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anotherhacker

442 karma · joined June 5, 2012

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anotherhacker··on The coming long-run slowdown in corporate profit growth and stock returns [pdf] (2023)
Not quite. This behavior leads to firing of middle-class workers. John Deere just laid off 300 workers, moved the factory to Mexico, engaged in buyback, and gave the CEO a huge pay.

So, yeah, it helps your 401k, but in the mean time you don't have a job. And if you do have a job, your salary is not increasing in line with inflation...

anotherhacker··on Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution
I read the article.

It’s bad advice.

Here’s a famous paper on why:

http://www.sympoetic.net/Managing_Complexity/complexity_file...

anotherhacker··on Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution
Terrible advice.

You shouldn’t “fall in love” with anything

Everything is always changing. Consumer “problems”, their goals, their constraints.. its all changing, all the time.

Instead, commit yourself to delivering progress to consumers, and adapting to what that entails

anotherhacker··on Many famous scientists have something in common: they didn’t work long hours
You're conflating knowledge work with manual work.

Knowledge work requires the brain to wonder...to explore a problem and possible solutions freely.

Michael Jordan wasn't trying to create anything new, he was trying to develop a physical skill. Physical skills are made via repetition.

Things like stress and distraction destroy knowledge workers. This is something every experienced engineer knows.

anotherhacker··on Ask HN: Does anyone here have an art degree?
I have a BFA.

I taught myself programming (C++) when I was 15 (1995). I made simple puzzle games on my Mac.

The internet got big and I got into HTML and JS.

I didn't go to college for Computer Science b/c it sounded like I'd end up wearing a white coat and working at IBM.

I went to Art School b/c it was the closest thing to programming. Programming and Art are the same in that you create something from nothing.

When coding became "cool" (2004 ish) I picked it up again.

anotherhacker··on Why isn't there a Google for the law?
>Why isn't there a Google for the law?

There's no (or little) money to be made doing it.

Maybe in the future when collecting and modeling such knowledge is cheap. For now, it's not cheap.

anotherhacker··on Management theory is becoming a compendium of dead ideas
I wouldn't say that Taylorism is why those workers succeeded.

I'd say that those workers were successful in spite of Taylorism. Don't fall into the trap in thinking that just because a methodology was applied, that it contributed to success.

The best evidence I can give in support of this is Deming:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehMAwIHGN0Y

anotherhacker··on Management theory is becoming a compendium of dead ideas
Yep... and it all started in the 1920s with Taylorism - the idea that management could be a scientific process.

Taylorism is why, for example, some companies still use lines of code written as a measure of productivity.

anotherhacker··on Management theory is becoming a compendium of dead ideas
The problem lies in business schools and degrees like the MBA.

Check out the faculty list at Harvard Business school [link below]. I randomly looked at profiles of 14 of them and not a single one had real world business experience. If there are any who do have real world experience, it's often superficial.

To carry on this article's analogy, business schools are the Catholic church of 1500: incestuous, detached, and self-serving.

Harvard Busisness school faculty: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/browse.aspx

anotherhacker··on No Spanking, No Time-Out, No Problems
Anyone who writes this kind of stuff needs to disclose that:

1) They are a parent. 2) They have used their suggested technique on their own children.

anotherhacker··on Silicon Valley is right to be worried about a Trump presidency
Paul Graham was very much in support of increasing immigration. But Peter Thiel - by supporting Trump - is signalling against it.

Does a Trump presidency discourage immigrants from coming to USA to work & start businesses?

anotherhacker··on [dead]
Mark Suster is a respectable, thoughtful person.

Joel Spolsky also lends his support to what Mark says.

https://twitter.com/spolsky/status/793438357267308544

anotherhacker··on Peter Thiel: I’m voting for Trump because
The topic before was "Should YC disassociate from Thiel from YC?"

The argument from YC was (more or less) "businesses shouldn't let political differences stop people from working together."

Here's my question to the YC community: At what point does the activities of an employee / partner bring potentially unwanted attention to a business?

Yes, I wouldn't fire an employee for having different political opinions from me. BUT I would fire an employee for going around publicly campaigning and publicly donating vast sums of money to a political agenda.

Again, it's about bringing potentially divisive attention to the business - not about political differences.

anotherhacker··on [dead]
>Socialism does not say anything about the political system. Socialism is about economics and welfare.

Definition of Socialism: "A political and economic theory of social organization..." (via Google)

When a government enacts socialist policies, it is considered Socialist. Why? Politics is the mechanism by which economic and social policies are implemented and enforced.

anotherhacker··on [dead]
Hitler was a Fascist / Authoritarian, not a Socialist.

This confusion about Socialist vs Fascism is common because - as you point out - they enact similar policies, e.g. high taxes.

There are numerous differences between the two. The biggest has to do with the relationship between the state and the individual:

In a Fascist / Authoritarian regime, the individual is subordinated to the state. E.g. "The state knows what's best for me. I'll do whatever they tell me to do." That's why Nazi = "National Socialism..."

In a Socialist government, the state is subordinated to the individual. This is also sometimes referred to as "active state liberalism". E.g. "The state exists to ensure we all live a happy life that enables us to pursue our own interests." France is a good example of this.

