Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Uncanny Valley

nplusonemag.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 77 posts

Re: Uncanny Valley

#31

Post by Disruptive_Dave »

seekingcharlie wrote: post #25

Is it because we were the nerds in high school? Is it because we were the kids who had to explain differential equations to our classmates more than once? Is that why we now feel this incessant need to fabricate startups/tech as being "cool"? Is that why we write grandiose tales of how "difficult" life is, moving from CRUD app to CRUD app? Sorry, author. I feel your pain, believe me I do. To me, this article honestly…

>this article honestly came across as someone who had read too much Bret Easton Ellis recently...

I very much enjoyed this article, but I had that BEE thought as well! My theory is that a lot of us human beings manufacture strife and struggle, because that is the Hero's Journey that everyone wants to be able to tell to their grandchildren. In the absence of "real" conflict (war, poverty, abuse), we shine the dark light on things like this. "I have a well paying job with great benefits and live in an awesome city...but I'm sad because, like, what does this all mean, man?" I'm not discounting the deep sadness that existential crises can saddle your daily life with, but I've seen this trend time and time again. Just pay attention to modern rap music, like Kanye. Listen to his lyrics. That dude has minimal "real world" problems in his life right now, from what I can tell, yet his music is one of "me against the world." That's because he knows what a story arc is supposed to be like, so he'll play that out for us, regardless of its actual truth.

/random rant

Re: Uncanny Valley

#32

Post by mbrock »

Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #31
seekingcharlie wrote: post #25

Is it because we were the nerds in high school? Is it because we were the kids who had to explain differential equations to our classmates more than once? Is that why we now feel this incessant need to fabricate startups/tech as being "cool"? Is that why we write grandiose tales of how "difficult" life is, moving from CRUD app to CRUD app? Sorry, author. I feel your pain, believe me I do. To me, this article honestly…

>this article honestly came across as someone who had read too much Bret Easton Ellis recently... I very much enjoyed this article, but I had that BEE thought as well! My theory is that a lot of us human beings manufacture strife and struggle, because that is the Hero's Journey that everyone wants to be able to tell to their grandchildren. In the absence of "real" conflict (war, poverty, abuse), we shine the dark lig…

Joseph Campbell's idea of the hero's journey was, I think, partly inspired by the myth of the Buddha, whose problem was (excuse me) the same as Kanye's: he had everything, yet he was unhappy.

Re: Uncanny Valley

#34

Post by clydethefrog »

seekingcharlie wrote: post #25

Is it because we were the nerds in high school? Is it because we were the kids who had to explain differential equations to our classmates more than once? Is that why we now feel this incessant need to fabricate startups/tech as being "cool"? Is that why we write grandiose tales of how "difficult" life is, moving from CRUD app to CRUD app? Sorry, author. I feel your pain, believe me I do. To me, this article honestly…

For an outsider, the current culture in Silicon Valley described in the piece reminds me of Wall Street in the 80s. I see a lot of parrelels with American Psycho.

Re: Uncanny Valley

#35

Post by dingdingdang »

dcposch wrote: post #24

Great writing. It definitely hits on some truth and calls out hypocrisies and absurdities that deserve to be called out. Overall, though, I think this is unnecessarily negative. I think you've got to keep some perspective. There are about eight billion people in the world. 7.9 billion of them would probably give almost anything to enjoy the lifestyle she so eloquently disparages. > I lean in and go to a panel on big…

> Her writing reminds me of Glenn Greenwald and Noam Chomsky -- two other writers that I respect, but who share a bad habit of hating on anything connected to money, ambition, or technologically driven human progress.

Yup, similar problem with "Debt" by David Graeber, it's eloquent and well argued up until the point where he gradually slips into blaming just about all thinkable ills on money and harkens back to a more 'fair' past where people from different tribes simply killed and raped each other instead of selling one another off as slaves [sic].

Re: Uncanny Valley

#37

Post by moron4hire »

bpchaps wrote: post #11

Love it. Every time I try to talk about these things with those who participate in these sorts of mentalities, I'm shrugged off as cynical, or non-appreciative of a perception of positive progress. It's very difficult as someone who's naturally not "in it", to explain why it's so difficult and soul crushing.

Oh, yeah. Clearly you just don't "get it". Clearly you're just don't "want it enough". I say, if you're so smart, articulate what "it" actually is, clearly, without resorting to hand-waiving, or else I will default back to assuming there is no actual "it" there.

Re: Uncanny Valley

#38

Post by jtfairbank »

“Oakland,” one of them says. “That’s where we want to invest.”

“Too dangerous,” says another. “My wife would never go for it.”

“Of course not,” says the first, “but you don’t buy to live there.”

I live in Oakland. So glad these people aren't coming here.

Re: Uncanny Valley

#39

Post by icedchai »

dasil003 wrote: post #20
hkmurakami wrote: post #19

It's interesting to me that my friends and I who grew up in SV and lived through the .com boom as adolescents and had parents who worked during the .com and PC/networking/semiconductor booms are largely skeptical and at times even dismissive of the latest incarnation of SV culture. Perhaps it's hubris ("the old version --my version-- was better"), perhaps it's cynicism (seeing family/friends be burned in the last boo…

I graduated from high school in 1996 and was way into web development from the very first days. I didn't end up coming out for the dotcom days, but I definitely have fond memories of those times. There was a sense of camaraderie of early PC and internet users where the motivations seemed to me to be slightly more noble. Not that the VCs or tech giants of the time weren't greedy—of course they were—but there wasn't th…

I hear you. I remember the days of the internet, before the mass invasion... gopher, usenet, free domain names, telnet BBSes and MUDs, etc.

The old days were better.

Re: Uncanny Valley

#40

Post by eludwig »

dcposch wrote: post #24

Great writing. It definitely hits on some truth and calls out hypocrisies and absurdities that deserve to be called out. Overall, though, I think this is unnecessarily negative. I think you've got to keep some perspective. There are about eight billion people in the world. 7.9 billion of them would probably give almost anything to enjoy the lifestyle she so eloquently disparages. > I lean in and go to a panel on big…

>>So you viscerally dislike VCs, but you're cool with VC-funded startup perks. >>Everything is terrible.

Hey man, life is complicated. People are complicated. Winning is losing. Peace is war. Love is hate.

The author does an absolutely riveting job of evoking all of the mixed-feelings that make up our day-to-day lives. Kudos to her for doing it in such a lovely piece: personal and vulnerable and at the same time so clinical and cynical. Beautifully written.

Post reply on HN