I am (not) a failure: Lessons learned from six failed startup attempts

Re:I am (not) a failure: Lessons learned from six failed sta... by lisper on Monday January 20, 2025 @04:57PM (#42773551)

I don't know that I have all that much to say about it. Research is (at least to date) a human activity and so it is necessarily beset with human foibles. It requires resources, so it necessarily involves economics, which necessarily involves politics. It's not rocket science. Anyone who thinks about it for even a moment can figure this out without my help.

> recent hype about deep learning

Does anyone really look at contemporary AI as a Platonic quest for objective truth? It seems to me that there is pretty widespread clarity about the fact that this is mostly a commercial endeavor. If you want to talk about Platonic quests for objective truth we should talk about, say, mathematics or fundamental physics.

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Re:I am (not) a failure: Lessons learned from six failed sta... by 331c8c71 on Monday January 20, 2025 @05:15PM (#42773728)

> Does anyone really look at contemporary AI as a Platonic quest for objective truth?

I realize I have a tendency to romanticize some of the papers I read even if I fully understand intellectually it is a wrong thing to do. Probably I should try concsiously train myself not to do it or something along these lines.

My experience tells me if I have a question or an issue it's very unlikely to be unique to myself. And (re-)reading an honest or even cynical account about something typically helps e.g. ribbonfarm on corporate hierarchies/politics.

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Re:I am (not) a failure: Lessons learned from six failed sta... by 331c8c71 on Monday January 20, 2025 @05:54PM (#42774107)

BTW I really enjoyed your recent open letter

https://blog.rongarret.info/2025/01/an-open-letter-to-democr...

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Re:I am (not) a failure: Lessons learned from six failed sta... by lisper on Monday January 20, 2025 @06:18PM (#42774328)

Thanks!

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