tommychillfiger

Damn, that sounds like an ideal place to live for me. I live in an apartment but also play music. I would love to be able to set up a drum kit (and maybe store an e-bike) and still be in my walkable area for cheap ish rent.

I'm not an expert at all but have also thought about this quite a bit. Neuroplasticity is definitely reduced in adults, but so is free time and exposure to novel inputs. As we get older, a higher proportion of experiences are routine or at least things we've seen before, and we have far less free time. We are also increasingly behaving based on biases we accumulate and familiar patterns and just not using the parts of our brain we use for learning as much anymore. I often wonder if it's partly a kind of atrophy and whether you might be able to restore some neuroplasticity by "practicing." A related idea that occurs to me is that as you get older and learn about the world, you tend to trade curious openness for useful heuristics to some degree just to make life easier and more efficient.

The easiest example for me is learning guitar - I started when I was 5 and got pretty damn good over the years. It would be difficult to repeat that now in my 30s, but at least part of that difficulty would be because I can't really devote 3-4 hours a day nearly every day to it like I did as a bored kid out in the country. To be clear, I'm sure the differences in neuroplasticity come from both behavioral and neurological differences. It's just fun to think about how much is set in stone and how much could theoretically be "exercised" so to speak, and how much of the neurological changes are actually due in part to the behavioral changes as we age.

Mine is a 2012 MBP. I am only just now seeing real performance issues; until about mid last year it worked as well as the day I bought it aside from some battery degradation (I put an SSD in it around 2018). Pretty excited to upgrade and hope I can get at least 5-6 years out of a new MBP. This was my first MacBook, and 12 years of use is pretty insane value.

I'm primed to agree as I like running, and running appears to increase mitochondrial function and density. It also appears to have some anti aging effects, which would track.

Okay, this is a useful example as it's salient for me. Especially as a relatively recent pivoter into tech, I've been willing to jump on whatever is needed and generally am able to figure things out and make it work. In my current position, at a small SaaS with layoffs and churn, this has led to me basically owning 3-4 roles' worth of tasks. Mostly completely unrelated to one another and very stressful due to the constant context switching. I appreciate your perspective here, this is something concrete I can work on.

I'm generally someone who sees honesty as a virtue and have always been fairly open, at work and in my private life. I'm curious if you can expand on this a bit - i.e., why is it a disadvantage and what sort of pitfalls can it lead to? I've been in analytics for a few years now, and it seems like it has mostly been an advantage for me, but it's certainly possible I just don't know what I don't know.

LOL, agree. I can't think of one without the other. South Park is absolutely iconic - incredible that they've done what they do for so long with as much consistency in quality.

At great risk of sounding completely ignorant, this approach is basically what I thought the point of machine learning was - cleverly using feedback loops to improve things automatically. The thing that sticks out to me as particularly cool about FunSearch is the use of programs as inputs/outputs and the fact that they managed to automate feedback.

I'm pretty naive in terms of granular understanding here as I am barely proficient in Python, to be clear, but when I daydream about things you could solve with machine learning/AI, this is the approach I always think of and I guess is how I thought it already worked. Load it up with the best information we have currently, define the desired results as clearly as possible, implement some form of automatic feedback, and let it run iteratively until it produces something better than what you had before.

Is this a case of "well no shit, but actually implementing that effectively is the hard part"? Is it being able to quickly apply it to a wide variety of problems? I guess I'm trying to understand whether this is a novel idea (and if so, what parts are novel), or if the idea has been around and it's a novel implementation.

This was perhaps my favorite line as well. Maybe a bit of a goofy example, but I think this is why I have enjoyed my weird discord community so much for years now. I don't really know these people, and for that reason I can be and express myself in a way that's not bound to the social identity I've already built up among my "real friends." I've told those people things I haven't told anyone else, and I've developed parts of my personality there that I sometimes bring with me back to my "real life." It's an interesting thing.

