As with many of the long threads I write, a bunch of folks requested I make this one into a blog post. One person offered that they wanted to see the ideas get more airing, like maybe trending on hacker news. (cont’d)
And I realized that one of the reasons I love twitter is _because_ threads never show up on hacker news.
I’d much rather deal with obvious trolling than with the shallow intellectualism and deep misogyny of hacker news😬
I’d much rather deal with obvious trolling than with the shallow intellectualism and deep misogyny of hacker news😬
It’s a whole website full of James Damores - not that they’re all misogynist asshats (though, sorta, & that starts with PG).
I mean that they notice something, and instead of being curious & wondering what’s actually going on, maybe doing real research or digging into literature...they just go look for research that confirms their perceptions.
It leads to style of discourse where things look superficially plausible (and easily convince the unwary) but unravel upon any deeper analysis.
Then they’re like “prove me wrong I have science!!!” and nobody has time to go correct the avalanche of misperceptions and biases that got them to that place.
Some folks heroically try, and I do appreciate that. But most of the discussions are those folks falling for each other’s shallow analyses, & reinforcing the problem.
The sense of group intellectual superiority that pervades the discussions on hacker news also reinforces the problem.
Opinion from outside? Ha ha nope, invalid because they’re not as smart as us.
Opinion from outside? Ha ha nope, invalid because they’re not as smart as us.
I’d rather not have my work on hacker news, because everything they see somehow becomes confirmation of their own superiority, and I don’t want my work used that way.
I suppose at some point it’s inevitable, if I do more long-form writing. But it’s definitely a drawback. [end]
I suppose at some point it’s inevitable, if I do more long-form writing. But it’s definitely a drawback. [end]
As a postscript and something of a counterpoint, here’s a great thread from someone who does engage actively with hacker news:
Five and a half years later, it’s still the truest twit on twitter
Finally: the things you hate the most are the things you‘re afraid you might be.
That’s definitely the case here, for me.
That’s definitely the case here, for me.
I used to believe very deeply in engineer exceptionalism, and I have not yet fully unearthed all the ways that’s woven into my opinions.
And part of the reason I read so much is to understand the breadth of current research, to hopefully avoid my own scientific cherry-picking.
And part of the reason I read so much is to understand the breadth of current research, to hopefully avoid my own scientific cherry-picking.
In conclusion, the only way to absolutely guarantee that there’s something else I want to say on a topic is to put [end] on a tweet about it.
