robmerki

SFDT was the first online community I was a part of. It was a special time on the early internet. I feel so lucky to have been a very small part of it.

Unfortunately there is no way to combat this, and it seems like the end of the internet we once knew. Even with a “proof of human” technology, people could still just paste whatever AI-generated text they wanted, under their “real” account.

This has likely been going on since the first ChatGPT was released.

Exactly the same reaction. I realized these kind of people don’t actually care about technology. They’re not engineers. They don’t love the industry or the impressive human achievement. They see tech as a vehicle to power. It’s all a power game.

My most prominent memory of Jason was seeing him park his Tesla in the “no parking” zone in front of the building where his startup conference was happening. My boss at the time thought it was “so badass”, but it was so obviously an arrogant elitist LARP by an insecure man.

The older I get, the more I see through this awful behavior.

Hype cycle slop reminiscent of Business Insider, etc. Reminds of me engagement bait threads on Twitter which always include the “thread” emoji and the downward pointing finger emoji.

Even if the story is fiction, the author has certainly come across the exact same type of embezzler that I have.

As far as I can tell, these type of fraudsters are deeply wounded narcissistic people who were utterly twisted by their caregivers as children.

Thrilled to see some love for History for Granite. That and Ancient Architects are fantastic if you’re a specific type of history nerd.

I wrote a book about adult ADHD that has been well received by many HN oriented folks, but never quite took off as its own post.

Here: https://adhdpro.xyz/

Distractions usually happen when you’re not satisfied with the other things in front of you. Of course nothing is black and white, but that’s what I’ve found.

I wrote a book on ADHD that quite a few HN users enjoyed: https://adhdpro.xyz/

I spent ~$2700 on a new mattress. I no longer wake up with hip or lower back pain. My sleeps are an order of magnitude better.

I ended up with a Tempurpedic. I spent about 2 hours trying every mattress at the store and bought the one that felt best. There’s probably a million hacks to get that mattress cheaper, but I regret nothing. One of the best purchases I’ve ever made. It also came with 2 “free” memory foam pillows, and my random neck pains are also gone.

Thanks for buying my book! I think you’ll do just fine with your doctor. If you want to chat about that, please send me an email :)

This entire article was born from conversations I was having when doing research for my book on ADHD (https://adhdpro.xyz/), so it’s a pretty strong correlation I would say :)

Wildcard burnout will be the next article

Sorry

Many people who I met while writing this article told me they don’t want the full blown responsibilities of being a founder. They just like doing lots of different things. But ultimately, you’re right.

This is a superb point. I’m going to add something like that to the article.

Combining that with the feedback loop of being insanely wealthy can only spell disaster. Being ultra rich is a disease.

I've had many of the same struggles. After a while, I just embraced it. My friend and I came up with the term "Wildcard Person." I enjoy using the label myself.

This might resonate with you: https://wildcardpeople.com/what-is-a-wildcard-person

Can you please make a newsletter to sign up for? I would love to follow your progress. I have wanted an app like this for a long time!

I have tried every supplement/herb/nootropic you can think of + more. I've also asked this question to many of the folks I interviewed for my book about adult ADHD.

The only thing that was directly effective was prescription stimulant medication (in my case, a low dose of Vyvanse).

The biggest impact outside of that was lifestyle design, self forgiveness, and an array of the "healthy lifestyle" choices you've mentioned.

I truly empathize with your quest for a helpful supplement because I've had the same curiosity and have done the same search, but to no avail.

Even more frustrating is that you'll find some studies that vaguely point to some vitamin that "helps boost focus in those with ADHD!" But once you dig into the data, the "results" are some insignificant "boost" & are generally just a side effect of study participants getting better sleep/less anxiety/etc.

Feel free to email me if you want to discuss/rant/chat about this more: rob [at] adhdpro [dot] xyz

This is absolutely amazing work. I have been searching for something exactly like this for quite some time. I am beyond thrilled that this now exists. THANK YOU.

It's easy to forget that blogging before Medium was mostly ugly & slow WordPress websites. I am grateful that Ev & team were able to push online writing in a better direction.

Unfortunately Medium slowly turned into a incredibly frustrating & hostile user experience. I haven't purposely clicked a Medium link in many years because of it. I empathize with how difficult it can be to generate revenue from online writing, but I wish they figured out a better way.

Truth. I learned this the hard way with my first book.

This is a low effort "gotcha" way of dismissing the real feelings of humans who are struggling to reconcile their deeply held desires with what they perceive in media.

This is a good question to add to my survey.

My suspicion is that these women feel as though their desired gender role(s) are being ignored or dismissed by media.

The only quote I have on this subject: "If all you see on TV and the internet is successful women CEOs being celebrated, you start to feel like that's the only way to be correctly feminine."

Several of my interviews veered into this territory, but I regret not pressing more into these feelings.

Good catch, I corrected my comment.

I'm writing about dating/love/relationships since I haven't been single as an adult until now. I have a funny/unique perspective since I'm now almost 30 and brand new to the game.

Here are some of the answers that were 100% unanimous amongst the heterosexual women I interviewed:

- Men should take on all form of "handyman" chores ("it's so hot when he uses his tools")

- Men should pay for dates/meals (within reason - but the baseline expectation of a "man who can provide" is there)

- Men should not cry unless there is a "good reason." This is actually a more complicated answer, and I'm still trying to figure it out. When pressed, women said that men crying can be very attractive if grounded in emotional maturity rather than "childish crying." Again, still trying to figure this one out.

- Men should pursue women. Women find it unattractive if they have to pursue men.

- Women highly value men who approach them in public (in an appropriate environment). My follow-up question was: "what if they're not attractive?" to which they replied something like "it's fine as long as they handle rejection well."

- Women want men who are more confident than they are.

- Men should always "take the lead" in dating and even throughout relationships. My follow-up question was: "but at what point does equality or partnership come into play?" To which the common response was: "I like taking the lead sometimes, but I don't want to be the leader."

- Women prefer "dad bods" as opposed to "jacked" or "body builder" looking men. This article: https://nypost.com/2021/03/25/dad-bods-are-the-biggest-turn-... was used as one of the references. I would describe this as men who are physically strong but have 12-18% bodyfat. - Women prefer tall men, but "it's more of a wishlist item than a strict requirement"

These answers are based on a sample size of 15 heterosexual women and will likely have less unanimity once I'm done.

Some of them are quite obvious, but some of them were shocking to me because I've read a few too many "articles" from blue checkmark Twitter users which made me think traditional masculinity was an inconvenient character flaw rather than something women were directly attracted to and looking for.

I'll be sending out a few chapters in the coming months: https://theloveoncepromised.com/

Good observation. It's the purest form of intellectual laziness.

Just edited my comment, happy to expand further if you want me to.

I started interviewing people (across multiple different cities) for a new book I'm writing, and I'm shocked at how out of touch journalism has become.

I expected progressive / left leaning answers from late 20s/early 30s people. On issues like healthcare/marijuana the answers were what I expected. On issues of dating/love/gender roles, I found a far more traditional response from both men and women (including several who LGBTQ+). A total 180 from what my online reading has led me to believe.

Also, and my sample size is only ~30 so far, a total distrust/antagonism towards many feminist ideas. A common answer I received was: "I love the push for equal opportunities for men and women, but I desire [traditional gender role] and I dislike having to justify it to myself."

Does this resonate? https://wildcardpeople.com/what-is-a-wildcard-person