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It’s sad to see that in the last 10 years this type of comment (tries to) ruin every single inspirational story. Just because there’s shit in the world doesn’

by zpeti 6y ago

It’s sad to see that in the last 10 years this type of comment (tries to) ruin every single inspirational story. Just because there’s shit in the world doesn’t mean there isn’t beauty and greatness and awesomeness sometimes. In fact that’s what makes it wonderful. If you’re bitter and all you see is the shit, and resent any inspirational story, well, good luck to you but I definitely don’t think you’ll have a productive, or inspirational life.

jonplackett 6y ago
Seconded. Yeah sure it's a junk food but it's not like he invented Opium or explosives or something. Give the guy a break!
borepop 6y ago
I don't think the person to whom you're responding was trying to "ruin" anything, they were just pointing out a complicating fact that is objectively true, which is that Frito Lay is in the business of selling junk food. The inspirational part and the problematic part are both real things, and acknowledging one doesn't mean the other is unimportant.
- Glench 6y ago
  wonderfully said, thank you!
Glench 6y ago
Ooh! I'm happy to supply a feel-good story that is (as far as I can tell), unreservedly good: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200915-the-himalayan-invention-powered-by-pine-needles https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200915-the-himalayan-in... "The Himalayan invention powered by pine needles" TLDR: man and wife move to poor rural region of Indian, see wild fire problem caused by pine needles, invent a machine that turns pine needles into electricity and cooking fuel, employ villagers to pick up pine needles, deploy it to dozens of villages with help of the government and village entrepreneurs. A success story that lifts people out of poverty with well-paying work, renewable electricity, and cooking fuel while cleaning up the environment in a scalable, decentralized, locally-suited way. Incredibly inspiring.
- BoorishBears 6y ago
  Two things I haven't seen anyone mention that seem important: 1. For the villages that have now "made it" economically, there are countless others that haven't, that still live in one-room houses. What about them? 2. I think it's worthwhile pointing out that the product that he created, while popular and financially successful, is still used in the same settings charcoal is. And while carbonized briquettes produce less emissions that charcoal, there are still a non-negligible amount of particulates generated. By introducing a new source of this type of fuel he could be creating a local maxima that's still far from ideal. Additionally what are the effects of the type of repetitive labor these people are up to? That said, it's wonderful to see someone lifted out of poverty. I hope millions more have the same chance. (Do you get why some people are pushing back on your comment above? You can come up with this kind of stuff for anything. You can't eat an apple today without possibly furthering child labor, our world is too complex to try and turn every feel good story into a dig for downsides, because they will always exist. It is in no way "important" to do suss them out. And it's fine to discuss them, but you don't need to make it a reaction to the feel good story, you're allowed to just discuss these topics independently of the story)
  - phone8675309 6y ago
    Is this the "the world is hard, best to not try and let our corporate masters think for us" post that's in every thread on HN? A story can have good parts and bad parts. It does not make you a bad person to like the good parts. It does not make you a bad person to pick out the bad parts. It does make you a bad person to take a dump on someone's comment to "own" them.
    - BoorishBears 6y ago
      Oh please, the point is someone posted a story! You don't need to say "it's important to look at all the people who didn't make it" It's not! It is literally the furthest thing from important in the comment section for that story! Certainly not in such an open ended way! It's the laziest form of concern-baiting. - And don't project your own little weird need to "own" people like your comment is trying too hard to do onto me, I'm pointing out something that should be obvious: it's easy to go "what about the other guys" but not every story needs to be about "the other guys"

by zpeti 6y ago

jonplackett 6y ago

Seconded. Yeah sure it's a junk food but it's not like he invented Opium or explosives or something. Give the guy a break!

borepop 6y ago

I don't think the person to whom you're responding was trying to "ruin" anything, they were just pointing out a complicating fact that is objectively true, which is that Frito Lay is in the business of selling junk food. The inspirational part and the problematic part are both real things, and acknowledging one doesn't mean the other is unimportant.

Glench 6y ago
wonderfully said, thank you!

Glench 6y ago

Ooh! I'm happy to supply a feel-good story that is (as far as I can tell), unreservedly good: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200915-the-himalayan-invention-powered-by-pine-needles https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200915-the-himalayan-in... "The Himalayan invention powered by pine needles" TLDR: man and wife move to poor rural region of Indian, see wild fire problem caused by pine needles, invent a machine that turns pine needles into electricity and cooking fuel, employ villagers to pick up pine needles, deploy it to dozens of villages with help of the government and village entrepreneurs. A success story that lifts people out of poverty with well-paying work, renewable electricity, and cooking fuel while cleaning up the environment in a scalable, decentralized, locally-suited way. Incredibly inspiring.

BoorishBears 6y ago
Two things I haven't seen anyone mention that seem important: 1. For the villages that have now "made it" economically, there are countless others that haven't, that still live in one-room houses. What about them? 2. I think it's worthwhile pointing out that the product that he created, while popular and financially successful, is still used in the same settings charcoal is. And while carbonized briquettes produce less emissions that charcoal, there are still a non-negligible amount of particulates generated. By introducing a new source of this type of fuel he could be creating a local maxima that's still far from ideal. Additionally what are the effects of the type of repetitive labor these people are up to? That said, it's wonderful to see someone lifted out of poverty. I hope millions more have the same chance. (Do you get why some people are pushing back on your comment above? You can come up with this kind of stuff for anything. You can't eat an apple today without possibly furthering child labor, our world is too complex to try and turn every feel good story into a dig for downsides, because they will always exist. It is in no way "important" to do suss them out. And it's fine to discuss them, but you don't need to make it a reaction to the feel good story, you're allowed to just discuss these topics independently of the story)
- phone8675309 6y ago
  Is this the "the world is hard, best to not try and let our corporate masters think for us" post that's in every thread on HN? A story can have good parts and bad parts. It does not make you a bad person to like the good parts. It does not make you a bad person to pick out the bad parts. It does make you a bad person to take a dump on someone's comment to "own" them.
  - BoorishBears 6y ago
    Oh please, the point is someone posted a story! You don't need to say "it's important to look at all the people who didn't make it" It's not! It is literally the furthest thing from important in the comment section for that story! Certainly not in such an open ended way! It's the laziest form of concern-baiting. - And don't project your own little weird need to "own" people like your comment is trying too hard to do onto me, I'm pointing out something that should be obvious: it's easy to go "what about the other guys" but not every story needs to be about "the other guys"