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WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS. I don't understand why so far (6 comments) people are commenting seriously on this essay. This essay looks like a somewhat mechani

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS. I don't understand why so far (6 comments) people are commenting seriously on this essay. This essay looks like a somewhat mechanical prank to me, as if someone decided to: 1. Assemble generic hacker news style article about why hackers are good. For example, "Hackers are always making things, they can't help themselves". [RE-EDIT: This is an actual quote from the essay, except that the word "athletes" was used instead of "hackers".] 2. Make it stupid by substituting "athlete" for "hacker". Maybe they thought this would be an obvious absurdity because they think hackers are "nerds", and that "nerds" and "jocks" are obvious opposites? 3. Make it slightly less obvious by dressing it up with a little extra athlete-related stuff, like the cartoons about athletes. I would also like to suggest that "Jason Freedman" is an obvious parody substitution for "Jason Fried." Also, "42floors" <--> "37 signals" [EDIT: My God, it turns out these are supposedly a real person and his real company. Coincidence, or convenient choice to surf on the influence of similarity?] My take: do you spend too much time reading "Hacker News", so hurriedly that your credulity muscles get too much exercise?

ruswick 14y ago
Nothing you say here is substantiated. Why is it bad to laud hackers? Why is the term "athlete" more "stupid" than "hacker?" How do sports cartoons make the "parody" less conspicuous? On you final note, both 42floors and Jason Freedman are real entities: https://angel.co/42floors https://angel.co/42floors http://www.crunchbase.com/person/jason-freedman http://www.crunchbase.com/person/jason-freedman I don't understand why you think the name Jason Freedman is suspicious. The name Jason is common. The name Freedman is common. God forbid they appear in tandem and vaguely resemble the name of another entrepreneur. This piece doen't read as a prank in any discernible way. It might be preaching to the choir to an extent, but it's not suspicious.
- dumb-typist 14y ago
  There's nothing inherently bad about lauding hackers. But the essay as published said, "Athletes are always making things; they can't help themselves". That makes no sense. What makes some sense is if someone started with text about hackers, and substituted the word "athletes". The term "athlete" is not a stupid term. But substituting it for "hacker" sometimes produces absurd results.

ruswick 14y ago

Nothing you say here is substantiated. Why is it bad to laud hackers? Why is the term "athlete" more "stupid" than "hacker?" How do sports cartoons make the "parody" less conspicuous? On you final note, both 42floors and Jason Freedman are real entities: https://angel.co/42floors https://angel.co/42floors http://www.crunchbase.com/person/jason-freedman http://www.crunchbase.com/person/jason-freedman I don't understand why you think the name Jason Freedman is suspicious. The name Jason is common. The name Freedman is common. God forbid they appear in tandem and vaguely resemble the name of another entrepreneur. This piece doen't read as a prank in any discernible way. It might be preaching to the choir to an extent, but it's not suspicious.

dumb-typist 14y ago
There's nothing inherently bad about lauding hackers. But the essay as published said, "Athletes are always making things; they can't help themselves". That makes no sense. What makes some sense is if someone started with text about hackers, and substituted the word "athletes". The term "athlete" is not a stupid term. But substituting it for "hacker" sometimes produces absurd results.