These are in contrast to what is called "classic" or "minimal state" liberalism. A liberal will say "The state exists to make sure that no one oppresses me, but it's not the state's responsibility to take care of me". This is the original version that comes from Locke, Mills, F. A. Hayek...

anotherhacker··on Peter Thiel to Donate $1.25M in Support of Donald Trump
Is this a problem for the Y Combinator Brand?

I remember when Brendan Eich was forced to resign as CEO of Mozilla because he donated $1000 to a campaign to block gay marriage.

Paul Graham has called Peter "eccentric, but earnest." but now he is actively supporting Trump with a great deal of money - many times more than what Brendan Eich gave.

Related:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12097606

https://twitter.com/paulg/status/785792413797199872

"Paul Graham: SOPA Supporting Companies No Longer Allowed At YC Demo Day"

https://techcrunch.com/2011/12/22/paul-graham-sopa-supportin...

anotherhacker··on Lawsuit: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer led illegal purge of male workers
"I'll never again work for a company who has institutional performance review processes."

Deming's 3rd deadly disease: Annual rating of performance. “It is purely a lottery”

https://youtu.be/ehMAwIHGN0Y?t=298

anotherhacker··on MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs
"Depends on what you mean by 'making it' as a startup "

Making it = profitable and no debt.

As odd as that may seem, a great many companies don't do that. E.g. Uber (for now).

anotherhacker··on Distressed ravens show empathy
This is compassion / responsiveness, not empathy.

Empathy = mental simulating of how an action will affect another.

Compassion = a desire to help another.

Responsiveness = the ability to recognize changes in someone's emotional state, and then develop and engage in a course of action based upon that change.

More info: Heinz Kohut - Reflections on Empathy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ6Y3hoKI8U

anotherhacker··on Tesla envy grips Germany’s giants
Thanks.
anotherhacker··on Tesla envy grips Germany’s giants
I don't understand. Can you say that simply?
anotherhacker··on Tesla envy grips Germany’s giants
"Tesla loses money on every car they sell"

What data do you have on this? How is such figure(s) being calculated?

Your claim also doesn't jive with the "Secret Tesla Master Plan":

"The strategy of Tesla is to enter at the high end of the market, where customers are prepared to pay a premium, and then drive down market as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model."

https://www.tesla.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-j...

anotherhacker··on Tesla envy grips Germany’s giants
"We have to earn money at the end of the day though."

Yes...but you can't build the products of tomorrow when you're primarily focused on selling the products of today.

anotherhacker··on Minister Noonan Disagrees Profoundly with the Commission on Apple
"Following discussion with the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance will now seek Cabinet approval to appeal the Commission decision to the European Courts. Ireland has a period of two months and 10 days to bring an appeal. The Government will now study the decision of the European Commission in consultation with its legal advisors to prepare the grounds for an appeal. "
anotherhacker··on A Message to the Apple Community in Europe
Don't blame Apple, blame the tax laws.

i.e. don't hate tha playa, hate da game.

anotherhacker··on Why professors, pundits, and policy wonks misunderstand the world
An easier explanation: variation.

Systems can be tremendously complex. There are countless unknown and unknowable variables in play. Moreover, the interactions between those variables can also be unknown and unknowable.

The intellectual world (academia) is based upon professors and schools who can teach the "right way" of doing things and thinking. That's how PHDs work--you have to come up with a "new" idea to get your PHD. As you can see, it creates a conflict of interest.

It would be much better if academia taught simple principles, variability, and how to think.

anotherhacker··on We Should Not Accept Scientific Results That Have Not Been Repeated
You've totally lost sight of the issue at hand. Now you're talking about things utterly unrelated to this discussion.

It seems you're more interested in dicing up and attacking what I said, instead of what I mean.

I'll re-articulate it for you once more: We don't have a way to mathematically prove a drug for depression or to explain psychological phenomena. The studies in the article are talking about those which rely on empirical observation.

Go home.

anotherhacker··on We Should Not Accept Scientific Results That Have Not Been Repeated
Interesting points. I still disagree, or perhaps I'm not doing a good job explaining.

My point is this: Something is true whether one accepts it or not. E.g. the earth was proven to be round before anyone actually went around it.

Another example is climate change deniers. To them there's no proof of; 1) Climate change; 2) That it's man made.

Another example is people who believe the earth is 10,000 years old (I'm not joking millions of ppl believe this). They will deny any evidence you put in front of them.

That's the beauty of maths. If you can prove it mathematically, it's true. Whether or not you believe it is irrelevant.

anotherhacker··on We Should Not Accept Scientific Results That Have Not Been Repeated
Did you google it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_proof

You're missing the point of what I said w/ the Einstein example. He proved it via maths. Whether or not it was empirically validated is irrelevant. It was true mathematically

Today, this cannot be done with fields like medicine and psychology. No one can create a mathematical proof for a cure for cancer, make a treatment based upon that proof, and have it work on the first try

anotherhacker··on We Should Not Accept Scientific Results That Have Not Been Repeated
The difference is maths. E.g. Einstein proved his theory of gravity mathematically, THEN it was proved via empirical observation.

We don't have a way to mathematically prove a drug for depression a psychological phenomena.

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