Live data from Hacker News

How extreme isolation warps the mind

bbc.com

11–20 of 143 posts

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#13
post #2

Good article. Now I have an excuse for getting on HN from time to time while locked away in the solitary confinement of VIM.

For a serious and meaningful article, your response is quite tasteless.

insistence on being "serious" and "meaningful" is something a lot of people - myself included - find to be isolating and can induce the same problems as actually being alone. if i'm not free to express myself in a lighthearted and playful manner, if everything is filtered through the emotionally sterile mask of 'professionalism', i feel lonely. i'd suggest GP's comment is in keeping with the spirit of the findings. humor draws us together.

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a serious and meaningful article, your response is quite tasteless.

I disagree with you 100%. Some of these symptoms might appear in people who are isolated and working remotely or people who spend long stretches of time locked away and working on projects. In fact, I'll go so far as to say I am sure less severe version of these symptoms appear. I'm surprised you don't see the connection and can only assume you have not been in one of these situations or are not a programmer.

The extreme isolation described in this article bears little resemblance to "working on projects", so the connection seems spurious.

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#15
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with you 100%. Some of these symptoms might appear in people who are isolated and working remotely or people who spend long stretches of time locked away and working on projects. In fact, I'll go so far as to say I am sure less severe version of these symptoms appear. I'm surprised you don't see the connection and can only assume you have not been in one of these situations or are not a programmer.

The extreme isolation described in this article bears little resemblance to "working on projects", so the connection seems spurious.

You seem to have missed the portion about "locked away".

The fact is that there is a connection... isolation.

And it may result in manifestation of less severe versions of the same symptoms.

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#16
post #2

Good article. Now I have an excuse for getting on HN from time to time while locked away in the solitary confinement of VIM.

For a serious and meaningful article, your response is quite tasteless.

There were a few times in the past year where I was working odd hours and not seeing many people outside of what I was crunching on. HN was a helpful reminder that there were still other people out there.

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a serious and meaningful article, your response is quite tasteless.

There were a few times in the past year where I was working odd hours and not seeing many people outside of what I was crunching on. HN was a helpful reminder that there were still other people out there.

yes, exactly.

thank you.

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#18
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a serious and meaningful article, your response is quite tasteless.

I disagree with you 100%. Some of these symptoms might appear in people who are isolated and working remotely or people who spend long stretches of time locked away and working on projects. In fact, I'll go so far as to say I am sure less severe version of these symptoms appear. I'm surprised you don't see the connection and can only assume you have not been in one of these situations or are not a programmer.

This is the comment you should have made originally. Your initial comment comes across as little more than an unsuccessful attempt at a funny one-liner. Here's what pg has to say[0] about those kinds of comments:

  "The most dangerous form of stupid comment is not the long but
   mistaken argument, but the dumb joke. [...] Whatever the cause,
   stupid comments tend to be short. And since it's hard to write a
   short comment that's distinguished for the amount of information it
   conveys, people try to distinguish them instead by being funny."
Or did you intend your initial comment to be serious? If so, perhaps you can explain how you believe that working in vim is tantamount to solitary confinement. Is someone forcing you to be alone while you use a text editor? In other words, are you being actively prevented from working alongside other people? Does using vim isolate you from other sensory input?

[0] http://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html

Post reply on HN