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What happened to nerds?

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Re: What happened to nerds?

#191

Post by locknitpicker »

zozbot234 wrote: post #184
azalemeth wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Academia is the most relevant, toxic example that I can think of. Be horrible to others on a short term contract (grad students, postdocs) and break them whilst extracting maximum value -- get more papers, more grants written -- more money -- success. Be nice, think about hard problems for a long period of time, only speak up when you have something positive to contribute -- be labelled an underperforming academic an…

[flagged]

> Whenever something gets subsidized by the government it inevitably becomes dominated by exploitive petty politics.

Your US-blend of anti-state brainwashing is showing. There is nothing inherently different in the for-profit status of an organization that prevents the occurrence of "exploitive petty politics". You see those from any organization from homeowners organization to full blown FANGs. I mean, have you ever paid attention to the crap being pushed by the likes of Tesla/SpaceX/Twitter?

Re: What happened to nerds?

#192

Post by PaulHoule »

embedding-shape wrote: post #161
zozbot234 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's plenty of wealthy folks who aren't especially evil or greedy in any real way, but you wouldn't know that because they don't tend to show off or spend their wealth to begin with, they just shepherd it and grow it carefully. Sometimes over generations, eventually turning it into sustainable 'old money'.

> There's plenty of wealthy folks who aren't especially evil or greedy in any real way, but you wouldn't know that because they don't tend to show off or spend their wealth to begin with I'm well aware, I'm personally early-retired person with financial independence, and of course I have friends too :) With that said, many of them are greedy, some in big ways others in smaller ways, even if they're generally good peo…

My first- and second- hand experience with rare counterexamples is that if you meet a Hollywood star in person they will make a good impression; as if they make a bad impression it will make an impression and you will tell your friends.

Lately I’ve been doing a sort of street performance which makes it very likely people will remember me and that again motivates me to be nice.

On the other hand I hear Elon Musk comes across better in person than he does on X and Trump seemed pretty cordial meeting with Zohran Mamdani.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#193

Post by a96 »

boelboel wrote: post #168
keiferski wrote: post #78

I don’t know why you’d think “being interested in nerdy stuff like computers” would somehow translate into virtuous behavior. They seem like entirely different things to me, in the sense that I wouldn’t expect a writer, or a baker, or a chef to have typical ethical behaviors as a group. “What happened” was just that some people got rich and powerful and their real personalities showed through. This is not a new thing…

Bill Gates was always a POS, reading about his behaviour earlier on doesn't make him seem in any way virtuous. The whole 'charity' persona he put on afterwards is just PR.

Same with Jobs, but without the charity.

Woz, maybe he actually was a nerd.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#195

Post by traeame »

geremiiah wrote: post #66

What "charming personality", lol? Nerds always had a higher than average probability of being total assholes. That has always been my experience.

Given your blatant generalisation, I simply believe you didn't pass the vibe check of that person and they would not want to have anything to do with you. Just how bullies detect nerds, nerds detect people who shun them, they just avoid conflict because it's a legit waste of time.

Anyway, I got some important coding to do now.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#196

Post by api »

Nerds are no better or worse than other people. Dump massive money and power into an industry and you will get unhinged shit like this that bubbles to the surface.

Some of it is the mask falling off and some of it is people genuinely getting warped by it. It’s a little of both.

In finance it’s covered over by a buttoned down ivy league veneer, but the coke snorting maniac is there.

Same in politics where there’s pomp and ceremony to cover it, but when it comes out in the open there it’s probably the most ugly. Governments have armies and police.

In nerd-dom it comes in a form that’s uniquely tone deaf to the point of coming off like a comic book or anime villain.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#197

Post by astura »

latexr wrote: post #146
TitaRusell wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Virtuous people become doctors, social workers or kindergarten teachers. People who spend their entire life in front of computers should not be the ones with the keys to society yet here we are.

> Virtuous people become doctors I remember when I was in high school knowing a bunch of people who wanted to be doctors (and had good grades). It was strange to me so many people wanted to be doctors so I asked why. The answer was one word: Money. In my adult life I have also heard of multiple people who demand to be called “doctor” in social situations. “Virtuous” is not a word I’d associate at all with wanting to…

>“Virtuous” is not a word I’d associate at all with wanting to become a doctor. Veterinarians are a different matter, though.

For those that don't know, veterinarian education is just as rigorous, time consuming, and expensive as human medical education, yet the median annual wage for practicing veterinarians is $125,510.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#198

Post by a96 »

_n_b_ wrote: post #65
cedilla wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Discussion quality is, in my experience, mostly a function of group size. Online discussions scale better than in person, but there's a limit.

One thing I do miss from the early internet was less anonymity being the norm on Usenet/forums/etc. Discussions tend to stay more civil when both parties know there's a "real" person on the other end. Otherwise, my memory of early 90s internet supports exactly your conclusion. There may have been better opportunities for small discussions, but big ones devolved the same way they do today.

For a counterpoint, you only need to look at the cancer that is Facebook comments from people on their own name and face and a lot of bio attached. It's not the anonymity. At least not by itself.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#199

Post by traeame »

api wrote: post #196

Nerds are no better or worse than other people. Dump massive money and power into an industry and you will get unhinged shit like this that bubbles to the surface. Some of it is the mask falling off and some of it is people genuinely getting warped by it. It’s a little of both. In finance it’s covered over by a buttoned down ivy league veneer, but the coke snorting maniac is there. Same in politics where there’s pomp…

Nerds never went away, they just migrated to Signal chats or obscure IRC channels. Non-interaction beats bad interaction by miles.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#200

Post by eschatology »

DanielHB wrote: post #54
amarant wrote: post #49

Maybe identity is the root of all evil? Hear me out: back in the day founding a company wasn't an identity, it was just an action, a verb. Stuff started going sideways when people started thinking of themselves as "founders". Suddenly the product wasn't the top priority anymore, instead it was second to defending their identity as a "founder". Seemingly stupid decisions followed, but seen from the perspective of a CE…

I don't agree with Paul Graham on everything but he nailed this argument: https://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html > If people can't think clearly about anything that has become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible. Of course one can't not have any identity whatsoever, afterall ethics is a type of identity and no one should in…

As with sibling comment, it's my first time reading this, it's a great read, and author really managed to write down into words some things I have vaguely thought about before.

One thing I notice, which may be the worst part of it, although I realize it might be bit too pessimistic: It doesn't matter whether A identifies with X — if B thinks A identifies with X, the discussion still breaks down and it becomes difficult to have a fruitful argument. In other words, one party can shut down and degenerate a discussion for both (or many).

It makes me think once again about the adage: Communication is a two-way street; can't have communication otherwise.

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