Lukáš Linhart

Friday Readings

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This is part of Friday Readings series: commented readings I find worth sharing. If you want more, follow me on Pocket.

Technology

Comparing problem-solving and problem-gardening developers as nomads vs. settlers. I disagree in a lot of points, but those behaviour patterns are worth thinking about.

Why MLs are better than Haskell because of modules from the perspective of functionaldom.

Algorithms are taking over our world and lives, quite literally. In Pakistan, we use machine learning to decide whom to kill, and I expect more of those to appear in the future. Big problem: nobody actually knows all the variables involved, and if you don't know which properties are measured, you can easily be misattributed based on similarity that looks like nonsense if you know broader context (that the algorithm doesn't have).

Leadership and Company Building

Good description on the difference between Manager, Director and VP in terms of expectations (not necessarily titles). Also good guidance in terms of "what to learn next".

On importance of integrations and implementations if you are a startup with enterprise customers. Can be also summed up as "get your hands dirty until you can afford not to".

If you are into how our mind works, 52 Concepts To Add To Your Cognitive Toolkit is a good summary / miniportal to look at. And related to that, some insight into our System 1 aggressive responses.

World around us

The Secret Life of Tumblr Teens gives a good insight into how certain groups use Internet. Some things have changed, some not; introverts and "teen outsiders" always prefer pseudonymous environment; everyone is looking for social validation; creating something worth attention of other people is starting to be part of your identity and if you decide to trade it for money, you may lose both.

Putting information in the hands of people can save lives quite literally. This is intriguing story of dedication, focus, effort and happy ending; story of how one mutation in combination with another produces dramatically different results in the body, the self-diagnostics and thorough research.

Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn fame apparently views most of the world as trade-offs, view that resonates with me a lot. His co-worker shares his notes about the ones he saw, and how Reid decided about them.

Waking Up to the Reality of Fascism isn't good reading because of Trump, but because it properly identifies the danger of fascism on more relatable events than century ago (warning: you have to filter out significant libertarian bias). In similar vain, on "how this was possible" I'd strongly recommend Milton Mayer's They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45.

Published on 2016-02-26