Zain Nadella, Satya Nadella's son, dies at 26(ibtimes.com)
ibtimes.com
Zain Nadella, Satya Nadella's son, dies at 26
https://www.ibtimes.com/zain-nadella-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadellas-son-dies-26-3418278
127 comments
Much of my adult life was the same way. We used to talk about how great our family had it -- we went for decades without losing anyone close. We knew eventually our turn would come, but I treasured the time we did have.
But come it did, about 7 years ago. Since then I've lost two brothers, my dad, my grandparents, and my best friend. The trite "fuck cancer" statement comes to mind regularly. Another friend of mine has cancer, my mom has terminal cancer, my stepmother has cancer...
> I think I'm gonna call my mom.
Always a good plan, I highly recommend it. I think I will do the same. Treasure your loved ones, even when times are good it can change suddenly.
But come it did, about 7 years ago. Since then I've lost two brothers, my dad, my grandparents, and my best friend. The trite "fuck cancer" statement comes to mind regularly. Another friend of mine has cancer, my mom has terminal cancer, my stepmother has cancer...
> I think I'm gonna call my mom.
Always a good plan, I highly recommend it. I think I will do the same. Treasure your loved ones, even when times are good it can change suddenly.
>> I think I'm gonna call my mom.
>>>Always a good plan, I highly recommend it. I think I will do the same. Treasure your loved ones, even when times are good it can change suddenly.
Absolutely. Now, I hope this does not come across as trite but I lost my mum to cancer in 1997. I was 27 at the time. It was hard, very hard as you'd expect. Time does heal but it takes a lot of time. I can still call my mum and she sometimes responds. Not literally - that's mad. I can still remember her values and guidance.
That won't be same for everyone because loss is personal and so is all experience. I've buried (in the loss sense, not mass murderer sense) quite a lot of relos and it is hard and part of life.
Whatever happens, you can always call your mum and she'll always be there in some way.
>>>Always a good plan, I highly recommend it. I think I will do the same. Treasure your loved ones, even when times are good it can change suddenly.
Absolutely. Now, I hope this does not come across as trite but I lost my mum to cancer in 1997. I was 27 at the time. It was hard, very hard as you'd expect. Time does heal but it takes a lot of time. I can still call my mum and she sometimes responds. Not literally - that's mad. I can still remember her values and guidance.
That won't be same for everyone because loss is personal and so is all experience. I've buried (in the loss sense, not mass murderer sense) quite a lot of relos and it is hard and part of life.
Whatever happens, you can always call your mum and she'll always be there in some way.
> I hope this does not come across as trite
Not at all. I'm sorry for your loss, and thank you for sharing with us - who all have or will lose someone - a way to heal.
Not at all. I'm sorry for your loss, and thank you for sharing with us - who all have or will lose someone - a way to heal.
Same thing with my dad. I don't talk to him, but I can clearly see his face smiling at me, and hear his laugh, and it helps.
I was in the same boat. Never experienced a death in my family until my Grandmother died in '18, then my Brother dies a few months later, then my Grandfather in '19 and then an Aunt in 2019 and a uncle in 2020. Needless to say its been very rough and made me realize life is incredibly fragile and enjoy every minute of your time on this planet.
The same has happened to me. It's been almost every 1-2 years for the past 10 that I experience another great loss. Most recently was my mother. That one was/still is tough.
Sorry for your loss. Losing so many people in such a short time is devastating.
People talk about to going to Mars or other planets as a stupendous achievement. And it is. But I believe what would be the greatest human achievement would be fully conquering these leading causes of death: cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease..and finally the biggest cause of death and the final frontier: dying of old age. Even an extension of human lifespan by a several decades in good health could transform civilisation.
Yet, it seems that medical science has progressed only a few feet while industry/tech has sprinted miles. Life expectancy has plateaued and even declined across the world.
People talk about to going to Mars or other planets as a stupendous achievement. And it is. But I believe what would be the greatest human achievement would be fully conquering these leading causes of death: cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease..and finally the biggest cause of death and the final frontier: dying of old age. Even an extension of human lifespan by a several decades in good health could transform civilisation.
Yet, it seems that medical science has progressed only a few feet while industry/tech has sprinted miles. Life expectancy has plateaued and even declined across the world.
TLDR - Before you cure cancer, you need to "cure" aging.
> But I believe what would be the greatest human achievement would be fully conquering these leading causes of death: cancer,
I dunno about the others, but with cancer I don't think it is possible to "cure" it.
It's the result of a bad mutation when a cell reproduces (AIUI, it's to do with telomere lengths and statistically certain low-frequency events).
Each cell that reproduces will do so imperfectly, and normally those random mutations aren't too bad. Statistically, one of those mutations will eventually be a mutation that causes the cell to reproduce without limits (normal cells don't reproduce very fast).
Hence, the longer you live, the greater the chance of a bad mutation, i.e. cancer. The only way to "cure" cancer, then, will be to have cells reproduce perfectly, in which case you have effective immortality as long as no other disease or event kills you.
> But I believe what would be the greatest human achievement would be fully conquering these leading causes of death: cancer,
I dunno about the others, but with cancer I don't think it is possible to "cure" it.
It's the result of a bad mutation when a cell reproduces (AIUI, it's to do with telomere lengths and statistically certain low-frequency events).
Each cell that reproduces will do so imperfectly, and normally those random mutations aren't too bad. Statistically, one of those mutations will eventually be a mutation that causes the cell to reproduce without limits (normal cells don't reproduce very fast).
Hence, the longer you live, the greater the chance of a bad mutation, i.e. cancer. The only way to "cure" cancer, then, will be to have cells reproduce perfectly, in which case you have effective immortality as long as no other disease or event kills you.
And yet there are species of animals that can live well over 500 years without aging much. If it just comes down to errors, perhaps we should focus on finding better error repair mechanisms. If half the money that went into building the ad platforms was put into senescence repair mechanisms, who knows where we would be. One sad thing about pointless high paying tech jobs is they often take brilliant minds and set them to work building a better bean counter in exchange for money. A good portion of work done every day by Silicon Valley will have no lasting benefit and will be completely thrown out. Humans are smart enough to understand this but not smart enough to break the meaningless cycle and work on goals that will benefit society over the next 1000 years.
