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Who is this? Why do I care? I'm sorry, but the amount of absolute tripe people post on the internet is absolutely baffling to me. I don't give two shits about

by alar44 4y ago

Who is this? Why do I care? I'm sorry, but the amount of absolute tripe people post on the internet is absolutely baffling to me. I don't give two shits about some 20 year olds ideas with absolutely no credentials. Who wants to read this crap? I don't get it.

SeanAnderson 4y ago
Kinda sounds like you could benefit from some meditation. :) I jest. Kinda. I didn't find the content of the article to be deeply insightful, but I did find the writing style to be comical and the purpose of the writing to be, at least partially, noble. I don't think I'm better off from having read it, but I certainly found it entertaining enough to read as to not experience the concerns I feel you're expressing.
- alar44 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - the_af 4y ago
    It's particularly funny that he stalked and "debated" some people online about their opinions on random stuff. Who cares?
  - SeanAnderson 4y ago
    idk. The post is making it to the top of HN. It seems like people who are >25 who have learned these insights are dismissive that the knowledge should be implicit and people who are younger are finding it more useful? Everyone has to go through the "I know nothing." "I know everything!" "I know nothing." transitions of life. It's helpful seeing overly aggressive and confident persons struggle with it because it humanizes the process. Personally I feel like these dismissive responses come across similar to "Who watches this shit?" on Twitch/YouTube when viewing someone who is young, loud, energetic, and naïve. Just because you're not the target demographic doesn't make it inherently bad content.
    - alar44 4y ago
      [flagged]
  - cvalka 4y ago
    Why are you writing this comment then and spending your time on HN?
    - alar44 4y ago
      [dead]
the_af 4y ago
I agree. I found this article obnoxious and immature, just as I found his anti Why We Sleep tirade back when it was posted last year on HN. My overriding thought is "why do I care what this random guy thinks about anything?"
- alar44 4y ago
  That's what I'm saying. I think I find these types of articles arrogant, or implying narcissism. That he feels that anyone would find this tedium valuable is almost offensive to me lol. I'm just sick of seeing these kind of articles everywhere. If there is something to be learned in your 20s, it's that you aren't special, your likely average, and your experiences aren't new or unique. Live your life in your own way, but for YOURSELF, because no one gives a shit.
  - allenu 4y ago
    This is one of those things that make me feel old (45 here). Articles like these would be the kind I’d either read or write in my 20s. There’s a sense of self importance that you have at that age and everything feels important and new to you. Now I just can’t be bothered to read things like this since I know better. It helps to at least know the age of the author. There are many articles out there that make me shake my head, but if I knew the author was still relatively young, I’d at least understand the context something was written.
    - alar44 4y ago
      Yup exactly. Haven't really found self-awareness yet. Still thinking your GPA means something, you and your parents will live forever and life is going to be great. I'm coming off super cynical now, but this just feels like the product of the Twitter/everyone is a blogger mindset and I don't like where it's leading us. These "conversations" used to happen in bars and the 60 year old regular would laugh this greenhorn out. Now, people just tell their stupid thoughts into the void and pat themselves on the back for expressing their feelings like their therapist told them to. End rant.
egypturnash 4y ago
seriously, the about page on this dude's site is more interested in telling me he's a big fan of Slate Star Codex and Gwern than sketching any details of who he is, where he's come from, and why I should care about his opinions. And half of what it does say about him is that he seems to have written and said a lot about why you don't need to sleep. Hell of a thing to build a reputation on. I wonder if he's going to write a recantation of the 2020 post that's an extended fellatio session on Elon Musk next. https://guzey.com/why-is-there-only-one-elon-musk/ https://guzey.com/why-is-there-only-one-elon-musk/
lamename 4y ago
Alexey Guzey first came across my radar when his blog post on the institutions of Life Science[0] was posted here on HN. I was a neuroscience postdoc at the time. I found it partly true, with some experiences different from my own. Then or soon after I saw he was working on New Science [1], an attempt at an alternative funding system for science outside of academia (my perspective, not his words). Having left academia myself, I found that intriguing and have always kept an eye on that space. As for Guzey himself, who I've spoken with briefly on 1 occasion, I think he tries really hard to genuinely understand lots of things analytically and empirically, which is admirable. But anyone who does this will inevitably have blind spots that experts (or those with more life experience) spot immediately. My hot take after meeting him was that he's very curious. He seemed like he's not afraid to be wrong, perhaps to a fault, and would rather just say what he thinks and have you tell him where he's wrong, than tiptoe with uncertainty. [0]: https://guzey.com/how-life-sciences-actually-work/ https://guzey.com/how-life-sciences-actually-work/ [1]: https://newscience.org/ https://newscience.org/
miffy900 4y ago
I think it's better to put aside the 'who' and focus on the 'what'. Knowledge, wisdom/insight can be found in any person, regardless of who they are, their credentials, their geography/location, or their ethnic background etc. Yeah, the vast majority of content out there is not worth your time, but if you're here then you probably regularly browse Hacker News, and chances are the author does as well, so the author probably wanted to get his blog out there to people who at least shared that one thing in common. Now putting aside the 'who', in this particular instance, judging the article entirely on its content: it's bullshit. It reads like someone bought into bullshit one year then was proven wrong, but only partially repented the next year. The fact the author arrived at such ludicrous conclusions about sleep in the first place leads me to conclude they're an idiot.
physPop 4y ago
He also has some very unscientific takes on sleep and medication.

