Mining a 12GB HackerNews Database for the Life Advice HN Users Value Most
vista8 · x · 2026-11-05
The author ran a single prompt — "find the most respected life lessons from a 12GB HackerNews database" — over HN's full comment archive. Notable results: don't wait until you're free to spend time with people who matter (from a Paul Graham essay); an ordinary, reliable life with companions is worthwhile in itself (from a mundane obituary); don't mistake prize-winning ability for life's goal ("The Lesson to Unlearn"); a key use of money is buying back time and options (Sam Altman's "Tips for a Better Life"); making others feel stupid rarely makes your correctness land; let early work be bad and catch up to taste by finishing things; when procrastinating, find the friction instead of blaming yourself; avoid "I'm just that kind of person" as premature self-closure.
Related event: One Prompt Mines 12GB Hacker News Data for 8 Most-Endorsed Life Lessons(2 posts)→
More from Fun
- Studio uses invideo's Agent 2 to create monday.com ELEVATE 2026 opening film — gen_ericai · 2026-11-06
- "Most important tech ever, worst marketing imaginable": labs failed AI messaging — vboykis · 2026-11-06
- One plain-English prompt turns your phone into a 200-particle physics simulator — tak3sh8 · 2026-11-06
- LanceDB CEO Chang She opens Reverie with a live AI-generated Doom-style demo — bigdata · 2026-11-06
- Meme map puts future AI data centers in Mexico with Spanish Easter eggs — nikitabier · 2026-11-06
- mark_k: decels lack curiosity and can barely be called human — mark_k · 2026-11-06