I've also lost several loved ones from cancer. Stopping the metastatic progression is key to survival, but wow do cancerous cells ever know how to survive. We need to win this.
Found out my buddy has brain cancer last week. Fuck cancer.
My mom is being treated for resistant schizophrenia and she’s in a rehab. I get to talk with her only when the Counsellor is on duty.
When I visited my mom last month, she was complaining she doesn’t like 8 people ward coz of zero privacy and the need to share washrooms. She’s been brought up as a princess and was highly pampered, being everyone’s favorite, and finds it tough staying in such accommodations. She told me she wanted a single room to herself. I told her it’s not good staying alone, we will get you into a double occupancy room, so there’s someone in the room in case something untoward happens.
Today, she called me via the Counsellor today after a week, and the call got disconnected in about a few seconds coz of bad network.
I later called up the hospital but the Counsellor had left. However, I had her shifted from an 8 people ward to a 4 people ward today. It’s because the rehab administrator advised that we have 4 people ward as well if you wanna consider. I said ask mom and see what she like - 4 sharing or 2 sharing. The admin called up 10 min and said your mom was okay with 4 sharing, and we have moved her there.
Tomorrow, I will call her to ensure she’s comfortable in 4 sharing and if she does not like, next month I move her to 2 sharing.
Just a random post reading your comment.
When I visited my mom last month, she was complaining she doesn’t like 8 people ward coz of zero privacy and the need to share washrooms. She’s been brought up as a princess and was highly pampered, being everyone’s favorite, and finds it tough staying in such accommodations. She told me she wanted a single room to herself. I told her it’s not good staying alone, we will get you into a double occupancy room, so there’s someone in the room in case something untoward happens.
Today, she called me via the Counsellor today after a week, and the call got disconnected in about a few seconds coz of bad network.
I later called up the hospital but the Counsellor had left. However, I had her shifted from an 8 people ward to a 4 people ward today. It’s because the rehab administrator advised that we have 4 people ward as well if you wanna consider. I said ask mom and see what she like - 4 sharing or 2 sharing. The admin called up 10 min and said your mom was okay with 4 sharing, and we have moved her there.
Tomorrow, I will call her to ensure she’s comfortable in 4 sharing and if she does not like, next month I move her to 2 sharing.
Just a random post reading your comment.
It seems like (hopefully) there's the golden period a time after grandma and grandpa die where mostly nobody dies. Your parents are OK, your siblings, any friends, co-workers. It's all good until late middle age then people in your life start to disappear.
My dad died last year after a long illness on my birthday of all days. More than anything I find it amazing that a person can disappear. After they die there's this mandatory by law rush to bury them literally and figuratively. Delete all traces of them even their clothes and shoes are thrown away. Bit by bit things they touched disappear.
I was sitting beside my Dad died as he was in a bed in a palliative care room. Rick Steve travel show on Rome was playing and it was 8:40pm when Dad stopped breathing. To me in my mind that's where Dad is. A grave has no meaning to me maybe it will someday.
We all have to go through it but I think we assume it can't happen to use it's other people. If you're in that golden time right now be mindful of the gift you have now. Oh and take lots of pictures in this age of cellphone pics and videos - use it! And make sure it's not just Christmas and cakes in front of them for all the picture.
My dad died last year after a long illness on my birthday of all days. More than anything I find it amazing that a person can disappear. After they die there's this mandatory by law rush to bury them literally and figuratively. Delete all traces of them even their clothes and shoes are thrown away. Bit by bit things they touched disappear.
I was sitting beside my Dad died as he was in a bed in a palliative care room. Rick Steve travel show on Rome was playing and it was 8:40pm when Dad stopped breathing. To me in my mind that's where Dad is. A grave has no meaning to me maybe it will someday.
We all have to go through it but I think we assume it can't happen to use it's other people. If you're in that golden time right now be mindful of the gift you have now. Oh and take lots of pictures in this age of cellphone pics and videos - use it! And make sure it's not just Christmas and cakes in front of them for all the picture.
> I think I'm gonna call my mom.
Please do that. I used to always backpack around, barely went to her or spent some time, always restless, always on the move, always angry (kinda still am), used to fight with her over little things. Though it seemed she always forgave me, or I just took it for granted. Joined work after college and I kept planning for the vacation I would take her to or the house I’ll help her build, and the gifts, for almost over a year but never actually did it or found time. And one day she was gone.
Please do that. I used to always backpack around, barely went to her or spent some time, always restless, always on the move, always angry (kinda still am), used to fight with her over little things. Though it seemed she always forgave me, or I just took it for granted. Joined work after college and I kept planning for the vacation I would take her to or the house I’ll help her build, and the gifts, for almost over a year but never actually did it or found time. And one day she was gone.
Don’t know more about your life, of course, but maybe check if your annoyances with your mum were really an unjustifiable, one-side thing. Looking back with my own mother, I came to notice that she was also very difficult to deal with and whilst it would have been nice if I could have been milder in my reactions at times, I try to diminish my guilt, by also seeing myself as a victim of her demeanor.
Not the person you're replying to, but I sympathize with this a bit.
My grandmother is very conservative. I'm not talking "voted republican", I'm talking "call black people the N word" and spends all day on Infowars forums. I stopped talking to her when she started being extremely racist towards my wife (who is Mexican) in late 2016. The rest of my family (who don't suck) would just put up with her and roll their eyes at it, until March of last year, when she told my mother that she was a failure because my sister is gay. After that, no one in my family will communicate with my grandmother, and I suspect she's going to die sad and alone, with her only friends being OAN and The Daily Stormer.
There's a part of me that feels guilty over that, because at some level I realize she's just a dumb person being dumb and she can't help that, and that maybe I should make an effort to extend the olive branch, but I can't shake the feeling that being nice and talking to her would be inconsiderate to my wife and sister.
I don't know the correct path on this, and perhaps more depressingly I'm not 100% sure I'll miss her when she does eventually die.
