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Comment by anonzzzies | Hacker News Reader

I learned 10 finger typing when I was 8 in school (42 years ago), and have been glued to computer since then ; if I write something, or even sign something, it is complete gibberish, even to myself. To me it looks like those last stages of dementia scribbling, but I know that's not it because it was like this since I was 12 or so; my teachers couldn't read my writing and it affected my grades.

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I’m the same way, and between that and the fact that I can type 120+wpm, makes me angry every time someone expects me to write something. Making dirt smudges on dried tree pulp is as archaic and outmoded as carving marks into bones, and in my view has no place in modern society outside of art.

> in my view has no place in modern society outside of art.

For a lot of use cases I agree, but no place is to ... abrupt in my opinion. Computers for sure have a multiplier affect in many cases. But when you really want to think something trough it's advised to slow down. For those cases paper and pen is the perfect medium.

And I have a personal preference when making notes with pen and paper about hikes and climbs I'm working on/doing. But that's just me

> But when you really want to think something trough it's advised to slow down. For those cases paper and pen is the perfect medium.

Or chalk on blackboard/marker on whiteboard. A marvelous way to get thoughts flowing that just don't seem to otherwise.

I’m pretty sure most modern mathematics research takes place on pencil and paper or chalkboard. It’s too tedious to typeset everything in the research phase. It’s also way harder to draw little diagrams or new invented notations on the computer.

If mathematics was as young as programming, it wouldn't use any fancy symbols and make everything ASCII compatible. Though that wouldn't solve diagrams...

Same goes for my signature, I almost get anxious when I have to sign something on paper.

No worries, signatures are expected to illegible scribbles.

Funny how it almost becomes its own language, legible only to the subconscious

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