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kenster07 | 11 years ago | on: Uber ordered to halt transportation services in Germany

This is not about evaluating what is objectively better for the consumer. There is much less tolerance for the "ask for forgiveness, not permission" mentality in Germany than America, and this ruling proves that. If a competitor like Lyft goes into Germany now, plays by the rules, and shows respect to the existing order, I would not be surprised to see them welcomed and take a huge lead in Europe.

kenster07 | 11 years ago | on: Computer Science and Math

The fundamental problem is actually the arbitrary separation of the practical and theoretical. They should be informing one another.

Consider this: many great "theoretical" discoveries in history, including those in CS, were not theoretical at their inception. They were the result of people trying to solve practical problems -- not the product of a bunch of debt-ridden students trying to maximize GPA in an ivory tower. This cannot be overstated.

At the end of the day, the distinction between academic and practical is largely self-imposed, at least partially ego-driven, and probably highly inefficient for society as a whole. If you want "practical" people to engage "theoretical" problems, then make it practical for them.

kenster07 | 11 years ago | on: Startup vs. Corporate Life

The fact is that past X hours most people just aren't very productive

I agree with the sentiment, but people need to remember that the number 'X' is different for different people.

kenster07 | 12 years ago | on: Young people 'feel they have nothing to live for'

The article's title is quite link-baity. That being said, it is obvious that technology will displace more and more traditional human labor. Of course, unlike in the past, human labor becomes increasingly unnecessary to sustain said humans on a biological level. It's a trade-off, and the cognitive dissonance is the "traditional" (20th century, Agent Smith) model of human worth being rendered invalid by the realities of technological progress.

kenster07 | 12 years ago | on: Hiring for startups: You're doing it wrong

The article seems to subtly suggest that if you do not have an advanced degree [1], you do not have "brains." As someone who has "brains" but has chosen not to pursue and advanced degree, if I were working for the author, my reaction would be to question this person's judgment on several levels: 1) Implicitly putting down those who work with him who don't have advanced degrees. 2) Susceptibility to autobiographically-based irrationality, aka too much Koolaid.

Why is this an irrational viewpoint? Sure, someone who has an advanced degree is unlikely to be dumb. But as any remotely educated person should know, it does not follow that someone who does not have an advanced degree is not smart.

I think the obsession with advanced degrees is fascinating though. Do people really believe that getting an advanced degree will make one a more productive web developer? Are the years spent getting that advanced degree remotely comparable to years of meaningful industry experience? Or comparable to using the countless online resources to educate oneself in topics that are directly applicable to web development?? Hint: no.

[1] "Brains don’t matter as much as resilience in your first couple of years as a startup. I borrowed a lot of money to put myself through one undergraduate and two masters programs so, yes, it hurts to write that."

kenster07 | 12 years ago | on: The Bubble Question

That's a bit of an overstatement. Many purchases are time-sensitive to the extent that expected deflation would have to be very high.

kenster07 | 12 years ago | on: What should a self-taught programmer study?

"The idea that you will learn more in industry than in a CS degree only applies if A) you are in a shitty CS program or B) you aren't trying hard enough to learn anything."

Disagree. If you learn more in 3 years of college than you do 3 years on the job, you are a shitty employee.

kenster07 | 12 years ago | on: Ask HN: any advice for someone changing career to become a software engineer?

I disagree. If this person is a good abstract and technical thinker, he should be able to make the leap if he is sufficiently motivated.

You absolutely do NOT need multiple years of CS undergrad to have a sense for scalability. If you open your mind, you will see that world history is chock full of systems that have scaled -- they just don't happen to be written in binary or backed by CS degrees. And I would say that these historical systems share more similarities than you would think with scalable computer systems.

In order to be good at this kind of thing, one just needs some sense for abstract thinking -- which countless non-programmers have, we are actually not unique in that regard -- and if you are adequately dedicated, a few weeks (or a few months at most) of study time to understand fundamental algos and data structures. After one has an understanding of it, it will certainly take more time to become practically comfortable using said concepts, but that's what entry level jobs are for.

kenster07 | 12 years ago | on: The Richest Rich Are in a Class by Themselves

I would argue that the wealthy are doing what they have an incentive to do, which is to hoard wealth. The problem is, rather than their wealth "trickling down" throughout the economy from their clouds, it is sitting in their bank accounts or estates, earning interest. Can you blame them? They are simply adapting to the incentives put in place by our economic system.

Rather than make any dead-end accusations about wealthy people being good vs. evil, the focus should be on altering the system such that people are given the right incentives to do what is best for the economy as a whole.

kenster07 | 12 years ago | on: U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

I think it is worth pointing out that for the vast majority of people, there still a level of 'belief' required for the modern science, not unlike the religions of old. There are very few laypeople equipped to think critically about, let alone verify, most scientific theories. As a result, they have to take it on faith that the "priests" (in today's world, scientists) are correct.

kenster07 | 12 years ago | on: Abstract Ideas Don’t Deserve Patents

There is clearly no reason for software patents. To look at this issue from another angle, consider the following.

What was the reason for creating the patent system in the first place? To give people an incentive to invent new things: if someone invests the time in coming up with something novel, the legal system would give a temporary monopoly in return.

But in today's world, clearly one would imagine the vast majority, if not all software would have been invented as is, without the incentives that patent protection provides. When one contrasts this with the well-known downsides of software patents, the outcome should be clear: abolish them.

kenster07 | 12 years ago | on: How Sleep Deprivation Drives The High Failure Rates of Tech Startups

I think the desire to work as hard and long as possible is admirable -- but if the long-term result is lower real productivity, then it's ultimately futile and counterproductive. The flip side is, some people can pull this off occasionally, and a few can do it more than occasionally.

Oh, and the article does not support the title at all.

kenster07 | 12 years ago | on: Monsanto Owns Us: The Monopoly of Seeds and Intellectual Property Rights

Well, there are separate issues at play:

1) In a market economy, monopolies should generally be distrusted and prevented whenever possible.

2) There are people who are unsatisfied with the claimed (lack of) health effects of GMO on human consumers.

3) There are people who are unsatisfied with the claimed (lack of) effects that GMO seeds could have on the broader ecosystem.

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