Hey Hackers! I’m Charlie Gedeon and I’m the co-founder of Pragmatics Studio in Montreal.
First of all, I’d like to say a huge thank you to the HackerNoon community for recognizing me as the winner of “2021 HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - ALGORITHMS”
If you have made a video acceptance speech on YouTube (whether a tasteful comedic one or a serious one), please post the link here:
I can’t say that I have anything recorded specifically for this, but I’d be remiss not to share a video of my celebratory dance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQKjAsguhA0
HackerNoon Reporter: What does it mean for you to win this title?
Honestly I’m pretty surprised that this happened! I often repost articles about technology in several places, and HackerNoon is a great place for more technical stories. This is surprising because I didn’t nominate myself nor did any of my friends know about this, so to all the strangers who voted for me: thank you! I’d love to talk to you, so please reach out on LinkedIn and send me a message.
How do you intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2022?
Recently my writing slowed down as I focused on other projects. I’ve been telling myself to get back into writing again, so the email in my inbox today with this award is an awesome motivational boost!
What are some of the goals you’re looking forward to accomplishing in 2022 (whether it be through company initiatives or your personal journey)?
A good friend and I have been talking about how we’ve been feeling disconnected from our work as designers. For a couple of years now we thought about starting a design studio after working together on several projects, and so we finally made the jump a couple of weeks ago. In fact, we just bought the domain and made a landing page, and we’re very excited to start working.
As you look at the variety of concerning trends in the world around you, what solutions can you think of? Name three trends and three solutions. Be as brief or as detailed as you like.
Three areas I’d like to have more impact with are:
- Helping people who want to tackle anything related to the environment, particularly if they’re working with food, reforestation or water.
- Educating people about technology so that they can design and build better futures for us.
- Getting more involved with biotech and medicine so that people can live healthier lives.
If I could add a fourth it would the growing disconnection between people, and help reduce loneliness. This is one that I feel most helpless about but it hurts me to hear about how only 1 in 2 people in North America can say they have a close friend and the rising teen suicide rates.
After participating in this journey, is there anything that you would like the HackerNoon team to know?
I love what the team at HackerNoon has done with the publication since its humble beginnings on Medium. I would say that I’d love to see more diversity of thought, especially being wary of the overt technosolutionism we see coming from certain communities. As a publication about technology, we need to hear both the good and the bad of tech.
What is something special about you or your company that you’ve rarely had the chance to properly share but really wanted to? (Give this one a proper think, I’ll know if you didn’t!)
Whenever I think about a little known moment in my life, I think back to the time I got to stare a Galapagos tortoise in the face while I was in the Galapagos. That was all thanks to a competition that my friends and I won back in 2014. I typically don’t take many pictures of special moments because I like to be present so I can’t share the wonderful creature’s face, but there’s nothing like the deep hollow breathing of a being that’s over two centuries old.
What song or music album are you currently enjoying?
Most of the time I’m discovering new music on Spotify’s incredible Discover Weekly playlist, or Shazaming things at my favorite little cafe down the street from my house. Today I Shazamed a track by Tommy Guerrero which is perfect for work. Otherwise, a classic playlist I go to when I need a pick me up is my “Like Totally Girly” playlist. It’s favorite of mine and many of my friends!
What are some concepts you wish people knew more about?
Often I go back to wishing people were better at understanding bad arguments. It’s troubling to watch people make circular arguments and appeal to the bandwagon without even realizing it. The best resource on this topic has to be An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments by Ali Almossawi. Discourse will die if people don’t educate themselves better on how to identify flawed logic—and we’re seeing this happen every passing day in our society.
Is there anything else you’d like me to know? It can be anything.
The only thing on my mind right now is how cool it is to get an award for something you didn’t even know you were running in! I really appreciate the community’s support. I’d also like to thank the team at HackerNoon for continuing to grow the site and explore ideas like web monetization, using NFTs for the awards, and generally pushing the idea of independent publishing in new directions.
Thank you for everything that you do! – HackerNoon Team.
P.S. If you enjoy getting interviewed (AKA, the ol’ intellectual stimulation, check out some more interviews
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