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eager_learner

31 karma · joined April 13, 2025

learning makes me happy. =======================
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eager_learner··on John C. Lilly on solid state intelligence and the elimination of man (1978)
Welcome.
eager_learner··on Man and the Computer by John G. Kemeny (1972 book by the co-creator of BASIC)
Thanks, though late.
eager_learner··on John C. Lilly on solid state intelligence and the elimination of man (1978)
The isolation-experiment-based research is not new and didn't originate with Lilly. AFAIK, it was first recorded (and possibly also originated) with Avicenna (Abu Ali Ibn-e Sina is the full, correct name).

And he was not an Ayrab (Salmon in his intro CS book claims Al-Khuarezmi was an Arabic scholar--which is false and made me lose all respect for Salmon as an educator. If he got such an elementary fact wrong, what else is there that could be incomplete?)

PS: Yes Alkhuarezmi wrote in Arabic, but he was not an Arab. All classical Persian scholars at the time were fluent in Arabic as it was the lingua franca of science, medicine, philosophy and theology.

eager_learner··on How I use LLMs to learn complex topics
i had Bolt create an interactive app teaching me Oberon language but despite several attempts to fix issues, there were still glitches in unexpected places. So the experience was... meh.

Then I went back to a book written by humans (Eric Nikitin's "Realm of Oberon").

eager_learner··on Note-Taking and Personal Knowledge Management
yeah, it smelled Slop.
eager_learner··on Go 1.27 Interactive Tour
you mean like in Oberon?
eager_learner··on How to Do Great Work (2023)
exactly. if you don't like it, don't read it.
eager_learner··on They Stole Your Attention
Oh, by the way, it's grammar, not grammer. ;)
eager_learner··on Man and the Computer by John G. Kemeny (1972 book by the co-creator of BASIC)
Comments like yours is the main reason I read HN.
eager_learner··on They Stole Your Attention
it took me 11 seconds to realize it was AI slop.
eager_learner··on Completing a computer science degree on Coursera
Antony Trollope says in 'Eustace Diamonds' that he feels in a lot of professions, experience creates more competent people than mere learning. (Rough paraphrase). In other words, you don't get to be truly competent unless you are earning that experience!
eager_learner··on Is sunscreen the new margarine? (2019)
the culprit is not the sun-- but overdoing it. If you overdrink water, it is fatal, too.

The sun is responsible for benefiting over 200 processes in the body. And you don't need to be out in the sun all day to get the benefits (if your job does not demand it).

eager_learner··on Dostoyevsky isn't difficult
I'm reading Trollope these days. There's a massive difference between the two authors. Trollope is more psychological, focused on relationship dynamics (at least in the books I've read so far, such as "He knew he was right").

A bit dull at the start but it quickly ramps up and escalates to pitch fever excitement. Can't wait to see what Lizzie would do wrt to her diamonds. :)

eager_learner··on Dostoyevsky isn't difficult
Eh... I don't think a man capable of such poetry to be that asshole. He says as much in the second preface. I think he may have used the narrator in the first part of the novel as his own mouthpiece.
eager_learner··on Dostoyevsky isn't difficult
have you tried 'A hero of our time' by Lermontov. Upon reading it, I felt really sorry the author died an early death. I have not felt like that about any other European author.
eager_learner··on Everything is logarithms
Appreciate it :)
eager_learner··on Everything is logarithms
Thank you very much!

I love book discussions and especially by someone like you (and Keller, who in the dedication to his Pascal book has: "to my father, who taught me the importance of learning, and to my mother, who taught me the importance of not doing it all the time."

Btw, to thank you, I'll share this hidden gem that will help making learning smooth and fun: "Learning & Memory" by W. Wickelgren-- I've seen dozens of books on this but only this walks the walk (the author practices cognitive psychology to make his book easy to learn from, and to remember).

Have a good day,

Eagga

eager_learner··on Everything is logarithms
care to share the name of the said book?
eager_learner··on Pre-2022 Books
Thank you for your book. It was exactly what has been missing in Ruby landscape and what I wanted. BTW<, also, nice last name. :)
eager_learner··on Automating my job away
It seems the author left in a hurry because he had a lot of new laborious and menial tasks to attend to. :)
eager_learner··on Organic foods are not healthier or pesticide free
That you are using ad hominem (indirectly) proves I am right-- otherwise you would have used counter-arguments with details.
eager_learner··on Organic foods are not healthier or pesticide free
Exactly. Also, it doesn't even mention the fact that when a crop becomes dis-organic (or unorganic), it's no longer food since the taste and texture changes somewhat. The change of taste is a good indicator that you're eating poison. Or at least, it has no health benefits. Organic crops may have pesticides too, but at least they are still health-giving food that may counter some of the effects of pesticides. With inorganic, you are hurt twice: the chemicals and then the food itself offers no benefits.
eager_learner··on Elixir v1.20: Now a gradually typed language
whats so excellent about it? i tried their ruby, swift and python tracks and i was left with a meh. i tried 30% of the Ruby path for instance and its just "do this" and " if you get stuck here are the docs".... and it calls itself " a learning path", there is nothing to learn.
eager_learner··on AI job grief: A psychological crisis hitting tech workers
I agree. It is human slop and as soon as it said REDDIT, I was like oh come on, I don't even use Reddit.
eager_learner··on From Rust to Ruby
My experience tells me. You are disagreeing with me, but you don't give negative vibes in your comment. The other comment sounded too negative:

<< I lost all interest >> << why would I bother >> << putting any thought into it >>

It could have been worded neutrally and still convey the same points of disagreement. Interestingly, look at their other comments, they are all contentious.

I was also experimenting psychologically, to see what reactions I would get.

eager_learner··on From Rust to Ruby
you sound jealous :)
eager_learner··on Nobody cracks open a programming book anymore
what's so good about it? I bought it as well, but I have yet to start it (I'm stuck in some other books for now).
eager_learner··on Nobody cracks open a programming book anymore
what a beautifully written essay!

no AI can write it like this.

the same will apply to software. You just wait and see the day when disclaimers like 'No AI involved' would be a signal of high quality, especially for software on which lives depend.

eager_learner··on Python 3.15: features that didn't make the headlines
:) I use Python as well-- so i am not anti-Pythonic in any strict sense. However, I don't like culltification of technology, be it Python or whatever else. Have you tried F#? It gave me a very good experience.
eager_learner··on Python 3.15: features that didn't make the headlines
Thanks, that makes sense. I agree.
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