by alar44 4y ago

SeanAnderson 4y ago

Kinda sounds like you could benefit from some meditation. :) I jest. Kinda. I didn't find the content of the article to be deeply insightful, but I did find the writing style to be comical and the purpose of the writing to be, at least partially, noble. I don't think I'm better off from having read it, but I certainly found it entertaining enough to read as to not experience the concerns I feel you're expressing.

alar44 4y ago
[flagged]
- the_af 4y ago
  It's particularly funny that he stalked and "debated" some people online about their opinions on random stuff. Who cares?
- SeanAnderson 4y ago
  idk. The post is making it to the top of HN. It seems like people who are >25 who have learned these insights are dismissive that the knowledge should be implicit and people who are younger are finding it more useful? Everyone has to go through the "I know nothing." "I know everything!" "I know nothing." transitions of life. It's helpful seeing overly aggressive and confident persons struggle with it because it humanizes the process. Personally I feel like these dismissive responses come across similar to "Who watches this shit?" on Twitch/YouTube when viewing someone who is young, loud, energetic, and naïve. Just because you're not the target demographic doesn't make it inherently bad content.
  - alar44 4y ago
    [flagged]
- cvalka 4y ago
  Why are you writing this comment then and spending your time on HN?
  - alar44 4y ago
    [dead]

the_af 4y ago

I agree. I found this article obnoxious and immature, just as I found his anti Why We Sleep tirade back when it was posted last year on HN. My overriding thought is "why do I care what this random guy thinks about anything?"

alar44 4y ago
That's what I'm saying. I think I find these types of articles arrogant, or implying narcissism. That he feels that anyone would find this tedium valuable is almost offensive to me lol. I'm just sick of seeing these kind of articles everywhere. If there is something to be learned in your 20s, it's that you aren't special, your likely average, and your experiences aren't new or unique. Live your life in your own way, but for YOURSELF, because no one gives a shit.
- allenu 4y ago
  This is one of those things that make me feel old (45 here). Articles like these would be the kind I’d either read or write in my 20s. There’s a sense of self importance that you have at that age and everything feels important and new to you. Now I just can’t be bothered to read things like this since I know better. It helps to at least know the age of the author. There are many articles out there that make me shake my head, but if I knew the author was still relatively young, I’d at least understand the context something was written.
  - alar44 4y ago
    Yup exactly. Haven't really found self-awareness yet. Still thinking your GPA means something, you and your parents will live forever and life is going to be great. I'm coming off super cynical now, but this just feels like the product of the Twitter/everyone is a blogger mindset and I don't like where it's leading us. These "conversations" used to happen in bars and the 60 year old regular would laugh this greenhorn out. Now, people just tell their stupid thoughts into the void and pat themselves on the back for expressing their feelings like their therapist told them to. End rant.

egypturnash 4y ago

seriously, the about page on this dude's site is more interested in telling me he's a big fan of Slate Star Codex and Gwern than sketching any details of who he is, where he's come from, and why I should care about his opinions. And half of what it does say about him is that he seems to have written and said a lot about why you don't need to sleep. Hell of a thing to build a reputation on. I wonder if he's going to write a recantation of the 2020 post that's an extended fellatio session on Elon Musk next. https://guzey.com/why-is-there-only-one-elon-musk/ https://guzey.com/why-is-there-only-one-elon-musk/

lamename 4y ago

Alexey Guzey first came across my radar when his blog post on the institutions of Life Science[0] was posted here on HN. I was a neuroscience postdoc at the time. I found it partly true, with some experiences different from my own. Then or soon after I saw he was working on New Science [1], an attempt at an alternative funding system for science outside of academia (my perspective, not his words). Having left academia myself, I found that intriguing and have always kept an eye on that space. As for Guzey himself, who I've spoken with briefly on 1 occasion, I think he tries really hard to genuinely understand lots of things analytically and empirically, which is admirable. But anyone who does this will inevitably have blind spots that experts (or those with more life experience) spot immediately. My hot take after meeting him was that he's very curious. He seemed like he's not afraid to be wrong, perhaps to a fault, and would rather just say what he thinks and have you tell him where he's wrong, than tiptoe with uncertainty. [0]: https://guzey.com/how-life-sciences-actually-work/ https://guzey.com/how-life-sciences-actually-work/ [1]: https://newscience.org/ https://newscience.org/

miffy900 4y ago

I think it's better to put aside the 'who' and focus on the 'what'. Knowledge, wisdom/insight can be found in any person, regardless of who they are, their credentials, their geography/location, or their ethnic background etc. Yeah, the vast majority of content out there is not worth your time, but if you're here then you probably regularly browse Hacker News, and chances are the author does as well, so the author probably wanted to get his blog out there to people who at least shared that one thing in common. Now putting aside the 'who', in this particular instance, judging the article entirely on its content: it's bullshit. It reads like someone bought into bullshit one year then was proven wrong, but only partially repented the next year. The fact the author arrived at such ludicrous conclusions about sleep in the first place leads me to conclude they're an idiot.

physPop 4y ago

He also has some very unscientific takes on sleep and medication.