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Why would you want to talk about how each individual is multi-faceted, complex, and full of contradictory beliefs when you can conveniently categorize them into

Why would you want to talk about how each individual is multi-faceted, complex, and full of contradictory beliefs when you can conveniently categorize them into conventional and independent? Ah, I know the answer: because hackers come in only one flavor: independent; and everyone else who doesn't fit the description is a conventional thinker. The level of (apparent) profundity(?) in these essays and the amount of people in SV that revere his words just boggles my mind. Maybe I am a conventional thinker :/.

ceilingcorner 6y ago
> categorize them into conventional and independent? Replace conventional and independent with another word pairing and have you have 95% of most modern writing.
mewpmewp2 6y ago
He specifically said it is a spectrum, not a category and of course you can be more of an independent thinker in certain categories and more conventional in others.
zug_zug 6y ago
I think if he weren't famous, PG's essays wouldn't get much reverence. But as an icon for he's a great figure. He uses his social status points to offer messages of optimism, self-improvement, hope for rebels that is socially important and feels good. The fact that we tear him down so much is testament to the regard we hold him in. I'm sure all of us who poke at his logic could just as easily shred the Pope, the Dalai Lama, the president...
- nickpp 6y ago
  Actually PG's essays made him famous. YC came afterwards. He did Viaweb before, but I doubt he was known for it.
- johnnujler 6y ago
  Isn’t that all the more reason why he should buckle down and write in a more responsible manner than just categorise people in absolute terms. I do not have much idea about religious leaders, but he definitely has some impact on how the SV scene operates, and with the amount of idolatry circle-jerk that happens among the YC founders, it is only justified that he be more cautious in how he treats people whether in his essays or in in real life.
carlisle_ 6y ago
Paul Graham is in desperate need of people in his life that tell him 'no'.
- Razengan 6y ago
  I have never heard of him outside of HN and I’m not even sure why he’s considered important here. Could someone fill me in? He does remind me of a games reviewer with the same name from the awesome ZZAP! magazine for the Commodore 64. Or wait was that Paul Glancey
  - carlisle_ 6y ago
    Not to be rude, but if you googled his name you would have found all the information you could possibly need about why he’s considered important. For convenience here’s a link to his Wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Graham_(programmer) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Graham_(programmer)
    - Razengan 6y ago
      That was a snarky response to your and other comments about the author’s self-aggrandizement etc., that maybe his importance is inflated and limited to this community.

ceilingcorner 6y ago

> categorize them into conventional and independent? Replace conventional and independent with another word pairing and have you have 95% of most modern writing.

mewpmewp2 6y ago

He specifically said it is a spectrum, not a category and of course you can be more of an independent thinker in certain categories and more conventional in others.

zug_zug 6y ago

I think if he weren't famous, PG's essays wouldn't get much reverence. But as an icon for he's a great figure. He uses his social status points to offer messages of optimism, self-improvement, hope for rebels that is socially important and feels good. The fact that we tear him down so much is testament to the regard we hold him in. I'm sure all of us who poke at his logic could just as easily shred the Pope, the Dalai Lama, the president...

nickpp 6y ago
Actually PG's essays made him famous. YC came afterwards. He did Viaweb before, but I doubt he was known for it.
johnnujler 6y ago
Isn’t that all the more reason why he should buckle down and write in a more responsible manner than just categorise people in absolute terms. I do not have much idea about religious leaders, but he definitely has some impact on how the SV scene operates, and with the amount of idolatry circle-jerk that happens among the YC founders, it is only justified that he be more cautious in how he treats people whether in his essays or in in real life.

carlisle_ 6y ago

Paul Graham is in desperate need of people in his life that tell him 'no'.

Razengan 6y ago
I have never heard of him outside of HN and I’m not even sure why he’s considered important here. Could someone fill me in? He does remind me of a games reviewer with the same name from the awesome ZZAP! magazine for the Commodore 64. Or wait was that Paul Glancey
- carlisle_ 6y ago
  Not to be rude, but if you googled his name you would have found all the information you could possibly need about why he’s considered important. For convenience here’s a link to his Wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Graham_(programmer) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Graham_(programmer)
  - Razengan 6y ago
    That was a snarky response to your and other comments about the author’s self-aggrandizement etc., that maybe his importance is inflated and limited to this community.