by mjgs on 2/14/21, 2:07 PM
I really liked this episode.
I think Brendan Eich has got to be one of my favourite people to hear anecdotes about early web history. He was around at some pivotal moments, was in with the business side of things but also super technical. He’s also just very good at talking, he never appears to talk himself into a corner, somehow always avoids getting into the weeds, there’s a lucidity to all his answers that’s somehow very impressive. I wonder how much preparation he puts into his interviews.
As for Lex, personally I really like his style. He operates at a different pace to many of the people he’s interviewing, but I find this often enables him to see interesting parallels and analysis. It’s not always perfect, and maybe there’s room for improvement, though it gives the whole show an authenticity that it might not otherwise have if it were too polished.
I feel like his style works very well with all the guests he has on. They all seem to get on very well, which has a massive positive effect on how the guest interacts. Sure he has some prepared questions, but he also goes off piste quite a bit, and when he gets back to the prepared questions, I generally find they are well researched and very relevant.
I’d also like to know how he gets so many great guests on the show.
by galfarragem on 2/14/21, 12:13 PM
I really like Lex Fridman podcast because his guests don't feel under threat. In the end they open up more than if he had asked loaded questions "a la journalist". Probably this is the main reason why so many illustrious guests accept his invitation.
by bsaul on 2/14/21, 9:11 PM
Funny how i only now discover the inventor of JavaScript is behind the brave browser. I’ve seen a few stories about brave on HN, but it always looked like a semi-scammy project. This adds a lot to the credibility of that projet...
by roenxi on 2/14/21, 11:48 AM
Just watching the start of the part on BAT tokens (2:20 - 2:22) - I have a prediction.
Brendan Eich is going to be attacked by Google somehow for something, maybe through lobbying in Congress around cryptocurrencies. These ideas are a credible threat to their advertising revenue.
by dano on 2/14/21, 9:37 PM
This is a great interview. The early history of exposure to the Internet at the beginning is exactly as I remember. Brendan is a brilliant man and good conversationalist. He's has the ability to make tough technology simpler, adoptable, and do the right thing for the consumer. I recall several positive encounters with Brendan over the past 35 years, including help over Usenet on an NFS issue while he was at SGI. His impact has been tremendous.
by mongol on 2/14/21, 5:53 PM
I enjoyed this. The only thing I was missing was to hear Eich's view of his departure from Mozilla. It's absence from the podcast made me wonder if leaving questions about that out was a condition or request from Eich.
by jonoon4484 on 2/15/21, 1:01 AM
I wish they could have gotten into the Brave/BAT stuff sooner. Also, you don't have to be an apologist for JS. You created something, while not perfect, is awesome. Onward and Upward!
by TOMDM on 2/14/21, 12:54 PM
I've found myself enjoying these less since Lex rebranded the podcast. I can't quite put my finger on why and I haven't watched the previous few.
Is it worth jumping back in for another try?
by Kurtose on 2/15/21, 1:10 AM
Three hours well spent. Never a dull moment in the browser business. From downward—funargs and twinkies to browser wars and bitcoin.
by staticelf on 2/14/21, 11:20 PM
I really like Brendan, I think it's sad that he was let go from Mozilla and I switched to Brave as soon as that was possible.
by lordgrenville on 2/14/21, 12:17 PM
Great interview, what a brilliant guy.
As an aside, I wish there was a simple/standard way to link to podcast episodes.
by typon on 2/14/21, 3:11 PM
Is worse really better though? Imagine C was designed the MIT way. Sure it would have taken a few more years, but maybe we could have avoided the billions of damages in security bugs and productivity loss. I think worse is better if you want to win the Silicon Valley race, but not if you want to design something useful for society.
by gigatexal on 2/14/21, 12:07 PM
I really, really enjoyed this interview. Such an illuminating history of JavaScript and such.
by mind_half_full on 2/15/21, 6:25 PM
+1
by superbcarrot on 2/14/21, 12:35 PM
I would love to know what Lex is doing to get the guests that he's had on. It's an impressive list of people and he certainly isn't attracting them with his charisma or interviewing skills.
by blackrock on 2/14/21, 3:31 PM
He said he had originally wanted to implement Scheme as the scripting language. But was over-ruled by his managers, and forced to make it look like Java.
I wonder how things would’ve turned out differently, had he implemented Scheme instead. Lisp in the browser.
by blackrock on 2/14/21, 12:21 PM
This was a pretty good interview. Really wish he didn’t create the === implicit equivalence function. And made JavaScript stricter from the beginning.
by irockzz on 2/14/21, 11:23 AM
Netflix isn't working with brave browser? Anyone else?