I have no idea how strong (or not) this trend is, but I broke into tech from a nontraditional path without knowing anyone. First job at a local company, so possibly some hometown advantage, but my projects and willingness to learn / being personable / general competence conveyed seemed to be what got me hired there. Second job - different company in a different state, no connections at all. I was hired even though I was fully remote until I moved (I had wanted to move to that city to begin with). Wasn't a huge deal as they are fairly remote friendly and I only go to the office once a week now that I live here, but it was still a disadvantage compared to local applicants.

It is certainly possible that I'm just lucky or good at interviewing, but even if this trend is largely true, I hope that people won't be discouraged from applying to roles they find interesting and think they could be a good fit for just because they don't have any connections.

I think one of my greatest professional gifts, especially since getting into tech, has been that I'm naturally personable and can get along well with pretty much anyone. It doesn't have to - and usually doesn't - get into personal stuff. I'm just sorta jokey and lighthearted while still getting my shit done. It has only been a benefit to me, personally and professionally.

I can't see how making people more comfortable talking to and collaborating with you could really be a negative, but everyone has different priorities I suppose.

God I totally agree with this sentiment. I'm certainly not expert enough to know if we're better or worse off with all of these ridiculous financial instruments, but it sure seems like a bunch of bullshit designed to fleece people. It feels like money and value have been separated, if that makes sense. A lot of this stuff really just feels like it's designed specifically to create a gradient of information so that those in the know can make money off those who aren't. A lot of it also just feels like ridiculous betting to me which feels wrong given the stakes.

Useless hand waving comment here, but I agree generally that it just feels way too difficult and complicated to work hard at an honest job and pay for a decent life. And I have it way better than most. Can't imagine what the hell I'd be doing right now if I was still a sound guy or barista.

Not to be disrespectful but this is a fairly ridiculous take lol. That is not a ton of running to be honest - there are weekend warrior 5K-10K guys in their 40s and 50s who run 50-70 miles per week and you'd have to really be stretching your brain to try to argue that they're not healthy. As with anything, you have to be gradual in conditioning yourself to run that much, but that amount of running is certainly sustainable. I will grant that it's easy to overdo it when first starting running and hurt yourself, but that's a somewhat different topic.

I personally like to take one rest day, but it's not necessary if you adjust the intensity throughout the week to account for never having a full rest day.

A factor that I've slowly started to think is potentially very relevant is age of first habit formation. Not just a puff here or there, but the age at which you were first addicted. Extremely anecdotally, I have asked people and noticed that all of my friends who can't quit started much younger in their formative years than the types who can smoke a few when drinking every now and again but otherwise abstain with no issue.

I'm a pretty fast typist (also guitarist - maybe related?), and I did a speed test with my coworkers for shits and giggles not long ago. I got 110wpm with 100% accuracy although it was a fairly simple prompt. Some semicolons, commas, and quotations, but nothing crazy. I would definitely say it feels like I am typing nearly (but not quite) as fast as most people speak. The benefit for me is honestly handicapped by the fact that most people can't type that fast so I don't save any time when actually communicating with others since I have to wait for their response either way.

That being said, I don't think I would code anywhere near that fast. Maybe years later when I'm far better at it than I am now. I probably type around 60-70wpm if I'm writing some basic SQL where I know what I'm looking for, I would guess.

When I was in college, it definitely was helpful being able to type quickly so that I could workshop ideas and phrase structures in papers more or less in real time. I honestly almost never wrote drafts, I'd just revise as I went along in that fashion.

Just dropping back in to say I started this show after reading your comment and am enjoying it quite a bit. Very imaginative and beautiful animation. Thanks!

Running has pretty much changed my life completely - very good stuff. For all of the snake oil out there promising ridiculous benefits, consistently running anything more than about an hour a week is as close to the real McCoy as I have ever experienced.

I can't give specific advice as there are just so many factors at play, but I'll offer that it has to do with what you're used to and what you're conditioned to. I started running after a long history of skateboarding in very thin shoes. I end up with pain in my knees and even my arches with thicker shoes - I say this as it is somewhat counterintuitive to make the point that it's not always true that more cushion = less pain.