My grandmother is very conservative. I'm not talking "voted republican", I'm talking "call black people the N word" and spends all day on Infowars forums. I stopped talking to her when she started being extremely racist towards my wife (who is Mexican) in late 2016. The rest of my family (who don't suck) would just put up with her and roll their eyes at it, until March of last year, when she told my mother that she was a failure because my sister is gay. After that, no one in my family will communicate with my grandmother, and I suspect she's going to die sad and alone, with her only friends being OAN and The Daily Stormer.
There's a part of me that feels guilty over that, because at some level I realize she's just a dumb person being dumb and she can't help that, and that maybe I should make an effort to extend the olive branch, but I can't shake the feeling that being nice and talking to her would be inconsiderate to my wife and sister.
I don't know the correct path on this, and perhaps more depressingly I'm not 100% sure I'll miss her when she does eventually die.
Lack of social connections make people more …pronounced. Especially in a world where there are actual rivalries, it’s not unreasonable to be angry, and she won’t change, but will be more appeased the more connection she has. As long as you can avoid it being completely toxic for you, which is much harder.
Sure, but why exactly should I be the one reaching out? If she emailed me saying "Yeah I don't know what I was thinking saying all that stuff about gay people and Mexicans, please forgive me", then I'm willing to forgive and forget. But that's not going to happen; if I reach out, it will just be me pretending that she isn't a racist homophobic sack of shit, and if I'm doing that, I'm not completely convinced that that's the superior outcome; a reason that bigotry is allowed to exist is because people turn a blind eye to it.
You're right though, everyone avoiding her is just going to push her further down the QAnon rabbit hole, and that's sad.
You're right though, everyone avoiding her is just going to push her further down the QAnon rabbit hole, and that's sad.
I understand it is no pleasure for you and you have no wish to embrace the devil. But in the absence of a helping hand, lonely people rehearse the worst of their history. You can be the one who lends an ear. What would have helped me would have been someone who analyzes the docs with me, to balance what is true from what is not, and who acknowledges the true parts.
Here’s my side. I’m seen as Quanon in my former groups of friends despite not being it. The last drop with one is when one died of cancer, and no-one went to see him. He was leftist, of a leftist family with left-to-extreme-left friends from generation to generation, with supposedly human values top to bottom; and if not for me, he would have died almost alone, we wouldn’t have found the “point on the visual keyboard” trick to communicate, he wouldn’t have had the wifi or tv for his last 6 months, etc. I was there the last night, totally randomly (well, I was there 3 times a week) playing him his last song, one he had written with me, and I hadn’t realized the commie died the most beautiful death, going to sleep on his own song, surrounded with his friends. And this guy is not the only example. My daughter has been raped (France, by a migrant of 2nd generation, by the ethnicity everyone is racist about), my cousin killed, they regularly kill gays on the central place of my city, they drag girls for 800m until their bowels are spread on the road, and judges release them every single time: I am right to believe what I believe. At the time I had helped in a lot of charities, I’ve donated 3-5% of my revenue, but my observation is that leftists will hate us no matter what we do to help the poor, and even if I were “part of them” (the progressists), they would have left me die alone like they did for their friend. I’ve left every single group who had these traits, so I’ve left all of them, and my friends are now Quanon-type.
You see, from the right, the center-left seem like atrocious people. But I’m genuinely sure you didn’t intend to. I’m sure it’s just ignorance on your side, and I know you say the same thing about me ;) We had the same values at the core, and life just slapped us in different ways. Maybe your mother didn’t actually tell you her history, and/or maybe she needs a punching ball for all she failed at life.
It’s hard, really hard to accept being someone’s punching ball. The rational decision would be to refuse, and you’d be right 100% of the times.
Or, if you think that diversity is strength, you could get acquainted to her, and maintain the speech despite hating the contents, and accompany her for her last years.
I’m not saying I would do it.
If you caricature what I’m saying, you could even interview your mother in order to write her biography. You may throw it away if it’s bad, and/or some key events may surface.
Again, I’m not saying I would do it.
Here’s my side. I’m seen as Quanon in my former groups of friends despite not being it. The last drop with one is when one died of cancer, and no-one went to see him. He was leftist, of a leftist family with left-to-extreme-left friends from generation to generation, with supposedly human values top to bottom; and if not for me, he would have died almost alone, we wouldn’t have found the “point on the visual keyboard” trick to communicate, he wouldn’t have had the wifi or tv for his last 6 months, etc. I was there the last night, totally randomly (well, I was there 3 times a week) playing him his last song, one he had written with me, and I hadn’t realized the commie died the most beautiful death, going to sleep on his own song, surrounded with his friends. And this guy is not the only example. My daughter has been raped (France, by a migrant of 2nd generation, by the ethnicity everyone is racist about), my cousin killed, they regularly kill gays on the central place of my city, they drag girls for 800m until their bowels are spread on the road, and judges release them every single time: I am right to believe what I believe. At the time I had helped in a lot of charities, I’ve donated 3-5% of my revenue, but my observation is that leftists will hate us no matter what we do to help the poor, and even if I were “part of them” (the progressists), they would have left me die alone like they did for their friend. I’ve left every single group who had these traits, so I’ve left all of them, and my friends are now Quanon-type.
You see, from the right, the center-left seem like atrocious people. But I’m genuinely sure you didn’t intend to. I’m sure it’s just ignorance on your side, and I know you say the same thing about me ;) We had the same values at the core, and life just slapped us in different ways. Maybe your mother didn’t actually tell you her history, and/or maybe she needs a punching ball for all she failed at life.
It’s hard, really hard to accept being someone’s punching ball. The rational decision would be to refuse, and you’d be right 100% of the times.
Or, if you think that diversity is strength, you could get acquainted to her, and maintain the speech despite hating the contents, and accompany her for her last years.
I’m not saying I would do it.
If you caricature what I’m saying, you could even interview your mother in order to write her biography. You may throw it away if it’s bad, and/or some key events may surface.
Again, I’m not saying I would do it.
Yes it was unjustifiable. I think I was unreasonable. More so I was just an inpatient person. Still working on this.
