Ask HN: What’s your favorite talk from 2017? - dev_256
======
loevborg
Rich Hickey, Effective Programs - an examination of the essence of what we do
as programmers (for many of us, wirting "situated programs"), and a spirited
defense of dynamically typed languages:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V1FtfBDsLU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V1FtfBDsLU)

~~~
throwaway7645
Seconded...good talk!

------
floatboth
On The Turing Completeness of PowerPoint
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNjxe8ShM-8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNjxe8ShM-8)

Compiling C to printable x86, to make an executable research paper
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_DrBwkiJA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_DrBwkiJA)

HDR Photography in Microsoft Excel?!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkQJdaGGVM8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkQJdaGGVM8)

Zebras All the Way Down
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE2KDzZaxvE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE2KDzZaxvE)

Solving Layout Problems with CSS Grid and Friends
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XkzpgWoYEI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XkzpgWoYEI)

Console Security - Switch [https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8941-console_security_-
_switch](https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8941-console_security_-_switch)

Let's move SMM out of firmware and into the kernel
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GEaw4msq6g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GEaw4msq6g)

Bringing Linux back to server boot ROMs with NERF and Heads
[https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9056-bringing_linux_back_to_serv...](https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9056-bringing_linux_back_to_server_boot_roms_with_nerf_and_heads)

Sharing the Chisel
[https://youtu.be/2C8F7GBRluY?t=11m31s](https://youtu.be/2C8F7GBRluY?t=11m31s)
(looks like the actual conference video wasn't released)

------
DeusExMachina
Not a single talk, but a series: Jordan Peterson’s Psychological Significance
of the Bible Stories.

As an atheist I found his explanations extremely interesting. Peterson is a
brilliant scholar and draws connections between psychology and brain
structures, human evolution, and religion.

I don’t believe in any trascendental being, but listening to these lectures
made me understand better the psychological and moral value of these stories,
regardless of belief in the supernatural.

[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL22J3VaeABQD_IZs7y60I...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL22J3VaeABQD_IZs7y60I3lUrrFTzkpat)

~~~
youdontknowtho
Isn't Jordan Peterson also famous for being a proponent of racial IQ theories?

I'm really skeptical about IQ in general, but anyone popular with the far
right really makes me suspicious.

I'll take a look at the link you provided...But man, there are an awful lot of
1488 types that support this guy. It really makes me question where he is
coming from.

~~~
skrebbel
I usually employ the same rule of thumb (although I don't know who "1488
types" are - my rule of thumb is that if a gamergater is passionately
defending an opinion I default to the opposite until I learn more).

But I've made an exception for Peterson. He's not as super left wing as much
university staff, sure, but to call him extreme right is very far fetched.

My impression, if this means anything to you, is that his political opinion
fits well with that of centrist Christian Democrat parties in Europe (eg
Merkel's CDU). That makes him more conservative than me, but because he's also
totally brilliant, I don't mind.

I don't know why the alt right likes him, but my guess is that he's a great
speaker who presents something like a very moderate version of alt right
opinion.

I guess the most extreme thing he did, that he's somewhat infamous for, is
refusing to use different singular personal pronouns than "he" and "she".
While I think that he was an ass about that, to call someone far right for not
wanting to say "ze" in a classroom is a few bridges to far for me.

EDIT: I got 4 downvotes already but really tried to make a balanced argument.
Maybe I missed some of his "oeuvre" that would change my mind, maybe I'm
outright wrong somewhere? Would appreciate someone pointing it out.

~~~
Reedx
Well, the 1488 types and the alt right are mistaken in their support.

They see a professor making headlines because he's vocal about the problems
with the alt left. That's all they know and they're assuming that means he's
on their side (the alt left also makes this mistake). But that's absolutely
not the case and is clear to anyone that actually watches his lectures.

~~~
youdontknowtho
"alt left" isn't a thing.

~~~
Reedx
I was just using that as short hand. Illiberal Left or Regressive Left are
better terms.

(though I should've said SJWs for short since that's what Peterson usually
calls them in this context, IIRC)

~~~
api
There is no left anymore. There are only different kinds of reactionary.

------
jnsaff2
Having just gotten back from 34C3 I'm going to post a few of my favorites from
there:

Dude, you broke the Future!
[https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9270-dude_you_broke_the_future](https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9270-dude_you_broke_the_future)

Pointing Fingers at 'The Media'
[https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9106-pointing_fingers_at_the_med...](https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9106-pointing_fingers_at_the_media)

Social Cooling - big data’s unintended side effect
[https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8797-social_cooling_-
_big_data_s...](https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8797-social_cooling_-
_big_data_s_unintended_side_effect)

Full list here: [https://media.ccc.de/c/34c3](https://media.ccc.de/c/34c3)

~~~
vinc
I couple of months ago I found a good TED talk on the same topic as your first
link:

We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads
[https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_we_re_building_a_dy...](https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_we_re_building_a_dystopia_just_to_make_people_click_on_ads)

------
galfarragem
'On storytelling' by Evan Czaplicki:

[https://www.deconstructconf.com/2017/evan-czaplicki-on-
story...](https://www.deconstructconf.com/2017/evan-czaplicki-on-storytelling)

Whether you like Elm or not, Czaplicki is an highly charismatic conceptual
thinker and his talks are very relevant.

