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I'm so glad linus did the minimum when working on Linux, you know, since he wasn't getting paid and there was no perceivable financial gain in it. This meme th

by jshen 16y ago

I'm so glad linus did the minimum when working on Linux, you know, since he wasn't getting paid and there was no perceivable financial gain in it. This meme that money is the only significant benefit from ones efforts should be plainly false. Why smart people believe it is beyond me.

ericd 16y ago
Linus really can't be used as an example of what normal behavior would be. Noone's saying it's the only significant benefit, but for a lot of people, it is the overwhelming majority of the benefit of what they do. Programmers live in a privileged bubble compared to most.
- jbooth 16y ago
  Of course, when we're talking about the top of the income scale, we're very specifically talking about the group of people who live in that privileged bubble.
- jshen 16y ago
  I disagree. most people I know have some passion that they do for the love of it. Whether it's playing guitar, doing wood work, cooking, etc. Many of us here happen to have a passion for programming. But in all cases, money is not the motivator. If money were such a strong motivator video games would be a lot less popular.
  - ericd 16y ago
    Weren't we talking about livelihoods? Of course people have hobbies... For a very large percentage of people, their livelihood and their passion are not the same thing, and it's mistaken to use programmers like Linus as representative of most people or what would happen in something like Communism.
tjansen 16y ago
Linux is not a good example, because many (most?) good programmers love their work and would do it without payment. But this is not the case for many (most?) other workers - they would rather do something else and only work because they have to, or because their job pays better than other alternatives.
- jshen 16y ago
  I think you're missing the point. That's only because other people aren't usually paid to do what they enjoy. However, most of them will have a passion like cooking, wood working, gardening, competitive video games, basketball, etc. If money were such a strong motivator things like video games would be a lot less popular. Pickup basketball would be a lot less popular.
MrDunham 16y ago
There's a fantastic video on What Motivates Us. Link is [video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc . One of the things they showed an inverse correlation on amount someone gets paid and what they produce when it's anything above menial labor. Highly worth a watch.

by jshen 16y ago

ericd 16y ago

Linus really can't be used as an example of what normal behavior would be. Noone's saying it's the only significant benefit, but for a lot of people, it is the overwhelming majority of the benefit of what they do. Programmers live in a privileged bubble compared to most.

jbooth 16y ago
Of course, when we're talking about the top of the income scale, we're very specifically talking about the group of people who live in that privileged bubble.
jshen 16y ago
I disagree. most people I know have some passion that they do for the love of it. Whether it's playing guitar, doing wood work, cooking, etc. Many of us here happen to have a passion for programming. But in all cases, money is not the motivator. If money were such a strong motivator video games would be a lot less popular.
- ericd 16y ago
  Weren't we talking about livelihoods? Of course people have hobbies... For a very large percentage of people, their livelihood and their passion are not the same thing, and it's mistaken to use programmers like Linus as representative of most people or what would happen in something like Communism.

tjansen 16y ago

Linux is not a good example, because many (most?) good programmers love their work and would do it without payment. But this is not the case for many (most?) other workers - they would rather do something else and only work because they have to, or because their job pays better than other alternatives.

jshen 16y ago
I think you're missing the point. That's only because other people aren't usually paid to do what they enjoy. However, most of them will have a passion like cooking, wood working, gardening, competitive video games, basketball, etc. If money were such a strong motivator things like video games would be a lot less popular. Pickup basketball would be a lot less popular.

MrDunham 16y ago

There's a fantastic video on What Motivates Us. Link is [video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc . One of the things they showed an inverse correlation on amount someone gets paid and what they produce when it's anything above menial labor. Highly worth a watch.