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

What game are you playing?

autodidacts.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 197 posts

Re: What game are you playing?

#171

Post by ryandrake »

sleepymoose wrote: post #148
nicoburns wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think people in the west are still surprised that nerds might weightlift or jocks might be really smart. I'd say that this is even more specifically a US thing. Perhaps it's just exaggerated on TV, but while there is a little bit of this attitude in the UK, I don't anything like the binary split there is portrayed in the US.

Even further, in my experience this view varies quite wildly depending on where you're at in the states, both geographically and economically. I grew up in a very small, rural public school. Since it was such a small school (my graduating class was On the other hand, my partner attended a school 15 minutes away that was more than 5x the size and had a much different culture, much so more inline with stereotyping to f…

Yea, same here. I didn't see any of the TV tropes in my high school. The sports jocks also tended to be in the top of the class academically. The most talented artist in our class was also the league and division champ cross country runner. Our valedictorian and the rest of the top-10 were active in the band, in sports, on the student council, in yearbook, everything.

The divisions were not between nerds and jocks and preps and band-os and artists: It was basically people who did things and people who didn't do things.

Re: What game are you playing?

#172

Post by scruple »

thenerdhead wrote: post #157

I like to think that nobody really knows what they are doing. Sure there's intentions to play and "win" at certain games. This is especially true when you start talking to top performers of respective games. While you might perceive someone "winning" at a particular game, they may have little clue as to what they are even doing in the first place, but their grit and luck in doing it has paid off in the long run. Whil…

> I like to think that nobody really knows what they are doing.

I disagree. I've been in calls with some executive level folks in the last few months, and the table stakes are very high for these people, and they exercise a lot of control, where they were absolutely treating conversations as a game of chess to be won.

The problem for a low-rank engineer like myself (and sure, I'm a tech lead but that's roughly equivalent to mid-level management, not even a Director role where I work) is that we don't even know the rules to the game, we don't know what the winning strategies and tactics are, we don't even really know what winning looks like until well after someone won.

Re: What game are you playing?

#173

Post by sleepdreamy »

pm90 wrote: post #41
es7 wrote: post #5

Science and technology and other nerdy pursuits can be really valuable, and certainly don’t require you to be judgmental of others. The problem, as I’ve seen it is that people who are bad at some of the other ‘games’ that make a meaningful life lean too heavily on science and technology as a coping mechanism. That coping mechanism could be many things: nerdy pursuits, alcohol, video games, etc. Whatever your pursuit,…

Im guilty of being rather judgmental of others who performed worse than me in academics. I don’t really want to go into the reasons but, yes its very unhealthy to think that way. People have their reasons for why they choose to focus on some things and not others. Perhaps the most important goal of a good society is to be able to assign people to things they’re most suited for.

At least you are able to see your behavior.

I was judged harshly for not going to college immediately out of HS. I went 6-7 years later and graduated debt free. Meanwhile some of my peers will be paying their loans well into their late 50s. Not knowing what you want to do for the rest of your life at 18 shouldn't be shunned when you acknowledge that fact.

I'll never forget going into WaWa after a day at the office(Dressed up) and seeing the girl from my English AP class who would mock me when I presented infront of class. Super uppity and always negatively judging the quality of others work. I was very nice to her when I could've easily been cruel.

I hope she learned a lesson on judging others, but probably not.

Re: What game are you playing?

#175

Post by t-3 »

smeej wrote: post #104
draw_down wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, as well as learning to accept that there are some games you'll just never be good at. Personally, I've never been good at playing the political game at work so I don't attempt to. There are times when I can tell it's being played, but maybe not even who exactly is playing, let alone what their strategy is or what a strategy might look like. It seems difficult and not fun at all though, so I'm ok with this ina…

I find I make this choice a lot, not to play games that don't seem enjoyable to me and/or where I don't think I would have much of a knack for them. I struggle, though, to communicate to others that I don't think any less of them for choosing to play those games. If they're enjoying them, especially if they're also experiencing the success they want from them, I tend to think they should keep playing. I just have a h…

Not understanding the political implications of personal nonparticipation in politics is very delightfully ironic. The only way to win is to be invisible.

Re: What game are you playing?

#176

Post by t-3 »

koonsolo wrote: post #58
booboofixer wrote: post #49

There was a comment on HN about a year ago by somebody that grew up in India, and being Pakistani i relate to it a lot as well. Specifically, it mentioned that these 'games' and people choosing one or two games out of a great number of games available out there seems like a uniquely North American thing (as far as we can tell from our own limited exposure to other societies). So while you folks had the jock, the nerd…

I'm from EU, and I agree with you that this is a North American thing.

I'm from the US, and it's a hollywood thing.

Re: What game are you playing?

#177

Post by sirmarksalot »

JackMorgan wrote: post #112
mlatu wrote: post #110

Playing real life games like "who's first to get a BMW" sucks ass. Sure, you play it hard and you win, and then? You have a shitty car that will eventually break down. I cannot see the point in owning a car other than owning a means of transportation. Owning loads of wealth in general?: Yay claps you did well, now share with the rest of class you stingy pos. Accumulating stuff on your person in any way can make you b…

A few of my friends seem to conspicuously avoid the trappings of material wealth, but constantly work to retire early on a modest budget. They'll play old games on old PCs, watch Netflix, hang out, volunteer, work (but not too hard), and eat cheap food. They've acquired (or are saving for) millions in investments. They would argue that they should put on their own mask before helping those next to them. I don't think…

There's a big difference in values between the financial independence retire early crowd, and the conspicuous consumption techbro crowd. FIRE is a trauma-informed strategy, and what your friends are doing is meeting what they see as their own needs for personal safety, and to be honest, they might be right. Make hay while the sun shines, etc.

Even if both groups might be seen as hoarding wealth, the value sets, and therefore the behaviors are very different, and the stories they tell themselves are different. The conspicuous consumption self narrative is "I deserve to have nicer things than the people around me." They need the external validation of others, and they need to be seen as better than their peers.

The difference is that I suspect a FIRE person is going to be more likely to give to charity, more likely to check on their neighbors to make sure they're okay, and more likely to figure out ways they can be useful in their community. I say that because that strategy frames wealth as a solution to a problem, and not a measure of one's worth.

Re: What game are you playing?

#178

Post by blindmute »

alar44 wrote: post #21
es7 wrote: post #5

Science and technology and other nerdy pursuits can be really valuable, and certainly don’t require you to be judgmental of others. The problem, as I’ve seen it is that people who are bad at some of the other ‘games’ that make a meaningful life lean too heavily on science and technology as a coping mechanism. That coping mechanism could be many things: nerdy pursuits, alcohol, video games, etc. Whatever your pursuit,…

[flagged]

This post could be satire, but it sadly isn't

Re: What game are you playing?

#180

Post by draw_down »

corndoge wrote: post #81
draw_down wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, as well as learning to accept that there are some games you'll just never be good at. Personally, I've never been good at playing the political game at work so I don't attempt to. There are times when I can tell it's being played, but maybe not even who exactly is playing, let alone what their strategy is or what a strategy might look like. It seems difficult and not fun at all though, so I'm ok with this ina…

not that the sentiment isn't legitimate but i wonder if your ostensible acceptance of inability is deep down a feeling of superiority for refusing to engage wrapped in mild self deprecation and faux gracious acceptance of a personal shortcoming, the acknowledgement of which is itself mildly performative - a wrapper perhaps palatable to this audience due to familiarity but distasteful to most others

No post body was provided.
Post reply on HN