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  1. You must read the article before you can comment on it.
    • jbuchana3 years ago

      This makes me wonder exactly who I am, who we all are. If a disease like FTD can change someone so greatly, who are we to begin with? The phrase "existential threat" comes to mind.

      I read an article, probably last year, about a man with a brain tumor. He lived his life as a normal family man, nothing out of the ordinary. then his behavior started changing. among other things, he developed an obsession with child porn. At some point, he was diagnosed with an operable brain tumor. After surgery, his "self", which had radically changed, or disappeared, return to him. All was well for years, then he started getting into child porn and his behavior started changing again. They did an MRI or CT scan, the tumor was back. If FTD, or a tumor can change the fundamentals of who we are, and what we find acceptable, then what are we to begin with? How "real" are we even before neurological misfortune visits?

      • Karenz3 years ago

        This question really struck me when I read a book about how some mystical experiences are caused by seizures! I think the book was called, Seized. It was superb but disturbing!

    • Pegeen
      Top reader this weekReading streakScoutScribe
      3 years ago

      I was carried from word to word, my emotions so married to each sentence, tears rolling. Lee’s parents, his ex’s - what incredible pain and suffering. Unimaginable, yet I sit here in a state of imagining and it’s unbearable.

    • jeff3 years ago

      I read all the comments before reading the article but still wasn't prepared. What an incredibly tragic story and horrifying disease.

    • deephdave
      Top reader of all timeScoutScribe
      3 years ago

      Poignant!

      In Cloudflare's early years, Lee Holloway had been the resident genius, the guy who could focus for hours, code pouring from his fingertips while death metal blasted in his headphones. He was the master architect whose vision had guided what began as a literal sketch on a napkin into a tech giant with some 1,200 employees and 83,000 paying customers. He laid the groundwork for a system that now handles more than 10 percent of all internet requests and blocks billions of cyberthreats per day. Much of the architecture he dreamed up is still in place.

      1. Update (4/16/2020):
      • Karenz3 years ago

        That disease is right there with ALS. The worst psychopath couldn’t devise something that heartbreaking to happen to anyone let alone a programming genius. Both Lee’s wives were outstanding and his parents and family.

    • sjwoo3 years ago

      No doubt this is a dumb theory, but sometimes I think there are people who are so super smart that they kind of wear themselves out. Burning both ends of the candle, if you will.

      But that's neither here nor there. He's lived the only way he knows how. It's a shame his life has ended up this way, but he certainly contributed amazing things to the world.

    • vunderkind3 years ago

      This brought me on the brink of tears. Took me two days to read because I had to stop from time to time.

    • thorgalle
      Top reader this weekScoutScribe
      3 years ago

      Still, all the money in the world can't answer the question of who, really, is living in that house.

      Poignant indeed. A stark reminder of the ill fortune that can befall any well-fortuned person.

      1 in 5,000 is rare but not negligible. I like how the author told a story that is not just about Lee.