6 ms·

pg would probably use logic, experience and a little bit of gut feel to figure out the best way to solve an issue, not refer to a single source of someone else'

pg would probably use logic, experience and a little bit of gut feel to figure out the best way to solve an issue, not refer to a single source of someone else's writings. Stop worshiping the man like he is a god. His essays are not bible scripture, and in many areas they would actually be the completely wrong course of action to take. pg's thoughts are only one segment of knowledge that a person should be receiving and performing their own analysis on. If you agree with everything pg says, you have set him up as your personal demi-god and are dangerously ignorant. I suggest reading something other than him for a while. (Note: replace pg with any particular author or method if you choose.) EDIT: You can usually tell when you've hit on an uncomfortable truth when the reaction is fiercest. Irony: pump in "Trouble" to the tool under discussion.

manaskarekar 14y ago
Although your advice regarding 'worshipping' a single author/person is good advice, that site is just a tool for anyone wanting a slice of the pg pie. It's rather well done.
- hnriot 14y ago
  that's what google is for, site:
aakil 14y ago
It's really just a tool we built for ourselves to get information from a specific trusted source. It helps that he has a huge catalog of work to draw from. We thought the ability to tap into that through a search dynamic would be interesting, it's been very useful for us. We hope it can be useful for you.
- davidw 14y ago
  Something that would add some fun to it: use some markov chains to make a PG chatterbot, using the same corpus that you already have. You could mark those answers clearly as bot answers.
randomdrake 14y ago
Why are you assuming they are worshiping him? They simply made a fun little app to search through his essays. Your comment seems rather ill-tempered and misplaced. Did you even try the app out or are you just on a rant about how you don't think people should make decisions based on the information of a single source? Either way, I'm not sure how your comment is a helpful contribution to this particular link.
- unavoidable 14y ago
  I really think HN has a habit of taking everything uber-seriously and has a hard time accepting things as light-hearted jokes or fun projects.
  - run4yourlives 14y ago
    The issue is that a lot of HN has a habit of taking pg too seriously.
  - larrys 14y ago
    Well, let's say you did the same "light-hearted" thing with respect to a girl that you were interested in? I would guess that some would call that stalking. Let's say you did the same thing, indexing all of patio11 or edw or tpatcek comments. Wouldn't someone assume that there was some weird fixation going on there or an attempt to curry favor?
tomasien 14y ago
This is just the worst kind of critique. This is a useful tool, I often find myself searching for something I had read that PG had said and having a difficult time. He's written a great deal, this is extremely useful.
- run4yourlives 14y ago
  Come on man: http://bit.ly/SYnwWM http://bit.ly/SYnwWM
  - tomasien 14y ago
    I'm aware of paulgraham.com but thanks for letting me know in the most condescending way possible! This is a great way to search through paulgraham.com as well as his comments on HN. I'm a fan and I'm certain to find utility in it in the future.
ultramundane8 14y ago
I would suggest not attributing the phrase "What would x do?" to anyone or anything in particular, as it is in no way a directly deifying phrase. There is a possibility that the other comments gesture towards the same thing (if read to), but the language in no way implies deification, and that's about all I'd like to point out. It was a phrase made by people to ask a question with an acronym.
gfodor 14y ago
Something tells might you might be projecting just a little bit.
brudgers 14y ago
"you have set him up as your personal demi-god" A mistake, I agree. PG is the philosopher-king of HN.
larrys 14y ago
I'm in agreement. (Except the part about using bible scripture as a point of reference.) "Stop worshiping the man like he is a god. His essays are not bible scripture" People worship bible scripture not because it's 100% right or even 25% right but because they've been brainwashed into believing it is worth believing in. Same as apparently, from what I can tell, people seem to be doing with PG. This reminds me of some of the people over at AVC.com thinking Fred Wilson should run for political office (an idea that he quickly shot down). I mean seriously we already have enough of that. Someone excels in one area and others seemed to think that they can do anything and can do no wrong. "You can usually tell when you've hit on an uncomfortable truth" Agree with that as well. But to be complete, somebody who makes the comment that you did could also be jealous, or frustrated as well. (Pointing out other possibilities. I mean there is a type of personality that loves to get any attention and then there is the type of personality that would feel uncomfortable with excess attention that they don't feel is entirely deserved. If you are reading this PG I hope you understand that you appear to like this attention. Or, you don't, but it serves your greater goals to be a demi god. Such problems it presents, to be so successful. We should all have to deal with people fawning over us. But I don't think that's the case here. I think you are just finding the people who are doing the worshiping naive in their thinking and it's getting a little irritating to some HNers.

