sometimeshuman

Fucks ? It's one fuck, singular, over the past 6 years. There is this idea that an army of trolls are standing in attack formation and will swarm if he gives in this one time. But that claim seems silly.

geohot is rich and if he chooses to use those riches to end a stressful event and start sleeping well again, I wouldn't judge him one bit. Personally I'd rather be in the hospital that be in court.

Yep happened to me. The parent company was an e-cigarette business and they use the profits to buy random patents that have nothing to do with their core business. It was like getting a shakedown call from a mobster.

"If you were the patent troll, what would you do at this point ?"

If I could get the trial moved to a jurisdiction where I'm friends with a judge, which I recall was part of the strategy, I'd keep trolling. While geohot gets love on a hacker forum like HN, most courts (and people in general) as far as I can tell just assume guilt.

"comma isn’t run by rational actors in suits sitting on a committee. It’s run by me, George Hotz. I’m willing to lose $1M before I give him $10k."

This stance is admirable but comma.ai is partly owned by investors. Isn't he obliged to find the lowest cost solution to this ? Or is George Hotz planning to spend his personal money on the lawsuit ?

I suspect this is more common than one might think especially for smaller companies that have enough cash/revenue to be collectable but too small to afford litigation or to take a principled stance like comma.ai plans to do. Ten years ago my business was a pioneer in smartphone/flip-phone enabled home-automation. We had barely been in business for a few months and doing ~$4k in monthly sales. A troll claimed he owned patent that covered using a phone to send a command to any electronic device/appliance. He eventually stopped calling me and his patent was for landline based cordless phones but I kept wondering if he would resurface years later once I had momentum but he never did.

Oddly I am now fighting a trademark dispute with a company that claims "non-metal shelves and storage" in their trademark. What that has to do with my home-automation smartphone app, who knows. This is all a reminder that we live in the most litigious country in the world.

Perhaps you should do a poll HN ? Maybe you could have a question for each of the major platforms ? Last week I was blindsided by an Amazon takedown for example for a product I invented over ten years ago and have been manufacturing and selling ever since. It was just removed with no explanation and at the time I couldn't even guess what I might have done wrong. It's been a week and they have me chasing my tail, I am not optimistic my business will survive.

But perhaps it's capable of making vile disfigured images in a fetish theme. The parent comment said they would pay $100/mo to satisfy their fetish, curious what they would pay to eliminate that fetish. If the fetish is your neighbor's spouse, for example and using that word loosely, it might even save your life to eliminate it.

"you win by convincing people, and not by beating them down or punishing them. That means interacting with them."

This is painful and pointless unless it is a good faith discussion. But often people just use you as a sounding board to repeat rumors, gossip, and lies about whatever out-group currently in their crosshairs. Also what possible interaction can you have with someone that can compete with the slow drip of fear and hate they consumed nightly for the last decade from cable news for example.

If I had to guess, when you started taking it at 50 you were also exceptionally fit and healthy for your age. Would you invest that money in a supplement if you were already over the hill ?

According to Dr.Sinclair (referenced in another comment), the NMN most people buy is probably worthless given it isn't stable. I buy it anyway because I have no better option and it doesn't burden my budget.

That would be fine. It took over a year to ramp up, if it takes takes that long to ramp down you'll still likely up ~$1000 on $10k for 30 minutes of your time. I wish I had opened my accounts a year ago.

Here's one for you. Buy iBonds from treasury.gov now! Think of it as a risk free savings account that pays almost 10%[0] at the moment since it tracks inflation which is currently high. If you need the money back you just forfeit the last 3 months interest.

If you have a business open an account for that entity as well, get one for your spouse, get one for your child, then spread the word. Note the limit is $10k per year.

[0]https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ibonds...

Rookie mistake...oh wait you surprisingly have 10000+ karma?!

"..and actual worthwhile subjects" as defined by who ?

