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I'm choosing euthanasia etd 1pm. I have no last words.
- DanielBMarkham 10y agoI find this post along with the comments unsettling, but I am unable to articulate why. (It is not the choice, nor the announcement of the choice. There is something about the dynamic here that doesn't sit right with me. Apologies for my failure to elaborate.) I wish him the best and deeply appreciate his sharing part of his journey.
- shin_lao 10y agoWould it be the inevitability of death that disturbs you?
- Odenwaelder 10y agoWhat unsettles me is cancer. I did my PhD in cancer research, lost relatives to it and discovered how bad it is. I would do anything to prevent getting it, but I know there's no way. May his family and friends find peace.
- fsloth 10y agoCan you elaborate what makes cancer any more frightening than any other things that may get us? Is it the threat of pain? As long as we are mortal our journey is a finite one anyway.
- amelius 10y agoIf you have lost relatives to cancer, it means it runs in the family. That, I suppose, makes it worse than any other disease, i.e., the threat becomes more real.
- Odenwaelder 10y agoLuckily, there's no evidence that it really runs in my family genetically. The threat still becomes more real as I have witnessed it.
- fsloth 10y agoI think the genetic component of cancer depends very much on the kind of cancer one has. Lots of other conditions have a strong genetic component - poor cardiovascular health, depression, schizophrenia, alzheimer's, strong disposition towards substance abuse, etc. I would not call it "worse" than for example the genetic likelihood of 80% of developing alzheimers at an early age (which luckily I don't personally have). Perhaps this is a very personal view - but as I've lost relatives to all sorts of maladies including cancer I find it really hard to see cancer as the absolutely worst bogeyman in the room. That's not to say it's not bad.
- Odenwaelder 10y agoI guess it's more frightening because we're more likely to develop cancer than most other diseases, it occurs for the most part purely randomly and chances are high that it leads to a slow and painful death. Cancers evolve to resist drugs and radiation, and due to the nature of evolution, you are unable to tell if and when it happens. As I wrote under another article, cancer is a fundamental dread of all higher multicellular life. Is that comforting? Maybe on a bigger perspective. What makes it bad for humans is that they know what's happening.
- icantdrive55 10y agoMy father died of liver cancer. A piece of me died in those weeks of his misery, and pain right up to his horrid death. My father was not a kind man. He was petty, selfish person, but I still would have done anything for him. Looking back, he was under medicated while in Palliative Care. He was at home, but that shouldn't be an issue? No one in the family could figure out why he wasen't given more medication. He saw a Hospice Doctor once, I believe, and a couple of nurses dropped by. Getting him pain meds, and benzodiazepines was a battle. It's such a stressful situation, and getting meds should be difficult? He never seemed to have enough. I look back, and don't know what the problem was with the lack of strong medication. Maybe the doctors didn't want too much around? I don't know? They should alleviated his pain better though. I understand no cures, but alleviate the misery with drugs. We do have drugs? There were times, I felt like, if I knew where to buy it; I would have bought him heroin. I accept death. We can make patients comfortable when they are dying with medication? Maybe we were the the family that wasen't vocal enough? I don't know, but in my dads death; Hospice did a terrible job. Hospice has a lot of money. I was surprised, because I heard they were a good organization. (I didn't want to read this post. I had a feeling it was Peiter. I don't know the man, but truely admire his courage.)
- fsloth 10y agoThere might be some screwy regulations that if you drug a person too much - no matter how terminally ill they are or how in pain - you are doing a criminal offense. Also, there is this strange worship of suffering in some circles - how just bearing ones load is somehow more noble than being blissfully stoned. Not a medical professional, though. I think parts of me died for both of my parents death. All the strength. My mother spent her last month as psychiatric patient at an alcoholics ward, and only after she had died autopsy discovered she had pancreatic cancer. She was mostly incoherent, frightened and delusional. They said she screamed through the nights. Despite her history I cannot even after years stop wondering was that really the correct place to tend to her-and why did her mental condition lapse so thoroughly before the end. Death and lack of dignity sucks.
