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Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

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Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#681

Post by muzani »

celticmusic wrote: post #411
muzani wrote: post #114

Everything is a system. The economy, society, relationships, nature, traffic. You don't need math to reverse engineer a system. You just need to pay attention to it. You can say the right words to make a date happy. You can figure out which lane is the fastest route, better than Google Maps can. You don't need an app or data - your brain is a wonderful data processing machine. Don't be angry at the people who are ben…

> Everything is a system. The economy, society, relationships, nature, traffic. This very much screams "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" to me.

That's exactly it. Lots of people on HN are good with math and systems, but don't realize they can use the same hammer on a lot of other things.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#682

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

galfarragem wrote: post #613
LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did that carpentry thing too for a year, a long time ago. Hanging down head over by the knees from the ridge, and banging nine inch nails into the rafters from below. Up to 8 floors high. Looking like an animal. What can i say? In retrospective it was much more satisfying than much of anything i did afterwards. I really built something to last, immediately visible, tangible. Though of course it would have been hard…

Impressive comment. Literary style. HN still surprises me.

There was more to it. It had something zen-like, because his voice from the shadow also said snidely 'Not like that, i can hear how you are holding it wrong!' , and instructed me to hold/bend my wrist this and that way. And my arm, elbow, shoulder, body. He masterfully knew the kinematics of hammering and could apply that to teaching you in an almost eerie way.

While being drunken...and out of sight...

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#684

Post by crimsonalucard »

muzani wrote: post #680
crimsonalucard wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only type of person who will like this kind of quote is someone disproportionally benefiting from the system in an unfair way. Let me tell you absolutely that if such people exist in the system then the system is flawed, unfair and such a person is indeed exploiting the system. Systems can be made fair or unfair, that is what you must derive from the fact that everything is a system. It is pure stupidity to accep…

I mean, frequent rain harms some and benefits some. But you wouldn't get angry at the people who benefit from rain. You'd deal with it, get an umbrella, build a roof, change your plans, and so on. Angry tweets won't dismantle capitalism any more than it would stop the rain. The people who benefit from capitalism didn't invent capitalism. Capitalism might have poverty as a side effect, but the system doesn't need to b…

Let me be frank. If you are a plutocrat, you are at fault.

You are at fault because you have the ability to redistribute your wealth which you know was unfairly gained. No amount of work by a single person can generate the wealth possessed by the top 0.1%, for someone to be that rich you had to have people work for you and you have to exploit their work and take an unfair share. That is reality.

The people who benefit from corruption and theft didn't invent theft or corruption. You don't need to invent something to be morally unjustified in exploiting it.

https://www.ted.com/talks/nick_hanauer_beware_fellow_plutocr...

"Many economists would have you believe that their field is an objective science. I disagree, and I think that it is equally a tool that humans use to enforce and encode our social and moral preferences and prejudices about status and power, which is why plutocrats like me have always needed to find persuasive stories to tell everyone else about why our relative positions are morally righteous and good for everyone: like, we are indispensable, the job creators, and you are not; like, tax cuts for us create growth, but investments in you will balloon our debt and bankrupt our great country; that we matter; that you don't. For thousands of years, these stories were called divine right. Today, we have trickle-down economics. How obviously, transparently self-serving all of this is. We plutocrats need to see that the United States of America made us, not the other way around; that a thriving middle class is the source of prosperity in capitalist economies, not a consequence of it. And we should never forget that even the best of us in the worst of circumstances are barefoot by the side of a dirt road selling fruit."

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#685

Post by crimsonalucard »

reroute1 wrote: post #660
crimsonalucard wrote: post #655

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This post seems to imply such unfair systems are emergent in nature. Possibly so. But is the system emergent among a group of human beings who are fully aware of the actions they are taking? No. That's like saying global warming is an emergent phenomenon of human society.

Right, it is emergent among a group of human beings who may or may not be aware of the actions they are taking as is the case with global warming. Although nowadays more and more people are aware of what causes global warming and how they contribute. That also doesn't mean that some people aren't trying to keep the status quo or rig a system. Just that if a system is unfair, that could be something that was not neces…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22051363

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#686

Post by randallsquared »

celticmusic wrote: post #563
nkrisc wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're a specific sort of person in this scenario, literally someone who has a stake in the outcome of the situation I'm describing. Is it dehumanizing to call someone who writes code a "software developer" instead of a "person"? Generally I agree with you and I hate the term "resource" as it's used, but I really don't agree that this is one of those cases. I could have said, "people" but in this instance it would m…

resource is also more specific than people, that doesn't obviate it from being dehumanizing.

Resource is less specific, not more.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#687

Post by loco5niner »

celticmusic wrote: post #563
nkrisc wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're a specific sort of person in this scenario, literally someone who has a stake in the outcome of the situation I'm describing. Is it dehumanizing to call someone who writes code a "software developer" instead of a "person"? Generally I agree with you and I hate the term "resource" as it's used, but I really don't agree that this is one of those cases. I could have said, "people" but in this instance it would m…

resource is also more specific than people, that doesn't obviate it from being dehumanizing.

Saying 'stakeholders' in this context is like saying 'engineers' or 'doctors'. Doesn't make them less human. It's just specifying a role they are taking.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#689

Post by daze42 »

WJW wrote: post #364
pandler wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody has any idea, they're just making it up as they go along. Ha! I came here to say this, and I'm glad you share my opinion. I realize that you're speaking specifically about software estimates, so please excuse me while I take your statement out of context and generalize it to most everything that I've experienced working in software. I'm biased in my views on this at this point, but I tend to notice people fa…

I don't think that it's actually true though. There are definitely areas where I don't have to make it up (anymore, at least). As a trivial example, implementing yet another API endpoint for a web form or something is not something where I have to experiment a lot (anymore). It's also important to realize that in most fields, people are definitely not just making it up as they go along. A dentist or an airline pilot…

This seems accurate to me. Maybe the parent is speaking from a place in the Valley of Despair on the Dunning-Kruger curve.

The good news is, they're just passing through.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#690

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

bonestamp2 wrote: post #611
pengstrom wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked a stint in fast food. I thoroughly underestimated the skill ceiling. Everything from burger wrapping, cleaning, taking orders and inventory could be optimized for time. It took almost a year before I was comfortable and by then I was doing things quickly, consistently and a few at the same time.

I worked at a McDonald's in high school that was adjacent to a major highway so we were always packed. Even now, getting in the flow of programming when everything is going right and I'm making huge progress, that feeling pales in comparison to being in the zone when working drive thru with 8 orders on the screen and each of them is in a different state as you build them as fast as possible as different components ar…

Did you create geometric patterns on the grills too, when cleaning and polishing them?

Been crew trainer in a german company store next to an exit of several Autobahn crossings, doing mostly late/night-shifts around 1989/1990. Was some sort of internal flagship store because all managers of the area met there often. And we trained the 'franchisies' opening their own. And the f.... "Blitzcontrols". Always found something. Never got 100 points, only 98 or 99. GRRRR!

The pay was amazing btw. because at that time late/night work got huge bonus mandatory by law. About 4800,- Deutsche Mark every month. Nowadays not anymore.

Anyways, when several busses arrive at once because of some soccer games you have to 'flow' in sync with everybody else. We did. And had fun while doing so.

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