Why is it that Hacker News linked blog posts and comments and such are so full of "you are not X" and "don't try to be as good as X because you are not, take th

Why is it that Hacker News linked blog posts and comments and such are so full of "you are not X" and "don't try to be as good as X because you are not, take the safe route and be safely mediocre" type stuff? You guys are harshing my mellow. Seriously though... no, adopting some superficial Apple-like guidelines will not make you Apple. But understanding at a conceptual level how Apple does what it does might help. I think the root of these kinds of comments is what I've come to call "success mysticism" in business. It's the idea that the successful have some mystical thing called "what it takes" that is opaque and cannot be understood. You either have it or you don't. This is bullshit. Success comes from experience, intelligence, hard work, dedication, and a little bit of luck. Only the latter item is at all mystical. Business is really different from science, engineering, and hacker culture in that it's really really superstitious. People usually refuse to examine the black boxes of success, and when they try they usually draw superstitious and superficial conclusions.