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> you must accept a deep and abiding peacefulness in not knowing very much at all about most of the stuff you actually work with in your day-to-day life That's
by nnq 14y ago
> you must accept a deep and abiding peacefulness in not knowing very much at all about most of the stuff you actually work with in your day-to-day life
That's how 90% percent of the people think (the ones I only care about using and manipulating to achieve my purposes - not necessarily egotistical purposes, mind it, I might actually ask charity donation from them), but not how I and the 10% I care to hang around with do. For example, you don't kneed to know the details of how a car works, but knowing what an internal combustion engine is and that most breaks work by rubbing two things together and basic stuff like this is what everyone should know - my grandma knows this and she can reason heuristically about this even if she has never been to school and can't read or write. Same about computers - if you are an IT manager or even a sales or marketing guy in something computer related, if, for example, you don't know the difference between compiled and interpreted code and what this has to do with portability and, in consequence, cost of multi-platform development, then you're a mindless tool (probably a bad "tool") and I'll have no respect for you and your rights.
You can't separate how it works type of knowledge from how to use it one, no matter how good the abstractions and UIs are. If it's something you're working with, then you should know the principles of how it works!
- jl6 14y agoI work with the English language every day, and so I have no respect for the rights of people who can't even spell the word "need" correctly. Is that what you're saying? :-)
- nnq 14y agoInstead of comments attacking a geek elitist worldview, I get folks pissed off 'cause I mistyped "breaks" and "kneed" :) ...and I actually find it amusing after almost a dozen whiskey eggnogs ...funny times the holidays :)
- sliverstorm 14y agomost breaks work by rubbing... At this point, forget, how the pads operate, I'd be happy if people just knew how to spell "brakes"... I'm not picking on you in particular- I swear it is one of the most frequently misspelled words I read online.
- StavrosK 14y agoOh, give them a brake.
- nnq 14y agoI'd hire anytime a guy who knows how something works over someone who knows how to correctly spell the name of that thing, or even knows how the damned things is called. I've known people way smarter than I am that have way worse spelling, grammar and even basic communication skills than I have. We seriously overvalue communication related skills just because they form one's ..."gift wrapping" (plus the thing with most programmers being pathologically sensitive to grammar and spelling mistakes, but this is somewhat understandable :) ).
- randallsquared 14y agoI'd hire anytime a guy who knows how something works over someone who knows how to correctly spell the name of that thing, or even knows how the damned things is called. These things are very frequently closely related in at least one direction. Useful as a filter. I've known people way smarter than I am that have way worse spelling, grammar and even basic communication skills than I have. It isn't really the rule, though, is it?
- stdbrouw 14y agoA lot of people subconsciously define stupidity as "not knowing what I know" and I'm afraid you've succumbed to the same illness. Why should you know how an internal combustion engine works in order to drive a car? What's the point in knowing the effects of compiled and interpreted code on portability when so many other factors could make that basic knowledge irrelevant? You save your actual argument for your last paragraph (you can't use it if you don't know how it works) but you never give any examples or explain why that'd even be plausible.
- nnq 14y agoIt's not about what I know, it's just that I make a real effort to understand how the things that I do really work, at least at a basic concepts level. For example when I learned a bit about about how to cook I researched a bit about cooking chemistry, when I go to a foreign country I research a bit about the culture, religion and politics. And so on. And it's less effort than it seems. I think seeing knowledge in general as "fun" and just having fun knowing things for knowledge's sake makes your mind work in an entirely different way. Sure, you can google everything, half of what you know is very imprecise or false, and you forget half of the things you learn shortly after learning them. And having a mind rich in "trivia" may impair you in "think fast" situations and sometimes (though rarely) even make you seem "slow" because your mind is weighing extra facts and connections that may be irrelevant while others get faster to the solution because they don't even know these extra "paths" exist and don't waste time exploring them. But it simply makes you "richer" and in a weird way, happier, and not by inflated self-esteem that you know more than others. I know most people think along the lines of "just live life, use stuff that works and enjoy" but I just can't imagine living like this and I find it hard to have more than a superficial conversation with people that live and see the world this way. About the last paragraph, the answer is: there needn't be any answer. I just choose to think this way and I like people that think more like me and I will respect them more and favor them (even unjustly) in all situations. Maybe "my kind" (or at least the corresponding meme) will have higher chances of survival in the evolutionary game of life, maybe not, it's just the dice I "choose" to play :) (Disclaimer: yeah, "you should" should be "I respect/favor you more if you", and yes, I love good abstractions and UIs and I understand their value).