I'm in the same boat. I remind myself everyday, I called my parents at least once or twice a week for the last 20 years.
Every time I'm mad at my daughters in the morning before taking them to school, and I always have the thought what if I don't see them after that, then I forget about my anger, hug them tight, and would say I love them so much.
I can't imagine the pain losing a child. Every time reading again about the Sandy Hook, I tear up. One of the dads couldn't bear the emotional pain, he ended his own life.
Please be kind to others, we're all human and we happen to be on this same journey on earth.
Every time I'm mad at my daughters in the morning before taking them to school, and I always have the thought what if I don't see them after that, then I forget about my anger, hug them tight, and would say I love them so much.
I can't imagine the pain losing a child. Every time reading again about the Sandy Hook, I tear up. One of the dads couldn't bear the emotional pain, he ended his own life.
Please be kind to others, we're all human and we happen to be on this same journey on earth.
Unfortunately, I have been involved with many, many people who have died, for my entire life.
It hasn't been as bad as some folks have had it, but, pretty much every year, since I've been eighteen, at least a couple of people in my close circle have passed away, for numerous reasons. In the early 1990s, it was bad. I won't get into why; and it's bad, again, now, for different reasons.
It's really rough, to be in his position. Even with all the wealth and resources at his disposal, he could not do much. I know others, who have had to deal with the same kind of thing.
When parents lose children; even when the children are dealing with long-term illness, it is devastating.
It hasn't been as bad as some folks have had it, but, pretty much every year, since I've been eighteen, at least a couple of people in my close circle have passed away, for numerous reasons. In the early 1990s, it was bad. I won't get into why; and it's bad, again, now, for different reasons.
It's really rough, to be in his position. Even with all the wealth and resources at his disposal, he could not do much. I know others, who have had to deal with the same kind of thing.
When parents lose children; even when the children are dealing with long-term illness, it is devastating.
> I think I'm gonna call my mom.
You really should, like right now. not in a few hours, not tomorrow, right now.
I lost my mom years ago to cancer, I'm now in my mid 30s and would give up _everything_ I have to spend another minute with her.
Without our mom and dad, we are just lost children.
You really should, like right now. not in a few hours, not tomorrow, right now.
I lost my mom years ago to cancer, I'm now in my mid 30s and would give up _everything_ I have to spend another minute with her.
Without our mom and dad, we are just lost children.
I’m sorry to hear that, it’s a sad story and it clearly hurts you to this day.
I just don’t agree with the sentiment that for everyone without our parents we’re just lost children. That would imply that we never grow up. In reality, adults can ideally self-guide themselves and they do that on a daily basis. And then most of us have children which needed to be guided by us…
I just don’t agree with the sentiment that for everyone without our parents we’re just lost children. That would imply that we never grow up. In reality, adults can ideally self-guide themselves and they do that on a daily basis. And then most of us have children which needed to be guided by us…
Agreed. I mean if you cut your parent(s) from your life, how much loss it's gonna be when they die? Let's not pretend all relationships are perfect. It's hard to miss something you don't have, many people in this discussion idealize the relationships.
Key word there being ‘ideally’. People in general aren’t equipped to be fully independent, and often our relationships with ours parents are the most important (except, possibly, for our kids/spouses).
Having kids does seem to be important, because it kinda migrates a person’s role from “child to a parent” to “parent of a child”. Still, complete independence is something I’ve never really seen.
Having kids does seem to be important, because it kinda migrates a person’s role from “child to a parent” to “parent of a child”. Still, complete independence is something I’ve never really seen.
Complete independence is almost unattainable in life, if at all. Between being co-dependent with others and becoming a lost child without your parents there’s a great gap.
You definitely should. My mom was in a bad car accident some years ago and barely survived. Since that time I call her twice a week without fail. At this point I feel much more at peace with whatever happens.
I've lost both of my parents already (I'm 46), but if I ever lost my son I couldn't take it. Reading about anyone losing their kids is painful since I became a parent myself.
This is one of those dark realizations I've had as I'm approaching middle age. Yes there is the aspect of me getting older, fatter, balder etc, but mostly that there is going to be an increasing likelihood that people I care about will start dying.
I think I'll go call my parents too...
I think I'll go call my parents too...
Please do call her.
Mine died while I was stuck in jail because I was too poor to pay the release fee. Even with the intervention of the British government, the jail would not grant her final dying wish, to have a brief video call with me so she could say goodbye.
Mine died while I was stuck in jail because I was too poor to pay the release fee. Even with the intervention of the British government, the jail would not grant her final dying wish, to have a brief video call with me so she could say goodbye.
My mom is stuck in Ukraine's Kharkiv right now, getting bombed every day. I'm trying to get her out, and I don't know if I'll be able to.
So yes, absolutely call your mom. You never know when it will be the last time you hear her voice.
So yes, absolutely call your mom. You never know when it will be the last time you hear her voice.
I made it to 29 without any deaths close to me ( great aunts died that I didn't really know) and my close family felt secure, maybe even somehow we were special somehow, but then my dad died at 59 of a heart attack (in a palace in Paris at a conference on temperature standards of all places). Was a shock. Now I'm 50, most of the older generation of my family are dead. I think I have handled death quite well so far, but I know others who still struggle decades later. However, I'm really not sure how well I'd handle one of my kids dying.
My biggest fear in life. As I get older I worry more about the health of the people around me than my own health. I cannot see my life without them and I have no idea how I would cope.
Call your mother every day
Hi, how's your day, what's for your dinner, are you ok for milk?
Mom is where we come from
Hi, how's your day, what's for your dinner, are you ok for milk?
Mom is where we come from
Please do, I have lost many relatives due to sudden death cases.
Cherish what you have around and live each day as if it was the last and more important, never reschedule meetings with close ones if you can avoid it.
The usual typical words, that so often feel like empty words, however time proves us how much wisdom they actually have in them.
Cherish what you have around and live each day as if it was the last and more important, never reschedule meetings with close ones if you can avoid it.
The usual typical words, that so often feel like empty words, however time proves us how much wisdom they actually have in them.
dads need love too!
I've lost my father some years ago. It was the saddest thing in my life. But it also changed my life, because I've never seen the world and what I really want so clearly.
