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All of the top level comments in this thread dismiss this (intriguing) idea. What is it about the hacker community that makes us so quick to find fault with new

All of the top level comments in this thread dismiss this (intriguing) idea. What is it about the hacker community that makes us so quick to find fault with new ideas? My guess: We are people who are struggling with difficult problems all day, so the first thing we do is spot potential problems.

colechristensen 12y ago
It is, plainly, a fairly stupid gimmick. Hackers, engineers, and those of like mind should (and do) think about things honestly, not positively. Nearly every breakthrough you read about in the news is simply bunk. If you didn't have this attitude, you'd be fairly disappointed because dozens of times every year cancer is cured, batteries increase capacity by 50%, cheap fusion is almost here, somebody's figured out a free-energy machine... on and on and on. The world is full of scams, gimmicks, and overexcited news outlets (and self promoting individuals) touting breakthroughs in every field. If you get excited about each one you start to look foolish really quickly. Some truly exciting things _do_ happen from time to time, but we're pessimistic (nay, realistic) about so many things because that's just how the world is.
- billforsternz 12y ago
  I agree that healthy skepticism is sensible, but it's easy to let that drift into a "things are going to stay pretty much as they are" bias. Things aren't, not in the medium to long term. Yet I perceive evidence of that bias on Hacker News. In this particular case, I'd judge some disruption in this area is at least plausible. Adding windows is really difficult from a material science perspective, it creates structural weaknesses that must be compensated for, and making sure those windows never blow out to some 9 sigma safety threshold must be a nightmare. In short the windows impose enormous complications and costs. Last week I flew in an Emirates A380, equipped with a variety of outboard cameras. I got by far the most interesting and beautiful views I've ever seen from an airliner, via both a big screen and the seatback screen. Not by peering out a tiny, awkwardly angled window. It's not implausible to me that this might signal a possible trend for future development.

colechristensen 12y ago

It is, plainly, a fairly stupid gimmick. Hackers, engineers, and those of like mind should (and do) think about things honestly, not positively. Nearly every breakthrough you read about in the news is simply bunk. If you didn't have this attitude, you'd be fairly disappointed because dozens of times every year cancer is cured, batteries increase capacity by 50%, cheap fusion is almost here, somebody's figured out a free-energy machine... on and on and on. The world is full of scams, gimmicks, and overexcited news outlets (and self promoting individuals) touting breakthroughs in every field. If you get excited about each one you start to look foolish really quickly. Some truly exciting things _do_ happen from time to time, but we're pessimistic (nay, realistic) about so many things because that's just how the world is.

billforsternz 12y ago
I agree that healthy skepticism is sensible, but it's easy to let that drift into a "things are going to stay pretty much as they are" bias. Things aren't, not in the medium to long term. Yet I perceive evidence of that bias on Hacker News. In this particular case, I'd judge some disruption in this area is at least plausible. Adding windows is really difficult from a material science perspective, it creates structural weaknesses that must be compensated for, and making sure those windows never blow out to some 9 sigma safety threshold must be a nightmare. In short the windows impose enormous complications and costs. Last week I flew in an Emirates A380, equipped with a variety of outboard cameras. I got by far the most interesting and beautiful views I've ever seen from an airliner, via both a big screen and the seatback screen. Not by peering out a tiny, awkwardly angled window. It's not implausible to me that this might signal a possible trend for future development.