jargnar

A few years ago, I read a book called "Postcapitalist Desire: The Final Lectures". It was the first book I've ever read that follows a very enjoyable format -- a series of conversations between a professor and his students. It made me feel like I was in their classroom too. I enjoyed this format so much back then.

I'm a long time programmer, and recently I've been doing some iOS programming. It suddenly occurred to me today that it'd be great if there was a book-novel which simulates an engaging classroom, and takes you into that world of professor interacting with students.

So, I asked the latest Gemini to write me one. I'm still reading it myself, but I got so excited about it that I'm sharing it here! :-)

Simply, as a meta note / rational argument's sake ->

Let's assume X (Smith) makes statement S (X -> S). A few hundreds of years later, Y (Graeber) makes statement S' that refutes S and says Y -> S' and negates ~ (X -> S). Now what I'd expect is a Z, that counter-refutes Y. For example, Z -> S''. Instead, you're going back to saying yeah, we all know X -> S, so how can Y -> S' be ever true...

A starting point for ideas on rational arguments etc is https://www.lesswrong.com/library

I'd totally agree with you had Graeber not been an influential anthropologist (wherein one academically studies human activity, culture, trade, economics, social structures, institutions etc. from a rigorous historical lens)

> Graeber misinterprets the history and ideas of mainstream economics

Can you provide a well researched body of literature that counters Graeber’s thesis as opposed to just stating an opinion?

Lots, but these 3 points stand out for me:

* that there are too many things to build and too little time, so don't code for the sake of coding, but solve problems and touch more lives

* that I could have supplemented my coding skills with business skills, and built something that made me money

* that life is short, and coding isn't the only thing to do

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Bonus tip: strong CS fundamentals, math > new hip language, new framework

It's a skill that can be learned like every other skill. You can take the "in 21 days" route or the MOOC / University course route, or constantly read business articles, Steve Jobs videos, etc.

But some top tips stand out for me over time:

* Talking to people, networking > Not talking to people

* Bug free > Elegant code

* UX > UI

* Simple products that do one thing well > Complex products

* Understanding entire market > understanding some people

* Building brand > Making quick money (for the long run)

* Sleep, exercise & healthy food > late night coding

* Solving your problem first > Solving the worlds problems

* Adaptability, pivoting > Ego

* Knowledge of where the money is > No knowledge of it

* Overestimating cost/expenses > Underestimating it

* Patience > No Patience

* No procrastination > Procrastination

* Reading books > Not reading books

The beauty about street food in Bangkok is the people. I visited Bangkok recently [1], and absolutely loved the place. Most of the street vendors were warm, welcoming and showed genuine interest in the food that we liked rather than being touristy rip offs. Definitely would recommend visiting Khao San, Chao Phraya and the usual suspect places of Bangkok.

One more thing: If you're there, try the coconut ice cream, available in plenty around Chao Phraya. Such a delight.

[1]: https://suhas.org/bangkok/

A very real, slightly non-obvious problem is the size of the Indian population itself. There are so many people here that, competition is a stronger emotion than community. To an extent that sometimes it is considered normal to put someone else at risk for your benefit, while self-empathizing along the lines of "Hey, if I don't do it, someone else will stamp on that person to move ahead in life."

Competition is everywhere.

- Want a seat in a University? Compete with, literally a million others for just one seat.

- Want a train ticket to travel within India? Login to the IRCTC exactly at 8 am, and pray that the next 5 seconds is your lucky time.

- Want to travel via local train? Hang on to the windows outside (Mumbai).

Too many people that -- it is dangerously becoming almost culturally normal to prioritize your life over someone else's. Combine this with the corrupt administration, and poor infrastructure... and it is painful to think about.

We're forgetting humanity at the cost of too many humans to compete with.

That being said, there are definitely people who do help. Helpful people in India are in fact, extremely helpful. I've received help myself. But these days, the probability of that happening is perhaps decreasing.

Yup, I wrote a C++ implementation of the entire thing during my compiler class. https://github.com/jargnar/graph-coloring

Fun times!