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What happened to nerds?

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Re: What happened to nerds?

#311

Post by p-e-w »

almost_usual wrote: post #299
abstractcontrol wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Probably one of the most ego-crushing realizations (if you're a nerd) is to discover that there are people out there MUCH more talented and higher performing than what you'll ever be, but with none of the obsession or pride. In other profession that's not really a topic. You can be a top performer in other professions, without a deep interest, clock out 4 daily, and never think about work outside work. You could cl…

Some people are naturally talented at things. It’s no different than an average athlete who works extremely hard and an elite athlete who puts in half the work but still outperforms the average.

What? Elite athletes put in unimaginably more work than average athletes.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#312

Post by afavour »

nathan_compton wrote: post #293
azalemeth wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Academia is the most relevant, toxic example that I can think of. Be horrible to others on a short term contract (grad students, postdocs) and break them whilst extracting maximum value -- get more papers, more grants written -- more money -- success. Be nice, think about hard problems for a long period of time, only speak up when you have something positive to contribute -- be labelled an underperforming academic an…

> Be nice, think about hard problems for a long period of time, only speak up when you have something positive to contribute -- be labelled an underperforming academic and managed into obscurity. I'm in academy and I'm mostly quiet and seek to contribute honestly and I've been managed into obscurity but I'm also quite happy, pay the bills, and more or less enjoy the work. If you want glory you have to deal with bulls…

It's the money side that applies pressure there. It's great that you're able to make enough money but a lot of people who aspire to the quiet academic life are stuck in the lower tiers making a pittance.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#313

Post by simianwords »

> Phase three (2015 to now): the tech industry as grift-adjacent. The digital commons of 2026 is defined by its grifters. So it's not purely tech's fault that its now seen as a sort of avenue for getting rich quick and amorally, even if you are an otherwise ordinary person. But it is our fault that many of our 'figureheads' are leaning way the hell in on this. Elon Musk is the most absurd example of this, but he almost doesn't count because he is in his own tier of ridiculously self-promotional and attention hungry.

There's a new trend to call everyone you don't like a "grifter". How is Elon a grifter? The dude has been getting shit done on and on for years. This is the opposite of grifter.

> One of them builds autonomous weapons for the Pentagon

Also what is this? Wasn't the whole point to have an agreement to not build AI weapons? I think the author is on some emotional screed.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#314

Post by zozbot234 »

danaris wrote: post #310
zozbot234 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Musk for me was never a nerd. Many "founders" aren't nerds for me. It's pretty hard to describe Elon Musk's ventures in space exploration, robots and human-like AI as anything other than prototypical, "core" nerd culture. Especially when it turns out that the very word 'Elon' shows up in obscure magazine excerpts from the 1950s as the leader of a science-fictional Martian government, and apparently this somehow pla…

His "ventures" started out with PayPal. Not exactly nerd culture. For the nerdy ones, he bought his way in; he never actually founded Tesla. Everything you think you know about him, at least as expressed in this post, is a result of his carefully crafted PR propaganda.

Buying one's way in doesn't exactly negate being interested in the underlying venture. He still had to provide significant funding.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#316

Post by nerdsniper »

newaccountman2 wrote: post #301
nerdsniper wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Law was good people when? During the era of the 3/5ths compromise? Dredd Scott? Plessy? Lochner v NY? Buck v Bell? Korematsu? Finance was good people when? When Swiss banks captured all the war spoils of WW2? When they ran Penny Auctions during the Great Depression? When they financed slave ships? When the Medici financed endless war across Europe? I’m not saying people are all awful, but I don’t think there’s any “b…

> Law was good people when? During the era of the 3/5ths compromise? Dredd Scott? Plessy? Lochner v NY? Buck v Bell? Korematsu? All of those are only things because there were lawyers willing and eager to sue the government over the evils at issue, so your point is much weaker than you think.

That’s actually exactly my point. That all these fields have had good and bad people the entire time and that the ratios probably don’t change all that much.

It sounds like you’d agree with me.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#317

Post by afavour »

zozbot234 wrote: post #126
xlii wrote: post #28

You listen to the Radio Channel you picked. I understand the complaint, though it's like a complain that nerds featured in Cosmopolitan aren't as nerdy as they were. Musk for me was never a nerd. Many "founders" aren't nerds for me. In the end, I wouldn't classify anyone who is "money" first as a nerd - to me they are businessmen (and businesswomen) in their core. Want to see "the lost nerds"? Here, on HN there are m…

> Musk for me was never a nerd. Many "founders" aren't nerds for me. It's pretty hard to describe Elon Musk's ventures in space exploration, robots and human-like AI as anything other than prototypical, "core" nerd culture. Especially when it turns out that the very word 'Elon' shows up in obscure magazine excerpts from the 1950s as the leader of a science-fictional Martian government, and apparently this somehow pla…

> It's pretty hard to describe Elon Musk's ventures in space exploration, robots and human-like AI as anything other than prototypical, "core" nerd culture.

To me (and I realise this might not be a broadly accepted definition) a nerd does things for the passion and without regard for the money. Woz was a nerd, Jobs was not.

Musk has always been about monetising these things. Not to discount that he's interested in them, but for me personally he's not a true nerd. He's a businessman with nerdy interests.

A nerd that perennially wrong about their passion pits (e.g. when self driving is coming, the viability of his tunnel projects) would be mortally embarrassed about being so publicly wrong. Musk doesn't care.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#318

Post by pc86 »

nradov wrote: post #283
azalemeth wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Academia is the most relevant, toxic example that I can think of. Be horrible to others on a short term contract (grad students, postdocs) and break them whilst extracting maximum value -- get more papers, more grants written -- more money -- success. Be nice, think about hard problems for a long period of time, only speak up when you have something positive to contribute -- be labelled an underperforming academic an…

And academia will become even more toxic as opportunities shrink along with declining student enrollment. A lot of the third-tier colleges will close entirely.

This seems good, honestly. A degree from a third-tier college doesn't do anyone any good except the administrators at that college.

Re: What happened to nerds?

#319

Post by willXare »

azalemeth wrote: post #178
sumitkumar wrote: post #55

This happens in any industry where value/status are at a premium. Finance, Law, VC guys were good too in the beginning but when the value/status change happens it attracts certain kind of guys who are average in talent but excel in demonstrating value and social management of the value/status. Another change which has happened recently is that the economics of engagement farming have become common place wisdom as alr…

Academia is the most relevant, toxic example that I can think of. Be horrible to others on a short term contract (grad students, postdocs) and break them whilst extracting maximum value -- get more papers, more grants written -- more money -- success. Be nice, think about hard problems for a long period of time, only speak up when you have something positive to contribute -- be labelled an underperforming academic an…

[flagged]

Re: What happened to nerds?

#320

Post by cameronbrown »

Avicebron wrote: post #272
BoxOfRain wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Politics is irreducible from human affairs, privatization doesn't eliminate politics. It relocates it to a different set of actors. We ideologically privatised the water sector into regional private monopolies in the UK, and anyone who's had experience with the water monopolies knows this is the truth.

We in the US did the same with PG&E (gas and electric utility) out in California. It goes as well as expected, which is to say poorly.

In the UK, gas & electric is also privatised and in a poor state too :)

Almost like private investment generates return for investors, not customers. Sometimes those align.

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