6 ms·

Condescending title aims to portray youth opinion as shallow

by staplers 9y ago

ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
For this hacker news commenter, news article headline is, like, lame.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
iovrthoughtthis 9y ago
Back in my day we tortured ourselves for years attempting to forfifll out dreams of sustaining ourselves on our own creation, these whippersnappers don't understand the sacrifice. - entrepreneurs from the 2000's in 30 years.
stcredzero 9y ago
Youth opinion is shallow? Nah. When I was 5, I thought I knew it all. How could my parents be such dolts? However, when I was 10, I realized how stupid I was before, but I had a pretty good handle on everything. How could my parents be so clueless? On the other hand, when I was 15, I finally realized how much of a dummy I'd always been, but by then I had it all figured out. Also, what's up with my parents!? But that was just nonsense, of course! When I turned 20, I realized how much of a dumb teen I had been, but then I had all of the essential truths of how the world works pretty much figured out... Kids are genius. However, youth opinion is uninformed by experience.
- nostrademons 9y ago
  If you live a fulfilling life, the process continues up through 25, 30, 35, and presumably onwards though I haven't gotten there yet. Unfortunately a large number of people get to 25 or 30, figure "I'm an adult now", and then their mental model of the world gets stuck at however it was when they were that age even as the world changes around them.
  - jrs95 9y ago
    And if you’re lucky you might have actual realizations instead of just adopting the ones society tells you to. Do kids think their parents are stupid because of genuine observation, or is it because we tell kids to think their parents are stupid?
    - stcredzero 9y ago
      Mostly the latter.
      - nostrademons 9y ago
        I'm not entirely sure of that. Kids have excellent bullshit detectors, because a.) they haven't been socialized to keep their mouth shut when they see bullshit and b.) they don't have incentives to keep their mouth shut when they see bullshit. (cf. Emperor's New Clothes) On one level kids think their parents are stupid because they don't have experience with the constraints their parents live under (eg. getting a job, keeping a job, putting a roof over your heads), but on another level the parents are stupid because they've let themselves internalize those constraints beyond what's rational (eg. working so hard that you're unhappy all the time and don't have time for the kids, not looking for another job when you hate your current one). I've seen a number of instances - mostly surrounding racism, classism, overwork, violence, corruption, or misaligned incentives - where kids will say something both profound and naive and I'll think to myself "Yes, you're absolutely right, and unfortunately humanity is filled with idiots."
        stcredzero 9y ago
        Kids have excellent bullshit detectors, because a.) they haven't been socialized to keep their mouth shut when they see bullshit and b.) they don't have incentives to keep their mouth shut when they see bullshit. (cf. Emperor's New Clothes) Very true. This happened to me. However, what you don't get enough of in our culture, is that the new "truth" the kids take as a substitute is often another come-on which is crafted to appeal to a younger generation or an updated culture. You can see analogues for this in 19th century culture, but with the added benefit of hindsight. Various utopian and romantic movements from the 1800's and even in the early 20th century are these saccharine substitutes for truth. However, if you look at them closely and take them apart, you will find that they are based on some sort of conceit or assumption which falls apart under closer examination, or with the benefit of over a century of human and scientific progress. Marxism is a key example. Karl Marx's problem with the "accidental" is the unwarranted and demonstrably false assumption that emergent processes can't usefully regulate complex systems. Of course, Marx didn't have the benefit of a couple of centuries of continued development in biology and the benefit of computer science and game theory. Rousseau's "noble savage" is another such honeypot fiction that the 21st century Left is still plagued by in transmogrified form. "Yes, you're absolutely right, and unfortunately humanity is filled with idiots." Do you really think you can do a better job? Marxist intellectuals who became revolutionaries thought much the same. Their record in the 20th century speaks for itself.
- intrasight 9y ago
  When you reach a certain level of experience, you gain the wisdom that your parents where actually very smart and hard-working and had set a great example for you. That might happen when you hit 20 or 50 or it may never happen. For me it happened when I had teenage kids.
teh_klev 9y ago
Well, having once been a youth, I can safely say that youth opinion is in fact shallow.
- Xeoncross 9y ago
  > having once been a youth Do you have any sources?
  - teh_klev 9y ago
    Well, I do remember being 25 years old, and now I am going to be 52 next month. At 25 my opinions were quite definitely quite shallow, with hindsight. That is my source.

