[JPKab]

He seems like a good kid, and very smart. Homeless as a teen, white mom kicked out as a teen due to dating a black man, clearly unstable upbringing which is brutal for any kid.

Taught himself how to code at the library.

He was a recipient of the Thiel Fellowship. You get $100,000 for 2 years of living expenses and you get to work on whatever.

Unfortunately he doesn't seem to blog about that and instead focuses on the time a cop forced his head into a steering wheel because he reached in his pocket.

The human mind gravitates towards the negative, probably due to evolutionary pressures.

The US is such a racist place that a white dude who is a well-known Republican gave him $100,000 to do whatever for 2 years but he ignores that and focuses on the negative experiences in his life with the minority of whites who are bigots, ignoring the kindness he clearly must have come across.

I can relate because I had a similar background to him in the sense where I had a very poor and also drug addicted mother who was in and out of homeless shelters. Eventually when my father was able to locate me I got to have a somewhat normal life compared to that, although we were technically below poverty line income wise.

I don't think he ever got that lucky and I can't imagine what he's been through. He seems to have done great things already. I wish him well, and hope he learns to recognize how fortunate he has been in other ways. If being given 100 grand to do whatever for 2 years isn't privilege, then I don't know what is.

Edit:

Importantly, I forgot to add that he CLEARLY capitalized on that fellowship. He's created a pretty badass startup that leverage video/data streaming to allow playing of console/pc games on iOS/Android/etc. Personally of note for me, his startup created a grpc-like serialization format (bebop) that I looked at months ago for a project I was working on. The lesson/reminder for me is that behind every post on the internet is a human being who I probably have a ton in common with. Plus, anyone who buys an old Camaro and fixes it up themselves is automatically relegated to a higher status in my embarrassingly country boy worldview, lol.

[SantalBlush]

Insinuating that he's being racist for writing more about a negative experience is really grasping at straws.

Really, this whole write-up about him is a thinly veiled backhanded compliment. Extremely petty and childish.

[JPKab]

Just because you're passive aggressive doesn't mean I am. I meant what I said and there was no insinuation at all. I don't compliment people's software lightly. I would advise you to take your negative filter off.

[SantalBlush]

>Just because you're passive aggressive doesn't mean I am.

No, it's what you wrote that means you're passive aggressive.

>Unfortunately he doesn't seem to blog about that and instead focuses on the time a cop forced his head into a steering wheel because he reached in his pocket.

>The human mind gravitates towards the negative, probably due to evolutionary pressures.

>The US is such a racist place that a white dude who is a well-known Republican gave him $100,000 to do whatever for 2 years but he ignores that and focuses on the negative experiences in his life

>I wish him well, and hope he learns to recognize how fortunate he has been in other ways. If being given 100 grand to do whatever for 2 years isn't privilege, then I don't know what is.

This is the most condescending thing I've read in a while, and clearly a backhanded compliment.

[JPKab]

I assure you, it wasn't intentional.

I read Mr. Sampson's blog, and I literally got tears in my eyes. I regretted engaging with him in the way I did, but HN doesn't let me delete posts. It was also too late to edit them.

He and I had something in common, and it's just extremely rare to encounter fellow coders who spent some part of their childhood in "the system" (shelters, foster care, etc) like I did. I've also seen hardcore racists who disown their children for dating a person of color. I even tried to dissuade a man (he was a boss on a construction site i worked at) one time from doing this to his daughter. The hatred in his heart was so deep that it was like talking to a wall.

I saw a commenter continuing to engage, and I wanted to express my emotions I felt after reading his blog. I understand the anger too. I remembered, especially in my mid to late 20s, having the suppressed memories/emotions come back and fuck up my head, and often consume me. It was an attempt to relate and process, and yes, a reminder that these negative memories cause us to forget about being grateful for the good things and good people we encounter on a daily basis. The dehumanization of people who disagree with us, is bad, and I'm not pretending I'm not part of the problem, including some asshole things I said in this thread, which I regret.

Based on your outright hostility and strong political beliefs (you clearly have politics incorporated into your identity), I doubt you'll believe my explanation, but I'm writing this in the off-chance that Mr. Sampson sees this. He's embarked on a difficult path with his startup, and I sincerely wish him well. That's it.

[SantalBlush]

This is better written and less condescending than your original write-up, except for your last childish insult here which you just couldn't resist making. Whatever, I'll take it. Cheers.