Garion Hall operates AbbyWinters, a popular adult entertainment website.

Topics of the discussion include:

the high price of moving a pornography site to AWS

how to manage engineers when you don't know much about engineering

the difficulties of scaling search

the myths of porn viruses

why to start your own payment processor

Our conversation was originally recorded for Software Engineering Daily but I am a coward and afraid of losing listeners/advertisers on that channel.

Vint Cerf is Chief Internet Evangelist at Google. He contributes to global policy development and continued spread of the Internet.

Questions:

What will the world look like in 5 years?

What are the biggest problems associated with rapid spread and development of the Internet?

Does blockchain technology present any solutions to these problems

Why are cats so interested in blockchain?

Are you worried about artificial intelligence like Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk?

What is the "digital dark age"?

Marcus Geduld is employed as a programmer, and directs Shakespearean plays as a hobby. He has spent time over the years on various forums, and is a moderator on Quora. I used the interview as an opportunity to get insight into the moderation process and to find out how personal philosophy plays into his decisions. Marcus also talked about Asperger’s Syndrome, and how it affects his personality.

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Sam Sinai is a theoretical biologist who spends much of his time developing computational models. His early inspiration came from the Richard Dawkins book The Selfish Gene. The ideas Dawkins presents are compelling, but do not come with proofs, or convincing sets of numbers. Selfish Gene is largely a thought experiment that laid out a framework for evolution, and Sam's research elaborates on that framework with mathematical and computational evidence.

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Dom Kane is a sound engineer, DJ, and producer based in the UK. I asked him to tell me what it's like to play those different roles, and how they compare to one another. We talked about the current state of popular music,  the role of a vocalist, and how fast things are moving thanks to MySpace and SoundCloud. Dom also answered some technical questions I had about music production.

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Ellen Vrana personifies what makes Quora such a valuable source of information. To convey her beliefs, she reveals details about her life that some would consider intimate. In several posts she explores her history of depression, and her highest-rated post discusses what it is like to live as an introvert. I was happy to hear that a recent change in location and lifestyle has allowed her to shift her focus towards becoming a writer.

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I’m regularly impressed by the depth and rigor that Brian applies to his Quora answers. He takes pains to provide enough detail to be thorough, but to also keep things approachable--it came as no surprise to me that he expressed some thoughts to me about one day becoming a teacher. In our interview, I wanted to get a sense of how Brian sees the landscape of modern science, and his place within it.

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Ron Maimon is one of the most divisive characters Quora has seen. Many of his posts contain helpful explanations of topics within Physics, Biology, and Math. When he responds to a question, Ron’s answer is usually propelled to the top. But his harsh demeanor frustrates some users, and others find his science unconvincing. Ron was recently blocked by moderators and is departing from the site. Prior to the event that got him banned, Ron and I were already planning to have a conversation. While I am happy that I got to hear his side of the story, I was equally interested in his motivations as a human being, and why he comes off as so abrasive in his online interactions.

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Brian Roemmele is a prolific Quora user. Many of his 700 answers focus on electronic payment systems and algorithmic currencies.  I wanted Brian to explain to me how he got into this niche field, and how he has accrued the experience that allows him to speak so convincingly and authoritatively about such a fast moving field. For me, the most illuminating part of the interview came near the end, when Brian explained to me the true significance of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

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Leonard Kim has earned a large following over the past seven months. Since finding Quora, he has posted hundreds of answers, covering topics such as business, relationships, and general life advice. He is as candid as any Quora writer I have encountered, and much of his content centers around the painful challenges he has overcome in the past several years. He took the time to speak to me about where he is at in life, how he got here, and where he is going.

Leonard can be contact at hello at leonardkim dot com, or through his website, leonardkim.com.

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