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I'm impressed at OPs life, tbh, and I'm glad for them. Building a life while battling depression and other illness is really hard. I find that I'm happier when

by jotm 6y ago

I'm impressed at OPs life, tbh, and I'm glad for them. Building a life while battling depression and other illness is really hard. I find that I'm happier when I build something physical, with my hands, something I can see. Technically, software is the same, yet somehow it's different. The shitty websites and apps that I built somehow seem unimportant compared to the plants that I've grown from seeds, the irrigation system for them or my smokeless(ish) garbage incinerator. I guess what I'm saying is maybe there's better work for such people, something that would make us/them happier and more content.

hwayne 6y ago
Author here. Normally I try to avoid discussing the content on HN (I have weird beliefs about author engagement), but I wanted to share my thoughts on this. I mostly agree with you about the manual labor thing. Outside of tech I'm a really avid cook and chocolatier. There's something special about holding a cherry cordial in your hand and thinking "I made this" that I've never gotten with programming. Cooking is one of the very few things I know that can help me cope with depression. Not stop it, nothing can stop it, but at least make it feel little bit less awful in the moment. (This can lead to some funny situations where I'm hungry and want to cook but have zero appetite, so I make a dish, put in the freezer, and stay hungry.) But tech helps in other ways. When I'm sane, tech is something that I look forward to, that keeps me mentally engaged, that gives me new puzzles every day. I'm proud of some of the things I've done, maybe not to the same degree that I'm proud of the chocolate I make, but still proud in its own way. My problem isn't so much that software causes problems as much as that software could do so much more to help. Software augments our brains in a lot of different ways, making it easier for us to remember things, organize information, and communicate. It feels like there must be _some_ way to turn all that computing power into something it helps with mental illness, too. But any such thing would probably have to be very personalized to the person using it, which is something we can't really do that well right now.
- kixiQu 6y ago
  Software is good at codifying processes. Part of what I have hated the most about cognitive behavioral therapy at times is what a rote process it is (even when it must be to be effective). I suspect someone will come up with something good here only as a matter of personal production rather than VC-moonshot.
  - jotm 6y ago
    At the very least, you would need some therapist knowledge about the person using such a CBT software. Likely from your actual therapist, but it could be done with a lot of self-introspection/discovery - the problem with the latter is that if you come to the wrong conclusions about your own problems and solutions (which is likely) it could lead you further astray. So every copy of it would need to be very customizable and very private at the very least; medically certified, maybe.
- jotm 6y ago
  > It feels like there must be _some_ way to turn all that computing power into something it helps with mental illness, too. But any such thing would probably have to be very personalized to the person using it, which is something we can't really do that well right now. Interesting, I've been thinking about this for the past year. I'm thinking a sort of personal assistant/therapist, and I've also come to the conclusion that it would have to be really personalized for the person using it. And probably very integrated with the hardware you use. But I do believe it's possible to create it.

by jotm 6y ago

hwayne 6y ago

Author here. Normally I try to avoid discussing the content on HN (I have weird beliefs about author engagement), but I wanted to share my thoughts on this. I mostly agree with you about the manual labor thing. Outside of tech I'm a really avid cook and chocolatier. There's something special about holding a cherry cordial in your hand and thinking "I made this" that I've never gotten with programming. Cooking is one of the very few things I know that can help me cope with depression. Not stop it, nothing can stop it, but at least make it feel little bit less awful in the moment. (This can lead to some funny situations where I'm hungry and want to cook but have zero appetite, so I make a dish, put in the freezer, and stay hungry.) But tech helps in other ways. When I'm sane, tech is something that I look forward to, that keeps me mentally engaged, that gives me new puzzles every day. I'm proud of some of the things I've done, maybe not to the same degree that I'm proud of the chocolate I make, but still proud in its own way. My problem isn't so much that software causes problems as much as that software could do so much more to help. Software augments our brains in a lot of different ways, making it easier for us to remember things, organize information, and communicate. It feels like there must be _some_ way to turn all that computing power into something it helps with mental illness, too. But any such thing would probably have to be very personalized to the person using it, which is something we can't really do that well right now.

kixiQu 6y ago
Software is good at codifying processes. Part of what I have hated the most about cognitive behavioral therapy at times is what a rote process it is (even when it must be to be effective). I suspect someone will come up with something good here only as a matter of personal production rather than VC-moonshot.
- jotm 6y ago
  At the very least, you would need some therapist knowledge about the person using such a CBT software. Likely from your actual therapist, but it could be done with a lot of self-introspection/discovery - the problem with the latter is that if you come to the wrong conclusions about your own problems and solutions (which is likely) it could lead you further astray. So every copy of it would need to be very customizable and very private at the very least; medically certified, maybe.
jotm 6y ago
> It feels like there must be _some_ way to turn all that computing power into something it helps with mental illness, too. But any such thing would probably have to be very personalized to the person using it, which is something we can't really do that well right now. Interesting, I've been thinking about this for the past year. I'm thinking a sort of personal assistant/therapist, and I've also come to the conclusion that it would have to be really personalized for the person using it. And probably very integrated with the hardware you use. But I do believe it's possible to create it.