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Keep playing a wicked game whose rules are stacked against you for the shiny trophy. I’ll see you in therapy in a few years.

by zazazx 1y ago

owebmaster 1y ago
The person who told you you'd forever have a job working in tech lied.
tptacek 1y ago
I guess another bit of advice is to do whatever you need to do to avoid ending up talking like this.
- _virtu 1y ago
  I mean the grandparent poster isn’t wrong. This whole system is stacked against us. It’s difficult to keep moving knowing that we don’t have the ability to opt out of the way our whole society works. This is a very broad discussion that I know has many different facets to it, but the grandparent poster seems to be calling out what a lot of people believe is true.
  - tptacek 1y ago
    I think when you start talking like this, you're winding yourself up, which is just not a good way to confront tough decisions.
  - AnimalMuppet 1y ago
    > It’s difficult to keep moving knowing that we don’t have the ability to opt out of the way our whole society works. Pretty much nobody ever did, in any society, with few exceptions. "Going to America" was one exception, and then "going west". But for most people, for most of civilization, that has never been an option. And, in fact, the whole system is stacked against us less than it has been for most of the history of civilization. You aren't a serf. You aren't a slave. You aren't an indentured servant, or bound to a ruler or leader in any way. But I think what many people are feeling is the first derivative. There was a time when the system worked better for people (at least for white males) - say the 1950s or 1960s. People can feel the first derivative being negative. They feel the loss of something. I think that's behind the surge of this sentiment.
    - kasey_junk 1y ago
      > There was a time when the system worked better for people (at least for white males) - say the 1950s or 1960s Even before adding qualifiers like “in America, in certain industries”, etc. You have to be very specific about what you mean by better and how you measure it. There are certainly things that are worse now than then, but most of the time when someone actually measures it’s mostly true things were worse in the 50s and 60s.
    - scarface_74 1y ago
      Yes because white straight males have it so hard in America now all the statistics show it…
  - roarcher 1y ago
    Is Reddit bleeding into HN now? The anti-work subs often feature these whiny hot takes like "woe is me, I don't get to do whatever I want" followed by a comical self-impressed implication that there's a great academic discourse behind this profound thought. Not used to seeing it here though.
    - ryandrake 1y ago
      I don’t think it’s specifically Reddit, but more like “normal life” bleeding into HN. The tech industry (and therefore, HN) has this weird “positive thoughts only” vibe where everything negative is considered whiny and curmudgeonly (as the newest HN posting guideline puts it). Uncritical “this is great, that is awesome, things are wonderful” posts get a pass here and are not held to some high academic discourse standard, while “things are not so great, life is not that good” posts get responses like we’ve seen in this thread.
      - roarcher 1y ago
        On the contrary, there are plenty of things to complain about and I personally find HN to be a tough, even cynical, audience. The guidelines don't say you can't be negative, you just have to explain your reasoning. One doesn't have to subscribe to toxic positivity to see the childish absurdity of a statement like "It’s difficult to keep moving knowing that we don’t have the ability to opt out of the way our whole society works."
        ryandrake 1y ago
        Regarding the childish statement: I think we’ve all felt like that at some point in our lives. If you haven’t, I kind of envy you. I can admit that when I had a child I agonized over the fact that I was bringing a life into this pretty terrible world without considering whether that new life wanted to be in it. Nobody actively consented to being part of society, it’s just a default. And it is extremely difficult to opt-out. I don’t think that’s a particularly absurd belief.
        1y ago
  - BobaFloutist 1y ago
    Fascinating! Try talking anyone working in literally any other industry and tell me more about how the whole system is stacked against software developers.

Keep playing a wicked game whose rules are stacked against you for the shiny trophy. I’ll see you in therapy in a few years.

by zazazx 1y ago

Keep playing a wicked game whose rules are stacked against you for the shiny trophy. I’ll see you in therapy in a few years.

owebmaster 1y ago

The person who told you you'd forever have a job working in tech lied.

tptacek 1y ago

I guess another bit of advice is to do whatever you need to do to avoid ending up talking like this.

_virtu 1y ago
I mean the grandparent poster isn’t wrong. This whole system is stacked against us. It’s difficult to keep moving knowing that we don’t have the ability to opt out of the way our whole society works. This is a very broad discussion that I know has many different facets to it, but the grandparent poster seems to be calling out what a lot of people believe is true.
- tptacek 1y ago
  I think when you start talking like this, you're winding yourself up, which is just not a good way to confront tough decisions.
- AnimalMuppet 1y ago
  > It’s difficult to keep moving knowing that we don’t have the ability to opt out of the way our whole society works. Pretty much nobody ever did, in any society, with few exceptions. "Going to America" was one exception, and then "going west". But for most people, for most of civilization, that has never been an option. And, in fact, the whole system is stacked against us less than it has been for most of the history of civilization. You aren't a serf. You aren't a slave. You aren't an indentured servant, or bound to a ruler or leader in any way. But I think what many people are feeling is the first derivative. There was a time when the system worked better for people (at least for white males) - say the 1950s or 1960s. People can feel the first derivative being negative. They feel the loss of something. I think that's behind the surge of this sentiment.
  - kasey_junk 1y ago
    > There was a time when the system worked better for people (at least for white males) - say the 1950s or 1960s Even before adding qualifiers like “in America, in certain industries”, etc. You have to be very specific about what you mean by better and how you measure it. There are certainly things that are worse now than then, but most of the time when someone actually measures it’s mostly true things were worse in the 50s and 60s.
  - scarface_74 1y ago
    Yes because white straight males have it so hard in America now all the statistics show it…
- roarcher 1y ago
  Is Reddit bleeding into HN now? The anti-work subs often feature these whiny hot takes like "woe is me, I don't get to do whatever I want" followed by a comical self-impressed implication that there's a great academic discourse behind this profound thought. Not used to seeing it here though.
  - ryandrake 1y ago
    I don’t think it’s specifically Reddit, but more like “normal life” bleeding into HN. The tech industry (and therefore, HN) has this weird “positive thoughts only” vibe where everything negative is considered whiny and curmudgeonly (as the newest HN posting guideline puts it). Uncritical “this is great, that is awesome, things are wonderful” posts get a pass here and are not held to some high academic discourse standard, while “things are not so great, life is not that good” posts get responses like we’ve seen in this thread.
    - roarcher 1y ago
      On the contrary, there are plenty of things to complain about and I personally find HN to be a tough, even cynical, audience. The guidelines don't say you can't be negative, you just have to explain your reasoning. One doesn't have to subscribe to toxic positivity to see the childish absurdity of a statement like "It’s difficult to keep moving knowing that we don’t have the ability to opt out of the way our whole society works."
      - ryandrake 1y ago
        Regarding the childish statement: I think we’ve all felt like that at some point in our lives. If you haven’t, I kind of envy you. I can admit that when I had a child I agonized over the fact that I was bringing a life into this pretty terrible world without considering whether that new life wanted to be in it. Nobody actively consented to being part of society, it’s just a default. And it is extremely difficult to opt-out. I don’t think that’s a particularly absurd belief.
        1y ago
- BobaFloutist 1y ago
  Fascinating! Try talking anyone working in literally any other industry and tell me more about how the whole system is stacked against software developers.