I've been referencing this a lot since I watched the interview last year.
During his keynote address at Stanford in 2024, Huang said, “I use the phrase pain and suffering inside our company with great glee, and the reason I mean that, you know, is this is going to cause a lot of pain and suffering, and I mean that in a happy way because you want to train, you want to refine the character of your company.”
“You want greatness out of them, and greatness is not intelligence, as you know. Greatness comes from character, and character isn’t formed out of smart people, it’s formed out of people who suffered. So that’s kind of, and so if I could wish upon you, I don’t know how to do it, but for all of you Stanford students, I wish upon you ample doses of pain and suffering” he added.
Edit: I encountered it on SN probs #469861
This is so far a great talk!
One thing that strikes me-- while what he has done is nothing less than herculean, I don't agree with his claim that, "accelerated computing will likely be the most important thing of the 21st century." I know he probably meant to say, "most important technology," but he trumped it up to "thing," and as an industry leader he is, I hold him accountable for that.
The most important thing will be the force that makes humans decide that it will be used in service of humans. No doubt it would be important if it were used to extract the "meaning" of all human behaviour, of gene sequences, of cells ... Of life itself probably (ha!) but then when it is used to force obedience on us plebs then who the fuck will care! I'm totally speculating and obviously I am speaking from more of the soul's perspective, which I'm sure Mr Huang thought about.
Anyway, I think he's right about the quote, and I've never heard anyone put it so memorably before.
I think that yes, pain and suffering helps those that can get over it and rise to the occasion. But you have to get the right amount of pain and suffering. Endless pain and suffering destroys people too. And when it becomes too much is very subjective. So in the end, everyone will need a break too sometimes.
A reasonable take...
... Who are you and what did you do with salty opti, ~lol
Being salty only makes sense if fundamentally, the potential for a good outcome exists. Wishing pain and suffering upon people feels a bit like messing with that foundation.
If everyone practices Sun Tzu, everyone will be at war.
Yes. Also, while I believe pain+suffering∼character, it can be cope for fucking up and making your life harder than it needs to be. You shouldn't be the origin of your pain and suffering.
Principles cause this intrinsically. I'd love to claim that this should be the exception, but it probably shouldn't. It's easier to not have 'em.
I think the idea with principles is that on net our pain and suffering causes less pain and suffering somewhere else.
re: #469861
I was able to find the original post that zero hedge syndicated and then paywalled: https://www.oneriveram.com/alternatives/wknd-notes/94