------
jstaffans
Jessica Kerr's "Shaving the Golden Yak" [1] or "If Coco Chanel Reviewed Elm"
[2] by Tereza Sokol.

[1]: [https://www.infoq.com/presentations/easier-software-
developm...](https://www.infoq.com/presentations/easier-software-
development?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=calendar)

[2]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiw3YcwGwrU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiw3YcwGwrU)

~~~
thisacctforreal
I'm a big fan of the Chanel talk; it's a neat perspective with a well thought
out presentation.

------
vog
A deep analysis on social bots, fake news, hate speech and filter bubbles on
Twitter. This is questions the existence, as well as quality of studies about,
the co-called "social bots" (which turned out to either have no influence, or
to be real people with "too much" free time):

Michael Kreil: Social Bots, Fake News und Filterblasen

[https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9268-social_bots_fake_news_und_f...](https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9268-social_bots_fake_news_und_filterblasen)

(German talk, but the video contains an audio track with a good English
translation.)

------
ethomson
For better or worse, I spent more time giving talks than watching talks in
2017.

My favorite talk that I watched in 2017 was Durham Goode's talk at Git Merge
2017, concerning scaling Mercurial at Facebook. It's always good to share
knowledge about version control and scar difficulties:

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0lo9MOBetEGRAJzoTCdco_fOK...](https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0lo9MOBetEGRAJzoTCdco_fOKDfhqaOY&v=gOVD-
DrUpwQ)

My favorite talk that I gave was at GitHub Universe. I spoke about how
Microsoft adopted the Git version control system and - ultimately - open
source:

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LXu80xXwFY0](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LXu80xXwFY0)

------
joshuahornby
"Making Impossible States Impossible" by Richard Feldman

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcgmSRJHu_8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcgmSRJHu_8)

Really changed how I think about programming.

------
SEMW
Matt Might's Codemesh 2017 keynote: "Winning the War on Error: Solving Halting
Problem, Curing Cancer"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVkHgKCqAcI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVkHgKCqAcI)

~~~
khet
Matt does a great job of explaining some of the concepts around precision
medicine. He also talks about the need for computer scientists to study
biology, and the effect it has on field progress.

------
Vekz
Lisp at the Frontier of Computation, by Robert Smith at Rigetti Computing

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9vRcSAneiw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9vRcSAneiw)

About the application of Lisp on quantum hardware.

------
vowelless
Ali Rahimi's NIPS 2017 Test of Time award talk.

"Artificial intelligence is not like electricity (quoting Andrew Ng), but
alchemy"

[https://youtu.be/Qi1Yry33TQE](https://youtu.be/Qi1Yry33TQE)

------
asafira
Maybe not my favorite, but a fun one I wanted to mention anyway:

New Tech Start-Up Bubble
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7vrCpWbmDw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7vrCpWbmDw)

~~~
skellertor
Just watched it. Hilarious because it's so true.

------
pruthvishetty
Has to be this Farnam Street interview with Naval Ravikant about reading,
habits, decision-making, mental models, and life. Surprisingly insightful!

[https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2017/02/naval-ravikant-
read...](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2017/02/naval-ravikant-reading-
decision-making/)

~~~
gakos
+1. Wonderful tips for optimizing self. Definitely stretches your intellect,
with great book references.

------
kostarelo
Devoxx Poland 2016 - Ted Neward - Why Functional Programming Matters -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hOM5PPzMC8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hOM5PPzMC8)

An amazing introductory video to Functional programming from a hardcore Java
developer.

------
anfractuosity
One of my favourite talks I watched was "Low Cost Non-Invasive Biomedical
Imaging - An Open Electrical Impedance Tomography Project"

[https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8948-low_cost_non-
invasive_biome...](https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8948-low_cost_non-
invasive_biomedical_imaging)

As it presented an interesting technique I'd never heard of before, along with
an implementation.

Also I thought the 'Breaking the x86 Instruction Set' talk was extremely
clever -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrksBdWcZgQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrksBdWcZgQ)

------
jhck
David Runciman: How Democracy Ends

[https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2017/71-how-
demo...](https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2017/71-how-democracy-
ends)

~~~
Abekkus
I'll watch and read this,thanks, but in the meantime my money is on democracy
ending with the automation of military, police, and security operations.

