Ask HN: Best Talks of 2020?
2019: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21858866
2018: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18740939
2017: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16045859
2016: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12637239
Ever: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18217762
It's been a weird year, wonder if there were still good tech talks in 2020.
178 comments
[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 227 ms ] threadOverall I agree with much of the tone that they set and some of the things are long overdue.
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Edit: duckduckgo censor the search query "the great reset" when you search for the first time. proof: https://imgur.com/UbsvTCz
Edit2: Changed from "sometimes" to "when you search for the first time" in response to the comment below.
Edit: changed from spyware to privacy invading
If you're referring to Names Database, how is that spyware?
edit: To the comment below saying I'm lying.
Yes it does query. The first time I query, it doesnt give results. Then I query it again and it shows all results (same query, pressing the search icon again). This is stealthy censorship and an unsuspecting person wouldn't notice.
This doesn't happen for any other query. And it only happens with my work ip address, not a VPN.
Edit2: Still not working for me, I have to query it twice to get the results. Maybe this is happening for selected ip addresses. This doesn't happen when I use a VPN.
Ockham's razor encourages me to believe that this is just some minor technical issue on either side, rather than censorship.
That points at your network (ISP, LAN) more than DDG. You might try other less popular search engines (maybe Bing) to see if this behavior happens there as well.
I suppose I could come up with a few dozens scenario that would explain no results in your case (as a software engineer, I have heard a rumor that sometimes those " server" thingys have what they call "glitches".)
But I of course completely understand that the hypothesis of DDG specifically censoring the query for you looks more plausible.
You're probably a very important person that needed to be hidden the fact that the WMF had a conference about restarting the economy after the covid - which obviously means that the prince Charles of UK is behind a global conspiracy to manufacture viruses from scratch in order to overthrow capitalism. (I'm just kidding, I know that's not what you believe.)
Sincerely, i hope you have the best possible holiday season, and take care of yourselves.
If it works on a VPN, or a proxy server but not your own ip address. Are you really sure it's just a "glitch"?
And there are good reasons to think that way. Partially because there have been conspiracy theories about the "great reset", so this might be a way to stop the viral spread or whatever. I mean it's not too long ago when it came out that google censored queries to websites unless you typed the name directly in google.
When trust is broken, it's wise to be skeptical.
And yes, I did read the comments and rule out other things.
I don't know why DDG blocked that query, but I would bet it was due to bot spam.
DDG doesn't show results if there isn't an exact match for the query it seems. It requires you to search the same query again for some reason.
Maybe this is an experiment of some sort, I'm not sure. Again, this doesn't happen on a VPN, but happens on my ip address.
And no corporate settings interfere with the browser, it's the personal device I tried on.
Another thing: when you search for "names database" on DDG there doesn't appear to be any results. No matter how much you try. I haven't found another query that yielded the same results.
This was technically very late 2019 but I didn’t see it in the previous 2019 thread.
[1] https://youtu.be/_A04msdplXs
How To Speak by Patrick Winston [1]
I watched this 'talk' on 'how to give talks' last week. It was uploaded at the end of 2019 and recorded 2018 (Patrick Winston passed away in 2019) and it is really good. Anyone who gives talks can learn a few things from this.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unzc731iCUY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LaTamAIinc
They mix a number of fairly simple technologies to achieve some really cool new ways to teach remotely.
Also, Scott Hanselman makes a series of well-made videos on "Computer Stuff They Didn't Teach You". His presentation style is down-to-earth, low tech and surprisingly relatable. Check it out!
What comes after Zoom teaching? Surface Hub, Teams and XSplit demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5ecT6inCio&list=PLHSIfioizV...
https://tim.blog/2020/10/14/naval/amp/
The interesting thing about Naval is that he has a magnetic effect to new listeners and there is a cult-like following. I used to love his early talks and then the more I got to hear him, the more I realized he is just this narciscist rich guy without a shred of humbleness. He has a great sense of clarity in his thoughts and he speaks well. It's a shame really that his character puts me off more than anything else. I'd rather go read original sources with far more insight.
His repeated claims of "I can get rich even if I start over" - yes, Naval, go for it. Give up the name, money and everything you have and try working 2 jobs as a waiter and a nurse, raising kids and keeping your spouse happy while saving enough to go after your investor instincts. The whole thing comes across as out of touch with reality, compassion and thoughtful consideration; instead relies on his survivorship biases as a guiding beacon of life.
I think most of the problem is people treating him (or Tim Ferriss) like a God, and his thoughts as the Holy Bible.
For example, tons of people in Silicon Valley praise "Sapiens" by Harari. When I finally read it, I quickly realized that I knew most of his stuff from other books. Surprised that Naval loved that book so much - but as a consequence, many people have bought and read and praised the book.
