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0 pointsgraycat7y ago0 comments

Thinking a little more, if the time-stamp changes did bubble up, then just start making changes at the leaves of the tree; at each leaf, work back to the root on the unique path to the root; and at each directory make a change in the time-stamp of that directory if and only if the new time-date stamp would be more recent than the old one; and, if don't make a change at that directory, then are DONE on that path. Revision, to make this work, first set all the directory time-date stamps to, say, year 1776. This solves the problem that the directories closer to the root may be on the path of several leaves and get changed several times. To identify the leaves, that is, directories with no subdirectories, get the directory tree names and just sort them into ascending order. Then a leaf directory and all the directories on the path from that leaf back to the root will sort together with the leaf directory the last one of those that sort together. That is, a directory is a leaf if and only if it is not on the path to the root (not an initial substring, using whole directory names) of the next directory in the sort. In particular, the last directory in the sort is necessarily a leaf. Ah, an algorithm!

I don't want now to further characterize or change the wording on what the startup is doing. My best word is the one I used, "meaning".

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anonytrary7y ago· 2 in thread

How exactly will you know a user's "meaning" when they are asking for content? Do you intend to read their minds, somehow? Or perhaps you might hook them up to a heart rate monitor, track their eye movements and use ML to obtain user sentiment without requiring them to provide click-based feedback (like likes/dislikes).

graycatOP7y ago

That doing well with meaning is a bit amazing as it is.

Saying "exactly" how is a bit much for a blog post. Besides the key is some deep pure and applied math with no way to explain those. Even if I gave an explanation, say, from my math derivations typed into D. Knuth's TeX math word whacking, nearly no one in the Sand Hill Road culture has the math prerequisites to understand it. Only a small fraction of those could do the original work I did. Even if they did do that work, no one on Sand Hill Road would have any interest at all.

I wasted MONTHS jerking the chains of the firms on Sand Hill Road, and all I got were laughs or silence. I explained as here the opportunity for the other 2/3rds of search but no one cared. I never got even to first base with Ycombinator.

One lesson is that Sand Hill Road just will not, Not, NOT do technical due diligence on original technology.

Right: They want a big market. My work stands to be of high interest to nearly everyone in the world with any access to the Internet, smartphone to high end work station. My Web pages will look just fine on nearly any smartphone. Big enough market?

World class research university pure/applied math Ph.D.? No interest. Long background in much of the best in computing at IBM's Watson lab? No interest. Running code ready for production? No interest.

Another lesson is that Sand Hill Road will be interested when I have a few servers busy, revenue significant and growing rapidly. Then they will offer me a term sheet where I go from owning 100% to owning 0% with a vesting schedule with some chance of getting back to maiybe 40% ownership if I don't get fired except it is in the fiduciary interest and responsibility of the board member investor to FIRE me so that I don't get my stock vested.

The US DoD, NSF, NIH, NASA, DoE, etc. WILL do careful evaluations of technical material; Sand Hill Road just will NOT do that.

I also have to ask if I want to report to a BoD with people who have shown with their feet locked deep in reinforced concrete and their eyes and ears totally shut: They can't play a productive role in my work now, and I can't believe they would be able to play a productive role later as the technology improves.

One of the least pleasant ways to spend an hour is to listen to a math lecture when don't understand anything said. I can see clearly: I give a presentation to the BoD about a small, new direction or initiative for the business, based on some applied math, complete with theorems and proofs, one of the best sources of credibility, and several of the BoD members get physically ill and rush to the restrooms. Then the BoD leaves, convenes in a local bar, has a dozen rounds of drinks, and votes me out of the CEO slot.

Those Sand Hill Road people just don't belong on the bridge of my ship; they are NOT qualified; they are a severe threat to the ship.

From some Mary Meeker (KPCB firm) data and some of my software timings, if I can get traffic enough to half fill my first server, then I'll have ballpark $250,000 a month in revenue with essentially all of that pre-tax earnings. At that time, no way will I accept a term sheet; not a chance. Instead I'll expand into three spare bedrooms, put in some good window A/C, get more electric power, install UPS boxes, get a backup generator in a hut out back, and grow to a few $million a month. Then I'll lease or buy some space enough to grow significantly more, hire, and plan for a major organization and server farm. Ah, it's just 2/3rds of search for nearly everyone in the world.

And no way will Sand Hill Road fund anyone to compete with me.

I've funded all of this from my own checkbook and am 100% owner. Some external funding would have helped, but now it's too late for that and for Sand Hill Road and Ycombinator.

It's really a math project; given the math, the rest is nearly all just a lot of routine typing although I did cook up a few maybe new computer science style algorithms, programmed them, and am using them in the code.

When I have alpha and beta tests, you will be able to see more although it will look like magic.

I can't keep people from calling it AI/ML, but I call it applied math.

anonytrary7y ago

That's not an elevator pitch, you just used my question as an opportunity to fume about toxic Silicon Valley culture.

I can't deny, you gave me a few good laughs:

> Then they will offer me a term sheet where I go from owning 100% to owning 0% with a vesting schedule with some chance of getting back to maiybe 40% ownership if I don't get fired except it is in the fiduciary interest and responsibility of the board member investor to FIRE me so that I don't get my stock vested.

> I give a presentation to the BoD about a small, new direction or initiative for the business, based on some applied math, complete with theorems and proofs, one of the best sources of credibility, and several of the BoD members get physically ill and rush to the restrooms. Then the BoD leaves, convenes in a local bar, has a dozen rounds of drinks, and votes me out of the CEO slot.

> Those Sand Hill Road people just don't belong on the bridge of my ship; they are NOT qualified; they are a severe threat to the ship.

I honestly can't tell if you're trolling or not. Are you yanking my chain?

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