You can tell you’re slop weary when it feels enjoyable just to read text at length written purely by a human.
What happened to nerds?
391–400 of 541 posts
Re: What happened to nerds?
#392[deleted]
Re: What happened to nerds?
#393I don’t know why you’d think “being interested in nerdy stuff like computers” would somehow translate into virtuous behavior. They seem like entirely different things to me, in the sense that I wouldn’t expect a writer, or a baker, or a chef to have typical ethical behaviors as a group. “What happened” was just that some people got rich and powerful and their real personalities showed through. This is not a new thing…
[deleted]
Re: What happened to nerds?
#394It's the logical conclusion of the acceptance of hacktivist/activist groups in the tech community. Activists/Hacktivists want something their way. If they don't get it, they resort to violence, disruption, and/or harassment (rather than use mainstream political tools like trying to get elected into office or trying to get new laws passed).
This sort of behavior is authoritarian. During Covid, this was was very apparent. I saw tech leaders supporting forced vaccinations, suppressing opinions online, and getting people fired from their job for simply stating their opinion.
Magazines like 2600, who always championed freedom of speech and expression during multiple administrations, showed their true colors. They supported suppression of people they disagreed with politically.
Twitter/Facebook were found to be colluding with the government to target individuals that made the government look bad or had contrarian views.
The worst part? It was swept under the rug. Nobody in the tech industry cared.
This is why I support the suppression of rights of people I disagree with politically. This tit for tat will need to continue, until lessons are learned, and it stops for everyone.
Re: What happened to nerds?
#395You 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…
I've definitely met some finance folks who are nerds. Had a very fun conversation with one where we concluded that Culver's Scoopie Tokens are dairy forwards.
I actually agree with the author's evaluation, but the irony is that their post is the first time I heard about this Founders Mafia thing. They're right that last thing we need is more people looking past the sins of the Thiels and Altmans of the world. Maybe this kind of thing works within 100 miles of the Pacific coast. But as a non-SV native still getting used to the culture around here, I see zero risk of this kind of content sowing any fondness for tech CEOs outside of the most tech-brainwormed regions of the world.
Re: What happened to nerds?
#396Nerds used to have a internet to discuss tech in, you were allowed to make an argument based on logic and reasoning. Then the ideologues and political commissars showed up, giving zero shit about tech or logical reasoning, this pulled the discourse down to the lowest common denominator and the rest is history. Why should I take the moral high ground and listen to an argument I dislike if I'm not offered the same cour…
Why didn't they build a nerd oasis somewhere? And HN isn't it...
HN is one of the closest to it IMO. I sometimes think the very Web1.0-ness of its interface and its hostility to mobile browsers are purposefully made speed bumps before becoming fully mainstream.
Also time passes and people change. Many of the people on HN today were once dialup users. They are the same people but also different.
Re: What happened to nerds?
#397This 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…
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…
Artistophanes lampooned the Sophists and lawyers in his Greek comedies. When using words as your literal way to power and change, you will have demagogues.
Re: What happened to nerds?
#398I don’t know why you’d think “being interested in nerdy stuff like computers” would somehow translate into virtuous behavior. They seem like entirely different things to me, in the sense that I wouldn’t expect a writer, or a baker, or a chef to have typical ethical behaviors as a group. “What happened” was just that some people got rich and powerful and their real personalities showed through. This is not a new thing…
Nerd-dom has also somehow merged with the world of fantasy and fandom. These are subcultures obsessed with hero journeys, morality tales, escapism, and cartoonish black-and-white ethical systems. I don't expect such people to handle fame and wealth well at all.
Obsessed fans will talk your ear off about the amazing scene where the superhero had to choose between saving humanity and the magical macguffin as though it were the most sophisticated storytelling ever created. Their frame of reference is very narrow.
I’m sure there are lots of sophisticates on here who enjoy that stuff along with a wider variety of literature. But the ones I know who love it are almost exclusively into it.
Re: What happened to nerds?
#399Earlier 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 the Xerox Alto had a budget for 10 years. Unthinkable in today's "What did you publish?? Publish or it didn't happen. No R01 for you! (2 year funding)" culture.
Why is publishing papers an unreasonable expectation?
Isn't that the primary mechanism for exchanging knowledge and driving discussion among academics?
If not, what should replace it?
Re: What happened to nerds?
#400Discussion from 3 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48504361
Do dupe's get necessarily de-ranked ?
If it has active participation in the form of new comments, it makes sense to merge the comments and not penalize the post.