Hacker News with Generative AI: Substack

I should have loved biology too (nehalslearnings.substack.com)
About a year ago, I came across James Somers’ blog post, I should have loved biology. I began reading it and every sentence struck a chord: “I should have loved biology but found it a lifeless recitation of names”; “In textbooks, astonishing facts were presented without astonishment”; “In biology class, biology wasn’t presented as a quest for the secrets of life.

Education, Biology, Science, Substack

268 points by nehal96 4 days ago | 191 comments

Clowning Around: On the Principles of Clowning (funnyhow.substack.com)
The most basic technique of the clown is to create and maintain rapport.

Comedy, Performance Art, Substack, Storytelling

37 points by NaOH 13 days ago | 13 comments

What can we take away from the ‘stochastic parrot’ saga? (inferencemagazine.substack.com)
The parrot is dead. Don’t be the shopkeeper.

Philosophy, Metaphor, Substack

41 points by Philpax 15 days ago | 102 comments

AI 2027: Responses (thezvi.substack.com)
Yesterday I covered Dwarkesh Patel’s excellent podcast coverage of AI 2027 with Daniel Kokotajlo and Scott Alexander. Today covers the reactions of others.

Artificial Intelligence, Predictions, Podcasts, Substack

3 points by paulpauper 18 days ago | 0 comments

Jevons Paradox: A Personal Perspective (fakepixels.substack.com)
“I'm dying. Of overwork.”

Jevons Paradox, Economics, Work-Life Balance, Substack

17 points by kiyanwang 29 days ago | 8 comments

Battling the Blaze: Artifacts from the history of firefighting (worldhistory.substack.com)
Welcome to Looking Through the Past! At its heart, this is a project in which I find a bunch of cool stuff every week and share it with you. It takes hours of research and writing to produce. If you’re new here, click the button below to subscribe. If you’re already a free subscriber who appreciates getting a bunch of cool stuff in your inbox every week, please consider a paid subscription, for less than $1 a week.

History, Firefighting, Substack

14 points by crescit_eundo 34 days ago | 2 comments

Childhood and Education #9: School is Hell (thezvi.substack.com)
This complication of tales from the world of school isn’t all negative. I don’t want to overstate the problem. School is not hell for every child all the time. Learning occasionally happens. There are great teachers and classes, and so on. Some kids really enjoy it.

Education, Childhood, Opinion, Substack

9 points by apsec112 50 days ago | 0 comments

Tell HN: Substack Is Spamming (ycombinator.com)
I subscribed to a (reputable) Substack and immediately found myself receiving unsolicited emails and other substacks I didn't subscribe for. I also found a shadow profile was created for me.

Privacy, Substack, Email Marketing, Spam

31 points by gone35 57 days ago | 7 comments

We Kind of Suck at That Right Now (cutlefish.substack.com)
"Wow, we kind of suck at that right now," I said.

Self-Deprecation, Humor, Substack

37 points by wapasta 58 days ago | 40 comments

What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports (themicrodose.substack.com)
The existence of synesthesia blew Sean Noah’s mind the first time he learned about it in high school biology class.

Psychedelics, Data Analysis, Substack, Synesthesia

189 points by cainxinth 60 days ago | 263 comments

Grok Grok (thezvi.substack.com)
This is a post in two parts.

Substack, Writing, Personal Essays

7 points by theptip 60 days ago | 0 comments

Security Teams Fail (lcamtuf.substack.com)
I spent 25 years working in information security. I published research, authored books, and led large security teams for publicly-traded companies. That said, when I kicked off this Substack in 2022, I wanted to try something different — so with few exceptions, I shied away from infosec punditry.

Cybersecurity, Information Security, Substack, Opinion

10 points by zdw 72 days ago | 1 comments

Worthwhile Lives for Sensitive Young Men (librarianofcelaeno.substack.com)
I was very grateful for the opportunity to speak with Johann Kurtz and Dave Greene the other day and for the chance to hear their views expounded more directly, as well as to elaborate on my own. Johann Kurtz has offered an afterword and I thought I might do so as well.

Philosophy, Identity, Masculinity, Substack

13 points by janandonly 73 days ago | 4 comments

Ghosts in the Shadow of the Mouse (fiddlersgreene.substack.com)
You can't go home again, but you can never really leave it.

Nostalgia, Writing, Substack

10 points by paulpauper 74 days ago | 6 comments

A luminous, brave, and unputdownable article about blurbs (countercraft.substack.com)
Blurbs. Can’t live with them, can’t live a luminous tour-de-force life of tender-hearted lyricism and soul-nourishing honesty without them.