- DanielBMarkham 10y agoNyah. I'm 51 years old and buried my parents. Death is real and probably closer than I imagine. Perhaps it's the productization of death? I received this news as a retweet in my Twitter feed. Next to it was a bit.ly link about Configuration Management tools, the announcement of a speaker at a conference, and a famous quote from Einstein. Right now on HN it's #4. Next to it is a blog post about tools and frameworks and a post about a PostgreSQL extension. The response to Pieter's tweet is lengthy and very kind. It would be a privilege to hear those thoughts in my own life before I leave. But the thoughts will still keep coming, probably long after he's gone. I met a nice lady three years ago. She was a "social media consultant" in the local area, which basically consisted of teaching small business owners how to navigate the web. We met for lunch several times when I was in town. Soon, though, she learned she had stage 4 lung cancer. I had lunch with her one more time. I'll never forget how weary she looked. She held on for almost a year, then she passed. For many weeks after that, however, Facebook was full of her many friends offering their condolences. Facebook would remind me that she liked certain things as a way to sell me on things. Every so often people would think of her and post on her wall. These posts appeared in my feed. Last week I finally had to unfriend her. She was dead. But it didn't stop the computerized social network that Facebook to stop trying to monetize as much of her presence as they could. Even if somebody had set her account to deceased, Facebook will always own some part of her existence. It feels like turning a tender, emotional, precious thing into a bucket of bits. I find that repugnant.
- throwanem 10y agoIt is precisely that.
- meric 10y agoSome of her consciousness lives through your memories and mirror neurons. Not just in the bucket of bits. Thanks for sharing.
- throwanem 10y agoThis use of 'just' is curious. It suggests that some degree of a person's consciousness inheres in their Facebook account. Is this intentional? If so, will you explain how you arrive at that conclusion?
- chris_wot 10y agoIn my mind, death is a travesty. As someone who thinks about death (my own) when I'm incredibly stressed and upset, I know I can't carry out the act. But it's distressing and horrific, and it fucks with my mind. There is no other word violent or crude enough to describe it, so that's a very deliberate choice of phrasing I make.
- Overtonwindow 10y agoI agree, the comments are unsettling, they seem to disregard or not take serious Peter's wishes and plans. As the practice of euthanasia becomes more common place perhaps it will get easier to discuss but, like you, I'm having a hard time putting into words my thoughts on this....
- lsiebert 10y agoPeople deal with death a lot of different ways. If it was easy, there wouldn't be so many rituals around it.
- Freak_NL 10y agoDeath has always been something that came to you — naturally or via some agency — and not the other way around; and only rarely is its time known beforehand (i.e., executions). It is a relatively modern phenomenon that we actively seek death in these cases, and decide when to go whilst being a part of the community around you. Sure there are the customs of elderly tribesmen wondering off into the wilderness to die, but that too abstracts death away into something that happens to you, not something you actively invite. Society isn't used to this notion, and we don't really have any handholds to fall back to. Do you mourn with the person while he is still alive? Go on as if nothing really changed? Celebrate life with them while you still can? Euthanasia is becoming widely accepted; at least at the abstract levels of law and medicine, so we'll probably figure it out eventually. Perhaps the Hallmarks of the world can introduce a nice line of cards for the occasion?
- DanielBMarkham 10y agoPerhaps the Hallmarks of the world can introduce a nice line of cards for the occasion? Best comment of the thread. Made me smile. I assume that we'll be inventing new traditions as we go along. Should be fun to watch different ones being tried out.
- throwanem 10y agoIf it matters to you, I'd be interested to hear any elaboration you might choose to undertake.
- INTPenis 10y agoWhat is ETD?
- krapp 10y agoProbably estimated time of death.
- boothead 10y agoI think I prefer departure
- draw_down 10y agoSomeone announcing their choosing euthanasia is no time to discuss death, I suppose.
- OnACoffeeBreak 10y agoThere was a recent The Moth: Radio Hour [1] where an emergency room physician talked about dealing with death in the ER. I was struck by the deliberate decision to be blunt about what had happened. She specifically says that she cannot mince words and say that the patient "departed" or "moved on" because inevitably the concerned family and friends will assume that their loved one has been moved to another hospital or something. This is not to argue your point of preference. It's just something that changed my perspective recently, and it may be interesting. 1. http://player.themoth.org/#/?actionType=ADD_AND_PLAY&storyId=11561 http://player.themoth.org/#/?actionType=ADD_AND_PLAY&storyId...
