I reckon HN posters, much more than average, could be categorised as 'nerds who learned to fight back'.
No; seriously, I'd bet the thoughts underlying the parent post is a principal distinguishing component of the psychological makeup of the typical HN poster.
I'm going to assume that readers here are likely to have been bullied at school. More than average we were probably the nerds, the geeks; so often in school being smart is sufficient to attract bad attention.
I'd be willing to speculate further and say that the people that endured this process, and yet ended up sufficiently driven and risk-taking to get involved in startups, probably overlap those that eventually came to the conclusion that resistance was part of the answer; and that sometimes fighting back is better than passively accepting your fate.
There's a similarity in the attitudes of 'fk it, I wont let you away with that' and 'fk it, lets build this'.
Me, I was bullied for years and years. I was always the good kid, I tried to do what I thought was the right thing; turn the other cheek, feel sorry for them. It just did not help.
My dad eventually started sending me to karate classes. Time passed. I started fighting back. (Only a token resistance, scrapes and bruises, but that's mainly what is necessary) Things changed. This was a watershed in my development as a person.
There was still psychological bullying; but its considerably easier to deal with that when people aren't beating the crap out of you.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that a common characteristic of the people that read HN is probably a fighting attitude; the understanding that in some situations game theory does make sense, and that a willingness to engage in MAD behaviour has a value. I'm not trying to say this is a necessary condition, or the best answer, but just that sometimes its the least bad one.
I'm an extremely gentle person, and I'll turn the other cheek as long as I can; but I understand the benefit - to everyone involved, I'd argue - of fighting back decisively, in extremis.
If my kids are bullied, I'll teach them both conflict resolution skills, and martial arts.
Comments
I reckon HN posters, much more than average, could be categorised as 'nerds who learned to fight back'.
No; seriously, I'd bet the thoughts underlying the parent post is a principal distinguishing component of the psychological makeup of the typical HN poster.
I'm going to assume that readers here are likely to have been bullied at school. More than average we were probably the nerds, the geeks; so often in school being smart is sufficient to attract bad attention.
I'd be willing to speculate further and say that the people that endured this process, and yet ended up sufficiently driven and risk-taking to get involved in startups, probably overlap those that eventually came to the conclusion that resistance was part of the answer; and that sometimes fighting back is better than passively accepting your fate.
There's a similarity in the attitudes of 'fk it, I wont let you away with that' and 'fk it, lets build this'.
Me, I was bullied for years and years. I was always the good kid, I tried to do what I thought was the right thing; turn the other cheek, feel sorry for them. It just did not help.
My dad eventually started sending me to karate classes. Time passed. I started fighting back. (Only a token resistance, scrapes and bruises, but that's mainly what is necessary) Things changed. This was a watershed in my development as a person.
There was still psychological bullying; but its considerably easier to deal with that when people aren't beating the crap out of you.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that a common characteristic of the people that read HN is probably a fighting attitude; the understanding that in some situations game theory does make sense, and that a willingness to engage in MAD behaviour has a value. I'm not trying to say this is a necessary condition, or the best answer, but just that sometimes its the least bad one.
I'm an extremely gentle person, and I'll turn the other cheek as long as I can; but I understand the benefit - to everyone involved, I'd argue - of fighting back decisively, in extremis.
If my kids are bullied, I'll teach them both conflict resolution skills, and martial arts.