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"Deals fall through."

At Justin.tv, Emmett has a framed picture of pg with this caption.

It's true that I didn't make any effort to soften what I said.

If your understanding of the nature of things was largely formed more than 200 years ago, chances are that it's wrong.

I've been down voted, but I only say this because it's been the case in every one of the (literally) hundreds of discussions I've had on the topic.

ason Ask YC: Are you religous?

That'll be the case in anything where people have strong attachments.

ason Ask YC: Are you religous?

Yea, many schools of Buddhism have a lot of supernatural trappings that are basically ornaments and interpretations from the cultures they grew to prominence in. I think this is why the most popular school of Buddhism in the west is Zen, which strips most of that away.

ason Ask YC: Are you religous?

I don't find this convincing. The arguments are thousands of years old, but most of the relevant data is <200 years old. The reason most religious hackers don't talk about it is that they know better - that unless you're sufficiently vague, believing in supernatural stories born of bronze age cultures is logically indefensible.

ason Why are geeks often atheist?

That's the problem, it's hard to tell what you're saying.

ason Why are geeks often atheist?

Here's a data point for you - I changed my mind because of evolution. Here we're not really interested in smart people - many smart people believe in God. We're interested in the subset of smart people with a special kind of honesty, the kind great scientists almost always have, and great philosophers often do. The 'smart people' you claim changed their minds because of fashion aren't the ones we're really interested in talking about.

Also, I like to distinguish between deliberate atheists (like myself) and people who are atheists by default. Some people are apathetic about philosophical questions and will say they don't believe in God simply because they weren't brought up with any religion.

ason Why are geeks often atheist?

I don't see a coherent argument here, which further suggests that it doesn't mean anything.

Our having a concept of infinity has no metaphysical significance. All our definitions are phrased negatively, by what it's not:

Infinite: That which has no limit. From the Latin 'infinitas', meaning 'unboundedness'.

Try and see if you can define infinity by what it is rather than what it isn't.

ason Why are geeks often atheist?

"As a neuroscientist, I know that finite matter gives rise to visions of the infinite."

I'm pretty sure this doesn't mean anything.

ason HN: New flag feature

That kinda sucks. It's already precisely the color I'd make it.

ason Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members

Ella Fitzgerald at low volume behind the gameplay music? Brilliant!

ason FUTURE GENERATIONS:What We're All About

The low average DH# of the comments only strengthens the OP's claims of people being unreasonable about it.

ason When did we forget our dreams?

I've had this on my wall for months.

ason Peter Thiel Makes Down Payment on Libertarian Ocean Colonies

Things Peter Thiel has funded:

The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Making sure our eventual AI overlords are benevolent)

Aubrey De Grey's Methuselah Mouse Prize (Research toward ending aging)

The Seasteading Institute (Build your own nation)

I'm really excited about the kind of people the tech boom has made rich.

ason Peter Molyneux: My Next Game a 'Significant Scientific Achievement'

Agreed. I'd personally love to design a game world and story, but am not willing to devote 4 years of my life to just making something rudimentary.

ason The Zero-Emissions One-Wheeled Motorcycle

40mph can still kill.

ason Ask PG: What's your take on the Yahoo! situation?

That's always been my favorite color. I feel so validated.

ason Ask PG: What's your take on the Yahoo! situation?

Why do you hope for his sake he's built Eliza-like behavior into HN such that his responses to all "Ask PG" questions are fully automated?

ason 100 Must-Read Books: The Essential Man’s Library

Can you elaborate on the differences?

ason Teach yourself you to Hack in 6-9 months

Or you could attend SuperHappyDevHouse.

ason The Zero-Emissions One-Wheeled Motorcycle

I second that fear. Remember the Segway bug that caused the motors to spontaneously reverse? Imagine that on the highway at 60mph.

ason Letter to a Young Procrastinator: Some last-minute advice from a veteran slacker

"They hate to work on routine things - they would much prefer to build complex theoretical solutions, and leave the implementation of the system to others. They are intensely interested in theory, and will put forth tremendous amounts of time and energy into finding a solution to a problem with has piqued their interest."

-Description of an INTP

ason Tell YC: Answers from John McCarthy

Because quantum consciousness is a 'special sauce' theory analogous to what vitalism was in biology - the idea that biomechanical processes are not enough to account for life and that some magical 'vital principle' is necessary. Fueled by people with an emotional agenda, that debate went on for decades before being thrown on the same garbage heap as geocentrism.

ason Ask YC: In the hack of life, is it the people or the code?

Maslow wrote that those people who were most successful at life, who were self actualizing, had succeeded at overcoming either-or thinking and had reconciled seemingly contradictory qualities.

ason Ask YC: I have to iron. Where can I quickly find interesting non-fiction video besides ted.com

I just listed to one at your suggestion. I'll vouch a +1.

ason Where are they? Why I hope the search for extraterrestrial life finds nothing.

That was Bill Watterson's theory.

ason Ask YC: Grooveshark Lite, What Do You Think?

Someone has been watching Battlestar Galactica.

The play button doesn't work for me either. Firefox and Ubuntu.

ason Ask YC: Try our Local Chat Demo at Startup School

Clicking 'Put Me In Center' when trying to set my location doesn't do anything.

ason Ask YC: Try our Local Chat Demo at Startup School

Same here.