16 ms·

I'm not sure which is worse-- criticizing Swartz anonymously as qwertyy has done, or criticizing everyone else in a public, self-centered, and conceited way as

by dcurtis 19y ago

I'm not sure which is worse-- criticizing Swartz anonymously as qwertyy has done, or criticizing everyone else in a public, self-centered, and conceited way as Swartz has done. I don't think his projects are bad or anything, but his writing just drips of egotism that makes him a great target for attack.

akkartik 19y ago
Let's look at it from the perspective of the target in both cases: a) Somebody anonymously and publicly calls you names in plausible-seeming ways that others will read. b) Somebody publicly claims to be better than everybody, including you the reader. Everybody reads him. It's pretty clear that a is more damaging. Even if it goes out to fewer people. It is fallacious to reason that it's not so bad because it is hurting one person rather than many. On the one hand generality dilutes criticism. On the other the effects of libel can be greatly non-linear in who reads them, and when.
pg 19y ago
I can't remember him attacking a lot of people by name. As for the dripping with egotism bit, that is an interesting problem. I probably would have sounded like that too at his age, but back in the pre-Web era there was no way for anyone to read what most 20 year olds wrote. Now that people can start publishing so much younger, we'll have to learn to be more tolerant of various flaws of youth.
- michaelneale 19y ago
  Or they will have to get used to people ripping them down (sometimes for valid reasons, although in a childish way).
- dcurtis 19y ago
  Wow. It's very interesting to suggest that egotism is a "flaw" of youth. I think it tends to come hand-in-hand with intelligence/genius, too, so is egotism also a flaw of being intelligent? Swartz meets both criteria, so maybe that's why he's a hyper-egotist. I wonder what Swartz will be like when he's 40.
  - menloparkbum 19y ago
    Philip Greenspun 2.0
    - aswanson 19y ago
      He will have to become a master of dry wit. Greenspun kills me with the bland hilarity.
- jimbokun 19y ago
  "As for the dripping with egotism bit, that is an interesting problem." Maybe he needs someone with more life experience who is experienced at writing for the web to advise him on how not to "drip" his egotism quite so much while still communicating his point. Maybe even someone with a past business relationship with Aaron who he might respect. Not to name names or anything. :)
- jotto 19y ago
  why do people call him egotistical? is it because they are offended by his intelligent and well-rehearsed writings? this is like the movie idiocracy where luke wilson gets called "faggy" because he has a command of the english language. i think pg defends him so (puts him into yc, puts him in reddit etc..) because aaron has a good balance of intelligence and doing things well. he's a good weapon for anything intellectual.
  - dcurtis 19y ago
    http://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget http://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget Submitted for evidence.
    - jimbokun 19y ago
      I thought that one was pretty tame. "And what did he talk about? A screwup by a restaurant he went to. And how the host worked hard, overhard even, to pacify him about it." ... "Cooling out marks is how institutions persuade people to accept things they think are wrong. The con-man convinces you getting stolen from is OK. Your job convinces you it's OK that they're corrupt. The restaurant persuades you it's OK that they're incompetent." So, if someone at a restaurant makes some kind of mistake, and the host works hard to make it right, it is important to not forgive them and go on holding a grudge, because that would just make you "the mark". I think that's the moral he's putting forth here. And furthermore, you should hold the same kind of grudges against inanimate entities, like "the economy". "Did the economy cheat you, fire you, stick you in some crappy job with a crabby boss? Listen, the motivational speaker explains, it's not the economy's fault." So, remember, the Economy is out to get you! I don't even know what this means. Corporate CEOs, sure. Congress and the President, sure. Illegal immigrants, I suppose you could argue a case there if you really wanted to. But anthropomorphizing the economy seems a little off, to me. Obviously, Aaron is a guy with high intelligence and substantial skill. He played a part in a successful company at a very early age, has contributed some highly praised source code to the open source community, and is still ambitious, idealistic and involved in a lot of things. But reading his blog makes me think he's also a little wacky. But, as pg pointed out, thank God I didn't have a blog that the entire world could read when I was in my early 20s!

by dcurtis 19y ago

akkartik 19y ago

Let's look at it from the perspective of the target in both cases: a) Somebody anonymously and publicly calls you names in plausible-seeming ways that others will read. b) Somebody publicly claims to be better than everybody, including you the reader. Everybody reads him. It's pretty clear that a is more damaging. Even if it goes out to fewer people. It is fallacious to reason that it's not so bad because it is hurting one person rather than many. On the one hand generality dilutes criticism. On the other the effects of libel can be greatly non-linear in who reads them, and when.

pg 19y ago

I can't remember him attacking a lot of people by name. As for the dripping with egotism bit, that is an interesting problem. I probably would have sounded like that too at his age, but back in the pre-Web era there was no way for anyone to read what most 20 year olds wrote. Now that people can start publishing so much younger, we'll have to learn to be more tolerant of various flaws of youth.

michaelneale 19y ago
Or they will have to get used to people ripping them down (sometimes for valid reasons, although in a childish way).
dcurtis 19y ago
Wow. It's very interesting to suggest that egotism is a "flaw" of youth. I think it tends to come hand-in-hand with intelligence/genius, too, so is egotism also a flaw of being intelligent? Swartz meets both criteria, so maybe that's why he's a hyper-egotist. I wonder what Swartz will be like when he's 40.
- menloparkbum 19y ago
  Philip Greenspun 2.0
  - aswanson 19y ago
    He will have to become a master of dry wit. Greenspun kills me with the bland hilarity.
jimbokun 19y ago
"As for the dripping with egotism bit, that is an interesting problem." Maybe he needs someone with more life experience who is experienced at writing for the web to advise him on how not to "drip" his egotism quite so much while still communicating his point. Maybe even someone with a past business relationship with Aaron who he might respect. Not to name names or anything. :)
jotto 19y ago
why do people call him egotistical? is it because they are offended by his intelligent and well-rehearsed writings? this is like the movie idiocracy where luke wilson gets called "faggy" because he has a command of the english language. i think pg defends him so (puts him into yc, puts him in reddit etc..) because aaron has a good balance of intelligence and doing things well. he's a good weapon for anything intellectual.
- dcurtis 19y ago
  http://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget http://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget Submitted for evidence.
  - jimbokun 19y ago
    I thought that one was pretty tame. "And what did he talk about? A screwup by a restaurant he went to. And how the host worked hard, overhard even, to pacify him about it." ... "Cooling out marks is how institutions persuade people to accept things they think are wrong. The con-man convinces you getting stolen from is OK. Your job convinces you it's OK that they're corrupt. The restaurant persuades you it's OK that they're incompetent." So, if someone at a restaurant makes some kind of mistake, and the host works hard to make it right, it is important to not forgive them and go on holding a grudge, because that would just make you "the mark". I think that's the moral he's putting forth here. And furthermore, you should hold the same kind of grudges against inanimate entities, like "the economy". "Did the economy cheat you, fire you, stick you in some crappy job with a crabby boss? Listen, the motivational speaker explains, it's not the economy's fault." So, remember, the Economy is out to get you! I don't even know what this means. Corporate CEOs, sure. Congress and the President, sure. Illegal immigrants, I suppose you could argue a case there if you really wanted to. But anthropomorphizing the economy seems a little off, to me. Obviously, Aaron is a guy with high intelligence and substantial skill. He played a part in a successful company at a very early age, has contributed some highly praised source code to the open source community, and is still ambitious, idealistic and involved in a lot of things. But reading his blog makes me think he's also a little wacky. But, as pg pointed out, thank God I didn't have a blog that the entire world could read when I was in my early 20s!