A Brief History of Dangerous Ideas | Hacker News Reader

A Brief History of Dangerous Ideas

weblog.raganwald.com

123 pointsraganwald32 comments

This is the first time that I've had a sinking feeling inside when somebody announces the end of their blog.

Reg, you said things that resonated with me in ways that I couldn't say them. Your blog had top priority in my reading list. I almost feel like a kid learning how to ride a bike and suddenly realizing that my dad has let go of me. There will be a hole in my information stream that can't be replaced.

Thank you for the insights, humor, and powerful reasoning.

Thanks, although--to be very frank--I'd rather be the kid that introduced you to skateboarding or your weird cousing that listens to a lot of Jazz music :-)

Reginald, I will greatly miss reading your insights. I may not be a Ruby developer, but your feed has been one of my favorites ever since I discovered it.

Good luck being dangerous.

Make something people want? The hell with that.

Make something DANGEROUS.

You will be missed, Reginald. Great blog.

Once again I see I could have expressed myself far more succinctly. Make something dangerous will be on my new tee shirts :-)

Can I have one too?

Brevity is overrated. And make sure you send me a link for those shirts! ;)

I was thinking "another solid post from reg". Then boom, didn't see that coming. It's too bad it will be his last. Looking forward to seeing what's next. Keep us posted, Reg.

Raganwald, your history is backwards. The simple longbow was successfully used by English peasants with decisive, history-changing result against French knighted nobility at Agincourt and Crecy.

http://www.stortford-archers.org.uk/medieval.htm

My suggestion (borrowed from the linked essay) is that figuring out how to put peasants to work killing knights is not dangerous, it's just a way to shuffle which nobles win the battle.

The dangerous thing is when peasants can kill knights all by themselves, without anyone leading them or organizing them or training them. Rather than England vs. France, you are suddenly looking at Monarchy vs. Republic.

Or Monarchy vs. The Reign of Terror!

Anyway, I neglected to add my regrets that you are leaving blogging. I hope you'll change your mind as you figure out the next big subversive thing and at least clue us all in. Best of luck!

Happy bastille day! (a week late)

While not a Ruby hacker, I've enjoyed reading your posts as well. I hope that, when you do pursue something dangerous, you will write about that as well.

Wow, that's upsetting. Midway through the article, I decided to subscribe there and then. The outro was quite the kick to the crotch.

@Reginald: Thanks for what I am sure will be a great set of archives to dig through if this post is any indication.

Raganwald, your writing kicks ass. I wish I've mastered this language well enough to disagree with some of your points [regarding obsolesce of VCs] properly.

Have fun in August!

whew, I'm sad to hear you go, but at the same time, moving on to other topics isn't a bad thing. We all grow, one way or another. I hope that if you end up discovering a dangerous idea to talk about or explore, you'll start blogging about it and let us know. til then.

Hmm, why is the iPod/iPhone counted as only one idea? There's a lot of strong arguments for counting them as two. Especially interesting since the number comparison is made to Miles Davis who is said to have 5 ideas.

take your pick:

1. iPod Touch/iPhone is like a Macintosh, only smaller; 2. iPod Touch/iPhone is like an iPod, only more sophisticated; 3. iPod Touch/iPhone has something in common with a Macintosh and an iPod, but it is its own device in its own category, it transcends its parents.

If you go with #3, it deserves its own number.

I had to leave a lot of ranting out, but if you're looking for more material, I actually consider iTunes to be the strongest candidate for another Jobs-led hit. It is dangerous in its own right, and the music industry seems to hate it almost as much as they hated the "rip. mix. burn." ads for iMacs.

In that case, I think you really need to give at least "the tie" to Steve. Not only does #3 sound the best, but you just argued him another point for iTunes.

Please help yourself:

http://www.blogstorm.co.uk/cut-and-paste-one-line-of-code-to...

Just because you're being subtle doesn't make you any less rude.

Perhaps a better argument against: Are all dangerous ideas of equal value? How would you compare a reinvention of Jazz with iTunes? (A more polished and legal replacement of the original Napster.)

Ah, I see now. You meant the score as just a tongue in cheek thing.

I absolutely meant the score as a tongue-in-cheek thing, which is why I tried to keep my response to you in the same spirit. I had no intention to offend!

Outside of having a laugh--supposedly at Steve's expense--I wouldn't try to compare the two men in any serious way.

Reg I will miss your posts, you were one of the developers out there that constantly challenged and inspired me to be a better programmer. Your thoughts and explanations will be missed.

Fantastic post Reg. Insightful as always.

I hope you'll still hang out here. You're one of the people that make this site great. :)

Please don't take down the homepage. I love your blogs and plan to read them all finally but it will take some time.

Reginald, consider pontificating online about your new hobbies/passions/dangerous ideas (wreck diving et al)?

I've been climbing for a good long time and diving for a few years. There honestly isn't much to tell, it has always felt like a terrible stretch to try to compare programming to one of my hobbies. Whenever I do it, I always ask myself, "how is this simile different from comparing programming to building a bridge?" And then I delete it all and start over.

I don't have a great dangerous idea, but to use a more folksy analogy, I want to be a Jedi that builds his own lightsabre, but not a lightsabre technician.

I don't have a great dangerous idea, but to use a more folksy analogy, I want to be a Jedi that builds his own lightsabre, but not a lightsabre technician.

Great ideas are not had alone, though! Why not blog about "lightsabre building", and work off the community feedback?

Or about a lightsabre building. It would be the most dangerous building on the planet.

I was hoping that e-gold would subvert the status quo.

Looks like I will have to keep waiting:

http://stakeventures.com/articles/2008/07/22/the-man-finally...

Paradigm shift. Market disruptor.

Reg's phrasing was more exciting and romantic, but yes, that's exactly what he's talking about...

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