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Everything great and bad about JavaScript can be explained by a simple facet of human behavior and one simple principle of technology. JavaScript has a low bar

Everything great and bad about JavaScript can be explained by a simple facet of human behavior and one simple principle of technology. JavaScript has a low barrier of entry, which means you don't have to be incredibly competent to write code or get hired to write code. It also means a novice with incredible potential could eventually learn to build great things in the language. An interesting phenomenon of human behavior is that people cannot practice charity and profit simultaneously (altruism versus egoism). It is a forced dichotomy. You have to choose and there is no middle ground. This forced choice is present even when the environment, incentives, and stimulus allow for both. This is long observed in scientific philosophy, but there is also a fair amount of behavioral health research on this as well. These factors could explain, even when normalizing for hours of practice, why open source practitioners may develop more skill and interest than developers limiting their practice to employment contributions. It might also explain why code in commonly despised fields, such as online advertising or e-commerce checkout platforms, are so incredibly awful and negligent.

sdegutis 8y ago
> An interesting phenomenon of human behavior is that people cannot practice charity and profit simultaneously (altruism versus egoism). It is a forced dichotomy. You have to choose and there is no middle ground. This forced choice is present even when the environment, incentives, and stimulus allow for both. This is long observed in scientific philosophy, but there is also a fair amount of behavioral health research on this as well. This may be common but it's not an absolute. There is a middle ground, you can profit without exploiting anyone, for the definition "use [someone or something] in an unfair or selfish way". The trick is to exploit using the definition "make full use of and derive benefit from", and making full use of anyone's talents and skills always includes improving their morale, which is mutually exclusive with being a selfish or greedy company.
- austincheney 8y ago
  > There is a middle ground, you can profit without exploiting anyone That is not a middle ground. It is one of two classes of motivations. Profit does not imply exploitation, manipulation, or any form of dishonesty.

sdegutis 8y ago

> An interesting phenomenon of human behavior is that people cannot practice charity and profit simultaneously (altruism versus egoism). It is a forced dichotomy. You have to choose and there is no middle ground. This forced choice is present even when the environment, incentives, and stimulus allow for both. This is long observed in scientific philosophy, but there is also a fair amount of behavioral health research on this as well. This may be common but it's not an absolute. There is a middle ground, you can profit without exploiting anyone, for the definition "use [someone or something] in an unfair or selfish way". The trick is to exploit using the definition "make full use of and derive benefit from", and making full use of anyone's talents and skills always includes improving their morale, which is mutually exclusive with being a selfish or greedy company.

austincheney 8y ago
> There is a middle ground, you can profit without exploiting anyone That is not a middle ground. It is one of two classes of motivations. Profit does not imply exploitation, manipulation, or any form of dishonesty.