> Satya, who took over the role of CEO in 2014, had been working on designing products to better serve users with disabilities. He said he had been using lessons he learned while raising and supporting Zain.
Within the video games space, Microsoft and Sony have had an intriguing "arms race" related to accessibility across their platform. I can only assume Zain's condition was a motivating factor for Nadella.
Within the video games space, Microsoft and Sony have had an intriguing "arms race" related to accessibility across their platform. I can only assume Zain's condition was a motivating factor for Nadella.
I worked at Microsoft as a vendor for more than a decade working with physical infrastructure and services Microsoft employees used. I can say that there was a complete sea-change regarding accessibility shortly after Satya took over as CEO. Prior to that accessibility drove me absolutely nuts. Not because I didn't think it was necessary or important, but because all of the accessibility initiatives seemed like little more than lip service. You made some arbitrary changes with no thought whatsoever to actual usability, updated your Power Point presentation to say "Accessibility" a few times, and you were done. After he took over everything changed and people actually spent time figuring out how to make human interfaces that could actually work for all employees with usability in mind. It was no longer simply a box to tick, but was actually more of an opportunity to innovate.
Very sad to hear about Zain's death, but I can say that with his life he absolutely made a meaningful, positive change for a lot of people.
Very sad to hear about Zain's death, but I can say that with his life he absolutely made a meaningful, positive change for a lot of people.
One of my biggest hopes is to be survived by all of my children. I can't imagine what it's like to bury your child. All the best to the Nadellas :/
There is a story about this:
An emperor commissioned a work from the greatest calligrapher in the nation. "Make me something auspicious!" was the brief. The calligrapher thought for a moment, then wrote on a banner:
Parents die. Emperor dies. Children die.
The emperor was outraged. "How is this auspicious? It speaks only of death!" The calligrapher was serene. "Emperor, there is nothing more auspicious than for your deaths to occur in the natural order. Would you have wanted to die before your parents? Would you want your children to die before you?
An emperor commissioned a work from the greatest calligrapher in the nation. "Make me something auspicious!" was the brief. The calligrapher thought for a moment, then wrote on a banner:
Parents die. Emperor dies. Children die.
The emperor was outraged. "How is this auspicious? It speaks only of death!" The calligrapher was serene. "Emperor, there is nothing more auspicious than for your deaths to occur in the natural order. Would you have wanted to die before your parents? Would you want your children to die before you?
Turkish has an idiom for this:
Loosely translated to: May God give deaths in (natural) order...
I think about this every now and then, and thank god for all i have.
Loosely translated to: May God give deaths in (natural) order...
I think about this every now and then, and thank god for all i have.
I think the accepted term for a parent who lost their child is Vilomah.
https://dying.lovetoknow.com/ideas-advice-coping-grief/vilom...
https://dying.lovetoknow.com/ideas-advice-coping-grief/vilom...
Because it is so traumatic, many languages don't have a word for a parent who lost a child. You have Orphans, Widows...
In German we say "verwaiste Eltern" orphaned parents.
I think, unfortunately, it was so common as to not be notable. People had way more kids, and there was much more infant mortality. Still tragic of course.
> I think, unfortunately, it was so common as to not be notable. People had way more kids, and there was much more infant mortality. Still tragic of course.
More common, perhaps, but I'm not so sure about the not notable part. There are plenty of examples of great grief surrounding the loss of a child. An example that comes to mind from my recent reading is Dostoevsky and "The Brothers Karamazov." The author was experiencing grief from the loss of a 3 year old son and the book rings with it.
However much the past is a different country, it is still populated by humans, same as any today.
More common, perhaps, but I'm not so sure about the not notable part. There are plenty of examples of great grief surrounding the loss of a child. An example that comes to mind from my recent reading is Dostoevsky and "The Brothers Karamazov." The author was experiencing grief from the loss of a 3 year old son and the book rings with it.
However much the past is a different country, it is still populated by humans, same as any today.
The lack of word suggests the opposite, that it was extremely common. Indeed, historically, nearly everyone would have lost a young child, and many people would have lost an older child.
Orphans and widows were also important legal categories. Children without a father needed a legal guardian until they turned 18. Married women (at least under British common law) were not separate legal entities from their husbands. So each category needed a defined term. Parents who had lost children were in many cases just "parents", since families were much larger and it was probably the rare large family who had not experienced the death of a young child.
The lack of words suggests the opposite of the opposite: because it was so common (at a societal level), it was so traumatic (at a societal level). So maybe the lack of word suggests it was so traumatic.
The fact that it was common doesn’t make it less traumatic.
Everything is relative and our expectations are set by society and what is common. Today, losing a child is pretty uncommon. 3-4 generations ago if was very common. You expected to have 4-10 children and to lose one or two. It wouldn't be a pleasant experience, but I think it's incorrect to say it wasn't less traumatic (you expected it, you lost a lower percentage, etc). To quote Clint Eastwood's character in Gran Torino, "You're geared for it".
You're missing the point - check out the parent of the comment you're replying to.
And no one suggested that it does.
That's from Six Feet Under, no?
There's some good poetic value in it, but I don't know if it's actually true. It has more to do with the effect it has for someone's "normal" life cycle, which is why orphan is only applied to children and not adults. And as the sibling comment mentions, it was pretty common in a family of ~5-10 to have at least one child die.
There's some good poetic value in it, but I don't know if it's actually true. It has more to do with the effect it has for someone's "normal" life cycle, which is why orphan is only applied to children and not adults. And as the sibling comment mentions, it was pretty common in a family of ~5-10 to have at least one child die.
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Up until the English language stopped evolving so rapidly, the word for that was "normal".
It wasn't long ago that children commonly weren't named until they survived two years.
Bureaucratic dehumanization is responsible for reinforcing traumas that cultures had already built ways of dealing with. My grandparents' generation reused the names of their children who didn't survive, but today, few couples would consider that with any name they were forced to write on both a birth and death certificate.
Bureaucratic dehumanization is responsible for reinforcing traumas that cultures had already built ways of dealing with. My grandparents' generation reused the names of their children who didn't survive, but today, few couples would consider that with any name they were forced to write on both a birth and death certificate.
