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Some of us are just old. We have seen countless hype cycles. Many hyped up things do not pan out. So we all have a “show me” kind of attitude now. Also for thi
by worrycue 3y ago
Some of us are just old. We have seen countless hype cycles. Many hyped up things do not pan out. So we all have a “show me” kind of attitude now.
Also for things that do pan out, they sometimes comes with unforeseen negative consequences.*
As a result, it’s hard to get excited about ”great new thing” these days.
* e.g. the internet; there was so much optimism over it in the 90s … no one foresaw its use to track and manipulate the public on a massive scale, the damage to mental health social media has afflicted, … etc.
- speedgoose 3y agoIn my experience old people welcome innovation because they saw a lot of great things happening in their life. When you say old, are you more in the 40s or the 80s?
- worrycue 3y ago40s. I just approach “next big thing” with caution these days. It will either go nowhere or actually work but will have unforeseen fallout that we have to deal with / live with.
- pertymcpert 3y agoThe internet is still an amazing piece of technology. You just got used to the benefits.
- regularfry 3y agoFrom another conversation: "I remember the web being hailed as the next big thing in the 90's, like it was going to change everything..." "It did." (neither of those was me, for clarity)
- spaceman_2020 3y agoyou lose nothing being enthusiastic for new tech that doesn't pan out you gain nothing bashing new tech that doesn't pan out If it doesn't matter either way, why be pessimistic - especially if you're a tech enthusiast - as most people on HackerNews ought to be.
- beowulfey 3y agoThis is my philosophy too. It’s fun to be excited! Way more fun than being pessimistic. I think the naysayers just handle disappointment differently than I do.
- regularfry 3y agoIt's stronger than that, I think. Cynicism has the cost that you don't get to spot where the truly valuable applications of a technology are. Yes, you don't waste time on applications that don't pan out, but you want to spend your brain cycles filtering those out quickly.
- worrycue 3y ago> you lose nothing being enthusiastic for new tech that doesn't pan out I would be wasting attention on it. I kind of wish that the front page isn’t flooded with so much speculative news - when it reaches a certain level it becomes noise drowning out the signal. Tell me when you have definitive results.