~~~
api
My money is on it ending with the automation of propaganda and con artistry at
scale.

A small group of people could use AI and social media to virtually sit down
with every single person and convince them of something using a detailed micro
targeting profile. It would be like diapatching an individual evangelist to
work on each of a billion people in parallel.

We saw very primitive and still largely manual versions of this in 2016. When
the real thing arrives it will be the hydrogen bomb of persuasion.

This is also what I think an "AI takeover" would look like. Forget about
terminators. A superintelligence would find us trivial to con and manipulate.
We will just be convinced to do what the AI wants. Skynet will launch words
not bombs, but much like the nukes in the Terminator story we are building the
infrastructure of our own destruction ahead of time.

~~~
douglaswlance
A true super-human AI would take over without humans realizing anything is
happening. If that's true, then it might be that AI is already taking over.

------
oskarth
Effective Programs - 10 Years of Clojure - Rich Hickey:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V1FtfBDsLU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V1FtfBDsLU)

------
unalloy
Tony Seba on Clean Disruption: [https://www.startupsilike.com/blog/emerging-
trends-the-futur...](https://www.startupsilike.com/blog/emerging-trends-the-
future-of-transportation-and-energy)

~~~
kbaker
Highly recommended talk - About the convergence of Li-ion batteries, electric
vehicles, self-driving cars, and solar energy over the next decade; and the
impact it will have on the future of the electric grid, big oil, and the car
industry and related industries (auto insurance, gas stations, parking lots,
etc.)

Maybe a bit on the optimistic side? But exciting to consider the
possibilities!

------
DyslexicAtheist
my favorite were:

\- How the reputation economy is creating data-driven conformity
[https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8797-social_cooling_-
_big_data_s...](https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8797-social_cooling_-
_big_data_s_unintended_side_effect)

\- DEF CON 25 (2017) - Weaponizing Machine Learning
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbRx18VZlYA&t=2121s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbRx18VZlYA&t=2121s)

\- BlackHat 2017: Breaking the x86 Instruction Set
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrksBdWcZgQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrksBdWcZgQ)

------
mubaris
Feross Aboukhadijeh - The Most Annoying Website (aka "The Power of the Web
Platform") -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pY9Bfwfj2A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pY9Bfwfj2A)

------
SapphireSun
Noam Chomsky on the survival of human civilization. The talk might have
actually occurred in 2016.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrE5EZr5ZVY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrE5EZr5ZVY)

------
rhinoceraptor
Bryan Cantrill, Principles of Technology Leadership

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QMGAtxUlAc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QMGAtxUlAc)

------
makmanalp
Erik Rose's Constructive Code Review from PyCon stands out for me as a talk I
remember and come back to: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNG1a--
SIlk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNG1a--SIlk)

It's nothing I didn't know intuitively, but it really lays out, with great
examples, how to provide feedback accurately while not forgetting about being
kind and humble. This is in stark contrast to an attitude I see often that
confuses being direct and critical with being hostile or rude. It really
deconstructs some of those dynamics in a way I hadn't paid attention to
before. Also, it has a great summary of a simplified version of "getting
things done" that made it appealing to me.

------
gakos
How to Create and Start Successful Revolutions | Ben Horowitz

Saw this in-person and really recommend it. Detailed historical example of
revolution and key takeaways for establishing a great culture at your company.

[https://youtu.be/YVVick2kf8c](https://youtu.be/YVVick2kf8c)

[https://www.startupgrind.com/blog/ben-horowitz-on-how-to-
cre...](https://www.startupgrind.com/blog/ben-horowitz-on-how-to-create-
culture-and-start-successful-revolutions/)

------
vong
Thought Andrew Ng's The State of AI
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKpuX_yzdYs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKpuX_yzdYs))
was a good primer on: data assets, the positive feedback loop, and their
value; hallmarks of an "AI company"

------
seltzered_
Nerd Wrangling 101 - a talk on neurodiversity and how tech folks work
together:
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=728s&v=k-2d5Ggo4i4](https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=728s&v=k-2d5Ggo4i4)

------
kanzure
"DIY human gene therapy with CRISPR" [http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/diy-
human-gene-therapy-wit...](http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/diy-human-gene-
therapy-with-crispr/)

"A deep dive into Bitcoin Core v0.15"
[http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/gmaxwell-2017-08-28-deep-d...](http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/gmaxwell-2017-08-28-deep-
dive-bitcoin-core-v0.15/)

"Advances in block propagation"
[http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/gmaxwell-2017-11-27-advanc...](http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/gmaxwell-2017-11-27-advances-
in-block-propagation/)

"Discreet log contracts" [http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/discreet-log-
contracts/](http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/discreet-log-contracts/)