manaskarekar 14y ago

Although your advice regarding 'worshipping' a single author/person is good advice, that site is just a tool for anyone wanting a slice of the pg pie. It's rather well done.

hnriot 14y ago
that's what google is for, site:

aakil 14y ago

It's really just a tool we built for ourselves to get information from a specific trusted source. It helps that he has a huge catalog of work to draw from. We thought the ability to tap into that through a search dynamic would be interesting, it's been very useful for us. We hope it can be useful for you.

davidw 14y ago
Something that would add some fun to it: use some markov chains to make a PG chatterbot, using the same corpus that you already have. You could mark those answers clearly as bot answers.

randomdrake 14y ago

Why are you assuming they are worshiping him? They simply made a fun little app to search through his essays. Your comment seems rather ill-tempered and misplaced. Did you even try the app out or are you just on a rant about how you don't think people should make decisions based on the information of a single source? Either way, I'm not sure how your comment is a helpful contribution to this particular link.

unavoidable 14y ago
I really think HN has a habit of taking everything uber-seriously and has a hard time accepting things as light-hearted jokes or fun projects.
- run4yourlives 14y ago
  The issue is that a lot of HN has a habit of taking pg too seriously.
- larrys 14y ago
  Well, let's say you did the same "light-hearted" thing with respect to a girl that you were interested in? I would guess that some would call that stalking. Let's say you did the same thing, indexing all of patio11 or edw or tpatcek comments. Wouldn't someone assume that there was some weird fixation going on there or an attempt to curry favor?

tomasien 14y ago

This is just the worst kind of critique. This is a useful tool, I often find myself searching for something I had read that PG had said and having a difficult time. He's written a great deal, this is extremely useful.

run4yourlives 14y ago
Come on man: http://bit.ly/SYnwWM http://bit.ly/SYnwWM
- tomasien 14y ago
  I'm aware of paulgraham.com but thanks for letting me know in the most condescending way possible! This is a great way to search through paulgraham.com as well as his comments on HN. I'm a fan and I'm certain to find utility in it in the future.

ultramundane8 14y ago

I would suggest not attributing the phrase "What would x do?" to anyone or anything in particular, as it is in no way a directly deifying phrase. There is a possibility that the other comments gesture towards the same thing (if read to), but the language in no way implies deification, and that's about all I'd like to point out. It was a phrase made by people to ask a question with an acronym.

gfodor 14y ago

Something tells might you might be projecting just a little bit.

brudgers 14y ago

"you have set him up as your personal demi-god" A mistake, I agree. PG is the philosopher-king of HN.

larrys 14y ago

I'm in agreement. (Except the part about using bible scripture as a point of reference.) "Stop worshiping the man like he is a god. His essays are not bible scripture" People worship bible scripture not because it's 100% right or even 25% right but because they've been brainwashed into believing it is worth believing in. Same as apparently, from what I can tell, people seem to be doing with PG. This reminds me of some of the people over at AVC.com thinking Fred Wilson should run for political office (an idea that he quickly shot down). I mean seriously we already have enough of that. Someone excels in one area and others seemed to think that they can do anything and can do no wrong. "You can usually tell when you've hit on an uncomfortable truth" Agree with that as well. But to be complete, somebody who makes the comment that you did could also be jealous, or frustrated as well. (Pointing out other possibilities. I mean there is a type of personality that loves to get any attention and then there is the type of personality that would feel uncomfortable with excess attention that they don't feel is entirely deserved. If you are reading this PG I hope you understand that you appear to like this attention. Or, you don't, but it serves your greater goals to be a demi god. Such problems it presents, to be so successful. We should all have to deal with people fawning over us. But I don't think that's the case here. I think you are just finding the people who are doing the worshiping naive in their thinking and it's getting a little irritating to some HNers.