- igravious 10y agoThey made this a serial joke on Arrested Development if you remember. Starting with the doctor saying, "We lost your father" and the whole family goes into shock and mourning. The doctor continues, "We can't find him anywhere, we have no idea where he is" and the Bluth family go beserk at the lexical ineptitude of his communication.
- nathell 10y agoContext: http://hintjens.com/blog:115 http://hintjens.com/blog:115 and other recent posts by Pieter.
- wruza 10y ago>It can be horribly awkward to talk to a dying person (let's say "Bob"). Here are the main things the other person (let's say "Alice") should not say to Bob: Same thing at funeral. I'm always trying to convince others to remember good things, not go into depression. You can't do much after it happened.
- boothead 10y agoI've been completely blown away with Pieter's courage and willingness to share his journey. I hope I have 10% the dignity when my time comes!
- Klathmon 10y agoI am as well, and I hope that his writing and sharing of the process can help euthanasia become more widespread. I just hope that when it comes time for me or my loved ones to go, that they will be able to do it on their terms.
- esoteric_nonces 10y agoPieter, Thank you. For everything. I'm sure the rest of the community shares my opinion that you've contributed so much to the field. For all that it matters, I wish you a pleasant departure.
- danieltillett 10y agoThis is one of those occasions when I hope someone's account has been hacked. Farewell Pieter and may you live on in our memories.
- throwanem 10y agoMay flights of angels sing him to his rest.
- tonetheman 10y agoZeroMQ and his work are amazing. He will be missed.
- shiftoutbox 10y agoNever give up .
- woliveirajr 10y agoFew hours ago there were this discussion on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12631488 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12631488 And now we have this tweet from someone I respect very much, someone who took part of his time too tell his feelings on how you could/should treat someone that is having his final moments.
- LeanderK 10y agoThis keeps me up at night. I hope the collective advancement in science makes it possible to defeat cancer some day. I believe/hope that my contribution as a insignificant CS-student helps somebody develop tools that help somebody researching etc. I am really convinced that every advancement is connected somehow and the collective improvement in efficiency and livings standards makes it possible to commit more resources and train even more students to work on hard problems. Even the work on something unrelated like React might somehow help if you observe humanity as a whole. Also f*ck cancer (i read the guidelines and i found no statue against insulting cancer, if there is a user named cancer its a misunderstanding and you should really consider changing your username)
- fsloth 10y agoWe all die at some point. While I too abhor cancer I find hard to fear it more than any other thing that can kill me - a stroke, a car accident, etc. The universe is out to get us - we've evolved into tough bastard but we've not defeated mortality.
- toxican 10y agoCancer seems more scary to me than a stroke or a fatal car accident because you can try to prevent those things. Health choices can decrease chances of a stroke, being an alert/careful driver can decrease chance of an accident. Cancer though...I mean yeah you can avoid longterm sun exposure or not smoke, but there are so many out-there types of cancers that just swoop in out of nowhere that you don't stand a chance of preventing. Obviously you can't live your life in fear like that, but I think there's good reason to be more fearful or at least angry about cancer than something like a stroke/wreck.
- lintiness 10y agowith terminal cancer, you get time to set your life in order, say goodbye to your friends and family, and try to make a difference (pertinent given the example set by p).
- zump 10y agoErm, why is he not frozen?
- fsloth 10y agoBecause he wants to depart with dignity? Currently at least cryonics don't seem to be any better than a scam (google alcor scam for references).
- Artoemius 10y agoFor some reason, in Europe, even less people seriously consider cryonics as an option, despite the population being generally less religious. Some view it with cynicism. Others just laugh.
- icebraining 10y agoMaybe we Europeans just have less faith in the goodness of corporations. As it stands, they seem like the perfect opportunity for a scam - they'll freeze you up, then after some years they'll say "unfortunately there's still no cure", and your family can then opt between paying a large annual sum in perpetuity or killing you. While I hope my descendants would have the guts to tell them to burn me up, I can't in good conscience force them to make that choice.
