Paul Buchheit - Latest Comments in Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

damienklinnert — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 12:28:46 -0000

great, great read

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Ian T. — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 23:53:03 -0000

Love this. It's like reading a a summary of my zodiac sign. Why do you do the things you do? Here is why. Thanks for this.

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Lavette Decosta — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 03:57:24 -0000

You have shared very useful information on hacking. It has added a lot to my knowledge. Thanks!!
http://brainquickensite.com/

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Joran Greef — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:47:47 -0000

Hacking is knowing the difference between a representation and an exact representation.

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

AngelesMacri — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:48:47 -0000

Paul you should look at investing in Clasilistados.org

Sooner or later those guys are going to hit a home-run

IMHO

Larry

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Computer Credit Financing — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:48:05 -0000

I have not much time, but I've got many useful things here, love it!

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Faazshift — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:43:50 -0000

Ive read this several times since it was posted months ago. This is an excellent description of "hacking". This explains me quite well.

-- Faazshift - http://faazshift.blogspot.com/

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

max khesin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:23:39 -0000

Minor correction: the "moral line" is not poorly defined; it's just defined in a complicated way. This does not make a difference to your main point about scholars with more freedom; talmudic scholars definitely showed greater range of thought and behavir than average torah observant joe.

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

ykcirt — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:37:52 -0000

this post tastes like the red pill.

Thanks!

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Daniele Muscetta — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:27:04 -0000

Hacking isn't limited to computers is also the theme of this awesome book
http://www.amazon.ca/Hacker...

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

patrissimo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:52:06 -0000

I think you are confusing a couple different kinds of hacking. At one end, consider the infamous and probably apocryphal penny rounding hack: a hacker changes a bank computer system to deposit the proceeds of all rounding into his bank account. (Or for simplicity, a currency counterfeiter) This hack adds no value to the world, since fiat money has no intrinsic value. It is a pure transfer.

At the other end, suppose someone hacks a chemical production process to use 25% less energy. This hack is the opposite - a pure production of value.

Both are done by manipulating systems of rules to see strategies that other people didn't, both benefit the hacker, but only one of them benefits the world. Tim Ferriss competes in tournaments, so his success comes at other people's expense to a large degree. But Seth Roberts diet hacks are creating value.

This transfer vs. creation issue (related to neoclassical "economic efficiency") is very important in a number of systems, so I recommend thinking about it until you internalize it.

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Carlos — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:30:06 -0000

"Smart people make complex concept seem obvious"...soo true, I hate it when people think they're damn smart because they understand everything, but are unable to explain anything.

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Carlos — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:23:22 -0000

Nice approach to life as a system, I believe the same. We can then say that any person who has rebeled in anyway to a standard is itself a hacker, revolutionaries, inventors (they're not happy with the way things work, so they create something "new"), etc.

Damn, this was a good article.

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Andrei Savu — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:50:59 -0000

Excellent article!

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

posiwid — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:45:34 -0000

Is this related to http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Adam — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:07:47 -0000

That's an interesting point. My initial reaction was to think that this sets you up for a never-ending search for entertainment. But I guess in the end it gets back to the whole ignorance is bliss thing. You tend to be happier not knowing something, but once you do, there's really no looking back.

However, at the same time, I feel there are some real world limits. For example, I have friends who can hook up with girls way out of their league, even wrangle a 3-way with said girls. Which is awesome, but seriously, how do you keep that interesting without the thrill of the hunt?

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

TheDudeBrands — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:50:46 -0000

What a truly good article! You are a philosopher: of each thing ask what it is in and of itself. A hacker is a lover of metaphysics. Very good!

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

zacharycohn — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:00:39 -0000

That's the beauty of it - if you never let yourself be content with where you are, if you always try to hack "the next level," there is always more fun to be had.

Once you're bored running over people and shooting them in GTA3, you can start building your own mods. Once you get bored of mods, you can look for ways to beat the physics engine or introduce things to the game that the modding engine typically doesn't allow.

Once you're bored with that, you can hack the exe, or write outside programs that interact with the game at a lower, more technical level. Once you're there, your imagination is the only limit.

The real world is the same way. Think about serial entrepreneurs. They start a business, grow it, sell it, then start a new one - often in a completely different field! Just like in the OP, a new business has to find cracks in the system and slip through.

There are an infinite number of possibilities. As soon as you start to get bored with something, strive to find the next level.

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Adam — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:51:32 -0000

Fair enough. But what do you do for fun once you can do anything? Er, to continue the video game analogies, GTA gets boring after a while. But, at the same time, you're right, slow, tedious leveling isn't fun either. Maybe it's about hacking in moderation?

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

tonyhollowell — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:03:31 -0000

There is a simple beauty in breaking the rules.

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

zacharycohn — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:54:57 -0000

Which is more soulless - working on an assembly line, or figuring out that you can build a machine to perform all of those functions for you? (And don't argue that the machines are soulless!)

The point is in the journey - in figuring out that you can bounce yourself to the next level rapidly. And then you can spend your time how you want, instead of grinding to go through the traditional paths.

In my opinion, the grind is the soulless option.

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Andy Brett — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:36:51 -0000

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

kevin kane — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:20:28 -0000

A brilliant piece!

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

christopherhicks — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:04:24 -0000

I have often thought that all of life (nature, society, business, technology...everything) boils down to systems theory. Figure out the rules of the system and you can do just about anything!

Re: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

James — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:48:34 -0000

re:Adam
It is less about "just typing in iddqd", and more about figuring out that you can type in "iddqd." Enforcing the trip is most of the fun, arriving just the icing on the cake. Enough clichés for now.