I don't know if he's a narcissist person, and I am not sure he's not humble. I think he partially suffers from the same problem that plagues Sam Altman: they both come across in a certain way, because they don't seem to have the social skills to present their persona and give justice to the nice parts. I think it happens when you think most other people are super smart and introverts like you.
Then it got bigger and bigger. And now there are many reasons to keep it that way. No competing events, free choice of the venue, free hotels, school holidays and so on.
I'd also say that there are more atheists in the hacker community then in the general population.
When it's not taking place remotely (as it does this year), there's also an argument to be made for this time slot because exhibition halls are traditionally empty and thus cheap around this time of year.
It's one of the best conferences - already curious how this year will be!
Been going there since 2014 and it's a great experience.
Defcon has CCC beat in this area because you know you will get a ticket at Defcon. On the flipside, Defcon 27 last year was a complete mess because there were so many people. It was more Linecon than Defcon. However I am thankful to DarkTangent and his crew's efforts. The Goons did the very best they could and I am glad they are still doing it.
At 35c3 I got totally ripped off by Leipzig Taxis and my hotel which was cheaper but further away and not on the train path(at least easily).
Was it worth it? YES. Was worth every last penny. I am so thankful to the Chaos Computer Club for their efforts in putting on such an amazing event year after year. If I manage to make it back there again I will be volunteering as an Angel. I just wish it was cheaper to make it to Leipzig from the US but I understand that they are stretched to the gills in terms of capacity.
I heard a rumor that they have already maxed out capacity at Leipzig and there is no bigger place in all of Germany?
There are bigger exhibition grounds in Germany (obviously Hannover, probably Köln and Frankfurt, possibly more), but not for this budget.
By multiplying attendance numbers and average ticket prices, I estimated the total budget for the last Congress at 2.5 million €. Most of that is going to be spent on the venue and the transit pass included in the admission fee. So without any insight into how the budget is divided, it's fair to estimate 1.5 to 2 million going into the rent for the venue. Given that we're talking about an entire exhibition grounds for over two weeks (buildup starts around the 17th of December and teardown usually ends around the 2nd of January), that's an absolute steal. I find it highly unlikely they would be able to get as good a deal for a larger exhibition grounds.
And even if they did, you cannot scale up a conference just by moving to a larger venue. You also need to have the team to back it up. After seeing Congress move from Hamburg to Leipzig and grow into its current size (with over 3000 volunteers doing the bulk of the work), I'm somewhat skeptical they could do it again so soon. The inner circle of seasoned volunteers needs to be grown accordingly.
Besides that, it's an open question if Congress actually wants to grow further. Accomodating more and more attendees from more diverse backgrounds runs the risk of losing your own identity. Simply put, I wouldn't want Congress to be "yet another Burning Man". It's really good that we have had more representation from artists, activists and even public officials in recent years, but it should still be recognizable as a CCC event.
Oh ok thank you for the clarification. Your description just makes it so much more amazing that they have kept this up for 36 years now. Again, I was deeply thankful for all the amazing work the Angels and the greater Congress leadership did in making 35c3 such an unforgettable event.
I just wish it was a bit easier to get prepared to buy a ticket. It was very difficult and nerve wracking when I was up early to get in line for the ticket. The first sale caused the website to time out and so I thought there is no chance for me to compete with what I assume were automated ticket buyers.
The second sale is where I got lucky and grabbed a ticket as fast as possible. There must be some middle ground between this and having full open admission no? It is impossible to get perfect so I do not fault them for this.
>Besides that, it's an open question if Congress actually wants to grow further. Accomodating more and more attendees from more diverse backgrounds runs the risk of losing your own identity.
Yes absolutely. There is no perfect solution to this. One one hand it would be a joy to introduce the hacker spirit to as big of an audience as possible. It could only lead to a better world. On the other hand, you run into problems that Defcon is experiencing with its 30,000+ attendees.
Which is why you join one of the manymany assemblies and get into the voucher rounds.
>I just wish it was cheaper to make it to Leipzig from the US but I understand that they are stretched to the gills in terms of capacity.
My only recommendation here is to fly into Berlin and take the hourly train down to Leipzig. It' somewhat cheaper to fly into and the train ride is a nice ride.
>I heard a rumor that they have already maxed out capacity at Leipzig and there is no bigger place in all of Germany?
There is place for more people in leipzig, but AFAIK there are internal discussions how large they want it. Hamburg could be used, but not everyone can fit into the CCH. Heard rumors about them considering going for CCH and the large halls nearby. But I'm not privy to orga details so these are all rumors.
Can you elaborate on this further? I do not know what this means. I was not part of any local assemblies as I am not German, nor do I speak German, and many of the assemblies at 35c3 seemed to be treating me very coldly as they are just local clubs from all over Germany. (Understandable, I do not fault them).
