The Psychopath Code

What Hacker News says

1. hypertextheroAug 2025
   When playing guitar, instead of gripping the neck tightly as if your hand was a vise, grip it lightly and pull the neck toward your body instead. Make sure the action of your guitar is not too high; if it is, get it adjusted.

   Listening is more important than talking, but don’t automatically believe what you hear. Find out for yourself.

   Observing animals and plants can teach one about humans and living in harmony with nature’s cycles.

   Some people are not capable of feeling empathy. Learn to recognize them.

   Your initial intuition is often wrong about numbers and statistics and many things, even if you are an expert. Double check. Triple check. Discuss with others you trust.

   A little at a time goes a long way (understanding compound interest).

   Certainty leads to insanity (regarding the “trade” of life).

   References:

   - The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

   - The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music by W. A. Mathieu

   - Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

   - The First and Last Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurti

   - The Psychopath Code by Peter Hintjens

   - Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

   - Fingers Pointing to the Moon by Jane English

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2. bookawayMay 2024
   The story of the "YC mafia" takeover of Conde Nast era reddit as summarized by ex-ceo Yishan who resigned after tiring of Altman's constant Machiavelli machinations is also hilarious and foreshadowing of future events[0]. I'm sure by the time Altman resigned from the Reddit board OpenAI had long incorporated the entire corpus into ChatGPT already.

   At the moment all the engineers at OpenAI, including gdb, who currently have their credibility in tact are nerd-washing Altman's tarnished reputation by staying there. I mentioned this in a comment elsewhere but Peter Hintjens' (ZeroMQ, RIP) book called the "Psychopath Code"[1] is rather on point in this context. He notes that psychopaths are attracted to project groups that have assets and no defenses, i.e. non-profits:

   If a group has assets and no defenses, it is inevitable [a psychopath] will invade the group. There is no "if" here. Indeed, you may see several psychopaths striving for advantage...[the psychopath] may be a founder, yet that is rare. If he is a founder, someone else did the hard work. Look for burned-out skeletons in the closet...He may come with grand stories, yet only by his own word. He claims authority from his connections to important people. He spends his time in the group manipulating people against each other. Or, he is absent on important business...His dominance is not earned, yet it is tangible...He breaks the social conventions of the group. Social humans feel fear and anxiety when they do this. This is a dominance mask.

   A group of nerds that want to get shit done and work on important problems, who are primed to be optimistic and take what people say to their face at face value, and don't want to waste time with "people problems" are susceptible to these types of characters taking over.

   [0] https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3cs78i/whats_the...

   [1]https://hintjens.gitbooks.io/psychopathcode/content/chapter4...

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3. _nalplyJul 2023
   I am thinking about alternative form of government too, however we should not forget the famous quote that democracy is the worst form of government.

   Pieter Hintjens the ZeroMQ founder wrote the book "The Psychopath Code". I learnt that some bad people are enough to make a community capsize. I am not sure whether this applies to democracies as well. It is a completely different scale from Open Source projects. However I think, this book is very valuable in learning why democracies have enormous difficulties.

   I am afraid, however, that the alternatives are even worse.

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4. hypertextheroJan 2023
   Get away from the computer and go for a walk every day for at least 30 minutes, preferably during work hours, to break up your day and think.

   Sit down somewhere and simply watch other people going about their day, and daydream.

   Write to your friends and try to meet them regularly.

   Get a paper notebook and a pencil or pen and keep it by you. Write ideas and thoughts as they come, not later. Write about what interests you and what you would like to happen in your life. Write ideas for personal projects and break them down into small items that you can do to move them forward. Tick them off as they get done.

   Spend time doing things other than programming. Draw. Take photographs with a digital camera and make sure to look at them after some time has passed (a few days to a few months) and mark the ones you like and put them in a folder. Play an instrument made of wood. Go to a concert or an art exhibit. Drink a beverage in a place that feels cozy. Seek out and listen to music that you like and watch movies that you like.

   Play video games that you like, especially ones with good sound and good humor, and cooperative PvE ones with friends. Some good ones are Zelda Breath of the Wild, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Everything, Noita, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Arma 3, Broforce, Jagged Alliance 2, Watch Dogs: Legion, and GTA Online in private lobbies with friends.

   Beware of sociopaths. They are few and far between, but can also work at FAANGs. Read The Psychopath Code by Pieter Hintjens.

   Spend time in a park or a forest walking and listening to the sounds that trees and birds and other things make. Seek out nature.

   Try exercising at least once every other day. Search "7 minute workout".

   Practice cooking something you really like yourself, and once you make a version you enjoy, make it a habit to do it once a fortnight or so. Go out and eat your favorite junk food once in a while, too.

   Read books made of paper about things that interest you. Use a pencil to draw lightly on the pages around the passages you like. Try a book like Think on These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti and A Village Life by Louise Glück and Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke.

   Always work on your own projects, at least in your paper notebook or in your mind or on your computer, even when at work working for someone else.

   Don’t worry about what other people who are not dear to you say. In the end, it doesn’t matter.

   Love someone. Help someone. Be kind.

   Good luck!

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5. rambambramNov 2021
   I think the author - who passed away unfortunately - has more than enough to say about dealing with bad actors. Read his book The Psychopath Code.
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6. rambambramNov 2021
   His book The Psychopath Code helped me tremendously. I remember also reading some other books from him. Good stuff, food for thought. A great loss indeed.
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