4 ms·
Ask HN: What blew your mind?
What is something you have seen recently that...
...gave you the chills
...made you question what is possible
...made your mind race with new ideas?
- blogimus 18y agoI wake up in the morning and I'm still here.
- RiderOfGiraffes 18y agoHow could it be that you wake up in the morning and you're not still here? Just wondering ...
- rms 18y agohttp://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/06/qm-and-identity.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/06/qm-and-identity.html
- tjic 18y agoIt was 15 years or so back, but the Diagonalization Proof and Godel's incompleteness theorem blew me away. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantor%27s_diagonal_argument http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantor%27s_diagonal_argument The first time I grokked relativity is also seared in my memory.
- david927 18y agoI hope it doesn't come across as narcissistic, but what I'm doing with my startup.
- bcjordan 18y agoWhat's that?
- david927 18y agoIt's a new way to structure and query data -- essentially a new type of database, a variation of a graph database -- and the result is that anyone can use it and model their data without realizing that's what they're doing. I wish I could describe it in a sentence or two, but the upshot is that while Google is great at finding text in web pages, a business or a schedule of events doesn't want to be a web page -- it wants to be found. So by allowing people to structure their own information, you get a different type of web experience: show all babysitters near me who charge less than $6/hour, or send a message to all co-workers who play squash. Things like that.
- hbien 18y agoMostly the Sistine Chapel - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel_ceiling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel_ceiling, but also a few other art pieces as well. One guy, did that, in 4 years ?! Makes me want to work harder/smarter to do something amazing too.
- yummyfajitas 18y agoCompressed sensing. Specifically, Candes-Romberg-Tao's really simple explanation of it. http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/math/pdf/0503/0503066v2.pdf http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/math/pdf/0503/0503066v2.pdf
- pavelludiq 18y agoMy mind is like a war zone, i blow it up very often. Most recently it was my realization that is math easier(and much more fun) if you approach it as a mystery to be solved, rather than a sport, like they teach you in school. Yes, they do teach it like a sport: learn the skills, and then apply them to 4 problems in 40 minutes, each problem is harder than the previous, and if you succeed, you get rewarded with a better grade. This is the most boring sport ever! This is mind-blowing to a 19 year-old who spend 12 years in pointless training of a sport that isn't fun, to get rewarded with something he doesn't care about. Man, i feel cheated. Other examples of recent mind explosions include: when i "got" recursion last summer. when i "got"(sort of)pointers in C. when i "got" what trigonometry really is, now all i have to do is "get" it itself. when i found hacker news :D
- bcjordan 18y agoThe forgetting curve and its application in flashcard programs with spaced repetition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgetting_curve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgetting_curve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition
- skwiddor 18y agoPlan 9 From Bell Labs
- bcjordan 18y agoPlan 9 blew my mind as well. Everything's a file! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Bell_Labs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Bell_Labs
- oz 18y agoLeaving Christianity and realizing that I alone am responsible for my destiny....my will be done...
- cpr 18y agoSounds like Lucifer's "non serviam".