Readit Newszonghao commented on 9 Years of "Learning to Code" and I Still Couldn't Build a To-Do App offpeaklog.bearblog.dev/l... · Posted by u/speckx
I feel like this learning method has benefited me, but it doesn't seem to be widely supported:
I'll work on a project for a while, then realize what knowledge I'm lacking, to the point where I can't even think meaningfully while working on it.
Then I'll take courses for a while, which helps me build a "knowledge map." I'll think, "Oh, so that's how it works."
Then I'll go back to working on projects.
As for documentation, I see many people recommend reading it directly to learn, but I find it hard to get through, and just reading documentation also makes it difficult for the knowledge to organize itself in my mind (it's like getting lost in a well-made game without map hints) If I watch tutorial videos first, then writing projects or reading documentation becomes more comfortable. I think these things might be mutually reinforcing.
I would binge-watch courses on Coursera for many days straight. I think the problem mentioned in this article seems to be that he didn't actually watch the videos he saved, so even if he were to learn through documentation, the result would be the same. Learning and practice are mutually reinforcing, while learning styles may vary for each individual.
zonghao commented on To Download Adult Mods on Nexus, You Need to Show ID thegamer.com/nexus-mods-u... · Posted by u/throw7
When it comes to bypassing internet restrictions, the British have a lot to learn from the Chinese (
zonghao commented on The rising returns to R&D: Ideas are not getting harder to find papers.ssrn.com/sol3/pape... · Posted by u/surprisetalk
I have no problem with anyone individually. I'm sure we'd all get along just fine on that level.
The issue is your gov. Same as Russia or anyone else. People are the same individually, but collectively we are not. The Lakers don’t invite the Celtics to a BBQ instead of competing on the court just because they both love shooting hoops.
You are an entrepreneur? You should come to America if you love free-r markets and entrepreneurship. You do know that you can far more easily start a company in America as a Chinese national, than I could in China as an American citizen right? We are all the same people if we go grab a bite or show each other our favorite music videos, but on a global stage we are not the same as NATIONS. That is the key distinction.
As an American, I believe that our way of life, our Constitution, and our proven ability to take all sorts of people and make our nation greater because of it is the epitome of human civilization so far. Others have had thousands of years, still failed to do much. We've only been around since 1776 and been through our own very hard lessons (Civil War, civil rights, Vietnam), though I would argue on a objective scale nowhere close to CCP or Russians..
A quick peek at recent CCP history (hey, we all have skeletons in the closet like I already conceded) shows 10s of millions of their own people murdered in purges (we can argue if it was 10 million or 40 million or 80 million, and it would be totally absurd), Tiananmen Square Massacre, Jack Ma's treatment, drowning Filipino fishermen and other S. China Sea free trade disruptions, and most recently a possible invasion of Taiwan. The possibility of a PLA invasion of Taiwan is why America has invested billions into building chip factories on-shore. As soon as the PLA launches, Taiwan is forced to destroy its own chip factories and other critical infrastructure.
I have zero faith that a CCP dominated world would be a net benefit. It is an exclusionary repressive government, it likes to purge its people randomly, and in general is just not easy to get along with. It also has a boardroom despot that's a dictator. Same thing with Russians, they have been under the rule of some truly awful people and that's just how it is at the end of the day, nothing personal.
I don't need to go on a VPN and be afraid to speak my mind here because being honest about our shortcomings and past is how we forge an actually better tomorrow.
The US also exports culture. I've been around the world, and I see people wearing NBA jerseys or going crazy in the theater watching Marvel movies with subtitles. Even the media in other countries is so heavily derivative of American culture, like pop idol bands or any TV show literally looks like American media from 10-20 years ago but in a different language that I enjoy with subtitles because it is nice to hear a different language and see the scenery there. (Really brings to light what I meant about copy/pasting or stealing from us, in literally every regard though)
They love being American, and acting like it too sometimes. That’s the beauty of America, that anyone can join (legally if physically, otherwise just vibing), and it only makes us stronger. I don’t see anyone lining up to "be Chinese" or "be Russian" in the same way, almost always the other way around. Even our biggest haters are rocking American fashion with their fighter kits lol.
Yes, there's no doubt I envy these advantages of your country.
By the way, I'm replying to your comment via a proxy server in Los Angeles, HN is also not directly accessible in China. I think this is why I didn't truly understand many things until my twenties, which is a pity.