Birth and death certificates aren't even close to a fundamental driving force here. As a society we think differently about it, mostly because we don't expect children to die any more since infant/child mortality has drastically reduced.
Depending on how the child dies they might simply be labeled a Failure.
For severely disabled children most parents hope to outlive their kids because they know that nobody will give them a parent's love when they are gone, even with Satya Nadella-level money. There have been some (tragic? bittersweet? I don't know) cases where an aging parent of a disabled child kills the child and then kills themselves to ensure that their kid doesn't get institutionalized after they're gone.
> One of my biggest hopes
Nice way to flip "my greatest fear"
Nice way to flip "my greatest fear"
When Malaysia Airlines 17 was shot down by Russia, a local part of the story was a couple whose three children were all on the flight.
How do you even go on after that?
How do you even go on after that?
My neighbour lost her son, daughter in law and all her grandchildren when MH17 was shot down.
She was a kind old lady who used to speak with my young daughter every morning.
As you can imagine, it was a deeply traumatic experience for her.
She was a kind old lady who used to speak with my young daughter every morning.
As you can imagine, it was a deeply traumatic experience for her.
Some people turn to religion, others try to find a purpose for it (cause or charity, see Sandy Hook Promise[1]), and sometimes others don't find a way to go on.
[1] https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/who-we-are/about-us/
[1] https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/who-we-are/about-us/
Having had to deal with this personally it's on of the hardest things to go through.
Best wishes to them and their family. :(
Best wishes to them and their family. :(
Deepest condolences to the Nadella family. Their love for their son and his memory are a blessing.
If you have been exposed to software accessibility, you know how challenging technology can be for people with even minor disabilities. Zain's father's love and dedication has had a profound impact improving the lives of many others.
If you have been exposed to software accessibility, you know how challenging technology can be for people with even minor disabilities. Zain's father's love and dedication has had a profound impact improving the lives of many others.
RIP mate.
Deepest condolences for the Nadellas in this time of grief.
Reading Satya's book it was apparent how much he loved his son. I hope the trauma of losing him doesn't mean his tenure at MS is over. He has done great things for disabled people all around the world through improving accessibility on Xbox and Windows. Something as simple as being able to play games because of the initiatives he put in place make the world of difference.
Deepest condolences for the Nadellas in this time of grief.
Reading Satya's book it was apparent how much he loved his son. I hope the trauma of losing him doesn't mean his tenure at MS is over. He has done great things for disabled people all around the world through improving accessibility on Xbox and Windows. Something as simple as being able to play games because of the initiatives he put in place make the world of difference.
As the Dad of a preemie, our only child who died at age 25, my heart goes out to the Nadella family.
It would not surprise me in the least if Nadella steps down as CEO sooner rather than later. The trauma is that large.
It would not surprise me in the least if Nadella steps down as CEO sooner rather than later. The trauma is that large.
Having children is such a crap shoot. Cerebral palsy is one of those conditions where you don't seem to get any warning that it's going to happen and if it's severe enough, your life is now round-the-clock care for someone who will die incredibly young (but still take years, usually), never be able to live independently and arguably has no quality-of-life at all.
And that becomes your life.
At least the Nadyellas are fortunate enough such that they have the means for this to have not been a totally consuming. This is of course a tragedy still. This is a burden they've had for years. My condolences. Truly.
It's so tragic that some people can just be born with horrible disabilities where they or their carers can never again have a normal life.
And that becomes your life.
At least the Nadyellas are fortunate enough such that they have the means for this to have not been a totally consuming. This is of course a tragedy still. This is a burden they've had for years. My condolences. Truly.
It's so tragic that some people can just be born with horrible disabilities where they or their carers can never again have a normal life.
Sometimes when I complain about small aspects of my comfortable life, I need to look around and see people like Satya, who was able to not just juggle but be extraordinary in both his personal and professional lives. I just cant imagine how he did it. A true inspiration.
Wow. I'm so, so sorry for Satya and his family. Zain seems like he was a beautiful person. What an absolute titan of a father, who not only has achieved incredible success, but who also made sure to share proudly with the world of technology all the lessons he learned about accessibility from Zain and the perspective of the disabled. Zain and Satya, you've made such an impact. God bless you.
Deepest sympathy for the Nadella family as they grieve the loss of their son.
Honest question...what specifically about Cerebral palsy would cause death at an early age (27 is early to die in modern times, IMHO)?
My older brother (currently 31) has severe cerebral palsy - very similar to what Zain had.
He has been healthy recently, but there have been many close calls. He has frequent seizures and many normally routine things can be life threatening. Others have mentioned things like pneumonia.
He requires 24/7 medical attention, including a nurse who stays with him every night in case, among other things, his seizures get out of control. Thankfully for him, my mom is a nurse and we are fortunate that health insurance covers a very large amount of his medically necessary care.
He has been healthy recently, but there have been many close calls. He has frequent seizures and many normally routine things can be life threatening. Others have mentioned things like pneumonia.
He requires 24/7 medical attention, including a nurse who stays with him every night in case, among other things, his seizures get out of control. Thankfully for him, my mom is a nurse and we are fortunate that health insurance covers a very large amount of his medically necessary care.
Too many to list. But by the photos of it looks like it was severe, when the body is not able to move you get all kinds of chronic diseases.
I think I read somewhere that pneumonia is number one because of the difficulty of eating and drinking and the food or liquids constantly get into the lungs.
Can't speak to palsy but I had a friend with muscular dystrophy who passed in his late 20's. He couldn't swallow his own spit, and every 10 minutes or so I (or his attending nurse, or whoever he was spending time with) would need to help him drain it. He had the same sort of little vacuum that your dentist uses to get water out of your mouth during a cleaning or filling. I moved out of my hometown a few years before he passed so I don't know all the details, but I'm pretty sure his death had to do with respitory issues caused by his weakened muscles.
speaking as total layman wrt. medicine, i wonder whether it is possible to at least improve the condition a bit by implanting electrodes and triggering the needed muscle(s) similar to say pacemakers.
there's the inspire implant[1] for sleep apnea which sounds like what you're describing, but I'm not sure how much help it'd be in the case of muscular dystrophy.