- greendragon 10y agoMaybe you should work on making your contract law more trustworthy then, if you think corporations can just randomly decide to extort your family years later.
- icebraining 10y agoKinda hard to ensure it keeps being trustworthy after you're dead. Also, who said it was random? What if they simply run out of money, for any of the hundreds of reasons why companies do? Laws can't magically force them to keep it running if they literally can't afford to.
- jwildeboer 10y agoI have known Pieter since around 2002. We didn't meet or talk that often, but usually we would have a fun few hours every FOSDEM. On one of those occasions we defined "our" religion, stallmanism.com Pieter transferred the site and domain to me a few days ago. In the past few months I have been almost obsessed with consuming everything he wrote and published. It is exactly my way of thinking. Of questioning reality and turning it upside down so it works even better. I will miss him. And I will continue to learn from him. We all knew this was going to happen, he was most transparent in keeping us informed about it. So I am sad, yes. But I am also immensely grateful and positive. Pieter, it was an honour and a privilege to have shared time with you. Peace for you.
- gbraad 10y agoThanks Jan, he left it in good hands. He will be missed... Peace!
- sevensor 10y agoI first became aware of Pieter from the 0MQ documentation. I stumbled across community and process section of the 0MQ guide and I was hooked. I've been tremendously moved by the dignity and humanity with which he's faced terminal disease.
- sidlls 10y ago0MQ is fantastic. It's how I first found out about him, too. That library is an absolute pleasure to use.
- alatkins 10y agoLikewise. The ZeroMQ book such a pleasure to read, has to be one of the best written tech books I've ever read. I learned so much about distributed systems from that book, even though I've got a PhD in the subject.
- Lambdanaut 10y agoI'm just discovering him, and reading through his blog. His writing is just what I needed right now, at this time in my life. Particularly about how to be happy. I think when you've lived such a prolific life, you don't need any last words. His life's work speaks for itself.
- dmichulke 10y agoIf I were going to die, I'd feel very sad but not because of me nor because of my wife or friends. They are adults and they must deal with this. I'd feel that I let down my children and couldn't give them a happy and careless childhood without having to deal with the cruelty of reality. So, may his kids have the strength to deal with it without losing their light-heartedness.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- jrockway 10y agoThis is where we are all headed. Few of us will choose the time and place.
- mlong169 10y agoI don't know this man, nor will it matter what I write here one way or another, but morally, I'm at odds with this person decision to humanly kill himself. I have no words of encouragement or wisdom, as Nihilism is itself the end of hope. God speed, and may the Lord have mercy on your soul. Which might be an oxymoron, since that conceptual framework was rejected in favor of the easy button, I suppose. Peace
- draw_down 10y agoFortunately he didn't/doesn't need to care what you think. Peace
- dgacmu 10y agoYou should probably read the back story before you hop on your moral horse. He has terminal cancer that's metastasized in both of his lungs. http://hintjens.com/blog:115 http://hintjens.com/blog:115
- throwanem 10y agoDo you think it meet of a Christian man to speak so at a time like this, or indeed any other? This is cruelty. We are called to kindness. Do you think it's your place to judge what God will and won't forgive? This is arrogance. We are called to humility. Would you demand that someone else continue in unbearable agony to satisfy your own personal notion of the right way to act? This is hatred. We are called to love.
- wtbob 10y ago> Do you think it meet of a Christian man to speak so at a time like this, or indeed any other? I do. > This is cruelty. Is it cruelty, or love? Is it kindness to say to someone, 'the world is better off without you in it'? Is it kindness to help someone destroy himself, and with himself every second he could have had? > Do you think it's your place to judge what God will and won't forgive? This is arrogance. We are called to humility. Do you think it's humble to arrogate for oneself the ending of one's life? Do you think that radical self-determination is not arrogance? > Would you demand that someone else continue in unbearable agony to satisfy your own personal notion of the right way to act? This is hatred. We are called to love. Do you think it is love to extinguish the greatest gift of all — life — in order to satisfy your personal theory of self-determination? Do you think it is hatred to urge someone to preserve the most important thing he has — himself? I have no problem with it being legal for someone to commit suicide. My only problem is in applauding his error. (also, as an aside, unbearable agony is quite pleasant with sufficient, albeit lethal, quantities of opiates)
- frederikvs 10y agoSad to read this. And actually also a bit surprised, considering that 2 weeks ago he posted an article that mentioned "This is a short book more than an article. I'll continue to revise it over time, according to your comments." http://hintjens.com/blog:125 http://hintjens.com/blog:125
- creshal 10y agoCorrectly predicting timing is hard with cancer.
