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> John Carmack: You wind up getting this sense of partisanship or just taking sides. It’s human nature, I suppose, but when it gets away from a strict technical
by blinkingled 9y ago
> John Carmack: You wind up getting this sense of partisanship or just taking sides. It’s human nature, I suppose, but when it gets away from a strict technical discussion, then you start getting your ”army of followers.” I suppose that’s part of having influence, but it’s not a part that I’m particularly comfortable with.
This is so pervasive (politics, technology) and damaging (less so in technical world but there's still the price of stunted intelligence to pay) that I wish along with me more people in the world would read this and pledge to making every discussion interesting and productive.
- ksk 9y agoWhy do you believe its less in the technical world?
- smitherfield 9y agoOne (not necessarily me) could argue that there is (or, at least, ought to be if people took their egos out of it) usually a clear and objective way to resolve technical disputes, while the same is not at all true of (parent comment's other example) political disputes.
- ksk 9y agoI think that in-spite of being programmers, we've deluded ourselves into believing that we can be hyper objective. The practical human factors IMHO, always overpower theoretical technical decisions, and bring you back into the realm of politics/social issues. But that is a very large topic for discussion and comments won't do it justice.
- blinkingled 9y agoI meant from a what do we have to lose standpoint - good tech loses, bad wins it's liveable. Politics on the other hand, if bad ideas win real people and sometimes entire nations end up getting hurt or are put at a long lasting disadvantage.
- ksk 9y agoAh okay. Hmm.. but OTOH, lot of programmers have (knowingly and unknowingly) aided surveillance/weapons programs, that have caused damage, though ofcource, I will concede that its not the same as putting a dictator in power.
- ionised 9y agoIf you have helped develop surveillance technology used by dictors you are at the very least complicit in the dictatorship in return for profit.