[1] https://www.uhhospitals.org/services/Ear-Nose-and-Throat-Ser...
[1] https://www.uhhospitals.org/services/Ear-Nose-and-Throat-Ser...
In diseases like muscular dystrophy there are no muscles to stimulate.
There are still muscles, they slowly deteriorate over time though. When my friend was in 2nd grade or so he could still run and play with the other kids. For a few years after that he could still use a controller to play video games. As he deteriorated further, he couldn't even do that, and got most of his enjoyment from watching other people play games. Heartbreakingly his nephew, who was named after my friend, also suffers from muscular dystrophy since it's a genetic illness.
I'm sorry you're friend went through that.
I'm also sorry because I should have been more succinct. You are correct.
I, too, have a form of muscular dystrophy called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, type II. I deal with a lot of what's being discussed here, i.e. aspiration pneumonia.
That said, there is, at least in my mind, almost no functional difference between not having a muscle and having muscle so deteriorated that it no longer works. Electrical stimuli such as through a TENS unit does nothing.
Back to OPs suggestion though. You might be able to make a case for early onset muscle assist? Dunno, just spit-ballin'.
There
I'm also sorry because I should have been more succinct. You are correct.
I, too, have a form of muscular dystrophy called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, type II. I deal with a lot of what's being discussed here, i.e. aspiration pneumonia.
That said, there is, at least in my mind, almost no functional difference between not having a muscle and having muscle so deteriorated that it no longer works. Electrical stimuli such as through a TENS unit does nothing.
Back to OPs suggestion though. You might be able to make a case for early onset muscle assist? Dunno, just spit-ballin'.
There
I am a physician, though not a specialist in that particular area (otolaryngology).
A healthy heart contracts exactly the same way (nearly) every time. There is a single electrical tree that coordinates the entire heart, so if you shock the tree at the right point, it will propagate down the entire tree in a predictable pattern and you get normal heart contraction "for free"
The throat is orders of magnitude more complicated. There are several major muscles involved in swallowing, each of which can have tens to hundreds of thousands of individual fibers, each with their own innervation. Coordinating all these fibers to produce a single coherent motion is complex and is not fire and forget - it involves some pretty intricate feedback loops between processing centers in the brain and stretch receptors in the muscle, with the brain refining and redirecting movements based on updated data from the stretch receptors.
It's like the sending a single strong electrical pulse to your lightbulb versus a CPU. It will probably do what you expect for the lightbulb (heart), but not for the CPU (throat).
A healthy heart contracts exactly the same way (nearly) every time. There is a single electrical tree that coordinates the entire heart, so if you shock the tree at the right point, it will propagate down the entire tree in a predictable pattern and you get normal heart contraction "for free"
The throat is orders of magnitude more complicated. There are several major muscles involved in swallowing, each of which can have tens to hundreds of thousands of individual fibers, each with their own innervation. Coordinating all these fibers to produce a single coherent motion is complex and is not fire and forget - it involves some pretty intricate feedback loops between processing centers in the brain and stretch receptors in the muscle, with the brain refining and redirecting movements based on updated data from the stretch receptors.
It's like the sending a single strong electrical pulse to your lightbulb versus a CPU. It will probably do what you expect for the lightbulb (heart), but not for the CPU (throat).
> sending a single strong electrical pulse
Technology is way further along than that though, e.g. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60258620
Technology is way further along than that though, e.g. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60258620
Parent comment was about a simple trigger "similar to pacemakers", it was a reply to that. It was never implied that it's not possible with the current technology
That press release links to a journal article in Nature. I can't read the Nature article because it's paywalled, but the same group published an article in Brain in 2014 where they said "We propose that the functional state of... motor neurons was modulated by the epidural stimulation, presumably driving them closer to their appropriate activation threshold, enabling intentional movement." [1] Basically, they're saying that the spinal cord was a bit blunted after the injury. Movement signals were fizzling out as they travelled through the injured area. The stimulator is giving the injured region of the spinal cord some extra juice so that it propagates motor signals further down the body. However, it isn't actually creating a signal de novo - that's still coming from the brain. As for the latest Nature article, based on what I can see from the abstract, it seems like it is an update where they used a computational method to decide where to place the stimulators and with which strength to stimulate. But it's still the same basic idea.
Another thing to note here. In the 2014 article, they mention that they only tried this treatment in patients who had an intact sensory pathway and an injured motor pathway. Kind of speaks to what I was mentioning earlier - the brain can't coordinate movement unless it gets feedback from the muscle. I would presume that this stimulator therapy can't help with the sensory component, which is why the researchers limited the study to patients with sensation.
[1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3999714/
Another thing to note here. In the 2014 article, they mention that they only tried this treatment in patients who had an intact sensory pathway and an injured motor pathway. Kind of speaks to what I was mentioning earlier - the brain can't coordinate movement unless it gets feedback from the muscle. I would presume that this stimulator therapy can't help with the sensory component, which is why the researchers limited the study to patients with sensation.
[1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3999714/
Somehow I did manage to access the article, and while I didn't quite understand exactly what they did, it does go beyond dumb amplification.
> Neurostimulation platform. Biomimetic EES requires the delivery of concurrent stimulation waveforms that are turned on and off with a precise timing4,8,12,21. Moreover, many activities necessitate adjustment of stimulation parameters in closed-loop via wireless links. To support these features, we upgraded the Activa RC implantable pulse generator (IPG) with wireless communication modules (Supplementary Fig. 1). This neurostimulation platform supported real-time updates of EES frequency, amplitude and timing from up to 10 stimulation waveforms8. The new paddle lead was interfaced with the Activa RC, which was implanted in the abdomen. We also developed a new software operating through touchscreen interfaces to enable the rapid configuration of activity-dependent stimulation programs (Fig. 4c). To simplify these configurations, wireless recordings of kinematics and muscle activity are displayed in real time, concomitantly to EES waveforms (Supplementary Fig. 1 and Supplementary Video 2).