- k__ 10y agoYes. I knew someone (about 30 years old) who had brain cancer. When he had chemo, he looked like he was dying any second now. A week after he looked like a normal healthy person. Last time I saw him was a few weeks before he died, we were partying like he wasn't even sick and suddendly he was dead. But it's generally a strange feeling to lose people around you. In the last two years I lost about 4 people. One to old age, two to cancer and one was even murdered. I still have the last moments with them in my memories. We were like "yeah lets go do XYZ together in a few weeks/months" and now they are simply gone and won't come back.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- throwanem 10y agoThird parties: Please don't downvote or flag the parent comment out of existence. I understand the urge, but it merits a considered response, and I would greatly appreciate your forbearing to deny me the opportunity to replace this placeholder comment with one.
- DanBC 10y agoI downvoted, and flagged, the post because it's a fucking horrible thing to say in this thread about an individual person's choice to die. Feel free to have a discussion about the rights and wrongs of euthanasia in some other thread. Here people are remembering someone they know. They either know him AFK, or from his work. This thread about that man is totally the wrong place for self-righteous cunts to wang on about their opinion of euthanasia.
- throwanem 10y agoYou're quite right, of course. It was thoughtless and presumptuous of me to place my responsibility to address his errant and cruel behavior ahead of the feelings of others participating here. I'm sorry for that.
- criddell 10y agoResponsibility to address his errant and cruel behavior? Get off your high horse and join us in saying goodbye to Pieter.
- zeveb 10y ago> Feel free to have a discussion about the rights and wrongs of euthanasia in some other thread. And yet DanBC did exactly that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12635572 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12635572 And the second-highest comment currently is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12635825 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12635825, which praises the decision. Clearly some folks think this thread is for at least the discussion of the rights of euthanasia; not discussing the wrongs seems rather biased.
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- Skylled 10y agoIt makes me sad that I'm only becoming aware of this man and his work through the announcement of his chosen death. Thank you HN for exposing me to worlds I would never otherwise discover. On a personal note, I definitely will be using 0MQ in all my future projects. As a matter of fact, I'm glad I found it exactly this moment.
- bbarn 10y agoPardon my ignorance, as it's never been relevant to his work, but where does Pieter live? In the US there's a chance posting that would get the police to your door, sadly.
- gambiting 10y agoIt says right on his twitter page: Belgium.
- gilbertw 10y agoIt's legal in Belgium with the consent of 2 doctors.
- chrisan 10y ago> In the US there's a chance posting that would get the police to your door Has this happened?
- oneplane 10y agoThat US and their silly ideas. What are they gonna do? Shoot you for wanting euthanasia? Also, he's from Belgium. Also, at this point, it's more of a peaceful way to leave than the agony of letting cancer do it slowly and painfully from within your body.
- DanBC 10y ago> What are they gonna do? Shoot you for wanting euthanasia? Arrest any doctors and nurses involved and prosecute them for assisting with a suicide, and pursue professional de-registration of those clinicians.
- glenndebacker 10y agoHere (Belgium) it has been legal for 14 years now. Anybody who suffers (even psychological) has the right to decide between life or death. There are some rules (number of doctors, free will, unbearable suffering, ...) you need to follow. The public support for euthanasia is also overwhelming. The only parties against are mostly the catholic church but their influence is nil as we have a clear separation of church and state.
- giis 10y agoI don't know you, Just read http://hintjens.com/blog:115 http://hintjens.com/blog:115 Thanks for the your contributions and sharing the journey. To fellow HN users: Please check out "Think of the Children" and donate if possible. thanks!