Most people gain absolutely nothing learning more math and science which is why they don't bother. Most people do however gain something learning about sports stats, celebrity/political gossip, etc. because they can then relate to the masses better and be social[0]. The content is also easier to assimilate, like junk food.

A person needs a "why" to learn more about challenging subjects to justify the effort. For me it just became part of my identity.

[0] As a side note, I recall a blind date TV show where the young successful founder of a competitor to PayPal (WePay?) was being coached by his match maker. "you need to learn more about celebrities", she said, "women like gossip.". His expression (or maybe it was mine) was one that implied he'd rather run a spike through his hand.

Alternatively could a host allow you to check-in and then kick you out shortly afterwards ?

For example, on July 3 the the house cleaner for the AirBnB next door to my condo claimed they "kicked out" the guest on because they had more than 3(?) people over. When I asked her the eviction tactics she was vague and said "phone calls were made and AirBnB has a process". It seemed like a low bar to evict someone at a beach property during a holiday weekend and from my perspective those guests were just fine. Could a host just fabricate a violation such as "the neighbors are complaining about noise" and skip the $1000 fee ?

From a technocentric POV it does feel like a lot of the opportunity has faded. Last decade I built a crypto miner for a few grand and that has made me a crazy return over the years. I posted a hack-a-day project and it got so much attention that I could bootstrap a successful hardware company in the fledgeling home automation market. I started a YouTube channel and bam! thousands of subscribers and checks come in from Google. I taught a few tech lectures and was immediately hired as a consultant from an inbound cold-call even though I was barely competent. Software was "eating the world", find a market space and call it {x}ly.com and you're on your way. There was also an optimistic tide you could ride psychologically to motivate you to pursue a new venture.

I would like to work on something new in software because the IC shortage and dealing with CM's in China has become challenging. But everything that seems like a niche surprisingly has established competition. I could compete with {x}ly.com when they were first starting out but if they have been in business for 10 years it seems like they will have extracted not just the value from their target market but neighboring niche markets as well. Perhaps this isn't true but given the pervasive pessimism it feels like software has already ate the world and picked it clean.

My take away from the abstract is to work-out as early as possible assuming the gym is not 24hours:

1) Ensures that any surface or airborne pathogen generated the evening prior is likely dead.

2) Less people creating respiratory borne aerosols.

3) Intensity of exercise is probably lower, thereby spreading less aerosols, given most people do not have peak performance early morning.

4) Someone who is sick or is recovering from illness is unlikely to get to the gym early.

5) Perhaps skip the gym during peak flu and cold season.

For decades I would get sick 3 to 4 times a year but now I haven't been sick in 28 months (personal best by 2x) since becoming a pandemic hermit. I wonder how many of my colds/flu's were contracted at the gym and have hesitated returning but miss this part of my life.

I owned a cafe around 2005 and found out you could buy a pay phone on Ebay which I did and then hung outside of the building by the front door. I printed a little placard that read "Mo' Money Telcom" with a wacky take on standard instructions, that I am sure no one read except my friends. I collected my winnings daily until one night someone ripped the payphone off the wall thereby stealing my entire telcom company. To this day, no income has ever given me such joy. It was like random jackpots between 3 to 8 dollars a day which is practically nothing, but it was the embodiment of "make money while you sleep" and it made me damn happy.

If I were your boss my concern would be how easily you succumbed to blackmail, so don't mention that. Would you be willing to give her company passwords next ? I also wouldn't want to be part of your personal drama. If I got these pics as your employer, I'd delete them and tell you FYI, I got an email and deleted it and I don't care. Again as long as you don't mention you paid blackmail money since that could imply you did something illegal, like underage sex (I know you said that isn't it).

While the above may seem insensitive it was actually intended to put your mind at ease. I was in a similar situation ~10 years ago. I couldn't sleep, I thought my reputation was destroyed. I then reached out to the website where my fake revenge porn pic/profile was posted (it was a bad fake but still humiliating) and they took down the post. After I found my attacker's personal address and mailed a letter to his wife telling them I'd sue them for their house and assets if it continued. It all seems so petty and silly now but at the time I felt like my life was being destroyed. All because some SEO marketer stole my website, possibly source code, and App reviews and I wrote him a scathing review stating such. I was really just mad that he stole my App reviews since those belonged to my customers and were not mine to steal but I digress.

