@betaveros

Brian Chen

Has anyone ever said something to you that set you on a path to prove them wrong?

Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice keeps doing this to my lawyer face and I am super vulnerable to this kind of emotional manipulation.
I think one of my high school counselors might have said something too, but that's long ago.

Latest answers from Brian Chen

Do u work better under stress ?

Definitely not. Especially acute time pressure (on the order of minutes).

Last time you cried? And why?

I definitely teared up during the Dual Destinies ending. No spoilers but the flashbacks were heart-rending and the whole thing after the second interruption brought me back to Liar Game's best Aesop moment.

What is the best year for you?

I think I'm reaching new heights with most of the recent ones, so I would say this one. But years are a really artificial method of division.

What's more important for you eating&sleeping or traveling ? (same question different answer) ?

Hands-down sleep.

What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?

Take risks.
Externalize memory.
Nearly every decision in the real world has tradeoffs.
Most people are nice, but may do dumb and regrettable things in the heat of the moment; it helps to remind yourself to think about what you *really* want.
But a few people are actually malicious, possibly in subtle ways.
Many rules are made by humans and can be bent by humans. It's extremely difficult to write rules with no false negatives or false positives, and humans can understand the intent and make exceptions. If in doubt, ask (politely). Relatedly, excessive rules-lawyering is one tool to be subtly malicious.

Which type of people you really love to talk with?

People who have a sense of humor and an above-average ability to keep conversations going (to cover me, who doesn't), but who don't shy away from difficult or serious topics and have interesting thoughts about them.

What's the best news you've ever received?

Getting one of my puzzles into the 2015 MIT Mystery Hunt wrap-up slides' honorable mentions as puzzles to look at. was pretty cool. I'm pretty sure there is at least one definition of "best" for which this is actually best, even if it's not a majority.

What is something you do every single day?

I don't have a regular daily routine and don't think I have any nontrivial answers above the bottom layer of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
Nontrivial answers that could come close: eat fruit, open Firefox, check my boring digital watch after waking up.

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