem for you, you're not going to like it. San Francisco has its own unique bullshit factor that you may also not like, but it's not the same culture as LA.

And the climate is getting worse (thanks to global warming).

Absolutely; in my experience there's nothing particularly unique or progressive or "weird" about the city. It talked a big game, but didn't deliver most of the time. Personal perspective and all, but I came up with an attitude of hustling to make stuff happen, putting in work, and that city just didn't share that kind of perspective.

I think the "weird" in the "Keep Austin Weird" is immediately south of the river (but not so far south that you get to the cheap, big houses). I think the food trucks started there, for instance, and it seems to have a lot more older places with a little more "feel". Most of the software development happens in north Austin, which is definitely not "weird." I almost never went south of the river, but it always felt a little different when I did.

Between the University, the anecdotes about life on KUT, the food trucks, the transvestite running for mayor every year, places like the Alamo Drafthouse, Rudy's, and Chuy's (all places with a very distinct atmosphere), the city has a very different feel from what you see in many cities.

Yeah I know SoCo pretty well, and I did spent quite a bit of time bopping around into small shops or meeting up for food and stuff. It's definitely a different vibe than North of the river, I agree. I think a lot has to do with the dated architecture, as in, there's not much new around there and people are happy to keep it that way.

One thing that I didn't mention but thought important (at the time) was Austin was one of the first places in Texas to institute a smoking ban. In restaurants, I thought that made sense - both as a former waiter and cig smoker - but when the ban started applying to bars and live music venues, I thought it was stupid. Oh, so I can kill myself with this poison water, but off to hell with the stinky, heavily sin taxed tobacco? Pffffft. That right there clued me in that Austin couldn't be the live music capitol anymore, because musicians like to drink and smoke, and the ones that don't can play coffee shops or church camps, of which there are plenty of in Texas.

And while I do have fondness for Alamo Drafthouse, it was kind of a one-off thing. Rudy's isn't remotely close to the best BBQ in the area (Franklin's) and Chuy's is, well, tongue-in-cheek referred to as 'white-people TexMex with extra grease' because it's just kind of middle-of-the road. This is kind of the overall issue with Austin, in that it's got this image and reputation of being unique and clever, but really, the things it's known for aren't actually top flight. Austinites pretend they are, but long time Texas residents know better.

But all three of those restaurants are chains all throughout Texas now. They all may have started there, but Austin is just flat out not weird anymore IMO.

My favorite quote from the article: “A lot of people, especially from California, say, ‘Texas? Why the hell are you in Texas?’ But I am generally happy to wave the flag and say, ‘No, I am not here under duress.’ I actually like it here. And we appreciate the sense of the Southern hospitality. You don’t get the sense that everyone needs to be coddled and taken care of. You get the sense of gumption.”

This is why many of us live in "flyover country".

I used to live in California, and now live in Austin.

Have to agree w/ other commenter, there's actually a pretty surprising overlap in personality types between the two places. Maybe Austin skews a little younger (both biologically and socially).

However... Texas is for materialists, hands down. You don't go there for natural splendor or the climate. The beach is a turd, and you're surrounded by 500 miles of polarized right wing fundamentalists in every direction. But it's centrally located! Which means you will be flying/renting a car to leave town, period.

California is for people who value quality of life, and are willing to pay every penny they have now and forever, to approach it, to the point that they have no quality.

After these and other living arrangements, I'm done with population centers. Give me a rail connected village please.

"You don't go to Texas for natural splendor" sounds exactly like what a California transplant to Austin would say because they can't ride their bike to the Hill Country, the pine forests of East Texas, or the Trinity River in North Texas.

As an East Texas native who's now in California... sorry, Texas has some pretty vistas, but there's no comparison to the Sierras and California Coast.

God, I miss good Mexican food and TexMex though.

Never said Texas surpassed California in the nature department, but to claim Texas is devoid of natural beauty in such a blase fashion is just ignorant, methinks.

Pretty much. I'm in Fredericksburg. There are other places and they all have their positive virtues, but not much better IME.

Austin really isn't representative of, well, nearly anywhere else in Texas.

This has good and bad aspects.

Dallas is trying (and failing) to emulate Austin right now in many ways.

For what it's worth, Austin is one of the most liberal places in texas. I don't think its a good comparison.

Sounds like you have not explored Texas enough.

- your friends at the Texas Board of Tourism

You don't go there for natural splendor or the climate.

Said like somebody who's never watched a thunderstorm roll in over the plain.

The beach is a turd, and you're surrounded by 500 miles of polarized right wing fundamentalists in every direction.

You go to church much? How much time have you spent actually in small towns, chatting up folks?

People like you are why Austin sucks: cookie-cutter upper-middle-class self-righteous pricks who think they've moved to the mecca of cool and haven't realized that they're chasing the same sort of vapid materialist views of self-worth they decry so much.

Texas is for people who know how to make a living, form communities, and soldier on.

ha, wow, living up to your handle! There's some Texas hospitality! Knives out!

