4 ms·

The String Theory (2008)

25 points by creolabs 7y ago

hprotagonist 7y ago
For a while, I thought that Joyce's rather bland candor was a function of his not being very bright. This judgment was partly informed by the fact that Joyce didn't go to college and was only marginally involved in his high school academics (stuff I know because he told me right away) [18]. What I discovered as the tournament wore on was that I can be kind of a snob and an asshole and that Michael Joyce's affectless openness is not a sign of stupidity but of something else.
ggambetta 7y ago
The idea that there can be wholly distinct levels to competitive tennis–levels so distinct that what's being played is in essence a whole different game–might seem to you weird and hyperbolic. [...] I have played against men who were on a whole different, higher plateau than I, and I have understood on the deepest and most humbling level the impossibility of beating them, of "solving their game." [...] I feel like I could get on a tennis court with Julian Knowle. He would beat me, perhaps handily, but I don't feel like it would be absurd for me to occupy the same seventy-eight-by-twenty-seventy-foot rectangle as he. The idea of me playing Joyce–or even hitting around with him, which was one of the ideas I was entertaining on the flight to Montreal–is now revealed to me to be in a certain way obscene I can relate to this, in the software engineering realm. Most people I've worked with, I feel like we're on the same "league". Some are better than me at certain things, I'm better than them at certain other things, but I generally feel like given enough time and interest, I could do what they do. But there has been a small handful of people I've had the pleasure of working with that I could tell operate on a different level. Their brains work differently. It's hard to explain if you haven't felt it. They're qualitatively different, not just quantitatively. It's wonderful and humbling to see them in action. They also tend to be among the humblest, nicest, most hilarious people I know (I'm looking at you, Matt, STU, ejbs). Incidentally, this is one reason to reject "brilliant jerks". The most brilliant people I know aren't jerks, so "brilliant lovely people" are rare, but they exist. Do not put up with jerks.
- Ididntdothis 7y ago
  I saw them the same in boxing. From time to time a newbie would show up at the gym who just seemed to understand the sport on a deeper level from the start. It seemed they were born for it. Interestingly a lot of them didn’t enjoy the sport so they didn’t pursue it further. If you have somebody with this level of talent, who enjoys the sport and has the right work ethic you have a champion. I wonder how many potential top programmers just into another area because they weren’t interested in programming. I remember one physicist I worked with who had no interest in programming but probably was one of the best programmers I have met. For him it was just a tool to accomplish his goals in developing cell phone technology.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  Michael Jordan is one of the most famous brilliant jerks. People who put up with him do quite well.

25 points by creolabs 7y ago

For a while, I thought that Joyce's rather bland candor was a function of his not being very bright. This judgment was partly informed by the fact that Joyce didn't go to college and was only marginally involved in his high school academics (stuff I know because he told me right away) [18]. What I discovered as the tournament wore on was that I can be kind of a snob and an asshole and that Michael Joyce's affectless openness is not a sign of stupidity but of something else.

ggambetta 7y ago

The idea that there can be wholly distinct levels to competitive tennis–levels so distinct that what's being played is in essence a whole different game–might seem to you weird and hyperbolic. [...] I have played against men who were on a whole different, higher plateau than I, and I have understood on the deepest and most humbling level the impossibility of beating them, of "solving their game." [...] I feel like I could get on a tennis court with Julian Knowle. He would beat me, perhaps handily, but I don't feel like it would be absurd for me to occupy the same seventy-eight-by-twenty-seventy-foot rectangle as he. The idea of me playing Joyce–or even hitting around with him, which was one of the ideas I was entertaining on the flight to Montreal–is now revealed to me to be in a certain way obscene I can relate to this, in the software engineering realm. Most people I've worked with, I feel like we're on the same "league". Some are better than me at certain things, I'm better than them at certain other things, but I generally feel like given enough time and interest, I could do what they do. But there has been a small handful of people I've had the pleasure of working with that I could tell operate on a different level. Their brains work differently. It's hard to explain if you haven't felt it. They're qualitatively different, not just quantitatively. It's wonderful and humbling to see them in action. They also tend to be among the humblest, nicest, most hilarious people I know (I'm looking at you, Matt, STU, ejbs). Incidentally, this is one reason to reject "brilliant jerks". The most brilliant people I know aren't jerks, so "brilliant lovely people" are rare, but they exist. Do not put up with jerks.

Ididntdothis 7y ago
I saw them the same in boxing. From time to time a newbie would show up at the gym who just seemed to understand the sport on a deeper level from the start. It seemed they were born for it. Interestingly a lot of them didn’t enjoy the sport so they didn’t pursue it further. If you have somebody with this level of talent, who enjoys the sport and has the right work ethic you have a champion. I wonder how many potential top programmers just into another area because they weren’t interested in programming. I remember one physicist I worked with who had no interest in programming but probably was one of the best programmers I have met. For him it was just a tool to accomplish his goals in developing cell phone technology.
lonelappde 7y ago
Michael Jordan is one of the most famous brilliant jerks. People who put up with him do quite well.