- edelans 10y agoThe "Think of the Children" is worth pasting it here : Please use this article to add your stories. If you have them elsewhere, or you emailed me, copy/paste as a comment. Feel free to write in Dutch or French if that's your language. I'd really like a single place where my kids can come and read what other people say about their dad. Many people have asked my PayPal address ph@imatix.com, to send a donation for my children.
- b3lvedere 10y agoGoodbye Pieter. (This really hits me, since my brother in law may be about to do the same in a few weeks.. days perhaps.)
- sgt 10y agoI don't know much about Pieter but when I first read ZeroMQ's documentation it became clear he's an exceptionally talented individual.
- mehdix 10y agoLike many others, I've never met him, but he has touched my soul. I enjoyed his writings on community building most. He himself being a very approachable person, taught me everything we do is about people, not software. I'll definitely miss him in the days to come. Peace Peter.
- k_sze 10y agoHaving recently started using ZeroMQ at work, I must admit that Pieter gave the world a really elegant message queue solution. The world is losing another great hacker. Would a black bar be considered?
- d33 10y ago> Would a black bar be considered? As on top of HN? I guess somone would have to e-mail admins for that.
- aban 10y agoJust watching Pieter's interview with Adam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApqI9XLRk4k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApqI9XLRk4k Thank you for the journey, Pieter.
- happy-go-lucky 10y agoFighting Cancer http://hintjens.com/blog:123 http://hintjens.com/blog:123 Heart-wrenching.
- 0x54MUR41 10y agoI don't know what to say. I just knew Pieter Hintjens when he wrote posts about his condition, fighting cancer that he has. By that time, I also just knew that you're a great man behind ZeroMQ. I used your works and it's such an amazing library. Thank you for being transparent about your condition. It makes me to remind about death. I am sorry. Thank you for contributing everything what you have done for people in the world. Peace Pieter. You will be missed.
- bogomipz 10y agoI discovered his writing only recently. What a great thinker and a brave person. This is sad news.
- bogomipz 10y agoI discovered his writing only recently. What a great thinker as well a brave person. This is sad news.
- julsimon 10y agoVery sad. RIP Pieter. Black bar on Hacker News, please.
- tostitos1979 10y agoPieter: I don't know if you are reading Hacker News at this point or not. Most likely not. I respect your rights and understand the challenge you are faced with. We don't know each other but your work has touched me profoundly as a fellow technologist. All I have to say is I am crying at the moment. I'm crying because I feel very helpless. As a fellow human I am unable to do anything to help you. I am sorry.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- drzaiusapelord 10y ago>I'm crying because I feel very helpless. As a fellow human I am unable to do anything to help you. I am sorry. Although this is a poor comparison for a million reasons, I just put my beloved dog down a week ago. Helpless is the word here. Its incredible how many game-enders we casually flirt with everyday, how powerful illness can be, how illness makes us make tough decisions, how poorly we handle end of life issues, and how badly grief hits us. We purposely avoid thinking about this stuff, consider it taboo, and engage in gallow's humor for a reason. Death is difficult. It never gets easier.
- pcsanwald 10y agoI'm so sorry for your loss. I went through this 5 months ago, and it was incredibly difficult for me. I have lost many friends far too young, and the death of our pet was no less emotionally traumatic. Time does help.
- chris_wot 10y agoThe affection and love you have for a member of another species is no less special than the love for one of your own species. I'm sorry for your loss. Death is indeed difficult.
- snuxoll 10y agoPets are no less an important member of your family than a spouse, children, parents, etc. We may obtain these companions knowing full well we expect to outlive them many times over, but that doesn't mean the eventual loss impacts us less than losing any other member of our family. Never think your comparison isn't apt because it's "just a pet" :)
- escapologybb 10y agoI have a degenerative spinal condition, 38 years old, no idea if/when the degeneration will reach the point where I need to use a ventilator or when my faculties will dip below a certain point on the [CGS][1]. But when these things start looking more imminent, I hope I have the courage to do what he has just done, I really do. Incredibly brave decision. [1]:http://www.glasgowcomascale.org/ http://www.glasgowcomascale.org/ Edited to Add: Added link to the Glasgow Coma Scale, shouldn't have assumed knowledge of it.