Condescending title aims to portray youth opinion as shallow

ghostbrainalpha 9y ago

For this hacker news commenter, news article headline is, like, lame.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

iovrthoughtthis 9y ago

Back in my day we tortured ourselves for years attempting to forfifll out dreams of sustaining ourselves on our own creation, these whippersnappers don't understand the sacrifice. - entrepreneurs from the 2000's in 30 years.

stcredzero 9y ago

Youth opinion is shallow? Nah. When I was 5, I thought I knew it all. How could my parents be such dolts? However, when I was 10, I realized how stupid I was before, but I had a pretty good handle on everything. How could my parents be so clueless? On the other hand, when I was 15, I finally realized how much of a dummy I'd always been, but by then I had it all figured out. Also, what's up with my parents!? But that was just nonsense, of course! When I turned 20, I realized how much of a dumb teen I had been, but then I had all of the essential truths of how the world works pretty much figured out... Kids are genius. However, youth opinion is uninformed by experience.

nostrademons 9y ago
If you live a fulfilling life, the process continues up through 25, 30, 35, and presumably onwards though I haven't gotten there yet. Unfortunately a large number of people get to 25 or 30, figure "I'm an adult now", and then their mental model of the world gets stuck at however it was when they were that age even as the world changes around them.
- jrs95 9y ago
  And if you’re lucky you might have actual realizations instead of just adopting the ones society tells you to. Do kids think their parents are stupid because of genuine observation, or is it because we tell kids to think their parents are stupid?
  - stcredzero 9y ago
    Mostly the latter.
    - nostrademons 9y ago
      I'm not entirely sure of that. Kids have excellent bullshit detectors, because a.) they haven't been socialized to keep their mouth shut when they see bullshit and b.) they don't have incentives to keep their mouth shut when they see bullshit. (cf. Emperor's New Clothes) On one level kids think their parents are stupid because they don't have experience with the constraints their parents live under (eg. getting a job, keeping a job, putting a roof over your heads), but on another level the parents are stupid because they've let themselves internalize those constraints beyond what's rational (eg. working so hard that you're unhappy all the time and don't have time for the kids, not looking for another job when you hate your current one). I've seen a number of instances - mostly surrounding racism, classism, overwork, violence, corruption, or misaligned incentives - where kids will say something both profound and naive and I'll think to myself "Yes, you're absolutely right, and unfortunately humanity is filled with idiots."
      - stcredzero 9y ago
        Kids have excellent bullshit detectors, because a.) they haven't been socialized to keep their mouth shut when they see bullshit and b.) they don't have incentives to keep their mouth shut when they see bullshit. (cf. Emperor's New Clothes) Very true. This happened to me. However, what you don't get enough of in our culture, is that the new "truth" the kids take as a substitute is often another come-on which is crafted to appeal to a younger generation or an updated culture. You can see analogues for this in 19th century culture, but with the added benefit of hindsight. Various utopian and romantic movements from the 1800's and even in the early 20th century are these saccharine substitutes for truth. However, if you look at them closely and take them apart, you will find that they are based on some sort of conceit or assumption which falls apart under closer examination, or with the benefit of over a century of human and scientific progress. Marxism is a key example. Karl Marx's problem with the "accidental" is the unwarranted and demonstrably false assumption that emergent processes can't usefully regulate complex systems. Of course, Marx didn't have the benefit of a couple of centuries of continued development in biology and the benefit of computer science and game theory. Rousseau's "noble savage" is another such honeypot fiction that the 21st century Left is still plagued by in transmogrified form. "Yes, you're absolutely right, and unfortunately humanity is filled with idiots." Do you really think you can do a better job? Marxist intellectuals who became revolutionaries thought much the same. Their record in the 20th century speaks for itself.
intrasight 9y ago
When you reach a certain level of experience, you gain the wisdom that your parents where actually very smart and hard-working and had set a great example for you. That might happen when you hit 20 or 50 or it may never happen. For me it happened when I had teenage kids.

teh_klev 9y ago

Well, having once been a youth, I can safely say that youth opinion is in fact shallow.

Xeoncross 9y ago
> having once been a youth Do you have any sources?
- teh_klev 9y ago
  Well, I do remember being 25 years old, and now I am going to be 52 next month. At 25 my opinions were quite definitely quite shallow, with hindsight. That is my source.