I also hope we can have a democratic government, at least one that allows free access to information and freedom of political expression.
But this conflicts with the interests of those with vested interests, who fear that giving people a little freedom will cause them to lose the wealth they gained through illicit means. I think this is unjust, but I don't know what to do.
Even Jack Ma was punished for saying the wrong thing and disappeared from public view for several years. He's the one who created Taobao and Alipay; an entrepreneur like that would be respected in the US and would have the opportunity to tell young people in the public eye: you shouldn't sigh, there are many opportunities in this world. But the truth is, the mainstream voice only teaches everyone to obey, and successful and visionary people are gradually leaving this country.
However, I see that the United States seems very chaotic, and for my personal safety, I probably won't consider going there. I really like American culture, especially Silicon Valley culture, but I might consider Singapore or Australia as better immigration destinations. Perhaps the situation in Silicon Valley is different from those chaotic neighborhoods? I'm not in the US, so I don't know much about it. I wish someone could tell me, haha.
zonghao commented on The rising returns to R&D: Ideas are not getting harder to find papers.ssrn.com/sol3/pape... · Posted by u/surprisetalk
I feel for you, there is no easy solution:
“ China has a large wealth gap, and we have many people with lower education levels who earn meager wages through manual labor to support their families.”
This is the crux of the issue, people too close to extreme poverty couldn’t care less about the IP institutions that led to mass technological development that they or their child will benefit from.
To me, it’s analogous to how very poor people treat the environment very poorly because they have no mental bandwidth to care. The best way to help in that case is to raise wages.
People are frustrated with the CCP because devaluing the currency is intentional massive wage theft which keeps the population near poverty with the negative aftereffects.
If this goes on long enough (which it might have), humanity at large suffers if people refuse to invest in technology of the future or everyone starts putting up trade barriers because the lost investments are too painful.
Yes, this goes back to that fundamental and long-debated question: How do we eliminate poverty?
I've studied some sociological and economic theories, and I generally understand that this problem is very difficult to solve.
From my perspective, China's biggest problem right now is actually unequal distribution (especially between different regions), and it's sad to see such a problem in a socialist country.
I really hope our government can truly commit to solving such inter-regional distribution problems, instead of just shouting slogans and doing nothing (which they often do).
I have many classmates from underdeveloped regions who come to Beijing for university and then never return to their hometowns because there are simply no opportunities there. Major resources are concentrated in a few large cities.
I don't know if this is a common characteristic of East Asian countries (Tokyo is also very large, and small cities in Japan are also declining). However, Japan's Gini coefficient is very low, and I think we should learn from Japan in this regard.
zonghao commented on The rising returns to R&D: Ideas are not getting harder to find papers.ssrn.com/sol3/pape... · Posted by u/surprisetalk
I think the solution is to knock them down to a point that they are like India or Russia.
Just big countries but stuck.
I wouldn’t mind if we could make some plays to revamp Japan and some EU, and maybe grow India while boxing China and Russia together.
As long as those countries have governments that aren’t on our side or at least sympathetic to our vision, they should be kept in check hard. Like manufacturing stuff for us but not really being able to use any of it. Sounds harsh but that’s reality. Nothing personal lol
All they’ve done is steal anyway and extracting knowledge from us after we showed them how to make a factory (reductionist but idc), so it’s not like we would be “morally” wrong.
I often browse Hacker News and like it here. As a young Chinese entrepreneur, comments like these make me feel frustrated. China has a large wealth gap, and we have many people with lower education levels who earn meager wages through manual labor to support their families, highly dependent on manufacturing for income. In a sense, they are somewhat like the American Rust Belt before the loss of manufacturing (though they probably don't live as well as Americans, as they can afford neither homes nor cars). The setbacks manufacturing faces in international trade are making their lives even worse.
I can roughly understand why you made such a comment, because many friendly and kind people around you are, or have been, worse off due to the competition between our countries. The people around me are also friendly and kind, and I think the best outcome should be for all of us to live better, rather than one side getting better at the expense of the other.
I think we should find ways to develop that benefit everyone, because we are all human, and those who are awake when you are sleeping are not bad people.
I guess this is because I'm not skilled enough, but I really hope Asahi Linux can support the M4 chip soon, or why can't Apple provide a native installation channel? I think many Mac mini owners would love that.