A
Aaron Swartz
aaronsw.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2007
Aaron Swartz's personal site, with essays on productivity, politics, media, programming, and hiring.
What HN saysCommenters share his posts as favorites, such as his anti-news piece and one on power, and note his site is still online.
567HN people shared it
386linked it in comments
322stories submitted
11Kstory points
2 months agolast shared
2007people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1I Hate the News (2006)82 people · 564 points · first shared 2008 · 187 comments on HN
- 2Rewriting Reddit (2005)32 people · 508 points · first shared 2008 · 114 comments on HN
- 3HOWTO: Be more productive (2005)24 people · 745 points · first shared 2007 · 58 comments on HN
- 4Raw Nerve by Aaron Swartz21 people · 251 points · first shared 2012 · 14 comments on HN
- 5Who Writes Wikipedia?20 people · 263 points · first shared 2009 · 68 comments on HN
- 6Believe you can change17 people · 300 points · first shared 2012 · 68 comments on HN
- 7Aaron Swartz: How I Hire Programmers14 people · 426 points · first shared 2009 · 97 comments on HN
- 8Fix the machine, not the person14 people · 19 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 9Look at yourself objectively13 people · 297 points · first shared 2012 · 77 comments on HN
- 10Squaring the Triangle: Secure, Decentralized, Human-Readable Names12 people · 25 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 11How to Promote Startups12 people · 6 points · first shared 2008 · 1 comments on HN
- 12Aaron Swartz's Thoughts on djb (2009)11 people · 393 points · first shared 2009 · 137 comments on HN
- 13Aaron Swartz: The Book That Changed My Life11 people · 283 points · first shared 2011 · 173 comments on HN
- 14Aaron Swartz's site has gone offline11 people · 23 points · first shared 2011 · 2 comments on HN
- 15Aaron Swartz: What Happens in The Dark Knight10 people · 262 points · first shared 2013 · 13 comments on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
hypertexthero · 2018-03-06
I don't know.
But see also Lartigue, who made some of the most wonderful photographs I have ever seen before he was 10 years old — https://www.lartigue.org/en/jacques-henri-lartigue/biography/ — and Aaron Swartz — http://www.aaronsw.com/
I think when a person finds what they love to do at an early age, through supportive rather than forceful education, they bloom.
Recommended reading: Think on These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti
imjonse · 2026-08-20
Aaron Swartz's most famous book recommendation, in a now 20 years old blogpost (
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/epiphany ), Chomsky's Understanding Power, contains many examples of such cases of those in power, big corporations and the government getting away with crimes. I should probably reread it, even though it can be depressing - but not quite as depressing as Manufacturing Consent.
RIP Aaron.
karakot · 2025-09-07
trying to follow http://aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews
it helps
miguelreng · 2025-08-20
I built this during my lunch break after reading PG's essays and wanting to ask follow up questions. I used the RSS feed that Aaron Swartz created for Paul Graham's essays (http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/feeds/pgessays.rss) – seemed fitting to honor both their contributions to open knowledge.
conception · 2025-08-04
In case you didn’t know, his website is still available online. This is my favorite article that I’ve come across on it - http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/handwritingwall
simonebrunozzi · 2025-03-09
Worth mentioning: "I hate the news", a 2006 essay by Aaron Schwarz.
[0]: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews
hubraumhugo · 2025-01-12
The /archive page is a great overview of all his posts: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/archive
freefaler · 2024-11-21
He was a great person & a real hero!
His series "Raw Nerve" is very good:
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/rawnerve
GauntletWizard · 2024-08-30
The author mentions Jason Shiga's Meanwhile as one of the only other books using this flowchart+tabs "gameplay" system. Meanwhile is one of the best experiences I've ever had reading a book, including it's hidden/unreachable pages, it's circular and looping options, fourth wall breaking, etc. I highly recommend it - I also recommend all of Shiga's other works, such as Demon[1] and Fleep[2]. It seems he's also got another book in this style[3], which I'd missed the news of and have immediately ordered.
[1] http://www.shigabooks.com/ [2] http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/fleep/ [3] https://www.amazon.com/Adventuregame-Comics-Leviathan-Jason-Shiga/dp/1…
vaylian · 2024-05-18
Something I've been wondering about for some time:
Aaron Swartz's website is still online more than 10 years after his suicide: http://www.aaronsw.com/
Someone has to keep paying the bills and renewing the domain. Still no HTTPS though. Does anyone know how this is handled?
rglover · 2024-03-15
Obligatory "I miss Aaron" comment [1].
[1] http://www.aaronsw.com/
cubefox · 2024-01-11
Note that his blog is still online. It's an interesting read. E.g. when he talks about depression (he had depression himself):
> As George Scialabba put it, “acute depression does not feel like falling ill, it feels like being tortured … the pain is not localized; it runs along every nerve, an unconsuming fire. … Even though one knows better, one cannot believe that it will ever end, or that anyone else has ever felt anything like it.”
> The economist Richard Layard, after advocating that the goal of public policy should be to maximize happiness, set out to learn what the greatest impediment to happiness was today. His conclusion: depression. Depression causes nearly half of all disability, it affects one in six, and explains more current unhappiness than poverty.
