
So Far, So Good - okket
http://hintjens.com/blog:119
======
dredmorbius
Backstory: Pieter Hintjens, Belgian software developer and Free Software
advocate, diagnosed with terminal cancer, continues to muse on chemo,
technology, life, and what odd stray bits of writing do or don't go viral.

And he's chanced upon a Chinese manufacturing practice, Shanzhai, which
incorporates the anti-patent concepts he's long fought for.

(My Pocket entry for this blog post has a curious set of associated tags.)

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xgbi
I remember the chemo and it was exactly like this. 5 days of shit every 2
weeks, and a slow tumble up the next 9 days, waiting for the new round.

I got the luck to have a "gentle" lymphoma, but the chemo is hard nonetheless.
My 2 last rounds, I couldn't bend down to grab a pan without sweating,
starting to tremble and having difficulty breathing.

Let's hope that he gets all the love he needs to pass through gently.

~~~
douche
Chemo is fucking miserable. Somehow, pure stubborn cussedness and youth, I
guess, I willed myself to play high school basketball through my 12 weeks of
lymphoma treatments, even driving two hours, getting shot full of nitrogen
mustard, riding another two hours home and then scoring ten points with eight
rebounds in a game that night. How the hell, I don't know... Should have
gotten ESPN on the phone...

Running windsprints at 51% of normal red blood cell count is probably the
stupidest, most painful, thing I've ever done.

Best of luck to him

------
angersock
There is sort of a queer feeling about watching somebody blog their final
days. I can't quite describe it--not quite macabre, not quite humorous, not
quite amazement.

It's sort of one of those synthetic colors, the ones that you never see in
reality but recognize instantly if exposed to them.

~~~
mindcrime
I consider it inspiring, but tinged with sadness. I don't know Pieter
Hintjens, but I still hate to see that he's dying, knowing what it will mean
for his wife, children, etc. And he's "one of us" as well. But, the flip-side
is that he's displaying great courage and spirit in choosing to continue doing
the thing that matter to him, apparently right up to the end. There's
something to be said for nobility in the face of death.

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brianpgordon
> I'll describe it briefly. Every firm in this culture publishes their Bills
> of Materials, and design specs. Any other firm may take these, reuse them,
> improve them. They must also share back.

> This is why you can buy the same product from a slew of firms on Amazon or
> Ebay. This is why the price drops smoothly, as predicted by Cost Gravity. No
> patents and trade secrets to slow down the spread of knowledge. This is why
> Chinese products haven't just caught up to western designs. They are way,
> way ahead. My Xiaomi is built of 95% Chinese components. This is why Apple
> will die.

So who pays for capex like _the exact thing Apple is known for_ , protracted
and high-quality R&D?

~~~
nihonde
No one, because in this dystopian vision of zero returns for innovation, the
copycats win until they have nothing left to copy, at which point, we're still
using something like an Mi5 (which is visibly an iPhone clone) in 10 years.
And as for software, it will be rootkits and hacks all the way down.

My friend who manufactures random stuff in Thailand told me that he has a _one
month_ lead on China when his company releases a new product, after which
copies flood the markets. His competition's labor costs are effectively
negligible, and that's compared to _Thai_ labor. Obviously, this is an
unsustainable condition, and one day it will be the Chinese who are scrambling
to stay ahead of Bangladesh or whoever.

~~~
ido
Interesting, as nominal GDP per capita is higher in China than in Thailand.

~~~
nihonde
Yes, things are changing already. Thai average wages are about $400/month, and
China are about $300/month. My anecdote is a few years old, and the Baht has
fallen vs. the Yuan since then.

------
fiatjaf
I like very much the fact that this isn't a post about how is his health, but
a post about Chinese economy and a distraction-free writing device.

------
Rhapso
We are born, we suffer a lot, then we die. Make sure to live a life well worth
that suffering, and everything else will follow.

------
ciokan
The belgian interview he talks about if you're interested:
[http://www.rtl.be/rtltvi/video/581260.aspx](http://www.rtl.be/rtltvi/video/581260.aspx)

------
asimjalis
I hope you get better soon. And thank you for all your contributions: your
books, the talk on the one weird trick, the software.

~~~
dredmorbius
I can understand the sentiments. And I'm not Pieter.

That said, at times the realisation is that you _are_ going to die, that parts
of it are going to be awful. And yet there is so much more in life you wish
you could have accomplished.

So you do what you can, with the time you have left.

That doesn't just apply to Pieter. It applies to all of us.

So, no, he's not going to get better. He's going to die, fairly soon. But
he'll use some of the better parts of tech to do parts of what he'd hoped to
do. And I wish him every comfort while that happens, and appreciate his
insights.

The Shanzai concept was new to me, but resonates deeply with ideas I've had
myself, and is something I've wondered "well, why can't that happen?"

It turns out it is happening.

~~~
breakingcups
If you want to read some more about Shanzai, Bunnie's blog is excellent. You
can start here:
[http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=284](http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=284)

[http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=147](http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=147)
is also interesting.

~~~
dredmorbius
Thanks. Queued up.

------
ddorian43
So you do chemo to prolong or for a chance to fix or both ?

Have you tried marijuana to easen the pain?

~~~
ZenoArrow
I didn't downvote your comment, but if you want to understand why it's
happening, might be helpful to read this:

[http://hintjens.com/blog:115](http://hintjens.com/blog:115)

~~~
ddorian43
I asked because I was curious: "I've told mine they can try whatever
experimental chemotherapy they wish to." from his post.

~~~
ZenoArrow
Interesting, because he also said this about conversations people have with
dying people...

""There's this alternative cure people are talking about," Which gets the ban
hammer from me, and happily I only got a few of those. Even if there was a
miracle cure, the cost and stress (to others) of seeking it is such a selfish
and disproportionate act. With, as we know, lottery-style chances of success.
We live, we die."

Perhaps this reaction is somewhat dependant on the circumstances surrounding
it (general mood, how it's suggested, etc...).

~~~
yoodenvranx
I think he means "alternative" in the sense of "healing crystals doused in
snake oil" and not "experimental chemotherapy"

~~~
unchocked
Yes, and I think his motivation for enduring the experimental chemo is to
produce data for science, rather than any hope of personal benefit.

Enlightened dude, staring right back into the eye of death without seeming to
flinch.

