
Ask HN: What Are the Hacker News Mokitas? - redsummer
Mokita is a word of the Trobriand Islands. It means &quot;the truth we all know, but agree not to talk about.&quot;<p>What are the Mokitas of Hacker News?
======
angersock
-> That advertising and mass surveillance go hand-in-hand.

-> That the slim, slim, slim chance of making out like a bandit in a startup as a non-founder is getting worse every year.

-> That most of the products we build don't affect more than 1% of the world, _nor ever could_.

-> That HN, while generally benevolent, does have active censorship (sometimes for the better).

-> That many folks in the Midwest are as good as any programmer on the coast.

------
redsummer
(answering my own question)

\- there is a glut of high-tech, mainly web, companies and employees.. when we
would be better off having more traditional engineers.

\- we are rushing to grab what’s left of this glut, before it falls apart.

\- our work has no value. It's the spinning wheels of an exercise bike.

\- technology is not progress, in the broader sense. quite often the reverse.
but because of our jobs and interests, we fool ourselves that we are partaking
in progress.

\- technology is a man-made disaster. at best it is domesticating us. a
moderate view would be that we are too dependant on it, and it’s getting too
late to stop. it is oppressive and alienates us. at worst, it is enslaving us.

------
greenyoda
_" the truth we all know, but agree not to talk about."_

The English metaphor for this is "the elephant in the room": "an obvious truth
that is going unaddressed", or "an obvious problem or risk no one wants to
discuss".[1]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_in_the_room](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_in_the_room)

------
AnimalMuppet
We don't always change our minds, even when presented with sufficient reasons
why we should. We get locked in to our positions, and don't give a real
hearing to opposing views. Truth and logic don't always win the day, even with
us.