For certain values of cool, Austin IS the mecca, but I have no use for it in my life.

You can soldier on through the allergies, drought, heat, toll roads, and endless expanses of private property, I'm moving on.

To your latter remarks. That just sounds like "life" to me. For instance, if you were moving on to, say, California, I'd tell you to enjoy the astronomical cost of living, relentless taxation, real drought issues(most of Texas is drought free as of this year), catastrophic earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires...

Texas isn't really flyover country, at least in my book. Texas and California love to hate each other but they are culturally similar in a lot of ways (large states with geographic/cultural diversity where most of the residents have a ton of pride and feel like they live in the best state in the nation). And then of course there is Austin which is arguably the "coolest" city in America right now and has Californians moving there by the truckload...

True flyover country to me is places that nobody really cares about, like Kansas (I'm being flippant, but really, there are some states you can almost forget about if you don't have a connection to them...).

It's fitting that they're so similar, since both states seceded from Mexico and then formed republics.

Flyover country is everything between the east and west coast IMHO. Texas is largely a place neither liberal cost cares anything about, just like Kansas and all the other crazy red states found in fly over country which is little more than a euphemism liberals have for conservative states.

I have to agree. I just don't see why every tech company wants to be in California. If the Internet is suppose to make it easier to communicate and collaborate across the globe the surely it's just as easy to do said communication and collaboration across the continent.

Primarily the money funding everything wants you to be in California. They want you in or very near their network, for all sorts of obvious reasons.

You'll see statements like this: "Q: Do I have to be in California / Silicon Valley? A: No, uhhhh, but, uhm, well it's extremely preferable." They're being polite when they say you don't absolutely have to; what they mean is, you have to be a particularly incredible opportunity if you're not.

Yeah, it seems obvious but for me it seems their network is probably half the problem with the tech industry. It's a bit of an incestuous relationship where new ideas are passed by because it's not from SV. Eventually, it's going to bite them in the butt when some other upstarts finally beat them at their own game.

I agree in principle, but why does that end up being embodied by the likes of Rick Perry and GW.

Rick Perry was a good governor, he does not get enough credit for roping in the number corporations to Texas. I understand the Corporate Welfare argument, I have to say though in spite of his political rhetoric, Rick Perry is a good governor. GW, on the other hand rode the wave of Republicanization of Texas, because the blue-dog democrats were severely marginalized by the National party.

Texas is a very diverse state and the metro areas in Texas are more vibrant and diverse than a typical East Coast metro. Its not Texas that is backwards, but the people who are stuck up with their mental image of Texas.

Where's your evidence that the fact that Perry was the governor was a key factor (if at all) in the success of Texas during his time in office? I doubt his position in office did little to contribute to the Texas remaining economically prosperous during the recession (economic diversification and energy profits were primary factors).

Additionally, while Texas does have an diverse makeup, it takes little advantage of the fact (my money would be on how segregated those metros are [1]). One of the most impressive things about Houston and Dallas is the fact that they have so many cultures with so little culture of their own. There's nothing outright offensive about them (beyond maybe sprawl and corporate culture), but compare them to other major metros and they're just simply adequate.

If you're not looking at Austin stick clear if you're in your 20s and early 30s, but if you're starting to settle into things it does rise above the image most hold of it.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/08/us/census-race...

The story of Perry working overtime using Texas Enterprise Fund to lure businesses is known to many who are interested in local economics. I live in North Texas and make trips to Houston, and the way things were 10 years to today, in terms of Economic development etc is evident if you pay minimal attention. He was governor for 14 years, and that is too long time for someone in that position of power to be on auto-pilot. Is he lucky, perhaps, the economic conditions were favorable, but to tell me that there is no connection between a Governor and his State is ludicrous.

I disagree with Dallas and Houston lacking in Culture, I really do not know what exactly you mean by culture then. Adequate is a bit snobby but I guess to each his own.

Rick Perry may have had successful economic policies, I don't know but I'll take your word for it. What I was thinking was that he is a social conservative ideologue, like GW, like Greg Abbott. That's the batshit crazy part of the state that you just can't change no matter how much you dress it up.

Now, if only he could convince them to move some of their hardware work here... :P

> In fact, as he continues he leans forward and seems on the verge of standing up

I always stops on sentences like this one and admire the writing.

We should have the technology to do VR acceptably now, although display technology and tracking technology both needed an upgrade. The problem remains, what do you use it for? If there's a killer app for VR, it hasn't been invented yet.

Also, the headgear needs to be far less clunky. Samsung is making progress in this area. The Oculus Rift is as bulky as some of the 1990s headgear.

"“It was a binary thing,” he says matter-of-factly. “We didn’t get into suborbital space within the 10 years; thus it was not a success.”" I had to read that sentence twice. I saw "binary" and didn't think 10=ten.

Binary outcome - a success or not a success

What is good (and inexpensive) kit to start doing things with VR?

Google Cardboard (or one of the many versions thereof- I prefer the C1 Glass)

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