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robg

31,764 karma · joined March 30, 2007

I'm a neuroscientist examining how the human brain enables how we think about the world. Think of our brains as computers (a thought itself!). Then add up all of the computers you've ever owned. Reconstruct the gaps in their use. Consider, rather than electricity, their power comes from food, sleep, and emotion. That's your brain - the computer with more memory than you'll ever know and more precious than anything you'll ever own.

Dad, Neuroscience, Technology.

Top color: 3399ff

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robg··on The militarization of Silicon Valley
Wasn’t the birth of Silicon Valley funded by military resources?
robg··on The Problem with Teens Isn't Smartphones–It's Their Families
I’ve been looking at our school district’s data (top 10 by size in the country, almost 200k kids) and kids aren’t sleeping enough, and tech use is likely a big driver. Less than 20% of our 12th graders report getting 7 or more hours a night of sleep. The pediatric recommendation is 8-10 hours for those 12-18 years old (9-12 hours for ages 6-12). Sleep deprivation is well-documented as linked to mental health concerns like ADHD, anxiety, and depression. Sleep is how the brain washes away gunk (see also the glymphatic nervous system).

That said I have little doubt that less aware families are not enforcing sleep times as much as they used to. The moral panics on TVs and video games came with the advent of the tech then hung around for decades. People knew that kids awake late at night was bad for them. With phones, how many high schoolers have them in their rooms next to their beds? How many of us do?

robg··on They Paid $3,500 for Apple's Vision Pro. A Year Later, It Still Hurts
The cameras they use for MLB look exceptional. I’m really surprised they haven’t done more in this direction. Sports get better ad revenues than scripted TV.
robg··on They Paid $3,500 for Apple's Vision Pro. A Year Later, It Still Hurts
This. I know TVs don’t have great margins. But OLED plus a great UX would seem to generate better margins in Apple loyalists than those folks buying Samsung or LG or Sony.
robg··on We quit our Big Tech jobs after hitting #1 on HN and Product Hunt
Have you considered scrapping HN, LinkedIn, Reddit, etc posts? I used to play with semantic algorithms and it’s pretty cool how quickly you can show someone’s voice and content vectors and how they relate to others.
robg··on Show HN: I built a tool to manage and compare credit card rewards
Please don’t make me login to see a simple comparison of existing cards. My thought process:

1. Seems interesting, ok, I’ll try to search

2. Login

3. Nope

robg··on Scientists uncover how the brain washes itself during sleep
Nedergaard (lab head here and main findings of this effect since 2012) is going to win the Nobel for this line of research. When I got my Ph.D. 20 years ago in cognitive neuroscience we knew three main deficits to a lack of sleep but couldn’t connect them mechanistically: 1) loss of daily performance metrics 2) increased risks of mental health concerns 3) increased risks of cognitive declines

The glymphatic nervous system, like any great scientific theory, unites disparate findings under a common mechanism. Not getting enough sleep is akin to not running your dishwasher or washing machine long enough, the gunk accumulates.

And for all the parents out there, pediatric recommendation is 10-12 hours a night for kids 6-12 years old and 8-10 hours a night for kids 13-18 years old.

robg··on Dumb TVs deserve a comeback
Just turn off the privacy invading features. LG’s options are pretty great, I’ve seen little bloat, and get the native apps for streaming services just fine.
robg··on Ilya Sutskever NeurIPS talk [video]
The ones that stand out to me are industries like pharmaceuticals and energy exploration, where the data silos are the point of their (assumed) competitive advantages. Why even the playing by opening up those datasets when keeping them closed locks in potential discoveries? Open data is the basis of the Internet. But whole industries are based on keeping discoveries closely guarded for decades.
robg··on Managing High Performers
Even the best performers need structure and guidance - a coach. Without coaching, high performers can meet all sorts of suboptimal fates…

Why don’t tech companies generally employ coaches? Yes you can get an “executive” coach, but not widely and really depends on the culture for the perceived purpose. Coaches aren’t widely available for helping people using (and not abusing) their brain’s gifts every day.

robg··on We All Scream for Ice Cream
Try a can of coconut milk and a cup of pecans or cashews blended in 4 cups of water. It’s a good vegan base. Inexpensive and most flavors can be layered on top.
robg··on Functional ultrasound through the skull
I don’t know how much is public, the method I’ve seen “bounces” around and aims for a more global effect. Like a sonicare for the brain. No idea if it will work long-term as intended, but seems worth trying.
robg··on Functional ultrasound through the skull
Awesome! I know of efforts to leverage focused ultrasound to shorten sleep cycles and improve mental health. There’s so much more possible in neuroscience, great to see this work is gaining steam.
robg··on How to Train Yourself to Go to Sleep Earlier
Are they getting enough sleep? If they need an alarm clock, they aren’t. I was surprised that less than 20% of 12th graders in our large metro county report getting 8 hours on school nights. The AAP recommendation is 8-10 hours a night for ages 13-18, that’s just flights less than the 9-12 hours for ages 6 to 12. Deep sleep can be enough to survive but it’s not enough to thrive (for most people).
robg··on How to Train Yourself to Go to Sleep Earlier
Neuroscientist here, been teaching my kids since they were really little to power down: lights off, slower and slower breathing, time to say goodnight to our adventures and thoughts as we’ll have more tomorrow. They are consistently asleep by 7-ish.

Curious if anyone here was taught how to fall asleep by their parents or school? We teach our kids so much, but we don’t seem to teach the importance of sleep as well as we teach the importance of brushing your teeth or nutrition.

robg··on Dookie Demastered
Basketcase on a Big Mouth Bass is exactly a world I want to live in.
robg··on The fight to save Chile's white strawberry
Costco has had these recently as pineberries. So maybe they are at-risk in Chile but not at-risk of being cultivated elsewhere.

As for the taste, like a mix of strawberry and pineapple. Solid but not worth the added cost over strawberries.

robg··on Ask HN: What are you working on (August 2024)?
What does your personal daily checklist look like?
robg··on Ask HN: What are you working on (August 2024)?
What are you curious about?
robg··on The River, the Village, and the Fort: Nate Silver's New Book, "On the Edge"
Nate’s take on Silicon Valley is that “to make all of this work, you need a symbiosis between two often-clashing personality types . . . risk-tolerant VCs [investors] . . . and “risk-ignorant founders.”
robg··on Mapping Hacker News to find who knows what in the HN community
We'll look into this, thanks!
robg··on Mapping Hacker News to find who knows what in the HN community
Thanks so much, this is exactly how we feel!
robg··on Mapping Hacker News to find who knows what in the HN community
Thanks, we’ll take a look!
robg··on Mapping Hacker News to find who knows what in the HN community
Right now it does end up representing quantity + quality than just quantity alone. How can we do better?
robg··on Mapping Hacker News to find who knows what in the HN community
Ha, I had the same thoughts! We’re working to do better, would love your feedback.
robg··on Mapping Hacker News to find who knows what in the HN community
No.
robg··on Mapping Hacker News to find who knows what in the HN community
Very interesting, thanks!
robg··on Mapping Hacker News to find who knows what in the HN community
Interesting! Seems creepy to me too, as you can find it would love to understand how we can do better.
robg··on Mapping Hacker News to find who knows what in the HN community
Thank you!
robg··on Mapping Hacker News to find who knows what in the HN community
Thanks! I'll ask Wilson to say more in our next update.
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