121–130 of 482 posts
Them somewhere aroud early 2010s being a nerd was the new cool and paid off. Tech teams had more non-nerd competent engineers, and suddenly nerds are a target for complains and a bad example of teamwork.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Sucks to be him of course, but what's the alternative? Uh, not firing people over Twitter drama? I swear America is getting more insane by the day. It's even more obvious if you take a break from social network sites and then come back after a while.
This wasn't even Twitter drama. He wrote that in a published book, that then went on and on and on demeaning women in all sorts of "fun" ways (i.e. this isn't a single throwaway statement that might be misunderstood; the misogyny is core to what he was saying). His girlfriend is "special" of course, but he still manages to say very not-nice things about her.
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> And yet, I really liked the essay because it reads like a lifeline to those who doubt themselves, perhaps profoundly Do they? I mean one of the define characteristics is an overconfidence in themselves. I think PG is trying to justify some kind of assholish behaviour in his past by reframing it as a virtue. Really, I think the “fierceness” is incidental. Do immensely successful people need to be somewhat competitiv…
> I think PG is trying to justify some kind of assholish behaviour in his past by reframing it as a virtue. I wonder how much Bill Gates triggered this write up.
What happens if a nerd learns how to be charismatic? It's a winning combo, I guess.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same, born in 92 and his characterization of being nerdy and young seems super antiquated. “Nerdy” interests don’t make you a social pariah, they transcend groupings all together; the star quarterback plays dnd, the head cheerleader builds robots in her basement, the stigma on having unique or “nerdy” hobbies and interests is mostly gone. When I think of what PG is describing, it’s characterized by poor social skills…
I can tell you as someone that graduated college in 92 that being nerdy as a kid in the 70s/80s it was very different from that, at least in my area of the world (Midwest USA). If you want a not very distorted glimpse of what it was like watch the movie, "Revenge of the Nerds".
Edit: in the movie nerds sell secretly taken naked pictures of said girlfriend to earn money. The movie is old and ridiculous, but when you start to claim this is how things were, I want to know wtf was going on in your school.
It's good that we've gotten past the tedious "solving society's problems" blather.
"If you do choose the ambitious route, you'll have a tailwind behind you. There has never been a better time to be a nerd. In the past century we've seen a continuous transfer of power from dealmakers to technicians — from the charismatic to the competent — and I don't see anything on the horizon that will end it. At least not till the nerds end it themselves by bringing about the singularity."
Isn't Graham a dealmaker? Isn't that exactly what Y Combinator does?
And given Graham's comments about inequality, why am I ambivalent about the singularity of the fierce nerds?
So, this is the second installment of Paul Graham's analysis of the various unwelcoming reactions to the MightyApp announcement a few weeks ago. Especially the last part. He is not completely wrong, but also visibly bitter.
Someone made an app / service that remote desktops chrome on a server to avoid the bloat? Instead of using Firefox? Was that an April fools?
A lot of this essay feels a lot like cold reading of tech workers. PG brings up the 8 richest people in America, but if you look at the top like 10-15, the VAST majority are tech CEOs. So that’s who we’re talking about here. First, “independent-mindedness”. I’m guessing that if you survey people, approximately 95% of people would consider themselves “independent-minded”. Then he talks about social awkwardness and int…
Almost anyone reading this would think "oh wow, he's talking about me!" Like you point out, his criteria and statements are vague enough that anyone would think it applies to them. Such only need to follow PG's advice - be "fierce", ie, be an asshole to people to get ahead.
So, this is the second installment of Paul Graham's analysis of the various unwelcoming reactions to the MightyApp announcement a few weeks ago. Especially the last part. He is not completely wrong, but also visibly bitter.
Someone made an app / service that remote desktops chrome on a server to avoid the bloat? Instead of using Firefox? Was that an April fools?
Also PG and others were evidently very upset that, aside from just laughing at the obvious humor of the situation, lots people expressed wishes—for a bunch of reasons; e.g its most viable business models all seem to involve spying or other shady behavior; it's just a bad sign for where the Web is at so it would be sad to see that become normal—that the company doesn't do very well.