Regarding Cerbral Palsy, it is... Cerebral, meaning that the peripheral part of the sensory and motor pathways should be intact. So what you would need to do is develop a controller interfacing with them both. That may not be trivial, but I do think it could be done by aplication of known tech and principles.
> Neurostimulation platform. Biomimetic EES requires the delivery of concurrent stimulation waveforms that are turned on and off with a precise timing4,8,12,21. Moreover, many activities necessitate adjustment of stimulation parameters in closed-loop via wireless links. To support these features, we upgraded the Activa RC implantable pulse generator (IPG) with wireless communication modules (Supplementary Fig. 1). This neurostimulation platform supported real-time updates of EES frequency, amplitude and timing from up to 10 stimulation waveforms8. The new paddle lead was interfaced with the Activa RC, which was implanted in the abdomen. We also developed a new software operating through touchscreen interfaces to enable the rapid configuration of activity-dependent stimulation programs (Fig. 4c). To simplify these configurations, wireless recordings of kinematics and muscle activity are displayed in real time, concomitantly to EES waveforms (Supplementary Fig. 1 and Supplementary Video 2).
Regarding Cerbral Palsy, it is... Cerebral, meaning that the peripheral part of the sensory and motor pathways should be intact. So what you would need to do is develop a controller interfacing with them both. That may not be trivial, but I do think it could be done by aplication of known tech and principles.
Depends on the severity of the condition, but if swallow is affected I believe aspiration, pneumonia, choking, are causes of premature death for CP.
it sucks but when the underlying condition is so severe, something trivial/mundane and preventable in a healthy person is usually cause of death
Condolences to Mr. Nadella & family.
When my son was born, he had experienced symmetric intra-uterine growth restriction; something that seems like Zain Nadella experienced as well. It was clear looking at the photos in the NICU and meeting different parents, that some things come for us all, rich and poor.
When my son was born, he had experienced symmetric intra-uterine growth restriction; something that seems like Zain Nadella experienced as well. It was clear looking at the photos in the NICU and meeting different parents, that some things come for us all, rich and poor.
Satya shared some information about Zain’s story about 5 years ago: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/moment-forever-changed-our-li...
There is nothing in this world more difficult and heartbreaking than losing a child and I pray to God nobody has to go through this. Deepest sympathies for the entire family.
Sincere condolences to the Nadella family. It’s my understanding that Zain has two sisters Divya and Tara, my heart goes out to them especially. Siblings are often the forgotten mourners.
[deleted]
March is National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month.
Very sad. I wish the best to the Nadella family.
Props to him putting focus on people with disabilities to make Windows and other applications easier to use. Many programmers like myself without any disabilities often can forget that many people suffer from different disabilities so making apps and websites easier to use is important.
I will try to improve all the usability of the stuff I work on going forward.
Props to him putting focus on people with disabilities to make Windows and other applications easier to use. Many programmers like myself without any disabilities often can forget that many people suffer from different disabilities so making apps and websites easier to use is important.
I will try to improve all the usability of the stuff I work on going forward.
It’s sad to think about but I feel like one of my greatest accomplishments in life is outliving my parents. I couldn’t fathom the grief they’d have gone through had they had to witness or otherwise deal with my death.
I'm surprised and saddened to hear this.
The best managers I've had, have had children with long-term illnesses. I think such a misfortune humanizes people in positions of power.
The best managers I've had, have had children with long-term illnesses. I think such a misfortune humanizes people in positions of power.
This is so sad...
Love to everyone that has lost someone.
I love seeing the awareness, gratefulness, and empathy in this page of comments. Bless you all and the Nadellas.
No one deserves. Humanity should strive to abolish the scourge of disease and death.
I hope Microsoft is able to contribute to efforts to utilize machine learning to create novel gene therapies for these kinds of congenital disorders.
I hope Microsoft is able to contribute to efforts to utilize machine learning to create novel gene therapies for these kinds of congenital disorders.
*deserves this
There's a lot of wisdom and love in this thread and it makes me very happy.
My deepest condolences to all who lose a loved one, and to parents who lose children only more love.
Satya and family, I mourn with you
My deepest condolences to all who lose a loved one, and to parents who lose children only more love.
Satya and family, I mourn with you
As a parent, I can imagine no greater loss than losing a child.
May God give deaths in natural order, and may he never test a parent with the loss of their child.
You'd think a billionaire CEO has it all. Commiserations.
I would trade $1b anyday for the health of my kids. So sorry to hear this.
I would trade $1b anyday for the health of my kids. So sorry to hear this.
This is very sad, of course, but it shouldn't be national news. Let the family grieve privately.
Cannot imagine what it is like to lose an offspring, my condolences to the Nadellas.
So sad, it’s always heartbreaking when you loose a child. My deepest condolences
This is just heart wrenching, no parent should ever have to bury their children.
It seems like the unspoken implication is that the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby's neck, resulting in in-utero asphyxiation? However, the baby was born weighing only three pounds, which would seem to signify something else wrong prior to the asphyxiation, no?
Very dad. Hope his family is as well as can be.
courage to him and his family
Condolences to the Nadellas
My heart goes out to the Nadella family.
I would suggest either of these two as a better link for this:
https://www.ibtimes.com/zain-nadella-microsoft-ceo-satya-nad...
https://www.geekwire.com/2022/zain-nadella-1996-2022-microso...
The Yahoo! article is both lazily written and lazily edited ("Microsoft says ..." is an unnecessary and unfortunate title prefix, for news of this kind.)
I would suggest either of these two as a better link for this:
https://www.ibtimes.com/zain-nadella-microsoft-ceo-satya-nad...
https://www.geekwire.com/2022/zain-nadella-1996-2022-microso...
The Yahoo! article is both lazily written and lazily edited ("Microsoft says ..." is an unnecessary and unfortunate title prefix, for news of this kind.)
Ok, changed from https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-says-son-ceo-satya-.... Thanks.
[deleted]
Why is this news? It's sad for him but why is child's life more important than another?
A major tech CEO having a family crisis is interesting and relevant
It's (sad) celebrity news for the people who frequent this website.
I think I'm gonna call my mom.