"Signature aggregation" [http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/bitcoin-core-dev-
tech/2017...](http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/bitcoin-core-dev-
tech/2017-09-06-signature-aggregation/)

"Programmable organoids" [http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/hgp-
write/2017-05-09/organ...](http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/hgp-
write/2017-05-09/organoids/)

"Ultra-safe cell line" [http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/hgp-
write/2017-05-09/ultra...](http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/hgp-
write/2017-05-09/ultrasafe-cell-line/)

"New address type for segwit addresses" [http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/sf-
bitcoin-meetup/2017-03-...](http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/sf-bitcoin-
meetup/2017-03-29-new-address-type-for-segwit-addresses/)

Bram Cohen on merkle sets and memory management
[http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/sf-bitcoin-
meetup/2017-07-...](http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/sf-bitcoin-
meetup/2017-07-08-bram-cohen-merkle-sets/)

"Making humans a multiplanetary species"
[http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/spacex/elon-musk-making-
hu...](http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/spacex/elon-musk-making-humans-a-
multiplanetary-species/)

~~~
larrydag
I second "Making humans a multiplanetary species". Watching Elon Musk give
this talk is really interesting. It is painful in delivery but penetrating in
content. He also has a knack for the gotcha surprise.

------
sebst
A fun intro to Church Numerals by a charasmatic speaker:

LAMBDA Functions: Powerful And Elegant Abstractions -
[https://youtu.be/OLH3L285EiY](https://youtu.be/OLH3L285EiY)

------
bjoli
It is not my favourite talk, but it is the one I almost happy about
discovering:

Andy Wingo's talk "Channels, Concurrency, and Cores: A new Concurrent ML
implementation"
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcI6sl5oBc](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcI6sl5oBc)

Because it made me discover that concurrent programming can actually be nice.

------
cpeterso
* _To Serve The People: Public Interest Technologists._ Matt Mitchell is a hacker, security researcher, operational security trainer, and data journalist who founded & leads CryptoHarlem, impromptu workshops teaching basic cryptography tools to the predominately African American community in upper Manhattan.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cm3N4Yi3b0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cm3N4Yi3b0)

* _Stop Rate Limiting! Capacity Management Done Right._ Jon Moore is the Chief Software Architect at Comcast Cable, where he focuses on delivering a core set of scalable, performant, robust software components for the company's varied software product development groups.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m64SWl9bfvk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m64SWl9bfvk)

* _Keeping Time in Real Systems._ This talk will tour the fascinating timekeeping mechanisms used in real systems. We will explore atomic clocks, NTP and GPS through systems that use them, and logical clocks in the context of systems built on logical time.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRvj8PykSc4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRvj8PykSc4)

* _Level Up Your Concurrency Skills With Rust._ This talk will show you how Rust will catch many concurrency errors at compile time.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIikwmeGVYY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIikwmeGVYY)

* _Diablo: A Classic Game Postmortem._ Diablo developer David Brevik returns to the GDC stage to give a classic post-mortem on Blizzard's action RPG hit Diablo in this 2016 talk.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc)

* _The Flash Games Postmortem_. In this 2017 GDC talk, Kongregate's John Cooney attempts to encapsulate the immense history of Flash games and how it has shaped the current game industry by giving game developers their first chance to build and publish their games quickly to the web.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65crLKNQR0E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65crLKNQR0E)

* _Siege Battle AI in Total War: Warhammer_. In this 2017 GDC session, Creative Assembly's Andre Arsenault shows the approach used in Total War: Warhammer to create the very specialized high-level AI to guide these massive armies in a way that provides a convincing, epic-scale battle.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHolirTf9CI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHolirTf9CI)

------
ontouchstart
CHM Oral Histories

Computer History Museum

Hear the stories from the computing legends themselves with video selections
from CHM’s oral history collection

[https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQsxaNhYv8daKdGi7s85ubzbW...](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQsxaNhYv8daKdGi7s85ubzbWdTB36-_q)

------
cvaidya1986
All episodes of How I Built This by Guy Raz on NPR and Masters of Scale by
Reid Hoffman. Especially Barry Diller Part I and II on Masters of Scale. Happy
New Year 2018! May your projects come to fruition and live long and prosper!

------
rhizome31
Designing a Multi-Language Live Programming Tool With Phoenix and Genstage
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p58sFfgMvdI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p58sFfgMvdI)

------
denhai
Raymond Hettinger, Keynote on Concurrency, PyBay 2017
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zinZmE3Ogk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zinZmE3Ogk)

------
ruda
KotlinConf 2017 - My Life as a Tech Transfer Monad by Erik Meijer
[https://youtu.be/NKeHrApPWlo](https://youtu.be/NKeHrApPWlo)

------
jacksmith21006
Easily my favorite

[https://youtu.be/TS2der4Ag_s](https://youtu.be/TS2der4Ag_s)