- JshWright 10y agoI don't think GCS is a terribly useful metric for evaluating your own quality of life... You may place more or less value on certain functions, so a '13' might be totally fine, or not worth carrying on, depending on which points were 'lost'.
- jahnu 10y agoI assumed I'd feel that way too but now I'm not so sure after watching "TransFatty Lives". It's on Netflix if anyone is curious.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- wslh 10y agoHe has left us a lot of work. I knew about ZeroMQ, "The Psychopath Code" [1], "The Devil's Wiki" [2], could we make a summary here as a tribute? [1] https://github.com/hintjens/psychopathcode https://github.com/hintjens/psychopathcode [2] http://wiki.hintjens.com/ http://wiki.hintjens.com/
- 0xmohit 10y agoBooks by Pieter Hintjens [0]. [0] http://hintjens.com/books http://hintjens.com/books
- iuliandita 10y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hintjens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hintjens Updated already...
- asheinfeld 10y agoGodspeed Pieter, thanks for everything! See you on the other side
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- M_Grey 10y agoBaruch dayan emet.
- dmitripopov 10y agoBrilliant mind, exceptional work.
- happy-go-lucky 10y agoFrom the article Confessions of a Necromancer: if you have the trust of your client, and s/he has real power, you have done half the work already. don't make stuff and then try to sell it unless you are growing an existing client base. breaking into markets you don't know is probably impossible. Build up trust with the client and sometimes they will reward you for it. When you've paid for all the mistakes, you should know how to do it right the next time. A good specification lets diverse people work together without confusion or conflict. If you can test each piece alone, and you have reliable ways of putting them together, the whole should work. Don't be afraid to charge the real cost. be aware of your expenditure and manage your losses. You can survive a long time with less income if you are in tight control of what you spend. What's good software? Good software is used by people to solve real problems. Good software saves people money, or makes them a profit. It can be buggy, incomplete, undocumented, slow. Yet it can also be good. You can always make good software better yet it's only worth doing when it's already good.
- jnbiche 10y agoTo expand a little on this comment, it is highlighting some of the main ideas from one of Pieter's most recent posts (and one of his very best, which is really saying something). It's presumably the parent's tribute to him, which I can appreciate.
- happy-go-lucky 10y agoYou may want to read his The Ultimate Lessons at: http://hintjens.com/blog:125 http://hintjens.com/blog:125
- AaronM 10y agoI wish I lived in a country that gave someone this choice
- amyjess 10y agoPieter, I don't know you, and I don't even know who you are, but my heart goes out to you. Nobody should have to suffer in pain, and I deeply respect you for taking control of your last moments. Fare thee well.
- gravypod 10y agoWhen does a computer scientist stop being a computer scientist? It's sad seeing Bob and Alice used in such a morbid context but at least we know we'll be thinking in terms of protocol, complexity, and CS even on our death beds. It's something that will never leave us. I've read very little of his work. I think I'll change that.
- eric_bullington 10y agoWell done, Pieter. Thank you for your excellent writings and ground-breaking open source work, and for sharing your humanity. Farewell.
- chriswwweb 10y agoThis should remind us that life can be short and will end one day anyway. So we should try to enjoy every bit of it and don't waste time with bullshit. R.I.P. Pieter Hintjens. For more about Pieter Hintjens check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hintjens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hintjens
- jMyles 10y agoPieter, I always really appreciate the conversation here. It was a pleasure to have the back-and-forth with you on HN. Your username is one of the few that I routinely recognize and it will definitely be missed.
- andrewvijay 10y agoVery saddening to hear something like this. But after knowing his work in software it's even more hurting. Rest in peace sir. You have our deepest respects.
- yoamro 10y agoAn incredible pioneer that will be greatly missed.
- maubalpes 10y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oXEsbnOJQI&list=PL58VN51OpN-QTo9nJoPjhVKVG6yNa5OJK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oXEsbnOJQI&list=PL58VN51OpN...
- maubalpes 10y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oXEsbnOJQI&list=PL58VN51OpN-QTo9nJoPjhVKVG6yNa5OJK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oXEsbnOJQI&list=PL58VN51OpN...
- igauravsehrawat 10y agoRIP Pieter.
- Lewisham 10y agoPlease take your non-science elsewhere.
