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Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

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Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#201

Post by mattnewton »

samastur wrote: post #67
Cpoll wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because in the United States, we should be working even while we are getting to work, because we don't work enough? No, because if you work-day was originally 8hrs of work + 2hrs of commute, it's now just 6hrs of work + 2hrs of work.

Because company that trusts its workers so much it requires their presence in the office is certainly going to believe them they worked in their cars, right?

Well, yeah, if they are actually working. Requiring people are in the office can be less about trust and more about the belief in the superiority of face to face interactions when solving problems. If you are commuting into the office for long enough to provide time for that, if you do your work on the bus or in your cube it shouldn't matter.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#203

Post by taysic »

goatlover wrote: post #92
ryandrake wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. I've got a 2 hour commute each way. There's no way a company would accept my rolling in at 10AM and leaving at 4PM just because I'm working from 8-10 and 4-6 in my self-driving car. More than likely, self-driving cars will mean workers are still expected to get their 8-to-6 on-premesis face time, and then use their self-driving time to catch some shut-eye.

I feel like getting to your job should be part of the job, especially when it becomes possible to do your job on the way.

But if jobs that could be remote are not accepted to be allowed to be remote by employers - why would those folks be ok with working during a commute? If anything, if sounds like an employee may not be at 100% focus. I don't even like reading in a car while it's moving.

I mean, I hope this becomes the case but I think employees will need to ask for it more.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#204

Post by dang »

whack wrote: post #103
matt_wulfeck wrote: post #33

I'm getting tired of all of the hot air coming from these tech oligarchs. They're so enriched by a tech boom and a decade of easy money that we worship at their feet. Their vision and goal for the future is simply more money for themselves at the expense of others. "Guys look! An hour long commute is actually a good thing because you can spend it with your kids!" Why is it so hard to spend time with our kids now?! I…

I only came to HN somewhat recently, around 2 years ago, but I've started to notice a very major change in the culture of this forum lately. There is so much vitriol and blanket insults being levied at anyone and everyone. The linked article is almost always a sideshow, and simply acts as a prelude for the battle in the comments section. A battle which has little to do with what the article itself says, and is simply…

It's not a lost cause. Most of these destructive effects are unintentional. Indeed they don't feel destructive at all, they feel like standing up for what's right. That is why people post and upvote them. And in fact they are standing up for what's right, but unfortunately doing it in an way that is destructive of the community and thus does more harm than good.

It's possible to recognize this pattern and choose to change it into one that has positive side effects instead of negative ones. Many HN users have done so. I had a long process to go through myself.

As for the culture of the forum having shifted recently, it's society at large that has become more vitriolic. This is not unique to HN, nor can we expect to be immune from macro trends. We need to assess this accurately to have good options for reacting. If a boat is lurching because of a stormy sea, the problem is not in the boat. Unless the sea smashes the boat altogether.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#205

Post by taysic »

weaksauce wrote: post #21
bredren wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This commute thing is a big deal. Changing the way it feels to commute and what you can do while in motion will reduce housing pressure in urban places and has the potential to lift up previously rural communities. His quotes are more like anecdotal illustrations to a bigger point.

It will likely be a race to the bottom where it's expected that you work during your commute as well pushing the urban sprawl further and further away from the main cities. This will be exacerbated by the fact that jobs are going to be more and more scarce with the impending automation of most things.

I have a really hard time believing that jobs will be scarce. There are always new things to build - always new things that people want. People will come up with new products no one ever knew they needed but want - and need to hire people to come up with building something that can't be automated out of the box.

I don't think there will be a problem for white collar workers or technical workers at all. Not sure about blue collar workers - I mean you always hear about how there is a shortage of people who are skilled in construction or whatnot. Will that be automated soon? I would be surprised. If not, perhaps some muscle-requiring jobs might even be more in demand.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#206

Post by psyc »

braveo wrote: post #161
hathawsh wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This effect always seems to come with popularity. Once upon a time, Slashdot had some amazingly insightful discussions, leading to a growth in popularity, which led to increased noise. That noise led to increased cynicism and eventually burnout. The same thing has sadly happened to every popular tech news site I know of. The secret is to keep searching for a new place to have high quality discussions. You never know…

I would disagree with HN having "quality discussion". I've honestly never seen dang come down on someone where I agreed with it. I've seen him moderate people because they're posting too much "anti-this or anti-that". Not because of their behavior, but because he didn't like what they were posting. And this community is aware that dang will do that, so you watch them flag ideas that absolutely have no reason for bein…

I'm with you. HN eternal september'd at least 6 years ago. You'll note pg doesn't participate at all anymore. He used to be a regular.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#207

Post by xiaoma »

teej wrote: post #14
eanzenberg wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool, let's stop progress then cause life was so great in the 1980's with healthcare, communications, science and overall knowledge.

There's a difference between making progress and recognizing the impact on real lives vs naively claiming we haven't seen any negative externalities of technology.

He made the web browser. That's completely changed the way I get my news, do my shopping, learn about things and communicate with people. I'm happy with those changes.

Do you feel the impact of the browser has been a net negative?

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#208

Post by dwaltrip »

seppin wrote: post #55
nostrademons wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still need to be sharply realistic about your own ideas, though. Blindly charging ahead with the first idea that occurs to you, as an entrepreneur, is probably not going to work no matter how strongly you believe the world will get there. Neither will not charging ahead at all, assuming that because the last 10 ideas failed the next one will too. Many years ago on HN, I think before he even became part of YC, Pau…

> Blindly charging ahead with the first idea that occurs to you, as an entrepreneur, is probably not going to work no matter how strongly you believe the world will get there. Statically, you're just as likely to be right with the first idea as the one you're sat on for months

I'm sorry, that sound a bit absurd to me. What did you mean?

If you sit on an idea for months, then that means it has survived a a good deal of reasonability testing and careful analysis, as you have been mentally prodding and poking the idea for a while, and haven't found a good reason to abandon it yet.

While the idea you just came up with has been through absolutely no deep analysis, by definition.

The subconscious mind is incredibly powerful, but it needs time to do its work.

Of course, slowly acquired self-delusion and emotional entanglement regarding the idea is a risk. But this varies significantly among people, can be somewhat defended against, and doesn't negate my main point.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#209

Post by jkaljundi »

inanutshellus wrote: post #99
jcoffland wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people would puke of they did a hour of reading email in their car.

Just turn off the windows. Click Voila, no car sickness. ;)

Actually it's vice versa: you get motion sickness more if there are no outside visual cues on your orientation.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#210

Post by abalashov »

exclusiv wrote: post #35
Cpoll wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because in the United States, we should be working even while we are getting to work, because we don't work enough? No, because if you work-day was originally 8hrs of work + 2hrs of commute, it's now just 6hrs of work + 2hrs of work.

Exactly. Although I don't think work in the car would be the same quality - if you use that time to handle emails it could be a big boost to get most emails addressed before you get to the office. I live about 12 miles from my office and going to the office removes about 1.5-2 hrs per day. Getting ready, 30 mins each way. I try to schedule phone calls for my commute but I don't always have calls to handle. I've worke…

For real. Have people saying this ever tried to work in a moving car? To achieve deep concentration with a laptop on a train? Even in an exceptionally comfortable cabin?

I'm not saying it's impossible. I've done it here and there. But it's definitely a challenge and far from a norm.

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