Two Things

[6ren]

"There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things" - Phil Karlton http://people.famouswhy.com/phil_karlton/ (NB: "hard" things)

While we're being flippant: Every problem in computer science can be solved by adding another level of indirection - except for the problem of too many levels of indirection

[jasonkostempski]

and off-by-one errors http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TwoHardThings.html

[Tichy]

Hate to break it to the HN crowd, but for most subjects there are really more than two things you need to know. This article is nonsense.

[kevinh]

I don't think you read the article. It is only saying that there are two things you need to know in jest. If you looked at the article, you'd see that many fields, such as CS, have more than one set of "two things" that you need to know.

[jacques_chester]

I think it's meant to be humorous, perhaps a light-hearted source of insight.

Boiling complex fields down to flippant levels of brevity helps the summariser to develop deeper understanding. It can also save a lot of time.

See also: "Desert island" lists of books, movies, music, art, software etc.

[dsr_]

Startups:

Your product must be something people want.

Your product must be something you can make.

[philwelch]

I like the concept, but some of the particular examples posted here are questionable or just plain wrong.

[ISeemToBeAVerb]

Agreed, I like the concept but much of the responses are just flippant. There are a couple useful gems in there though.

[zdw]

Two things about Hacker News:

1. You will spend too much time here

2. You will discover noprocrast

[jpdoctor]

1. You will discover noprocrast 2. It won't make a difference.

[gfodor]

Two Things involved in making life changes, like exercise or learning:

- Do it today

- Repeat

[gm]

The answers in the article are pretty cool, except for the programming ones. Just like in programming, people try to get cute with conciseness and end up making pretty unfunny jokes. Once you have heard the word "idiot" in anything having to do with programming, subsequent mentions are yawners.

But the whole idea of narrowing down everything to two core principles is awesome; so +1 from me, certainly.

[gmisra]

I suspect that "the answers are pretty cool, except for <the ones regarding the subject I know a lot about>" is itself the most common reaction.

[dreamyogi]

On life (from the movie "How Do You Know"): 1. Figure out what you really want. 2. Learn how to ask for it.

[cgs1019]

Set Theory:

1. ZF

2. C

or

Set Theory:

1. Everything is a set

2. Not everything is a set

[ZephyrP]

Axiom of Choice has been on shaky ground for the past 50 years and really only continues it's existence through inertia. The second one has some deep wisdom in it though :)

[Clanan]

Worth reading for this:

The Two Things about Biology: 1. Evolution is the process through which genetic structures that are better equipped to reproduce viable copies will tend to proliferate. 2. Except for the Platypus.

[morsch]

Obviously the premise of "two things" is fairly ridiculous, but I bet it's an interesting thing to ask people at parties. I cannot stand party small talk, and the most fun I've had socialising with strangers were when I ask them straight questions like these.

Another thing I ask people, just out of curiosity since it's not insightful at the same level, is to just go through their average day. Sort of like a bottom-up description of their work/study/whatever live, instead of the top-down answer you get when you ask "so, what do you do".

Some people may think it's weird, though.

[zeynalov]

Dentistry:

1. Everybody hates Dentists.

2. Dentists hate everybody.

[AznHisoka]

#1 is true until you have unbearable pain and he gets rid of it for u

[ZephyrP]

Mathematics:

1. Everything you thought you knew about the fundamental structure of the universe before will only make you ashamed.

2. It's all just vanity

[pazimzadeh]

For Biology, "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" is wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recapitulation_theory

Instead I would say: 1. Some things can replicate better than others. 2. Things replicate imperfectly, causing change over time.

[envane]

When I got to that quote, I laughed and stopped reading. This list has clearly not been fact checked.

[akazackfriedman]

Wow, I've never seen an article both prove and disprove itself so well simultaneously.

[twopi]

Two things about The Game:

1) You are playing The Game 2) You just lost The Game

[alanfalcon]

1) 391. 2) XKCD is your friend.

[discipline]

MIT graduate I met 30 years ago told me he had a professor tell him that there are 3 things in life:

  1. things divisible by 3 
  2. things not divisible by 3
  3. other things

[twiceaday]

Brevity is the soul of wit.

[cwe]

Brevity is... wit.