akozak

Joined 16 years ago

Karma
1,010
Submissions
236
Member since
Aug 27
https://twitter.com/alexkozak
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Recent submissions

Comment · 1 month ago
"a total cost of $0" Uhh ... how much is that hardware?
Comment · 2 months ago
The source article in Korean actually seems to tell a somewhat different story, that it's been a massive productivity boost in their early experiments. You could focus on the points of friction, but that isn't the main takeaway I think.
Comment · 2 months ago
Comment · 6 months ago
Comment · 1 year ago
Comment · 2 years ago
I had somehow completely forgotten about this game, but I remember being absolutely absorbed. It was in a separate class of storytelling at the time. Come to think of it, you can probably draw a line from it to Disco Elysium.
Comment · 2 years ago
It's a neat idea that you could publish a paper like this that establishes a framework for thousands of years.
Comment · 2 years ago
This won't be a satisfying answer (and won't work for startups), but the solution I saw most frequently was to assign them dedicated diplomats or maintain a middle mgmt class who are well suited to coddle them, absorb most of their emotional energy, and channel it productively (or not) into the wider institution.
Comment · 2 years ago
I have a lot of experience working with the weird nerd archetype and watching them navigate large orgs.

First it's absolutely true that orgs that purport to support weird nerds will revert back to rewarding politicians. I've seen it happen, and typically has to do with who is doling out money.

However, in my experience the vast majority of brilliant nerds way overextend themselves, and are much too confident outside their domain. They're also much more likely to be jerks and will tumble from conflict to conflict until they get their way by attrition or status. Conflicts are strangely more personal because so much ego is tied up into it. They're more likely to assume they're right in every (non-tech/science related) situation.

My advice to weird nerds (assuming emotional intelligence isn't an innate skill) is: Find a way to turn your brainpower onto this challenge as equally important as your core interest. Treat interacting with your institution like a long term engineering project or investigation. Think long term and be strategic, create and track longer term plans, try to learn what people respond to, what works and what doesn't. Always try to be kind and maintain some humility, but assuming you aren't sure what that really means, then ask for lots of feedback. Or you can just find someone you trust and delegate all of this to them, like a technical founder hiring a CEO.

(Edit: relatedly, if you work for or with weird nerds in a support role, my advice is to take full advantage! They might have a useful point, so set your own ego aside, don't take it personally (they are weird), and try to listen charitably. Their work is what you're here to support, after all.)

Comment · 2 years ago
I've seen the "coup" framing a lot I just don't see how that's justified. They're the board of directors! Hiring and firing the CEO is core to the job (as is maintaining mission alignment, in the nonprofit world).
Comment · 2 years ago
Probably highly volume dependent, but still useful!
Comment · 2 years ago
It'd be nice to have a similar site but cost per token.
Comment · 2 years ago
Nice. We'll have to check back in 10 million years to see how it went.

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