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I don't mean to single your comment out, but i feel like this is a line of argument i see frequently that I don't think has merit. Like, sure "love your pro-soc

I don't mean to single your comment out, but i feel like this is a line of argument i see frequently that I don't think has merit. Like, sure "love your pro-social company or your gadget that allows you to do a more effective activism that helps people" is maybe theoretically possible but come on. in 99.99999999% of cases people loving a company or a gadget is bad and it's not particularly nuanced or complicated. Why must people (or just engineers?) fixate on some weird imaginary possibility edge case instead of just accepting the statement as "true". Is it pedantry, cope or something else i'm missing?

dartos 2y ago
I think the root issue is that the word “love” in English has far too many meanings. When you “love” a company, it’s not the same as “loving” your wife. And “loving” your wife is different, still, than “loving” your brother or best friend.
- snapcaster 2y ago
  People do this with every subject. Do you think X is bad because in every case you've seen it's caused harm to people? Well, he says smugly have you considered this imaginary case where X isn't actually bad? actively subtracts from any serious conversation about a topic
  - dartos 2y ago
    Did you reply to the wrong comment? I don’t see the connection, sorry.
    - snapcaster 2y ago
      What i'm saying is my original comment was calling out a specific thing where people fixate on edge cases for no reason. "love" is not the issue here since it's general case we see even when that word isn't involved
stego-tech 2y ago
I always likened those rebuttals to the “it’s just how we’ve always done things” refrain, spouted by people who believe they have more to lose by changing the status quo than to gain, but refuse to investigate why and adapt accordingly if true. Because you’re right, fandom toward products and enterprise is objectively bad. It’s taking the same hooks actively exploited by religion and cults, but now towards iPhones and B-Corps. They are being exploited, and choose not to recognize it because their identity is tied to their fandom. Yeah, life is a lot harder being the wet blanket in the conference room, asking pointed and specific questions about why we do things this way, could we do them better, etc, but it’s also liberating to see just how much of the world is blind momentum built on fear of literally any other alternative.
- luqtas 2y ago
  > fandom toward products and enterprise is objectively bad fandom from the HN crowd is (usually) excessively bad but there's much more than the Silicon Valley Rainbow, AI and millionaire CEOs essays out there... and this group has better tech education than amazed ordinary people buying yearly new devices to call an API on a server or open Instagram/X with faster processors and higher pixel values on an ant's larvae sized camera sensor with fixed F-stop lens

dartos 2y ago

I think the root issue is that the word “love” in English has far too many meanings. When you “love” a company, it’s not the same as “loving” your wife. And “loving” your wife is different, still, than “loving” your brother or best friend.

snapcaster 2y ago
People do this with every subject. Do you think X is bad because in every case you've seen it's caused harm to people? Well, he says smugly have you considered this imaginary case where X isn't actually bad? actively subtracts from any serious conversation about a topic
- dartos 2y ago
  Did you reply to the wrong comment? I don’t see the connection, sorry.
  - snapcaster 2y ago
    What i'm saying is my original comment was calling out a specific thing where people fixate on edge cases for no reason. "love" is not the issue here since it's general case we see even when that word isn't involved

stego-tech 2y ago

I always likened those rebuttals to the “it’s just how we’ve always done things” refrain, spouted by people who believe they have more to lose by changing the status quo than to gain, but refuse to investigate why and adapt accordingly if true. Because you’re right, fandom toward products and enterprise is objectively bad. It’s taking the same hooks actively exploited by religion and cults, but now towards iPhones and B-Corps. They are being exploited, and choose not to recognize it because their identity is tied to their fandom. Yeah, life is a lot harder being the wet blanket in the conference room, asking pointed and specific questions about why we do things this way, could we do them better, etc, but it’s also liberating to see just how much of the world is blind momentum built on fear of literally any other alternative.

luqtas 2y ago
> fandom toward products and enterprise is objectively bad fandom from the HN crowd is (usually) excessively bad but there's much more than the Silicon Valley Rainbow, AI and millionaire CEOs essays out there... and this group has better tech education than amazed ordinary people buying yearly new devices to call an API on a server or open Instagram/X with faster processors and higher pixel values on an ant's larvae sized camera sensor with fixed F-stop lens