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Ask HN: Why are we more and more talking about the past here on HN?

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Re: Ask HN: Why are we more and more talking about the past here on HN?

#151

Post by taurath »

Because the squeeze is happening, and the only winners are the executives and investors. Everyone who works a labor job, even in software, see's that the idea of a steady job is being destroyed by management at companies. It is churn time, its do more work with less even when you get to keep your job.

And the ones cheering it on here are the ones that still believe deeply in the power of the market and capitalism (E.G. if you're not good enough to have a job then you're not good enough). Even if it doesn't work for them, it might someday so better not have any worker protections in place.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we more and more talking about the past here on HN?

#152

Post by CM30 »

nologic01 wrote: post #47
tormeh wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN is quite money-oriented and economically liberal, although nothing beats Blind in this regard. Many FOSS developers don't like this. I think it has less to do with age.

I find various economic views are represented, but the economic discussions are quite a bit less sophisticated than the technical ones. That's a general pattern of techie discourse: see also, e.g., the absurd simplifications around human intelligence and AI.

That feels less like a techie discourse thing and more of an enthusiast/expert discourse one. Put a bunch of experts together and ask them to discuss their field, and you'll get some great discussions. Put the same people together and have them discuss something they're not that knowledgeable about, and well, the results won't differ much from the general population's attempts, except maybe with slightly more sophisticated language.

I suspect if you got a bunch of doctors, lawyers, architects, etc to discuss economics you'd get the same results as here for the most part.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we more and more talking about the past here on HN?

#153

Post by juve1996 »

ryandrake wrote: post #99
sph wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been wrestling with a terrifying idea lately: The Internet, in its current form, is not a force for good. And the way it is going, it will be a net negative for humanity as a whole. The Internet itself is just bits pushed between computers, but the things we have built on it are dystopian, are a huge cause of the current loneliness epidemic (epidemics have an end date, this is a trend), and it's a way to contr…

I think OP is distinguishing between the Internet, which is a neutral technology, "a series of tubes" vs. the horrible web sites being built on top of it. There is plenty of good in these tubes and plenty of bad. Let's focus blame on the actual bad sites that push the average down to negative. The Internet is not just Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Realistically though most of the internet has become more centralized.

Even if there is good in the far corners, most don't find it anymore.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we more and more talking about the past here on HN?

#154

Post by juve1996 »

JohnFen wrote: post #66

In general, nostalgia grows in potency when the current conditions are problematic or stressful. It's a kind of escapism. I think this accounts for a lot of it.

I think this is generally true, but is it true right now?

It seems like all generations know we aren't in great times.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we more and more talking about the past here on HN?

#155

Post by jodrellblank »

hammyhavoc wrote: post #69
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hypothesize that a lot of interesting discussion also happens in smaller group chats, where people can be more candid while receiving reasonable responses. Public social media participants are often assholes or have ulterior motives. It takes a lot of courage to discuss a new technology while in its baby form, which can easily be smothered by demands of perfection. A private group chat can do a better job at helpin…

I highly doubt that most people on HN are even involved with most immature technologies other than being an end-user of some aspect of it. Ergo, I doubt that an HN discussion would have any significant impact on the growth of any kind of technology. Who needs courage when there's objectivity in facts? Even so, people still rabidly defend the new shiny simply because it's new or something they're heavily invested in,…

"I highly doubt x" "facts don't care about feelings" "you're probably just an end-user" "you're probably defending it because it's shitty and you're over invested in" "you're a coward"

This is the kind of bullshit commentary people discuss things in private to get away from. Your comment contributes nothing positive, encouraging, no suspension of disbelief, no nurturing environment, only hostile derision and holier-than-thou posturing.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we more and more talking about the past here on HN?

#156

Post by moomoo11 »

askafriend wrote: post #150
moomoo11 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it’s been tough to deal with it. Like I said I find way more pleasure holding and selling apple shares than I do buying their products. I’m fact now I wish they make even more artsy phones lol I won’t use it but they will sell.

I 100% respect that! The way I see it, there needs to be at least one company in the world that sees computing as a functional artform. It's an important perspective and clearly it resonates - people love it. We have plenty of companies that don't take this perspective. In fact, it's the default way of thinking. We're not really lacking choice here.

Yeah I love watching all the unboxing and review videos of these gadgets. Very cool stuff.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we more and more talking about the past here on HN?

#157

Post by moomoo11 »

shrimp_emoji wrote: post #142
moomoo11 wrote: post #92

I know rose tinted goggles and all that. But honestly the older I get the worse the quality of products has become (for me - important). Everything has shifted towards planned obsolescence and I barely spend money today when I make way more than I used to when I first started working. I got a Tesla and it was built crappy and interior kept breaking. A purchase should make me happy but I felt like my dollar didn’t go…

Capitalism has overoptimized for profit, I think. The paperclip maximizer has started eating puppies to produce too many paperclips. I'm enchanted by the phrase "quality that's too high for the market to rationally produce". It referred to how much quality a hobbyist can put into a physical good because they're not manufacturing them at scale or for profit. I didn't realize that's a moving target though. ;p

Capitalism is cool because eventually there will be something I enjoy and it will make me super happy lol.
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