Are you honestly comparing rich, possibly bored, coastal Californians looking for that new remote beach city to gentrify to ambitious/poor LATAM immigrants seeking a better way of life and employment in coastal California ? Those are very different stories.

I think people from coastal California, such as the couple featured in the article, take for granted the spontaneous joy when random friends and family pop into the city, because of a work trip for example, and try to meet up. And then proceed to have a deep meaningful conversation in your native language where you get each other's references, figures of speech, jokes, and are generally on the same wavelength.

It seems shortsighted to move to tiny coastal city in Europe that you can probably see in a weekend visit, where you rarely get to express yourself in your own language, spending years constantly frustrating and annoying people when speaking their language, having no cultural attachment, possibly destroying your career, and the sinking feeling that you may never see most of your friends and family again let alone that exciting spontaneous visit.

I thought it was because you could get a place on the beach at a considerably lower price than California but the city mentioned, Cascais, seems similarly priced. The lower crime rate is a compelling reason to move but still seems insufficient.

What worked for me past years is having a vision for the money earned at work. My vision is time/energy/financial independence and I do that by buying income paying assets (e.g., rental properties), running a small business, and being contractor so I have a say in the number of hours I work.

What didn't work for me is buying a fancy car, expensive shoes, semi-luxury remodels of my home, etc. -- those were just net negatives like a drug that keeps life bearable just a little longer. Frankly I suspect _needing_ those things are often a symptom of not being content with your life.

It's been said "a why to live can bear almost any how". The problem in your case is that the stress can make your precarious health situation worse. But maybe the why > how mitigates stress ? It did in my case. Sorry and thanks for sharing. Anyone of us can go from good to poor health so it is worth contemplating your situation.

Are you implying that it's still over valued ? They are profitable with a PE ratio of barely 5X. Even if their users want to sell their crypto they'll make money on the transaction of the sale. It seems like this stock is a bargain assuming it isn't going to keep getting dragged down by the broader market sell-off. Can someone with a different opinion elaborate ?

First, accept that people have different goals and predilections and you should begin by asking clarifying questions. But if you advise primarily from your perspective then you aren't advising you are just talking about yourself, which is ok, but make it clear that you know you are doing that and you understand that your POV may not apply to them.

Second understand that many years may pass before someone finally appreciates your advice and/or takes it. Don't give advice if you expect instant gratification and don't get discouraged that if it is immediately rejected since it might be accepted later.

A bit of a tangent, but I recently read in an evolutionary psychology book (Moral Animal, maybe?) that there is a natural tendency for adolescents to seek distance from their primary care givers. I wonder if Erik ever felt that during his teenage years and if he did, what brought them back together.

The probability of the type of parent/child dynamic experienced by Martin and Erik seems so low from my personal experience which is a shame given it must be one of life's best experiences.

Edit: There's another vector of family dysfunction when a parent and a child have a good relationship -- sibling rivalry. I have witnessed children shun affection and interest from a parent as a preventative measure against the inevitable blowback from their siblings. Not sure if Erik had siblings, but if he did, I wonder what that experience was like.

"and deeply believe the future will be truly bleak"

There has likely never been a period in human history where people en masse have felt otherwise. That said here's a three step program that shifted me away from depression/pessimism towards ambivalence with a hint of optimism:

1) Mild well-calibrated paranoia. You should spend sometime contemplating preventative measures against reasonable threats.

2) Buy insurance when applicable.

3) Know that whatever your 10-top doomsday list consists of it's likely none of it will happen in your lifetime or devastate your life. It's usually something else in your (our collective) blindspot. Because of that 20 years from now your child's top 10 list will likely be different and we'll have yet another generation of hand-wringers (I was no better).

