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Earnestness

paulgraham.com

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Re: Earnestness

#81

Post by wott »

kabirgoel wrote: post #42

> The most earnest part of Europe is Scandinavia, and not surprisingly this is also the region with the highest number of successful startups per capita. I find it hard to take sweeping statements like this seriously. What makes Scandinavian countries any more or less earnest than, say, Germany or France? This seems no better than to say, “The French make great lovers,” or “The British are terrible cooks.” Absent any…

> What makes Scandinavian countries any more or less earnest than, say, Germany or France?

Experience, perhaps?

As a French who lived a number of years in Scandinavia, it is day and night. It doesn't mean that people in those countries never cheat, but in France, the default attitude is cheating. Always. About everything and anything. Even when there is nothing to win and being straight or earnest would be much easier. It is exhausting.

> This seems no better than to say, “The French make great lovers,”

Well, this assertion is equally true :-D

Re: Earnestness

#82

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

If you're interested in X for its own sake, you are very unlikely to want to turn that into a business. Unless you're also interested in business and money for their own sakes - both of which should trigger very justified cynicism, because there are far more effective ways to make the world a better place than by getting extremely rich after an IPO.

Re: Earnestness

#83

Post by qPM9l3XJrF »

nindalf wrote: post #58
kabirgoel wrote: post #42

> The most earnest part of Europe is Scandinavia, and not surprisingly this is also the region with the highest number of successful startups per capita. I find it hard to take sweeping statements like this seriously. What makes Scandinavian countries any more or less earnest than, say, Germany or France? This seems no better than to say, “The French make great lovers,” or “The British are terrible cooks.” Absent any…

His posts aren’t fact based, they’re mostly an expression of his feelings. A great example are his 5-6 posts talking about how the most important facet of a programming language is its brevity ( https://ideolalia.com/essays/thought-leaders-and-chicken-sex... ). At no point does he cite any facts backing that up. Even when the brevity chasing language he created failed to gain traction, he didn’t see that as an indica…

I think you folks are holding PG to a standard that the vast majority of essays which hit the HN frontpage would not meet.

Even this critical essay looks like it fails to meet its own standard.

A "profoundly unserious" writer which is "mired in intuition and incuriosity"? Nowhere in the post are these terms rigorously defined!

And look! The author accuses Graham of "tantalizing the reader by reducing complex problems down to singular, nebulous concepts" without mentioning principal component analysis! "Profoundly unserious", I say.

Anyway, pg himself has been clear about rejecting seriousness as a virtue multiple times. See this essay for instance http://www.paulgraham.com/newthings.html

Re: Earnestness

#85

Post by wombatmobile »

“I am never so happy as when I am really engaged in good earnest, & it makes me most wonderfully cheerful & merry at other times, which is curious & very satisfactory.”

— Ada Lovelace

Re: Earnestness

#86

Post by rel2thr »

Not sure if gambling should have been lumped in with the other professions. A successful long term gambler looks a lot like a hacker in my experience

Re: Earnestness

#87

Post by 11thEarlOfMar »

danhak wrote: post #70

In my view, there is a uniquely American fiction that there exists for everyone some pursuit that both (a) will satisfy their passion and (b) be highly remunerative. Your job is to find that pursuit. And if you fail, I guess it's because you weren't earnest enough. I don't doubt that successful founders are highly motivated by the challenges of their work. But the suggestion that the point isn't to build a business a…

Not speaking for all Americans, but I've never believed that (a) and (b) are both out there if I can simultaneously solve them. I chose to give one preference and then did the best to support the other. It's an optimization activity that may or may not achieve satisfaction on either one.

It's the outliers who become wealthy doing what they love. No illusions there.

The other 'responsibility' we take collectively is to strive to create circumstances where the process of pursuing (a) and (b) is not impeded by society.

Re: Earnestness

#89

Post by qPM9l3XJrF »

Dumblydorr wrote: post #38

I earnestly think his writing has an overindulgent fandom here. Every single blog post rockets to the top and, in my opinion, they are usually short and lacking in citation, evidence, or persuasion. He may write snappily, but is every single post worthy of Han's top slot?

An "overindulgent fandom" which seems to reflexively write critical comments of anything PG/YC related.

Re: Earnestness

#90

Post by dustingetz »

nindalf wrote: post #58
kabirgoel wrote: post #42

> The most earnest part of Europe is Scandinavia, and not surprisingly this is also the region with the highest number of successful startups per capita. I find it hard to take sweeping statements like this seriously. What makes Scandinavian countries any more or less earnest than, say, Germany or France? This seems no better than to say, “The French make great lovers,” or “The British are terrible cooks.” Absent any…

His posts aren’t fact based, they’re mostly an expression of his feelings. A great example are his 5-6 posts talking about how the most important facet of a programming language is its brevity ( https://ideolalia.com/essays/thought-leaders-and-chicken-sex... ). At no point does he cite any facts backing that up. Even when the brevity chasing language he created failed to gain traction, he didn’t see that as an indica…

Feelings^W "pattern matching"
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