3 ms·

Theory: A lot of technologists have both the emotional maturity and intellectual maturity of 15 year olds, but they have been compensated handsomely for their

Theory: A lot of technologists have both the emotional maturity and intellectual maturity of 15 year olds, but they have been compensated handsomely for their technical prowess over the past decade+ and have confused that purely vocational merit with merit in other arenas.

specialist 3y ago
w/ 20/20 hindsight, I wish I'd made a foundational contribution to humanity as impactful as naming the image tag.
- btown 3y ago
  This could be you one day! https://gizmodo.com/the-humble-origins-of-the-html-blink-tag-5903827 https://gizmodo.com/the-humble-origins-of-the-html-blink-tag... > At some point in the evening I mentioned that it was sad that Lynx was not going to be able to display many of the HTML extensions that we were proposing, I also pointed out that the only text style that Lynx could exploit given its environment was blinking text. We had a pretty good laugh at the thought of blinking text, and talked about blinking this and that and how absurd the whole thing would be. The evening progressed pretty normally from there, with a fair amount more drinking and me meeting the girl who would later become my first wife. > Saturday morning rolled around and I headed into the office only to find what else but, blinking text. It was on the screen blinking in all its glory, and in the browser. How could this be, you might ask? It turns out that one of the engineers liked my idea so much that he left the bar sometime past midnight, returned to the office and implemented the blink tag overnight. He was still there in the morning and quite proud of it.
  - specialist 3y ago
    Fun share, thanks. The specification process was no more formal on the IE team, some years later. The span tag, which admittedly was a pretty good idea, was conceived and added to the product over a weekend. I was very conflicted when span's creator (name long forgotten, sorry) shared this story. Young me cared very much about rules, order, specifications, standards, interoperability, QA/test and such. Now? Not so much.
bananapub 3y ago
this is essentially the problem with the tech boom - lots of people seem to think that being good at writing C++ or telling other people what C++ to write or whatever makes them smart in some broad way, and capitalism has enable that delusion to run wild over much of the world
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  People thinking that getting into an elite university makes them smart about anything, except pleasing admissions officers.
- vorpalhex 3y ago
  Yes, generally being successful at executing on things is a good indicator of intelligence, while failing to ever even attempt things is a mark of at least timidity. A lot of internet users think being armchair generals makes them smart, but of course like fake nails it acts as a mark of someone on the outside who doesn't know any better.
  - jjulius 3y ago
    >Yes, generally being successful at executing on things is a good indicator of intelligence, while failing to ever even attempt things is a mark of at least timidity. Being timid doesn't mean that you lack intelligence. But you're also missing the overall point that OP is making - just because you might be "successful at executing on things" doesn't mean that you are, as OP said, "smart in a broad way". No, it only means that you can finish a task. They're clearly (and they can step in and tell me I'm reading them wrong) referring to the fact that just because, say, Joe Schmo founded the world's first ride-sharing company and made billions in the process, a cult of personality develops and suddenly everyone thinks that Mr. Schmo is going to have a valid opinion on the housing crisis, or how to prevent war between Israel and Palestine, or how to reduce drug use, etc.
    - vorpalhex 3y ago
      I understand what the parent is saying. But if you can execute on an idea then yes, you probably do have broad intelligence. You can manage people, file paperwork, perform your core business, strategize about the future, handle setbacks and so on. It's not like uber execs are only skilled in driving cars back and forth. They have and use all the required skills to successfully execute on an idea - which is a lot of skills! And yes, timidity is a strike against broad skills and capabilities because you grow skills by using them. If you're an armchair general then you've never actually grown your skills, you've only ever roleplayed. Actual engagement has costs and comes with losses, recovering from losses and trying new strategies. You can't just think about how to weave a basket and be a good basket weaver. You have to actually weave baskets and practice.

specialist 3y ago

w/ 20/20 hindsight, I wish I'd made a foundational contribution to humanity as impactful as naming the image tag.

btown 3y ago
This could be you one day! https://gizmodo.com/the-humble-origins-of-the-html-blink-tag-5903827 https://gizmodo.com/the-humble-origins-of-the-html-blink-tag... > At some point in the evening I mentioned that it was sad that Lynx was not going to be able to display many of the HTML extensions that we were proposing, I also pointed out that the only text style that Lynx could exploit given its environment was blinking text. We had a pretty good laugh at the thought of blinking text, and talked about blinking this and that and how absurd the whole thing would be. The evening progressed pretty normally from there, with a fair amount more drinking and me meeting the girl who would later become my first wife. > Saturday morning rolled around and I headed into the office only to find what else but, blinking text. It was on the screen blinking in all its glory, and in the browser. How could this be, you might ask? It turns out that one of the engineers liked my idea so much that he left the bar sometime past midnight, returned to the office and implemented the blink tag overnight. He was still there in the morning and quite proud of it.
- specialist 3y ago
  Fun share, thanks. The specification process was no more formal on the IE team, some years later. The span tag, which admittedly was a pretty good idea, was conceived and added to the product over a weekend. I was very conflicted when span's creator (name long forgotten, sorry) shared this story. Young me cared very much about rules, order, specifications, standards, interoperability, QA/test and such. Now? Not so much.

bananapub 3y ago

this is essentially the problem with the tech boom - lots of people seem to think that being good at writing C++ or telling other people what C++ to write or whatever makes them smart in some broad way, and capitalism has enable that delusion to run wild over much of the world

AlbertCory 3y ago
People thinking that getting into an elite university makes them smart about anything, except pleasing admissions officers.
vorpalhex 3y ago
Yes, generally being successful at executing on things is a good indicator of intelligence, while failing to ever even attempt things is a mark of at least timidity. A lot of internet users think being armchair generals makes them smart, but of course like fake nails it acts as a mark of someone on the outside who doesn't know any better.
- jjulius 3y ago
  >Yes, generally being successful at executing on things is a good indicator of intelligence, while failing to ever even attempt things is a mark of at least timidity. Being timid doesn't mean that you lack intelligence. But you're also missing the overall point that OP is making - just because you might be "successful at executing on things" doesn't mean that you are, as OP said, "smart in a broad way". No, it only means that you can finish a task. They're clearly (and they can step in and tell me I'm reading them wrong) referring to the fact that just because, say, Joe Schmo founded the world's first ride-sharing company and made billions in the process, a cult of personality develops and suddenly everyone thinks that Mr. Schmo is going to have a valid opinion on the housing crisis, or how to prevent war between Israel and Palestine, or how to reduce drug use, etc.
  - vorpalhex 3y ago
    I understand what the parent is saying. But if you can execute on an idea then yes, you probably do have broad intelligence. You can manage people, file paperwork, perform your core business, strategize about the future, handle setbacks and so on. It's not like uber execs are only skilled in driving cars back and forth. They have and use all the required skills to successfully execute on an idea - which is a lot of skills! And yes, timidity is a strike against broad skills and capabilities because you grow skills by using them. If you're an armchair general then you've never actually grown your skills, you've only ever roleplayed. Actual engagement has costs and comes with losses, recovering from losses and trying new strategies. You can't just think about how to weave a basket and be a good basket weaver. You have to actually weave baskets and practice.