- igauravsehrawat 10y agoOk, my bad.
- paparush 10y agoGlad he was a citizen in a society humane enough to let people choose this final option.
- kr4 10y agoTHERE was a farmer who lived in the countryside. He was a real jnani. He earned his living by farming, He was married, and after many years a son was born to him, whom he named Haru. The parents loved the boy dearly. This was natural, since he was the one precious gem of the family. On account of his religious nature the farmer was loved by the villagers. One day he was working in the field when a neighbour came and told him that Haru had an attack of cholera. The farmer at once returned home and arranged for treatment for the boy. But Haru died. The other members of the family were grief-stricken, but the farmer acted as if nothing had happened. He consoled his family and told them that grieving was futile. Then he went back to his field. On returning home he found his wife weeping even more bitterly. She said to him: "How heartless you are! You haven't shed one tear for the child." The farmer replied quietly: "Shall I tell you why I haven't wept? I had a very vivid dream last night. I dreamt I had become a king; I was the father of eight sons and was very happy with them. Then I woke up. Now I am greatly perplexed. Should I weep for those eight sons or for this one Hani?" The farmer was a jnani; therefore he realized that the waking state is as unreal as the dream state. There is only one eternal substance, and that is the Atman.
- jwildeboer 10y agoI'm a bit sad that so many here go on tangents instead of finding out what Pieter really is/was about. Trust me, when you go through his blog entries at hintjens.com and read his books, you will find yourself in a magic wonderland of better ways to program and be happy. This is not a sad day.
- staticshock 10y agoIf anyone here hasn't listened to his "protocol for dying" episode of The Changelog from several months ago, you really should: https://changelog.com/205/ https://changelog.com/205/
- yandrypozo 10y agoNice people dying and terrible people living like forever, this world sucks :(
- topfun 10y agoit was a honor knowing you.
- kls 10y agoJust wanted to mention that in previous posts Pieter mentioned that donations (he was not soliciting them) for his kids and family could be sent via PayPal to ph@imatix.com . I did not know him personally so I cannot speak for his situation, but in those posts it was apparent that he was not a wealthy man (my take on the conversation). I could not imagine leaving my children to fend for themselves in this world. It struck me that our children are so similar in ages.
- bouh 10y agoHis post on living systems is absolutely great, just discovered thanks to his thread... http://hintjens.com/blog:74 http://hintjens.com/blog:74
- rcarmo 10y agoI was kind of expecting a black bar on HN by now, but the comments here are more of a statement of how much people respected him than any symbol.
- jprzybyl 10y agoI've never met Pieter, but I have enormous respect for him. His writing is some of the most insightful there is, and it changed my thinking on a lot of things, especially outside of computer science. He finished his book Confessions of a Necromancer recently. It's well worth a read: https://www.gitbook.com/book/hintjens/confessions-of-a-necromancer/details https://www.gitbook.com/book/hintjens/confessions-of-a-necro... I don't really know what to say anymore. I will always admire him.
- markonthewall 10y agoA remarkable mind and a keen and joyful lad, I hope Peter finds rest at last.
- imre 10y agoCan someone explain me the python(3) reference from the end? I don't seem to get the pun
- luckydude 10y agoI'm pretty astounded at how some pretty cool guy's decision to die has morphed into people talking about themselves. I'm a geek, I sort of get it, but aren't the people talking about themselves and their choices and their views even slightly ashamed? Could we have a fucking moment to just honor this guy? I don't even know him, I'm just cringing.
- go_go_ 10y agoPeople love to talk about themselves, it's what they know best. Take your post as an example.
- danso 10y agoGoodbye, I enjoyed reading your work and comments here.
- mobiuscog 10y agoWith the greatest respect to Pieter and the situation, announcing it this way on social media to many people is (was ?) last words.
- aws_ls 10y agoI was moved by his blog post, few weeks back, on HN. As a token of my respect, I just bought his book, The psychopath code[1] [1] http://hintjens.com/blog:_psychopaths http://hintjens.com/blog:_psychopaths
- bryanwbh 10y agoI got to know Pieter, as I was listening The ChangeLog's podcast and his sharing was amazing. Thank you Pieter and rest in peace.