>My only recommendation here is to fly into Berlin and take the hourly train down to Leipzig. It' somewhat cheaper to fly into and the train ride is a nice ride.
yes. I was looking into this, Do you have a recommendation for a good website to explore train timetables and routes? What I have to be careful about is timing because if I need to stay overnight in Berlin then it may increase the cost such that if it wastes a lot of time, then it may not be worth saving the additional plane money(as many flights have stops in some other city on the way to Leipzig anyway).
Thank you for the response!
You don't need to be german. International hackerspaces also get vouchers for CCC and travel in groups. Check with your local hackerspace.
Think of assemblies as "interest groups" and several are quite approachable over IRC/Matrix.
A list from previous years: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2018/wiki/index.php/Static:As...
Feel free to also poke me next time you travel if you need people to chat with or hang around.
>yes. I was looking into this, Do you have a recommendation for a good website to explore train timetables and routes? What I have to be careful about is timing because if I need to stay overnight in Berlin then it may increase the cost such that if it wastes a lot of time, then it may not be worth saving the additional plane money(as many flights have stops in some other city on the way to Leipzig anyway).
Google maps covers most of the train transits in Europe. But the leipzig train went almost every hour except for in the middle of the night if i recall correctly. This isn't a transit that goes twice a day and should be easy to jump onto if you don't arrive in veryvery odd hours.
It details how the Poikemon missingo glitches work. (In the context of how memory safe languages would prevent them)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QRnOpjmneo
I really hope some day, all political negociationswill be filmed, archived, and unclassified a few years after the end of mandates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07RkzvN5X3Q
[0]: https://youtu.be/6avJHaC3C2U?t=3366
That's one of these talks you can watch with an interested layman as well, which I very much enjoy and find valuable.
The presentation from 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=001SxQCEuv8
Edit: Okay, now I've watched the whole talk. Overall it's great.
What I also found quite amusing was the PowerPoint presentation demonstrating the Turing-completeness of PowerPoint animations[1].
I'll never get tired of this kind of tinkering walking the line between genius and a healthy portion of crazy.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28UzqVz1r24
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNjxe8ShM-8
It’s from the same person (Tom Wildenhain) as your video, but this is an hour long, there’s an actual audience (that’s supportive and spends most of the talk in disbelief), and the end with recursive slides / fractals is an absolute mind melt.
Strong recommend! :) Thanks for the suggestions/reminder!
https://youtu.be/H-U96W89Z90
Hasn't aged one bit. If anything Patricia is spot on pretty much everything. If you don't have time to spend on this, you may want to take a look at the slides: https://www.slideshare.net/PatriciaAas/embedded-ethics-eurob...
- A common ethics board
- To protect whistleblowers
And to achieve this, I should be "Annoying as a service"?
I don't feel like I learnt anything.
If anything there are likely more than ever, because a lot of the ones that used to be delivered in person and not recorded may have been recorded this year.
Never before I've been so bluffed by a new technology, he's building a small twitter clone in 20min with live reload, browser sync and everything, this would take days with any other traditional tech I know.
GOTO 2019 • The Soul of Erlang and Elixir • Saša Jurić
This talk feels, as a coding analogy, a lot more like throwing ingredients into a recipe than architecting an abstract machine.
I really enjoyed the Online Lisp Meeting talks[0] that have happened throughout this year. They show a lot of amazing and recent developments that have been occurring in various parts of the worldwide Lisp landscape, despite how much energy seems to go into repeatedly proclaiming the Lisp family of languages dead, over and over and over.
It was a good choice to host these talks regularly after this year's European Lisp Symposium. I'm glad that I did the work related to that, and I'll be glad to do more of this.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgq_B39Y_kKD9_sdCeE5S...
(Disclosure: two of the talks there are by me; my above comment, naturally, doesn't refer to them.)
Maybe I'm weird, but I really like talks like Outcomes over Outputs (https://content.sonatype.com/2020addo-ct/addo2020-ct-rangana...). Basically: are the metrics you're tracking helping the business, or just your team? (Also I thought this one was well composed and presented!)
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chelsea+finn&sp...
1.David Guttman: How to Get a Better Job Without Learning Another Framework: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voep4CX5lEE&t=3s&ab_channel=...
2. Junior to Senior Podcast w/ Eric Gradman: https://juniortosenior.io/7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMmXo1nHetE
This is a very "tech" way of looking at space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QnbV6CAWXc
https://youtube.com/watch?v=0jI-AlWEwYI
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000py8t
I heard both Jonathan Sumption's (2019) and Grayson Perry's (2013) this year and it's reminded me to go back through the archives:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9/episodes/player