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/verysick
jamesrom · 2024-01-07
The best way to share a dollar with everyone is to burn it.
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/tdk
kragen · 2022-12-12
also in the 02004-8 timeframe the danger hiptop was the hot smartphone
As aaronsw explained in December 02008 in http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/forgottensidekick
> It’s been a frustrating year for us Sidekick users. It seems like every television show, periodical, and man in the street is raving about the amazing world-changing capabilities of the iPhone (and, to a lesser extent, the Google Phone). How having a device that can conveniently surf the Web, answer email, run third-party applications and fit in your pocket is as big a technological breakthrough as hovercars.
> Which is infuriating to those of us who have been using a superior device for the past five years.
throwaway81523 · 2022-08-02
Well intended article that is a long winded recommendation to turn off your phone notifications and stop reading news. It could be a lot shorter. Aaronsw had similar thoughts about the news, back in 2006: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews
It is advice worth following, I think, though not so easy a lot of the time. My main trick for online distraction avoidance is to use separate computers for goofing off and for getting work done. Needless to say, reading HN or posting on it = goofing off.
buzzert · 2022-06-02
Some great reading material on this:
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews
wintermutestwin · 2022-05-23
Page zoom is mandatory for me as it seems that most web devs love to use tiny text. Here is a blatant example: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/
Are you fricking kidding me with that? Sure 30 year old me could have read that as is, but why would I want to?
honkdaddy · 2021-12-30
Refreshingly well-researched and honest piece from the New Yorker.
My favourite writing by Aaron is his explanation of what happens in the "ending" of Infinite Jest. [1] I'm of the opinion DFW deliberately left it somewhat open to interpretation, and that his famous quote "If no such convergence or projection occurred to you, then the book’s failed for you" was a tad tongue in cheek. That said, Aaron's explanation is certainly the most plausible, and I'd kill to know what DFW would have thought of it.
[1] http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/ijend
tunesmith · 2021-12-12
It might be worth reviewing this essay from aaronsw: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/theoryofchange
Mainly because calls to action are often about whipping up passion about an issue, without often doing the work to identify the actions that would actually be productive.
ArtTimeInvestor · 2021-11-08
I guess this is his website?
http://www.aaronsw.com/
Interesting, that he introduced himself in the third person.
I wonder what made him take this approach?
diegs · 2021-10-06
Aaron Swartz wrote a great book review of Moral Mazes[1] which touches on this.
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/bizethics
mrfusion · 2021-08-19
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dweck
Aaron Schwartz reviews growth mindset. It really changed how
I approach things and I’ve attempted so many things I would have previously not tried because of reading that.
I know it’s silly to recommend a blog post about a book but it’s so well summarized that it’s better than the book IMO. The book seems to dilute the power of the message with a whole bunch of words and details.
latexr · 2021-07-28
> People need to read news. It isn't optional for most people.
They don’t, and it is. For the vast majority, reading the news is at best a waste of time[1] and at worst harmful[2].
[1]: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews
[2]: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-rolf-dobelli
sleavey · 2021-06-05
If you enjoy Swartz's writing you might also enjoy his other blog posts. My favourite is a game theory analysis of The Dark Knight [1] (which incidentally turned out to be his last).
[1] http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/tdk
JCharante · 2021-05-27
My favorite is Aaron Swart'z weblog. Unfortunately it is no longer active but the webserver is still running thanks to friends of his http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/archive
dilap · 2021-01-11
Among all the many other things he did, he had a fantastic analysis of the end of Infinite Jest:
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/ijend
Such a sad loss.
jamestimmins · 2020-11-11
Aaron Swartz's blog post 'I hate the news' is a classic of this genre
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews
boraoztunc · 2020-10-04
Even just repeating his name gives me goosebumps, makes me sad, angry, feeling all together. I don't know, the system I hate so much, because of the ones that've always betrayed people like Aaron.
Such great documentary if you haven't watched already and know about this amazing human being.
His website (http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/) is still online if you also want to read what he was thinking and making, before they cornered him, forced him, feared him, took his hope and killed him. I'm so sorry man, rest in peace.
Edit: I sometimes remember him with Tim Berners-Lee's poem:
Aaron is dead.
Wanderers in this crazy world,
we have lost a mentor, a wise elder.
Hackers for right, we are one down,
we have lost one of our own.
Nurtures, careers, listeners, feeders,
parents all,
we have lost a child.
Let us all weep.
teddyh · 2020-08-05
I prefer Aaron Swartz’s take:
“[…] they think these are aberrations; that underneath all this, the news is worth saving. I simply go one step further: I think none of it is worthwhile.”
— http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews
charia · 2020-07-12
This short story from Aaron Swartz' blog changed my life.
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/handwritingwall
It played a significant role in shaping my understanding of humanity, charity and what impact as a single human being can have. It was a big factor in why I joined the Effective Altruism movement and donate 10+% of my income yearly. I highly recommend reading it.
It saddens me greatly that person who was so forward thinking and was only looking out for the future of humanity was taken away so young.