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I once was talking to one of the household-name DNS guys and asked what he thought about djbdns and he said something along the lines of: "It's unfortunate that

I once was talking to one of the household-name DNS guys and asked what he thought about djbdns and he said something along the lines of: "It's unfortunate that he's so abrasive, because he has some really great ideas that nobody will listen to because of it." I've more recently come a little bit to terms with this whole abrasive thing being a brain chemistry artifact, and not just being an asshole for assholes sake. Because it seems to disproportionately impact those of us in the technical field. Not to excuse it, but to understand it.

SmallPeePeeMan 6y ago
> Not to excuse it, but to understand it. Indeed. I don’t have to abide such people, and neither do you. Now if he had found a cure for cancer, would we have more tolerance?
ergothus 6y ago
I'm not a psychologist so I should probably shut up, but I'll continue: It seems like it does hit the tech field more often, yet overwhelmingly I see leading people in tech get softer, more empathetic, and more open to outside ideas the longer they work and the more experience they gain. Perhaps this is selection bias (the people I see are the "popular" ones, so of course they are the ones with more social awareness), or perhaps there is no hard and fast "genius requires ego". Note: I'm aware you didn't say that it did, you only mentioned that abrasive-ness seems disproportionately frequent in the tech field. I'm all for improving our understanding and ways of communication - I've definitely known people in the "asshole" category that were surprised and bothered to discover that was how they came across - but I'm not interested in normalizing abuse as a necessary cost. Which, again, you didn't say nor imply, but the concepts are related to what you've brought up, so I mention it here because the topic is interesting, not as a counterpoint.
gowld 6y ago
LPT: take a shortcuts to success by listening to djb and plagiarzing his ideas.
mcguire 6y ago
Obvious Philosophy of Mind question of the day: What is the difference between a brain chemistry artifact and being an asshole for assholes sake?

SmallPeePeeMan 6y ago

> Not to excuse it, but to understand it. Indeed. I don’t have to abide such people, and neither do you. Now if he had found a cure for cancer, would we have more tolerance?

ergothus 6y ago

I'm not a psychologist so I should probably shut up, but I'll continue: It seems like it does hit the tech field more often, yet overwhelmingly I see leading people in tech get softer, more empathetic, and more open to outside ideas the longer they work and the more experience they gain. Perhaps this is selection bias (the people I see are the "popular" ones, so of course they are the ones with more social awareness), or perhaps there is no hard and fast "genius requires ego". Note: I'm aware you didn't say that it did, you only mentioned that abrasive-ness seems disproportionately frequent in the tech field. I'm all for improving our understanding and ways of communication - I've definitely known people in the "asshole" category that were surprised and bothered to discover that was how they came across - but I'm not interested in normalizing abuse as a necessary cost. Which, again, you didn't say nor imply, but the concepts are related to what you've brought up, so I mention it here because the topic is interesting, not as a counterpoint.

gowld 6y ago

LPT: take a shortcuts to success by listening to djb and plagiarzing his ideas.

mcguire 6y ago

Obvious Philosophy of Mind question of the day: What is the difference between a brain chemistry artifact and being an asshole for assholes sake?