This reminded me of a Scientific American article from nine years ago about the evolutionary roots of depression. It says that depression is a useful adaptation:
Dr. Stephen Ilardi from the University of Kansas takes the opposite position. In his book, The Depression Cure, he says that depression is a disease of modernity. "[O]ur bodies were never designed for the sleep-deprived, poorly nourished, frenzied pace of twenty-first century life."
In order to look into this controversy, I searched for rsync.net on Wikipedia, and this is what I found. The user Kozubik submitted a draft with references, but the user Arthur Goes Shopping dismissed each of the references. Then when no one edited the draft for six months, the user JMHamo deleted it.
Luke's essay reminded me of Aaron Swartz's essays when he dropped out of high school and my own experiences when I dropped out around the same time. We knew something was wrong, and by the size of the "education reform" section at the library, we're not the only ones.
Sudbury Valley School was my first thought as I read Luke's essay, so I am very excited to read your contribution to this discussion. The readers of Hacker News want a startup to fix education. But what if this startup was already founded forty-seven years ago in Framingham, MA?
For anyone who is interested in learning more about Sudbury Valley School, I recommend reading some of their articles at the following location:
I would be surprised if how easy ingredients are to pronounce is correlated with their health. Since half of all food is wasted, preservatives could even be good for the environment.
Myth: "No ISP in the country has been a stronger supporter of the Open Internet than Comcast[.]"
Fact: "Comcast spent the most money of any organization in support of the Stop Online Piracy and PROTECT IP bills, spending roughly $5 million to lobby for their passage."
I lived in the Bronx for a couple of years in a boarding house which is part of the Kolping Society founded by a Catholic priest intending to provide a home-away-from-home for young workers in the cities of industrial Germany. There's also a Quaker house near Union Square that is over a hundred years old.
You suggest that the modern vilification of hackers (such as Bradley Manning) is analogous to the medieval burning of witches. I assert that hackers and witches also have something else in common.
The spells that witches cast are analogous to the code that hackers develop. They are both writing in esoteric languages that can create things and cause actions. Witches' power is magical, but hackers' power is virtual. Neal Stephenson uses the Sumerian word namshub to describe this idea in his novel Snow Crash.
You make an interesting point about the shorter lifespans when tobacco was first smoked. Wikipedia says cultivation sites in Mexico date back to 1400-1000 BC or possibly even further [0].
On the other hand, you say, "This is the WORST type of comment on HN...I'm just sick of reading comments like this." Please try to be civil -- Hacker News normally has such a positive community.
> But Valve is (a) fanatical about hiring, and (b) rolling in so much money that they won't have to make any tough decisions in the near future, e.g. laying off part of the staff to keep their company afloat (which can destroy the sort of culture necessary to sustain the model you're describing).
IIRC, Trader Joe's has delivery but not online orders. You go to the store to shop, and then they deliver to your apartment. That way you can walk or take the subway even if you buy a lot of groceries.
"The MTA is challenging software developers to use
MTA data to create new apps that improve the
transit experience of its 8.5 million daily riders."
http://mtaappquest.com/
"New York City challenged software developers to create apps that use city data to make NYC better."
http://2011.nycbigapps.com/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/depressions-evolu...
Dr. Stephen Ilardi from the University of Kansas takes the opposite position. In his book, The Depression Cure, he says that depression is a disease of modernity. "[O]ur bodies were never designed for the sleep-deprived, poorly nourished, frenzied pace of twenty-first century life."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drv3BP0Fdi8