I mentioned to my father that I was heading out this afternoon to Berkeley Espresso, which is where I sit as I write this. It not being one of his usual haunts, it took him, a third-generation Berkeleyan, a moment to remember it, but it soon clicked. "Oh yeah! I like that place! One of the last old Berkeley coffee shops." I knew immediately what he meant by this description, even though I'd never used it myself. They're slowly dying out, and I remember them fondly, so I figured I'd contribute my own small written memorial.

I've been asked more than once by junior coders: "When will I start feeling like I know what I'm doing?" They're not usually prepared for my answer, which is "never."

I saw my first dead body today.

particularly obvious untruths frequently catch listeners flat-footed. the utterer can't possibly be lying, because such a lie would be trivially discoverable; so, i guess...their outlandish claim must be true? when your listeners are professionally credulous, you can build a lucrative career out of this type of lie. when they're high schoolers, you can generate some funny stories.

In February of 2009, the LessWrong forums were launched by some guy named Eliezer Yudkowsky. Yudkowsky is a member of the demographic I call the Very Smartest Boys - affluent men who, despite lacking any particular expertise or accomplishments, consider themselves intellectual titans because they're good at a particular set of narrow, societally rewarded tasks, like taking standardized tests. LessWrong was a haven for this type, and the forums echoed with heady philosophical and scientific discussions, even though the participants rarely had any idea what they were talking about. Yudkowsky himself would occasionally say something stupid enough to break out into broader nerd circles, and we'd roll our eyes and chuckle and then go back to ignoring him.

After sixteen years of self-promotion, he managed to get a book into the mainstream. Now I have to explain Eliezer Yudkowsky to my dad.