Is the Ballmer Peak real? (2011) | Hacker News Reader

Is the Ballmer Peak real? (2011)

skeptics.stackexchange.com

24 pointstosh18 comments

The name "Ballmer Peak" is a Physics nerd pun.

In atomic physics, "Balmer peaks" (with one L) are real physical phenomena, referring to peaks in the emission spectrum of hydrogen (named after the 19th century scientist Johann Balmer). Randall Munroe of XKCD fame was certainly familiar with this when he coined the phrase "Ballmer peak".[0]

[0]https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/323:_Ballmer_Peak...).

Certainly, since Ballmer was about as far from a coder as possible and I always wondered why his name was chosen. This makes sense finally.

He might not be a coder, but he was very good at math though.

EDIT: forgot the word 'math'.

From his Wikipedia article "Ballmer, the first in his family to graduate from college, attended Harvard University ... He graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in applied mathematics and economics in 1977."

He's certainly more accomplished even before joining Microsoft than most of the HN pundits that mock him.

no drinking and commenting on the internet, steve...

Alcohol has been suggested to improve a foreign language practitioners foreign language speaking abilities (https://time.com/4989850/alcohol-foreign-language-speak/)

Specifically, it seems that it lubricates one's ability to utilize the vocabulary one has already learned more fluently (possibly by removing some anxiety/inhibitions?). I believe it was not suggested to have an effect on comprehension.

Perhaps this can translate to programming languages as well to some extent?

Anecdata: I live in a high-alcohol, high-language barrier environment in which I've got a limited but workable grasp of the local tongue.

Getting smashed really does help, I've had great nights drinking with dudes who don't speak a word of English. I've always put this down to lowered inhibition.

I've never felt my comprehension, grammar or vocab improved, just that my conversation partners and I were committed to getting hammered together, and persisting was the focus of the evening's entertainment for all concerned.

In a sober situation, you're much more likely to give up.

I tell language learners that being brave is the most important way they'll learn. I have friends who have practiced English from a young age in cram schools until college, but they are still too timid to speak it.

Despite their excellent reading ability, I feel like what really separates them and someone with high fluency is simply being willing to practice their spoken. I'm sure alcohol could help someone overcome that.

More recent result from SIGBOVIK https://www.sigbovik.org/2024/proceedings.pdf p. 48ff shows a more gentle peak at 0.05 BAC.

I know it's mainly a joke but...

If I stop working at my desk to go out for some drinks and return to my desk afterwards, this hopefully also means that I stopped thinking about desk-problems for a while.

I found solutions to problems which we're blocking me when I left my desk countless times on my way back.

So there might be some kind of Ballmer Peak which isn't directly caused by alcohol consumption, but by a break from thinking about a problem.

And it's kind of obvious that I stop caring if I'm past "some drinks" and just go straight to bed. So there's definitely some upper BAC threshold to the peak ;).

Try doing the same routine but drinking water instead, i suspect it's the walking.

The best side project code I've written, is on a Friday night with 2 beers.

After a whole week of meetings and writing documents (manager duties), all I want is to get cracking on the thing I've been thinking for an entire week.

The answers seem to focus on rather different things… the ability to come up with a goodish answer quickly in a no-harm situation like a quiz is one thing, the ability to reliably avoid accidents while doing something complicated like driving is another.

In Microsoft culture, the "Ballmer peak" at least used to refer not to BAC, as this article implies, but to the point where MSFT stock prices stopped climbing (under Gates' leadership) and collapsed before flatlining (under Ballmer).

Oscar winning movie was made about this

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt10288566/

Yes. Particularly for anybody named "Ballmer".

I personally think that I only get worse at programming when I drink even a little, and quickly stop caring.

On an unrelated note, some folks started a distillery in Lakewood, Colorado, and they named it Ballmer Peak after the XKCD. :)

Another thing an Apple Watch cannot measure.

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