Aside from that, be very gradual in ramping up mileage and try to feel for wasted motion/effort/impact. There are tons of "form cues" people get caught up in, but just trying to be efficient in your use of energy to travel forward is what has been generally helpful for me in developing a stride that doesn't get me hurt. Your mileage may vary, of course.

I did audio production for about 10 years before pivoting into tech, ha! Live sound for work, but I'm also a musician so I've spent my fair share of time with Logic Pro. It's funny because I also want to dig more into synths, I've always been a guitarist and have thus far only used soft synths mostly due to not having the money to play with nicer equipment. Now that I make good money, I haven't found time to circle back to it. Very high on my wish list is a nice analog synth and maybe a physical sequencer. I find that what happens to me is the futzing around with the DAW gets between my idea and getting it recorded - I've done some solid work at getting channel strip settings and templates built out to minimize this, but at the end of the day I need some more equipment. It really is a ton of fun, though. It's as broad and deep as you want to make it, not unlike software more generally.

This is awesome to hear. I took trigonometry and business calculus 1 & 2 in college, but that's a far cry from what I'd need to do anything interesting with ML which I'm interested in trying.

I've bought a few textbooks for statistics, math, and data engineering - I'm in the middle of getting my life together in terms of habits and time management so hopefully I'll be right there with you doing what is essentially remedial math for someone in their 30s, lol. I know it will be exciting once I make space for it and get into a rhythm. Cheers!

Feel this hard. I feel like I did well during unemployment while the Covid lockdown played out. I was an audio engineer before that, and during lockdown I ran 30 miles a week, made a lot of music, learned some Python, managed to pivot into tech (analytics). Still, it never feels like I'm really doing anywhere near as much as I could - that was all pretty much 3-5 hours a day with the rest being more or less pure leisure and rest.

Part of me is tempted to buy into the idea that the human animal just isn't naturally inclined to do more than a handful of hours of difficult or "productive" work in an average day. I honestly have no idea whether I'm normal or not, but I agree the pressure I put on myself probably isn't ultimately helpful most of the time. It's hard not to feel like others are getting way more done, and even harder to tell how much of what is presented is authentic.

Bit of a side note on grains being "God's true food" - I read a book about the formation of the earliest states (Against the Grain by James C. Scott) where the author argues basically that grains prevailed as states developed because of their suitability as a currency for taxation compared to other staples like potatoes/root vegetables. Grains are usually harvested all at once at predictable times (so harder to lie to tax collectors), have a relatively long shelf life, and are easy to weigh/standardize. I believe they're also more laborious to grow which might benefit a fledgling state trying to maintain control over its subjects.

The author has a noted anarchist bent, but definitely an interesting read and that take is kind of a funny parallel with the "God's true food" rhetoric.

What! That is an incredible coincidence to run across your comment in the same week I've been thinking about that. I can only imagine it is a monumental undertaking - I personally filed it under "cool ideas I'm hopelessly incapable of attempting for now," as I'm currently just an analyst/half-ass analytics engineer (pivoter) with far more enthusiasm than skill at programming.

Would be glad to hear more about it - your basic approach, some of the biggest challenges, whatever it might be. Shoot me a message if the mood strikes!

EDIT: just created my account recently and did not realize there is no PM functionality on HN, doh.

Yep, that is my mistake - on a second read I can see that I misinterpreted what you were saying and agree with your sentiment.

Seems like you're agreeing with the person you're replying to. They said the article advocates for avoiding best practices for small projects, and then they provided an example of when they did that - they avoided a "best practice" because it wasn't really practical or important for the task.

I love this one! It has occurred to me that while there is a wealth of information online, there is perhaps even more information in print that takes a staggering amount of work to digitize and organize sensibly. It's very interesting to come across someone actively working on a project like this.

An idea I had recently that's vaguely related is that it would be really cool to try to put together a massive product information catalog/database. Maybe it could be maintained similar to Wikipedia in terms of editing/review/adding new content - the idea being that it should be as objective, unbiased, and complete as possible. The impetus for this thought was of course that I hate advertising and on some level think it shouldn't even exist, so I was thinking of what an alternative might look like.