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Conferences

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Re: Conferences

#31

Post by ankhmoop »

kscaldef wrote: post #28
ankhmoop wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that the talks are canned, and the materials they are based on are almost always published, why should I pay for a conference when I can already leverage existing networking/social channels to stay in touch with the latest ?

It's hard to go out for a beer with someone who isn't in the same place that you are. And people will definitely tell you stuff over a beer or two that they won't write about in their blog.

You don't need a conference to go out for a beer, and you certainly don't need an exclusive conference to go out for a beer with someone interesting.

You do need a way to gather interesting people in one place, but you don't need a traditional conference (especially an expensive conference) to do so.

Re: Conferences

#32

Post by joshu »

I liked conferences a lot when I worked in a different industry. Now I'm immersed in web 2.blah and get enough of it at work. I mostly stopped going to stuff.

Re: Conferences

#33

Post by eugenejen »

I can't help but say this out loud. "Fred is my kind of man!".

I really feel that most of conferences are power games and I am just averse to power games. Maybe I am antisocial. But I believe doing the good work first then people will follow it. If luckily people likes it and adopt it, it is wonderful recognition. If unfortunately no one likes it, then I have to do it again with a twist keep experimenting. But whether recognition is bestowed, I do things because I like what I am doing. Life is never easy and it should be never easy.

And the cool people are always outsiders, no matter in tech or arts.

Re: Conferences

#35

Post by anamax »

unbannable wrote: post #26
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's not that simple. That's my whole point. Also, can you provide some objective basis for the statement that talent should trade very high against "property"?

Those who want talent to trade highly against property are those who believe the best and most capable should be making the big decisions. They have the interest of humanity-at-large at heart. Those who want the reverse are those who have power but lack talent, and their supporters.

How do you determine "best and most capable"?

One way to do so is to let people trade their talent for property that they use as they see fit. If they're good and not just lucky, they'll succeed again, getting more property over which to make decisions.

However, that method seems to be in conflict with "talent should trade highly against property".

> They have the interest of humanity-at-large at heart.

That's bullshit on stilts.

Re: Conferences

#36

Post by jseifer »

alain94040 wrote: post #8
tudorachim wrote: post #3

I don't know what the point of going to a conference is, if you can get videos of the talks afterwards, like TED.

There is a huge difference between watching the talks and actually being there. 50% of the value is the content of the talks, which supposedly described the latest and greatest. Just like in academia, the talks are actually dated: they have been prepared months before and don't really represent the latest . To know the latest, you need to chat with various people to find out what they are working on right now, that t…

This may be true for TED (never been) but for most tech conferences I've spoken at the presenters are still putting together slides for their presentation right up until they talk. This tends to get the latest stuff in. Not to say I'm disagreeing with you -- quite the opposite, in fact. With rare exception, during most of the conferences I've been to the "hallway track" has been more valuable/informative.

Re: Conferences

#37

Post by netsp »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #29
theBobMcCormick wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we all just let go of the ridiculous cold-war era brain washing? Claiming an idea is invalid because it "sounds suspiciously like (Marxism/Communism/Socialism/etc)" is an ad hominem. It's flawed thinking, a logical fallacy. When you do it, you're not effectively supporting your argument you're just revealing your own intellectual shallowness.

first, I did support my argument. second, I don't feel the need to disprove the same thing over and over. some theories are just wrong, and labeling them as such is not an ad hominem attack. do you feel the need to have an entire debate every time someone makes a case for young earth creationism. in my mind Marxism and YEC have about the same level of validity, which has been proven over and over; I feel no need to d…

Marxism and YEC have about the same level of validity

OK, but your reasoning is still flawed.

There is an all-out, bitter war going on between property (connections, inherited wealth, resources) and energy (talent, ambition, hard work)

If unbannable had used those ideas to underpin his arguments, attacking Marxism would make sense. But he doesn't. He just (sort of) shares one of Marx's observations & moral dispositions. Not everything that Marx claimed, observed, said or saw is disproved. To the extend that Marxism is disproved, it is the political or economic systems.

The same tactic is used by anti-evolutionists trying to draw a connection to Nazism.

This is a close cousin of a straw man. Straw man is a shallow argument.

Re: Conferences

#38

Post by anamax »

unbannable wrote: post #2

Invitation-only events don't belong in the technological scene. There is an all-out, bitter war going on between property (connections, inherited wealth, resources) and energy (talent, ambition, hard work). One is past, one is future, and each wishes to demote the value of the other. One side has power but lacks the vision and talent to use it; the other has the capability but not the means. Nerds are supposed to be…

> One side has power but lacks the vision and talent to use it; the other has the capability but not the means.

Classic sour grapes. Poor guy. In his universe the power fairies just wander around granting power to dolts. Meanwhile untapped capability just sits around wasted.

Newsflash. Folks with actual useful capability don't stay "propertyless" for long - they produce, which gets them property, which lets them do more, getting them more property, and so on. Yes, there's some luck, but the luckiest people are those who have the moxie to take advantage of the luck that comes their way and they make more.

Yes, some folks are born into money. If they're not capable, they lose it.

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