4 ms·

Why is this on hackernews? Stick to tech.

by rapidally 12y ago

mod 12y ago
Because I, a hacker and the target audience of Hacker News, find it very, very interesting.
- theoh 12y ago
  It's not one of Eric S. Raymond's talking points, but the backwoodsman aspect of hacker culture seems really important, and also, probably, fatal to its long-term spread.
  - lmm 12y ago
    How do you reconcile that with so much of hackerdom being in and around San Francisco (and a lot of the remainder being MIT)?
    - theoh 12y ago
      Well, first of all it's not a geographical description. The nature of "hacking", which is a self-reliant activity of producing provisional solutions, has a lot in common with the ethos of life in remote areas or on a frontier. Even the word hacking evokes chopping firewood or doing some other woodwork task in a rough, ad-hoc way. This is combined with a sense of mutual aid which is often present even in (maybe especially in) thinly-populated areas. Gabriella Coleman might be a good source for more insight into this. Just why hacker communities behave as if they are isolated even in an urban environment is not something I understand, but from personal experience they are self-selected groups of people with particular traits, who often have difficulty being accepted by mainstream culture, or who scorn the mainstream. I haven't read Coleman's book, but it is available here: http://gabriellacoleman.org/Coleman-Coding-Freedom.pdf http://gabriellacoleman.org/Coleman-Coding-Freedom.pdf (When Dijkstra talked about "coding bums" in relation to APL, he didn't mean that they would be drinking and sleeping rough...)
bbcbasic 12y ago
Different ways of living are interesting to hackers. Life hacking. Oh no I said it!
- rapidally 12y ago
  I hope you all remember my comment when hackernews is posting 90% off-topic stuff because it's 'interesting' or politically controversial. It seems inevitable that this will become another tabloid. Down-vote me, but remember.
davidw 12y ago
As someone who repeatedly and often rails against political articles here, I would say this is on-topic because it's simply interesting. It's easily ignored if you don't find it interesting, and it doesn't seem to be generating boring discussion of rehashed political debates or something else untoward. I upvoted you though because I am glad I'm not the only one keeping an eye on what's posted, and it looks like you already got plenty of downvotes.

Why is this on hackernews? Stick to tech.

mod 12y ago

Because I, a hacker and the target audience of Hacker News, find it very, very interesting.

theoh 12y ago
It's not one of Eric S. Raymond's talking points, but the backwoodsman aspect of hacker culture seems really important, and also, probably, fatal to its long-term spread.
- lmm 12y ago
  How do you reconcile that with so much of hackerdom being in and around San Francisco (and a lot of the remainder being MIT)?
  - theoh 12y ago
    Well, first of all it's not a geographical description. The nature of "hacking", which is a self-reliant activity of producing provisional solutions, has a lot in common with the ethos of life in remote areas or on a frontier. Even the word hacking evokes chopping firewood or doing some other woodwork task in a rough, ad-hoc way. This is combined with a sense of mutual aid which is often present even in (maybe especially in) thinly-populated areas. Gabriella Coleman might be a good source for more insight into this. Just why hacker communities behave as if they are isolated even in an urban environment is not something I understand, but from personal experience they are self-selected groups of people with particular traits, who often have difficulty being accepted by mainstream culture, or who scorn the mainstream. I haven't read Coleman's book, but it is available here: http://gabriellacoleman.org/Coleman-Coding-Freedom.pdf http://gabriellacoleman.org/Coleman-Coding-Freedom.pdf (When Dijkstra talked about "coding bums" in relation to APL, he didn't mean that they would be drinking and sleeping rough...)

bbcbasic 12y ago

Different ways of living are interesting to hackers. Life hacking. Oh no I said it!

rapidally 12y ago
I hope you all remember my comment when hackernews is posting 90% off-topic stuff because it's 'interesting' or politically controversial. It seems inevitable that this will become another tabloid. Down-vote me, but remember.

davidw 12y ago

As someone who repeatedly and often rails against political articles here, I would say this is on-topic because it's simply interesting. It's easily ignored if you don't find it interesting, and it doesn't seem to be generating boring discussion of rehashed political debates or something else untoward. I upvoted you though because I am glad I'm not the only one keeping an eye on what's posted, and it looks like you already got plenty of downvotes.