"there is no escape from climate change."

I live less than 100 meters from the Pacific Ocean. What is more likely ? that sea-level rise will take my home or that I lose my home in a lawsuit, tsunami, earthquake, etc. The answer is "who cares (on a personal level) I have umbrella insurance".

"there is no escape from climate change."

Increase tree population and decrease human population ? The latter half may already be happening. We have a diverse food supply in the U.S. and we have desalination technology so we should be able to escape famine at least. You should qualify "escape". People live in Alaska and Phoenix despite a climate where life expectancy under direct exposure is measured in hours at times. Last I checked the people there can escape by moving elsewhere or turning on their HVAC. I am not trying to downplay this, there are times in the past where I thought wild fires would destroy my home and famine in poorer countries is a very real possibility.

Perhaps the level of love and care for a baby/child are positively correlated to the severity of challenges parents face during pregnancy and eventual pain a mother endures in the natural childbirth. Hazing rituals exist for a reason. Will the nature of parental bonds change when Amazon delivers your baby via an electric stork/drone ? Will abuse and neglect increase the way it does with step-children, for example. It's admittedly a dark thought but worth contemplating since that technology seems inevitable and is already possible through surrogates as noted by another comment.

Edit: ADHD, dark though disclaimer.

Recklessness in men, is, by its very nature, sexy[0]. Whether toxoplasma became genetically lucky (i.e., trait that is immediately genetically stable after a few mutations) or if evolutionary pressure created this effect (i.e., many generations where this trait grows over time) may be impossible to ever know.

Edit: Downvotes, again? Added a reference. A scientific claim about evolutionary psychology can have merit even if it doesn't fit your personal hopes for the human race. Furthermore, in what world do the downvoters live where women are more likely to causally sleep with the cautious inconspicuous male vs the reckless bad-boy.

[0] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/reckless-men-are-more-lik...

If it exists in the US and gains any momentum it will be taken over by people with dark triad personality traits and quickly degenerate into something unexpected. But by then you may have associated your reputation with who knows what.

If you join tell no one and leave when the recurring theme becomes us vs them unless that's your thing. I know this sounds shallow but I wouldn't join an org with a meaningless title. It's almost sure to devolve without some restrains in the name.

If making a 1%er's income and having status at a Silicon Valley FAANG company is a key part of your identity, then leaving will likely cause psychological damage. If you are able to dissolve that part of your ego first and then either keep your identity small[0] or replace it with something else you feel is just as important then you will be better prepared to evaluate other opportunities and places to live.

Perhaps first take a vacation to decompress and get perspective. In the likely event you still want to quit, cut back on your spending as much as possible. Create a plan and set a deadline and or savings amount where you will feel comfortable leaving. If this takes more than 3 years at $800k income you are doing it wrong.

A word of caution appears in the next paragraph as I write from personal experience. Long ago I told myself I will quit in 3 years based on my assumed savings rate. I then spent the next 3 years evaluating cities where I'd like to live, actively listening to people who have ideas in case they want to partner later, thinking up business ideas, etc. This secret mission gave my work/life a renewed level of enthusiasm.

Then the day came and I couldn't do it. I felt pathetic and I called my girlfriend to confess my failure during my lunch break. But she reminded me this is a life defining moment from which my ego may never recover. "If not today then assume never". So I quit according to plan that afternoon.

The highs have been high and the lows have been low since then but I have had a rich, full, and memorable life. It's still going great almost 2 decades later.

[0]"Keep your identity small" is a Paul Graham quote and great advice.

I accidentally won a radio contest many years ago in this way. I heard "you are caller 2" and then the DJ hung up. I stayed on because I was confused and then a few seconds later he picked up again and said you are "caller 4". So I just stayed on and eventually said I was caller 10 and the 10th caller won the prize. I assume he was switching back and forth between two internal phone lines.

I was confused because I was calling to make a song request and had no idea that this contest was initiated because they had just played a certain song.