Best of 2017

The blog posts Hacker News loved most in 2017. 280 posts.

Life, Learning & Writing
163

Worldbuilding

There is a grand tradition of scientifically minded science fiction authors creating not just the characters in their novels but also the brass tacks scientific details of the planets they reside on. This is the art and science of Worldbuilding .

175

Geek Career Paths

Suppose you’re doing technology, and like doing technology, and your career’s going well, and you find yourself wondering what you’re going to be doing in twenty years. I’ve been down several of the roads you might decide to take, and it occurs to me that talking them over might amuse and inform.

180

Why I left Academia: Part I

Two months before defending my dissertation, I found out that a professor had published my own work ahead of me. My story caught the attention of academics all over the world, going viral in 2017. This post is about why I left academia, and what I discovered when Post-PhD the blog went viral: that I