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What the fuck happened to nerds

mrmarket.bearblog.dev

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Re: What the fuck happened to nerds

#41

Post by mc32 »

alephnerd wrote: post #12
mc32 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be terse but generalizing a bit, technologists used to want to solve problems and make things easier. At some point, under the influence of MBAs it became how do we make loads of money leveraging technology’s network effects?

At least in the US, most tech leaders and middle managers never did an MBA. Most are engineers who climbed the ladder into management. Edit: Can't reply > “Making money off of shareware” is no longer enough Based on this I am guessing you are at least 10-15 years older than me and probably grew up in the 1980s and experienced the 1990s internet > how do we make this company into an investment multiplier > It’s a diff…

Could be so but once their companies get on the path to getting listed they get advice from their banks or investors and either or both have one thing in mind: how do we make this company into an investment multiplier? Also often founders are paired with business types to make companies more viable.

“Making money off of shareware” is no longer enough (never mind that it’s a non-starter now that everything is needs to be saas these days.)

It’s a different mentality. It about unicorns or bust now.

Re: What the fuck happened to nerds

#42

Post by mc32 »

mrhottakes wrote: post #30
plastic-enjoyer wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that technologists are doing themselves a disservice by blaming the problems within their industry on MBAs. Many of the problems we see in the tech industry, and the reason why public opinion is not exactly positive, are primarily due to ideological factors. Whether you call it Californian ideology or whatever, many people in the tech industry think only in terms of efficiency and value. And if something isn’…

Yep. You can try blaming it on MBAs, but the people that did this (e.g. Ellison, Andreessen, Musk, Zuck, and so on) are not MBAs.

Who are the folks leading their finance organizations? Also who compose their boards of directors?

Also Google buying double click was an inflection point. Ads were kind of annoying up till then but they had not become the gross monstrosity that now exploits users and corrupts business.

Re: What the fuck happened to nerds

#43

Post by dozerly »

geraldwhen wrote: post #36
andrenotgiant wrote: post #20

I have an imperfect "canary in the coalmine" test for whether/where the principled/idealist nerds have the power vs the mercenary/cynical nerds have the power: Advertisers vs Ad Blockers - as long as the Ad Blockers are blocking the vast majority of junk, I feel like team principles is winning. Like they have more nerd power to outsmart the lesser nerds working on team mercenary. But there are places like Facebook wh…

There are currently multiple trivial ways for a layman to block all YouTube ads.

Clearly the original comment is from a mercenary nerd who has not heard of DNS blocking of ads.

Re: What the fuck happened to nerds

#44

Post by jmuguy »

In the movie Revenge of the Nerds, they basically rape someone. So I dunno, being a "nerd" doesn't necessarily imply you're also a good person. Mark Zuckerberg is definitely a nerd, and he's also a piece of shit.

I also think its another variation of that trope that the people that seek power are the very ones you don't want to have it. And those that don't care about it are the ones we need to seek it. Take Woz for example.

Re: What the fuck happened to nerds

#45

Post by andrenotgiant »

geraldwhen wrote: post #36
andrenotgiant wrote: post #20

I have an imperfect "canary in the coalmine" test for whether/where the principled/idealist nerds have the power vs the mercenary/cynical nerds have the power: Advertisers vs Ad Blockers - as long as the Ad Blockers are blocking the vast majority of junk, I feel like team principles is winning. Like they have more nerd power to outsmart the lesser nerds working on team mercenary. But there are places like Facebook wh…

There are currently multiple trivial ways for a layman to block all YouTube ads.

mostly true - but youtube has experimented with forcing a "loading state" for ad block users that was the same duration as the ads they would have watched. https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1l7b3c8/strange_lo...

Re: What the fuck happened to nerds

#46

Post by tennfown »

taeric wrote: post #28

I could similarly ask what happened to journalists? Or the politician that cared about their stated principals. The reality isn't even that they went away, necessarily. Or that it was all a lie. There were always exceptions and it always took some level of good faith between our different institutions to keep them working well. At some point, that good faith interaction got hijacked and it has quickly spread as a rot…

> I could similarly ask what happened to journalists? Or the politician that cared about their stated principals.

It’s all the same. What happened is that principals became a liability and lying became a virtue.

Re: What the fuck happened to nerds

#48

Post by mrhottakes »

alephnerd wrote: post #37
mrhottakes wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you read the article, it's not about competition.

I read the article, but the attributes which OP views as negative are just the general traits of hypercompetitive people. The only way to win is by hook or by crook - that is what you learn in hypercompetitive environments. Edit: Can't reply > Yours is the kind of attitude that has ruined the industry If you can't compete you will be made redundant. Honestly, in some aspects that is what I appreciate about the Chines…

Yours is the kind of attitude that has ruined the industry. Congrats.

Re: What the fuck happened to nerds

#49

Post by Ntrails »

kzrdude wrote: post #39
nathan_compton wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would happily, delightedly, see the entire internet disappear in a puff of smoke, to remove ads from the world. Honestly, I'd be happy to see everything on the internet except the wikipedia vanish regardless, at this point.

Much of the mundane world - tv, bus stops, and so on seems to have ads. While in my nerd domain, my computer, I don't see ads at all. So it would seem that open source software is letting me live without ads on the internet, from home. I was even annoyed at the ads in a paper newspaper I was leafing through, I'm not just used to them and I think some of them were a bit dishonest and scummy.

Compared to the 40 ft led screen blaring images out to everyone 24h a day in central London I will take the newspaper any day. Drives me nuts

Re: What the fuck happened to nerds

#50

Post by mrhottakes »

mc32 wrote: post #42
mrhottakes wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. You can try blaming it on MBAs, but the people that did this (e.g. Ellison, Andreessen, Musk, Zuck, and so on) are not MBAs.

Who are the folks leading their finance organizations? Also who compose their boards of directors? Also Google buying double click was an inflection point. Ads were kind of annoying up till then but they had not become the gross monstrosity that now exploits users and corrupts business.

Who cares? Do you think the CFO is secretly controlling the actions of Zuck/Musk/Ellison/etc.?
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