It's taken me about month; currently at ~500 commits. I've been obsessed with this problem for ~6 weeks and have made an enormous amount of progress, but admittedly I'm not an expert in the domain.

Being intentionally vague, because I don't want to tip my hand until it's ready. The problem is related to an existing open source tool in a particular scientific niche which flatly does not work on an important modern platform. My project, an open source repo, brings this important legacy tool to this modern platform and also offers a highly engaging visual demo that is of general interest, even to a layperson not interested in programming or this particular scientific niche.

I genuinely believe I have something valuable to offer to this niche scientific community, but also as a general interest and curiosity to HN for the programming aspects (I put a lot of thought into the architecture) as well as the visual aspects (I put a lot of thought into the design and aesthetics).

Do you have any advice on how to present this work in a compelling way to people who understandably feels as burned out on AI slop as you do?

Why is it fishy that people get emotionally reactive about a genocide?

Again, I don’t believe you are arguing in good faith. I’m exiting this conversation now.

Was attempting to respond to the parent comment in a “rational” way in the event that it was a good faith comment.

But frankly I think it wasn’t. It is obvious why people are reactive to questioning the holocaust, nothing “fishy” about it. Alleging that it’s fishy implies a conspiracy, which puts us on the road to holocaust denial.

Really disgusted with all of this, I wish I hadn’t opened HN this morning.

There are those of us who accept reality, and also a highly vocal contingent of willful deniers who incessantly muddy the waters and obfuscate the truth.

I am also shocked and saddened by the comments in this thread, how foolish of me to have thought HN was above it.

Thus, some people are very reactive and touchy around this subject. It’s obvious why the civil war isn’t a similarly contentious topic; nobody debates its existence.

It sounds to me like you’re repeating talking points and memes, but speaking from a position of ignorance.

I have no idea what qualifies as "successful" to you, but I consider myself modestly successful and I make these kinds of comments. As a mid-level engineer at Google, I make > $200K yearly and own a home in one of the more expensive markets in the country. I'm sure that isn't impressive to millionaires, but it places me in the top 10% of earners and allows me to live quite comfortably.

Yes, I acknowledge that I got to this point with a lot of hard work. I went to a state school in the Midwest. I held part time jobs for the first few years, and for my final years of college I worked a full time job at night and went to school during the day. After graduating I landed a decent job, but pushed myself further by also picking up freelance work on the side. I was very conscious of the gap in skill that I perceived between myself and "real engineers". After a year of this, my skills had improved to the point where I could land a job at a west-coast startup. Luckily for me, this startup had a few big names attached to it that piqued Google's interest: after only 6 months at this startup a Google recruiter contacted me, and I leapt at the chance to interview. It had always been my dream to work at Google, so I took the opportunity seriously. For months, I'd leave work and head to a restaurant nearby to eat and study. I'd order dinner then do coding practice problems in a notebook until the restaurant closed. I'd go home and spend a little time with my fiancée, then after she went to bed I'd type my work into a compiler, fix any issues, then do a few more practice problems, going to bed around 2 or 3. Eventually this lead me to a state where I felt comfortable interviewing, and luckily I did well enough that I received an offer.

The point I'm trying to make with this long-winded story is that I am familiar with hard work, and yet in spite of that I attribute quite a bit of my success to luck. "The victim mentality of blaming the rich" is not something that only poor, lazy people do. Even I feel that inequality is partly a result of those with money and influence pulling the ladder up behind them.

I know this is speculative, but do you think it is possible and/or plausible that measurement precision could be improved to the point where we generate gravity waves to transmit data much as we do with EM waves?

I still feel weak for saying this, but hearing another person say, "It was hard for me when I first joined this team too. Don't worry, you're doing a good job." was all I wanted.

Is Silicon Valley unique in lacking this openness? I suspect not, but have no basis of comparison.

I came here to write something along these lines.

About a year ago, I ate _way_ too much cannabis before a party then proceeded to have a terrible trip. The subtle meaning in people's interactions, which I had always been able to respond to intuitively, suddenly became apparent and burdensome. I saw a man who did not receive enough affection from his wife and spoke needily to others, reaching out for warmth. I saw a woman who appeared to be dissatisfied in her marriage, lingering just a bit too long in hugs with other men. I saw a man who was uncomfortable with parties, and wanted to corner me in a private discussion so he could disengage from the group. The feeling that these people were unable to mask their deep and private needs in this public forum combined with the feeling that something was expected of me that I could not give sent me into a spiral of embarrassment and nervousness.

Becoming terrified that I would be unable to control my emotions (that I might begin weeping in front of everybody for example), I disappeared without a word to hide in my car. Fearing that I would be seen and mistaken for a criminal waiting to commit a crime, I tried to stuff myself into a ball on the floor of the backseat. I was convinced that someone would see me and call the police, and I'd be arrested because I would be unable to communicate with them. The fear was so intense that I could feel myself shivering, and when my wife came to rescue me I was unable to speak in a steady voice.

Over the course of the following year, I struggled with depression and crippling social anxiety, which I had never experienced before. Things as routine as taking my cat to the vet were a real challenge, and I relied on Xanax to get me through a number of totally banal interactions which I had previously handled automatically. Granted, I was also experiencing intense social isolation and a weakening support system due to unrelated factors - I cannot definitively pin my struggles on this incident with cannabis. Still, it scared me enough that I began researching and critically examining my cannabis usage.

Ultimately I decided that it would still be a part of my life, but that I would no longer use it in public settings, that I would be exceedingly careful with dosage and reduce my usage in general, and that I would examine my current state before using it. I've recovered 100% from the depression, 95% from the anxiety (I still feel mild nerves speaking in group settings, like introducing myself at a meeting), and I have never had a bad cannabis experience since. I have also decided that using other drugs with psychedelic effects is not worth the risk for me, and I have sworn off them altogether.