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Don't Take the Black Pill [video]

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Re: Don't Take the Black Pill [video]

#151

Post by GalahiSimtam »

leecommamichael wrote: post #28

> “I almost fell into this trap (...) I was raised by conservative Christian parents and thereby had so, so much to learn, and unlearn, in order to date comfortable and confidently. Is this engagement bait? Is this a cultural critique? What is meant to be said here? At any rate, this is the kind of speech which will alienate a lot of people. Look, I'm more on the progressive end of things, I get it, but I think this…

Of course, coming from that background one has to learn to recognize some new concepts to even use online dating - stuff like short-term relationships, folks going for high bodycount, that sort of stuff.

Yet, stating that in an open source talk has the subtext of someone wearing a t-shirt "I know HTML - How To Meet Ladies".

Re: Don't Take the Black Pill [video]

#152

Post by JuniperMesos »

staticshock wrote: post #66

The comments here indicate a surprisingly, in my view, mixed reception, for such an unambiguously good talk? The main thrust is simple: - Technology is not good or bad, it is an amplifier of human values and our collective ambitions. - Those of us who are terrified of where technology is going are actually terrified that humans are, on the net, bad, and technology will amplify that, bringing about dystopia. - Believi…

> The comments here indicate a surprisingly, in my view, mixed reception, for such an unambiguously good talk?

It wasn't an unambiguously good talk. Many of the people attacking various portions of the talk are making good points. I actually agree that blackpilling is a self-fulfilling belief and indulging in it weakens your own agency, and it's better to have a positive vision of humanity and to wield your own agency towards that end. But the thing about positive visions of humanity is that different people have different, mutually-incompatible positive visions; and I think a lot of people don't necessarily agree with Andrew Kelly's specific one.

Re: Don't Take the Black Pill [video]

#154

Post by chanux »

spudlyo wrote: post #19

So in case you're worried about watching a 35 minute video and wishing you hadn't, here is what I think is an interesting observation that the speaker starts coming around to at around the 7 minute mark. Why does software suck? Management often has other priorities, and isn't interested in doing the hard work required to increase the reliability and reduce the technical debt in software. Engineers who care about such…

> Engineers who care about such things, often engage in acts of "benevolent noncompliance". Common workarounds are "asking for forgiveness instead of permission", secrecy, and misdirection.

Without the support of a unified vision, these good intentions could pave the path to hell by the way.

Re: Don't Take the Black Pill [video]

#155

Post by mindwok »

leecommamichael wrote: post #28

> “I almost fell into this trap (...) I was raised by conservative Christian parents and thereby had so, so much to learn, and unlearn, in order to date comfortable and confidently. Is this engagement bait? Is this a cultural critique? What is meant to be said here? At any rate, this is the kind of speech which will alienate a lot of people. Look, I'm more on the progressive end of things, I get it, but I think this…

I don't think it's meant to be mean or divisive, he clearly had trouble dating and he feels his conservative Christian upbringing was partially responsible for that. If you think he's wrongly attributing it to those things, fair enough, but his experience is still valid.

EDIT: just saw your reply to a similar comment below, appreciate your response!

Re: Don't Take the Black Pill [video]

#156

Post by 9dev »

dpark wrote: post #77
ianbutler wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this is really entirely true. Everyone who isn't a FAANG or Frontier Lab seem to be absolutely starving for good talent. It's far more often that I hear "we interviewed someone we thought looked good and they couldn't even write a for loop, where are all the good engineers". I think you have far more leverage than you think in most places still.

> * Everyone who isn't a FAANG or Frontier Lab seem to be absolutely starving for good talent.* I think this is largely a pay gap problem. There’s a bit of prestige involved (why work for random corp’s dev dept when you could work at FAANG) but a huge part is that most those random corps are paying way less. The best talent generally goes where the money is.

Yeah, maybe - but you know what one of the perks of not working for FAANG is?

Not working for FAANG.

Some people prefer having a spine over selling their integrity. There’s heaps of opportunity for doing interesting work in a less toxic environment in places other than Silicon Valley, if you accept a little less pay.

Re: Don't Take the Black Pill [video]

#157

Post by hilariously »

leecommamichael wrote: post #111
Lerc wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This not a rare thing to express. There are a lot of people raised under conservative Christian environments who have spent a considerable amount of time recovering from this. It is not surprising that they feel the need to express something of the journey that has dominated much of their early life. Taylor Tomlinson puts much of this into her comedy. She often asks the audience to call out if they were similarly scr…

I appreciate the response, and I can relate. Perhaps I'm too sensitive to some rumblings I'm perceiving in the US at the moment. I don't know. I genuinely do not know.

The rumblings as in - the push back on the enormous takeover by christian conservatives of the united states, taking away women's rights, voting to teach the bible in schools, and doing their best to mass disenfranchise voters?

Fuck 'em honestly.

Re: Don't Take the Black Pill [video]

#158

Post by ak39 »

spudlyo wrote: post #19

So in case you're worried about watching a 35 minute video and wishing you hadn't, here is what I think is an interesting observation that the speaker starts coming around to at around the 7 minute mark. Why does software suck? Management often has other priorities, and isn't interested in doing the hard work required to increase the reliability and reduce the technical debt in software. Engineers who care about such…

Thank you for this.

(I think HN should consider creating TLDR type of comments for upvoting separately from commentary. @Dan incentivise with different karma credits?)

Re: Don't Take the Black Pill [video]

#159

Post by wisty »

mdgld wrote: post #104
giantg2 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"an ideology that will not seek consensus with his values" This just seems normal and expected. Kids are raised by their parents. Parents try to impart their wisdom on their kids, often in the form of rules meant to protect them. These rules are necessarily over restrictive due to simplification during various ages. These rules are also out of date with the new generation. It's always a right of passage for children…

Except conservatism, religion, and religious conservatism in particular do not seem to value open-mindedness, discussion and consensus, or a non-judgmental stance. It’s one thing to try and impart your values onto your children—that seems like what most parents would want to do, although I wouldn’t go so far as saying it’s what they should do. It’s another to say, for example, “you were born with a penis and so if I…

Which religion?

Christianity is arguanbly the irritating grit that created the pearl of modern science. A strict text that had to be taken literally ... this led to great intellectual progress in order reconcile it all. Bacon, Darwin ... lots of science was done by Christians.

Christianity isn't the only example. Islam and Judaism also have been heavy hitters. As have other cultures but I don't understand enough about them to comment.

Re: Don't Take the Black Pill [video]

#160

Post by LAC-Tech »

Lerc wrote: post #35
leecommamichael wrote: post #28

> “I almost fell into this trap (...) I was raised by conservative Christian parents and thereby had so, so much to learn, and unlearn, in order to date comfortable and confidently. Is this engagement bait? Is this a cultural critique? What is meant to be said here? At any rate, this is the kind of speech which will alienate a lot of people. Look, I'm more on the progressive end of things, I get it, but I think this…

This not a rare thing to express. There are a lot of people raised under conservative Christian environments who have spent a considerable amount of time recovering from this. It is not surprising that they feel the need to express something of the journey that has dominated much of their early life. Taylor Tomlinson puts much of this into her comedy. She often asks the audience to call out if they were similarly scr…

If I talked about how I needed to recover from being raised in a progressive environment, it would not be so well received in well-respected tech circles.

There's an assymetry here no one wants to acknowledge.

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