philangist

I've just read that section of War and Peace and was blown away by the descriptions of guerrilla tactics as well as Tolstoy's way of capturing the state of mind of the Russian POWs and their ever-shifting relationships with their captors.

As an aside, the word Guerrilla (little war) was coined during Napoleon's occupation of Spain to describe the resistance effort by locals and peasants against the French army.

This comment actually triggered something in me and I wanted to write a dismissive and condescending response but in the spirit of HN I’d like to try a different approach.

I’ve honestly never been able to understand this kind of thinking (uniformly ruling children as a negative because of the downsides), but I’d be curious to understand more about your perspective.

How do you weigh the joy and meaning many people find in having a family against the economic and time freedom costs?

Or the fact that societies do need to continue having children in order to: sustain economic growth, service their elderly population (that will be us in a few years to decades), maintain their armed forces, perpetuate their culture and values into the future, invest in scientific research, etc.

Are these not things you value? Or do you just see the tradeoff as not worth it?

I believe this applies to a large segment of the population. Diction, tonality, and "vibe" have a big effect on how open recipients are to cold calls, at least according to my SDR friends.

OP likely just has more self-awareness than most in being able to be honest about it.

https://mit6875.github.io/ - MIT's Foundations of Cryptography is publicly available with full lectures, lecture note pdfs, and 5 problem sets. It's very rigorous and proof-driven which can be hard at times, but the professor's enthusiasm for the subject is infectious and makes the lectures a pleasure to watch.

"Hey sorry, I've got some things on my mind right now and can't really talk. Have a nice day though".

That takes less than 10 seconds to say, let's you protect your time and peace of mind, and as a bonus there's no need for fuming, blaming, and judging that the other person won't ever even know about.

I'd highly suggest joining a Brazilian jiu jitsu gym. They tend to be filled with other computer nerds (although not only) and people are very friendly in a genuine way.

Curious what have been the main insights you've gotten from the book around what causes hard to maintain projects?

One of my major goals for 2026 was zero LLM use for writing, however I've found it a bit hard at times because LLMs are exceptional for research. Oftentimes I find that in reading an explanation or report that ChatGPT gives me about a topic there will be small turns of phrase or even whole sentences that capture a concept way better than I can. I then feel obstinate not using a clearly superior option, so I'm curious if you've run into that tension and if so how you navigate it.

So what would you say should be in the effective playbook for selling going into 2025?

Also running a small consultancy firm like OP and coming from a technical background, building an effective sales motion is the hardest challenge.

This nitwit brought EVs to the mass market! And build a re-usable spaceflight platform that even the most powerful nation states can't rival! And helped found the world's leading AI lab!

I pray to god to be a nitwit like that.

One could easily argue the opposite too no? That new generations are surrounded by the effects of the breaking down of gender roles, and are looking to the past/other societies for an alternate model.

> mentored the people on my team to be similarly efficient

What were the main changes you introduced/points you mentored them on to get their productivity to also be similarly efficient?

Not the OP but I relocated to Barcelona from New York City a year ago and my dating life has never been healthier or funner. Women here are the most open of anywhere I've been in the world. Now dating a young Russian artist who's very sweet and easygoing and I wish I'd moved here 4 years earlier.

Sounds like an AI that would be in a Vonnegut novel

> a worldwide, UN-controlled authority

How would it enforce it’s authority with non-compliant actors?

^that.. that’s bait

His name is Robert Grugson

Ha! I've considered it and if I found the right woman and we had a relationship that was in the right place I'd definitely do it. But starting a family seems like one of those 'slow and steady wins the race' type of situations.

Vipassana is great. I went to a retreat in 2017 that I fully credit with putting me on the path that led to this current situation. I've been trying to enroll in another 10-day course for the last year, but they fill up fast and I've yet to make it off the waitlist.

https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/courses/search

+1 would be a great idea

My deepest condolences to you and your son for your losses.

I won the IPO lottery and I’m in the middle ground between rich enough to never work again but not quite rich enough for the yachts/mansions/private jets lifestyle. I haven’t worked in 6 months and I’m struggling to find a larger meaning to my life beyond getting yet another tech job. I’ve considered going to college for a math degree, moving to my parents home country, and joining the military (among many other options) over the last few months. Just feeling very aimless so I’ve started reading Russian literature and spending hours on Reddit every day.

27/M (today was my birthday :)