brittonrt's comments

brittonrt | 4 years ago | on: I need to stop being boring

After doing programming and being involved in startups for well over a decade, I decided I don't actually like coding nor startups anymore. I still have a company I run with my partners, and I still treat it like my 'job', but there's no passion there. Instead, I've discovered writing novels, music, and other artsy-fartsy stuff as my new passion of the last few years (it had always been a hobby, but I'm taking it much more seriously... not because it'll ever make money, but because I enjoy doing it!)

So my long-winded point is, I don't think there's anything wrong with this. Only you know what your interests are, but don't be afraid to follow them wherever they lead. If you aren't bored, you aren't boring.

brittonrt | 11 years ago | on: A Neuroscientist’s Theory of How Networks Become Conscious (2013)

This brings me to an interesting thought experiment I struggle with:

Most likely most people here would agree that if you make an exact copy of a person's brain, whilst leaving the original intact, it would be a new person, identical but divergent from the original. A new thread of consciousness by such definition.

But then, what if you destroy the original at the moment of copy? It would appear to the same.

But then, what if you replace each neuron one at a time over a period, maintaining the original network? This question is troubling because it brings into obvious doubt the integrity of our notion of consciousness. As it is in fact the case that we shed most of the atomic matter that constitutes us in a given year, we are clearly immaterial. Patterns.

So put plainly: should you copy your brain all at once, killing the original, are you a new person? But if you are: transitioning slowly piece by piece over time, which is what we observe in nature, this maintains the conscious strain? How are these different?

It's obvious to me there is something fundamental here we are missing. I welcome any insights you all might have had in similar thought experiments.

brittonrt | 11 years ago | on: Ask HN: 16-hour work week jobs?

The only correct work schedule is the one you are able to work out with your employers and customers which works for you and for them. If those conditions are met it's a legitimate schedule, even if it's only 1 hour a day one day a week.

brittonrt | 13 years ago | on: Postgres, NoSQL, or other...

Thanks for the reply. From what I understand, the schema I described is similar to what Reddit uses in their Postgres setup. You mentioned that I "won't be getting any of Postgres' advantages", what are some of the most important considerations that play into Postgres strengths? What are the primary advantages you for Postgres your referring to?

Thanks!

brittonrt | 14 years ago | on: Ask HN: Why is UX being so important yet so overlooked by businesses?

In my opinion there is little in the way of yardstick metrics for UX quality. I definitely do not think it's because businesses don't understand the importance. The existence of buzzwords like UX are in fact evidence that businesses recognize it's importance. But how do you subjectively quantify the quality of user experience/interface design? It's difficult at best for the smartest of us, as it inevitably requires both designing for the lowest common denominator (amongst your userbase) while at the same time streamlining for the most experienced of users.

In my personal opinion your assertion that it's overlooked by business is not really accurate... it's more that business people don't know how to approach UX design, nor how to recognize talent in UX design.

Just my 2 cents.

brittonrt | 14 years ago | on: Watch other people code

I really do like this idea, not because it does anything new (as other's have mentioned it's easy to do this on plenty of existing venues like youtube), it's more to do with the community you could build around this. If you could find a simple way to match users with coding sessions that are relevant to them, you'll have no problem building a community. You absolutely must allow videos to be stored (not just watched live), indexed, commented on, rated, tagged, etc if you want to make this useful, imho.

If I could go to site, search for "best way to write a y combinator in c++" or something similar and get videos showing people doing just that but sorted by user rating, I would be a happy boy! I love when other users do the hard work of telling me what's good and what isn't. :)

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