Earlier quoted context omitted.
Less comments?
Fewer.
Indeed.
It's not what the world needs right now
101–110 of 181 posts
Re: It's not what the world needs right now
#102The fact that so many people on HN dislike this proves hacker culture died in programming..
I don’t think hacker culture is dead. Rather, computing entered its Eternal September; a career in software engineering, especially in the United States, now carries a similar cachet to being a doctor or lawyer, and the startup world has attracted those who want to make a fortune. The geeks, nerds, scholars, artists, and other varied misfits who once dominated the field have been outnumbered by those looking for money.
This is the price of computing’s success. It’s not all bad or all good, it just is a natural consequence of computing becoming an integral part of modern society.
Re: It's not what the world needs right now
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, your comment literally said, "less of everything" " more love and understanding" Was not mentioned. So I am not sure how your first comment could help, to make the world a better place. "we won’t solve humanty’s pressinge problems with more of the same." And generic statements like these maybe neither. Because when people are hungry(many are), yes they need more food. More of the same. But your comment implies…
But your comment implies there are also maybe too many people anyway? So rather less food and then eventually less people? Those are your ideas, I never even meant to imply them.
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Re: It's not what the world needs right now
#104The question I have not yet seen in the comments here is whether or not this post is real or fiction. Is it the journal of a questionable character, or a deliberate attempt to push people's buttons? And honestly, that is why I like it. I really hope it cannot be taken at face value - that would be disappointment.
All the true stories you actually bother to read are a little fictive.
That said, he said two specific relationships with real people that I know, by name, and you know what? He’s telling it like it was in those cases.
The least real thing about this is that, reading carefully, the only antagonists are the occasional grant committee members who reject him. To me, in real life, fine artists are quite opinionated and tend to beef with a lot of people; or have no opinions, and are pigeonholed into doing the same exact thing that once, long ago, got them an audience, over and over again. Andrew does not belong to this latter group.
Re: It's not what the world needs right now
#105This is one of the best, funniest pieces of writing I have read in months - The utter detachment and cynicism displayed around this borderline Hunter S Thompson acid trip is breath of fresh air.
Re: It's not what the world needs right now
#106I used to be similarly lost in the drama of my own life, hanging on to things that I felt made me special. It's an ego trap in my opinion, as there are millions of people around us who have extrodinary lives that we never hear about. The word "sonder" applies: Sonder is defined as the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing by on the street, has a life as complex and vivid as your own…
There's something gross about people trying to force this sonder neologism through but I can't put my finger on it I'm hardly a prescriptivist either
Re: It's not what the world needs right now
#107Most other comments so far have viewed this artist's lifestyle negatively, as he wrote that he got by via abusing various policies and tax fraud (via "[hallucinating] a DJ software skin" to claim as a business expense). But he's an interesting person for sticking to his craft for close to a decade now: he has persisted in working hard to produce artwork and submit it for exhibition. However, to what extent is this li…
The common wisdom is , if you’re going to be an artist, it better be because you can be nothing else. It’s that hard. So, it’s a rare person indeed who can be a serious artist and support themselves financially some other way
Our choices about what we do (as a craft/career/industry/etc.) aren’t solely dictated by things like “because I can be nothing else.” Mostly because I doubt that most people (including myself) would even have the ability to answer that question for themselves.
I have no idea how everyone ended up doing what they are doing, but I know that mine wasnt dictated by that at all. At 18, when I was about to graduate high school, I had absolutely zero sense about who I can or cannot be. Over a decade later, I have a slightly better grasp on it. But it barely moved the needle, and I still have no idea who i can or cannot be.
I picked CS (computer science) as my degree. I had almost no experience with writing code (turbopascal 5 years prior for a semester doesn’t count), and i was behind most of my classmates in that aspect (who tested out of the first two intro courses, since they either had HS internships or AP CS credits or just personal projects like published apps and guthub repos).
Well actually, originally I picked EE (electrical engineering), but then I switched during the second day of the summer orientation for incoming freshmen to CS. Once we got to registering for the first semester of classes on the second day, I saw the choice of classes I had vs. what CS students had. The descriptions just sounded more interesting to me.
Did I base my choice at any given point based on who I thought I could be? Not at all. I had zero knowledge that led me to believe I would be a more capable CS graduate (as opposed to EE). I also chose not to go for pre-med, despite my parents’ wishes, but it also had nothing to do with who I thought I could or couldn’t be. I am glad I didnt go that route, because after developing an ongoing friendship with a guy who eventually became a licensed dermatologist, I learned a lot of things that led me to believe I couldn’t be a doctor (not without losing my sanity, at least).
I guess the point along this longwinded reply is, I don’t buy it even for a second that a significant number of artists picked their field because they didnt think they could be something else. Most of them are people just like you and me, and I believe they are just as aware that they have no idea as to whom they can and cannot be. At the very best, they would have a short list of who they know they cannot be (just like i know i could never be a doctor).
Re: It's not what the world needs right now
#108The fact that so many people on HN dislike this proves hacker culture died in programming..
I don’t think hacker culture is dead. Rather, computing entered its Eternal September; a career in software engineering, especially in the United States, now carries a similar cachet to being a doctor or lawyer, and the startup world has attracted those who want to make a fortune. The geeks, nerds, scholars, artists, and other varied misfits who once dominated the field have been outnumbered by those looking for mone…
It’s not just money they made so much money they actually dislodged and eliminated the conditions and opportunities that created hacker culture in the first place
Re: It's not what the world needs right now
#109The fact that so many people on HN dislike this proves hacker culture died in programming..
I read HN almost daily and comment here often, but I don't like the name. I wish they'd chosen to call it something more like "startup news" instead, as that feels like a more accurate representation of the site and its community and standards.
More like “capitalist porn.” Mostly seems to just be people salivating over how much wealth they can extract with the next big tech advancements.
Re: It's not what the world needs right now
#110Most other comments so far have viewed this artist's lifestyle negatively, as he wrote that he got by via abusing various policies and tax fraud (via "[hallucinating] a DJ software skin" to claim as a business expense). But he's an interesting person for sticking to his craft for close to a decade now: he has persisted in working hard to produce artwork and submit it for exhibition. However, to what extent is this li…
> "[hallucinating] a DJ software skin" to claim as a business expense
I don't think he's claiming a hallucinated skin as a business expense. Rather he's saying the Turbotax UI has some slider in it, and he hallucinates that Turbotax is instead DJ software, and he slides that slider around like a DJ would slide a sound modulator slider around, arriving at a fraudulent number.