Video Of The Week: Paul Graham in 2005

[rpm4321]

One of my favorite pg videos is the one where he's being "heckled" at Defcon 2005:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Lb8ZgQP74

I don't know why, but there's something sort of inspiring about rolling with the punches and then going on to keynote PyCon.

[natch]

Interviewed by a guy who doesn't know how to do audio.

Unfailingly repeats every single question so we can hear it.

Respect.

[matiasb]

Otherwise... subtitles.

[matiasb]

Yes!

[rmason]

The most useful piece of information was don't spend all your time studying successes but study failures. I had to personally learn that one the hard way.

Every startup wants successful founders as advisers. Theres nothing wrong with that. Yet people who failed can provide just as valuable if not more valuable lessons. They're also a lot easier to get time with than the startup all stars.

[KedarMhaswade]

Coincidentally, I had run into it recently. I wanted to ask pg the following:

- Around 12:30 you say that there is a combination of 3 things that drives hackers: 1) the desire to get rich (so they could be "free") 2) the desire to "make something" 3) the desire for "power". If that is still your observation, then how does it relate to the change in YC focus to admit a nonprofit startup? I mean, by definition, shouldn't the hackers doing a nonprofit startup give up on 1) above?

[pg]

The reason they want to be free is to work on what they want. If someone starts a nonprofit that they expect to be their life's work, they've achieved the same result (though perhaps with a bit more risk).

[coherentpony]

Interesting.

I must admit, when he says, "Ummm," it really annoys me.

[pg]

Yeah, it is a problem. Sorry. I should remind myself not to do it when I'm giving talks or being interviewed.

[read]

I realize you notice it but it's certainly not unusual. President Obama does something similar [1].

"the intellectual stammer signals a brain that is moving so fast that the mouth can't keep up. The stammer is commonly found among university professors, characters in Woody Allen movies and public thinkers of the sort that might appear on C-SPAN but not CNN."

If that's what umming really means it wouldn't annoy me at all to umm more.

Umming could also be the symptom of an additional mental load. Such speaking disturbances occur once in every 4.4 seconds [2], which suddenly makes me less worried and more tolerant about how people sound when they speak.

[1] - http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/26/opinion/la-oe-daum-o...

[2] - http://www.themorningnews.org/article/in-the-beginning-was-t...

[SurfScore]

I guess pg chose to pursue YC instead of that kickass goatee...

[o_s_m]

When you are young, "Do stuff that's hard."

Don't cash in.

[wellboy]

The most mesmerizing "Hummm" I know. :)

[kpapke]

As I am working on my startup today, I found the interview very relevant and insightful. I wonder how much of that information has changed for 2013 if at all?

[non-sense]

In a was I liked that the interview did not focus in one particular direction. It had nuggets of wisdom spread all over!

[wyclif]

Matches Seglousy will love this one.

[wyclif]

Are people still upset because Matches was hellbanned? Wow.