Writing, Storytelling, Substack, Online Publishing

8 points by benbreen 82 days ago | 2 comments

The quiet rebellion of a little life (caitlynrichardson.substack.com)
hello.

Personal Growth, Life, Substack

78 points by durmonski 96 days ago | 129 comments

Ask HN: How do you improve your writing? (ycombinator.com)
I've been writing more and more on Substack. I started with simple Haikus and just expanded with longer posts before settling into this mix of poetry, mental health and my software career.<p>I finally did this by letting go of my perfectionism but I don't want to let go of improvement.<p>Are you a someone who writes on your own blog?

Writing, Blogging, Substack, Mental Health, Perfectionism

49 points by navs 125 days ago | 58 comments

Substack Is at It Again (kottke.org)
Marisa Kabas correctly asserts that Substack’s latest announcement reaffirms their status as a publication (and not a platform) and as a place that will publish disinformation and hate under the guise of “free speech”.

Substack, Free Speech, Journalism, Disinformation

5 points by Tomte 129 days ago | 2 comments

Regarding – and, Well, Against – Substack (daringfireball.net)

Substack, Blogging, Content Creation

4 points by everybodyknows 137 days ago | 0 comments

Always. Be. Blogging (natesilver.net)
With a staff of just two people, Silver Bulletin is now the #3 Substack newsletter in Substack’s largest category, U.S. Politics. We even briefly hit #2 during the election peak.

Politics, Blogging, Substack, News

19 points by nsoonhui 153 days ago | 0 comments

Don't Call It a Substack. (anildash.com)
Email's been here for years. But the reason Substack wants you to call your creative work by their brand name is because they control your audience and distribution, and they want to own your content and voice, too. You may not think you care about that today, but you will when you see what they want to do with it.

Substack, Content Creation, Email Marketing, Digital Media

43 points by bookofjoe 155 days ago | 26 comments

Don't Call It a Substack (anildash.com)
Email's been here for years. But the reason Substack wants you to call your creative work by their brand name is because they control your audience and distribution, and they want to own your content and voice, too. You may not think you care about that today, but you will when you see what they want to do with it.

Substack, Email Marketing, Content Creation, Digital Media, Ownership

15 points by marban 157 days ago | 3 comments

Don't Call It a Substack (anildash.com)
Email's been here for years. But the reason Substack wants you to call your creative work by their brand name is because they control your audience and distribution, and they want to own your content and voice, too. You may not think you care about that today, but you will when you see what they want to do with it.

Substack, Email Marketing, Content Creation, Business, Social Media

16 points by tobr 157 days ago | 0 comments

Who Do Children Belong To? (lyz.substack.com)
Written from a journalist in a red state, this newsletter is personal, political, sometimes funny and always raises hell.

Children, Politics, Social Issues, Journalism, Substack

5 points by herbertl 178 days ago | 5 comments

Losers Average Losers (quantian.substack.com)
This is Paul Tudor Jones, for those of you who are unaware.

Finance, Investing, Substack

7 points by paulpauper 181 days ago | 1 comments

The Atlantic Did Me Dirty (cmsthomas.substack.com)
Early this summer I was interviewed by Rose Horowitch, an editor for The Atlantic. She told me that she had heard from a university professor that incoming students were struggling to keep up with the reading load. She explained that she was working on an article that would explore the problem of reading stamina and asked me to share my experiences in the high school classroom.

Education, Journalism, Substack

90 points by makeitdouble 200 days ago | 248 comments

The survival skills of Helena Valero (woodfromeden.substack.com)
One of the most important anthropologists of the 20th century was a dirt-poor mestizo woman called Helena Valero. After having read the one and only book in English about her, I'm convinced of that. Her insights into a primitive society is worth more than that of the vast majority of anthropologists, for one simple reason: Helena was there for real, as a member of those societies. She didn't only study stone age life. She lived it.

Anthropology, History, Substack, Biography

91 points by paulpauper 202 days ago | 34 comments

I spent 5 hours learning how ClickHouse built their internal data warehouse (vutr.substack.com)
My name is Vu Trinh, and I am a data engineer.

Data Warehousing, Databases, ClickHouse, Data Engineering, Substack

47 points by markhneedham 214 days ago | 5 comments

Sucks.. In a Good Way (atomic14.substack.com)
Robin Reiter from Robins Tools was kind enough to send me Pixel Pump - and it’s great!