HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

⬐ andsoitis

"it's not about having the right answer; it's about getting (to) the right answer"

I always wondered why the creator of Rust switched to Swift and just now found my answer by Graydon Hoare himself:

https://old.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/7qels2/i_wonder_why_g...

tl;dr it has nothing to do with the relative merits of the two languages

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Edit: I watched a couple of Lex Fridman podcasts this week with Chris Lattner (creator of Swift) that I thought were interesting

Chris Lattner: Compilers, LLVM, Swift, TPU, and ML Accelerators | Lex Fridman Podcast #21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCd3CzGSte8

Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages | Lex Fridman Podcast #131

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWTvXbQHwWs

⬐ pram

“I've always been a language pluralist -- picture my relationship towards languages like a kid enjoying a wide variety of building blocks, musical instruments or plastic dinosaurs -- and I don't think evangelism or single-language puritanism is especially helpful.”

What a great statement!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWTvXbQHwWs is an interview with SiFive's Chris Lattner. RISC-V & SiFive looks like the next step once Moore's Law ends and we need another option to increase perf/watt and perf/$. Creating device-specific chips that drop the unwanted general purpose silicon seems like the way forward.

If you prefer videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWTvXbQHwWs

Also has timestamps for specific topics.

⬐ mikro2nd

Personally I'd prefer text. I can't skim/speedread audio or video.

⬐ jagged-chisel

It's easier to understand Lex's demeanor when watching him. Not knowing who he is, the audio sounds like he's tuned out, bored, distracted... Watching him, you can see that's not the case at all. Just having facial expressions, and knowing that the guests are right across from him, make the whole exchange much more understandable.

⬐ supernova87a

I apologize in advance for criticizing on a non-substantive point, but I am really puzzled why Lex Fridman has risen to the level of attention he has.

He comes off extremely robotic, and sounds like a teenager doing a book report, asking the dullest possible questions off a script to a famous person he's managed to grab an interview with. The guy is not smooth or engaging. He doesn't sound like he has the opinions / experience / stories to share, although I have no idea, perhaps he does.

I just don't get why he's popular, aside from that he's able to get interviews with famous/important people because he's popular.

⬐ ilaksh

I don't think you are being quite fair.

The idea that he is not sharing enough of his own stories when he has legendary engineers or computer scientists talking to him is nonsensical. His job is to let those guests talk. And follow along with what they are saying. And help encourage them to explain basic things so it is accessible.

I think he usually does a good job of those things. And when people criticise that harshly I think it'd not fair unless for example you think that you could sit down and interview Jim Keller or Musk or Joshua Bach whatever legend or genius and do a better job. Because I really doubt you could.

⬐ randyrand

Asking "dumb" questions is sometimes a good quality in an interviewer. But beyond that, I agree.

2 other things in his favor:

- no one else was interviewing these people before Lex Freidman. AFAIK.

- He does a decent job of not getting stuck too much in the weeds. Though sometimes I wish he was more technically inclined and could.

⬐ Sammadea

His content and his guests are so interesting that I don't care what his voice sounds like. His interviews are in my opinion to the point and strips away a lot of the irrelevant noise that more "charismatic" speakers add to interviews.

⬐ JimTheMan

I think he sounds considered and authentic, and willing to ask 'dumb' questions on behalf of the audience. He definitely does have opinions... and if I had to sum it up, I would say he's a romantic optimistic. Which is in contrast to his tone but that's really what he puts out.

I like him because of his guests, his outlook and the way he approaches life. I hope you find the time to give him a chance.

⬐ ralfd

You are not wrong. I just tried to listen to it in the background and he does sound like a robot doing a book report.

⬐ abhi_kr

He let's his guests do most of the talking, and he has access to amazing guests probably by association with his father who is a respected scientist.

⬐ Rochus

The interview with Roger Penrose was excellent. And apparently Fridman has discovered a market niche, which seems to convince the interviewees.

⬐ dnautics

> I just don't get why he's popular, aside from that he's able to get interviews with famous/important people because he's popular.

I think you answered your question.

He's not bad, (he's also not mind poppingly good), but he has access.

⬐ krzat

He is popular because he got awesome guests, and his monotone voice stops being an issue after few hours of listening.

⬐ jlokier

I found some of Lex's remarks and commentary during interviews insightful and intellectual. Like, we're listening to someone who thinks deeply in his own way about life, but doesn't really talk about his own thoughts so much, so have only the occasional glimpse. For me, this is enjoyable to listen to. But I haven't listened to all the interviews; perhaps I ended up choosing the ones that are more familiar subjects for him as well.

For example I really enjoyed the interview with Vitalik Buterin. It felt as much like two people chewing the cud about ideas for what's being created and what we might do in future, and around the economy and social development with an idealistic bent; the sorts of conversations we used to be able to enjoy in university, as it did an interview. I miss those conversations in real life. Nobody I know wants to have them any more. Of course that was driven by Vitalik's ideas, but it was a great setting to hear them; the interview was enjoyable for me.

I agree Lex's voice is remarkable and at first I found it off-putting though intriguing. But after listening for a while I found it different, and calm rather than off-putting. It may have helped me that he explained why he wears black so often, about maintaining a calm and prepared mind. I really respect thoughts expressed like that, I guess because I see myself as a mess (relatively!) and would like to be more like that myself. Just having someone articulate and demonstrate a calmness of mind is a gentle, everyday inspiration.

That calm mind is reminiscent of meditation for me. It makes other interviewers sound like they're trying too hard to be entertainers, zany and interesting, when that's not important to me. Having Lex as a counterpoint, I realised I don't like the zany interviewers at all. I'm not looking for fun, and I'm certainly not looking for the auditory equivalent of razzle-dazzle. I'm looking for calm and interesting thoughts with an air of intellectual curiosity in a calm and reflective timeframe.

I also really like the way the interviews have plenty of time to explore. Hours. It feels like they aren't force-scripted to fit in X questions into Y preset minutes as other podcast interviewers. I expect there is a fair amount of preparation, but it feels relaxed as a result. I don't have time to listen to them, to be honest. But the length makes them more of a treat. It's like reading a long book: Rather than having one hit like a short story, it's more like something which takes a week to read and is a bit of a treat at bedtime or at lunch, to read in pieces. I'll go back and listen to a single Lex podcast over repeated sessions. The continuity makes it something to look forward to, and it's pleasing to know the style of material will last me a while. It doesn't need to be densely packed to be an enjoyable listen, and this is a lovely antidote to the high-intensity workout of some other podcasts.

⬐ freshbagels

Exactly, I feel the same way about Joe Rogan. Maybe it's because people see themselves in these two?

⬐ xupybd

Joe has a real talent for getting people to talk. I think he holds the conversation at an accessible level, he makes sure the audience is bought up to speed. If you watch what he is doing he is actually really good at his job.

⬐ dnautics

I dunno, joe rogan is more entertaining (In an I'll laugh with him sense) than lex friedman, and far more personable, if less knowledgeable than lex. Joe had a relatively good turn in newsradio, too.

⬐ formerly_proven

I listened to his interview of Jim Keller and had the exact same feeling. At multiple points Keller straight up roasted him for the kind of questions he asked. One of them is one of my favourite roasts to date, where Fridman asks him what achievement he is most proud of (is this a phone interview for a junior position??) and Keller pretty much laughs at the question and tells him he has kids.