
All the lonely people - robg
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/11/all_the_lonely_people.html#more
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nalbyuites
For me, the internet feels like connecting to a larger consciousness. In a
crowded city you can be lonely, even with family, friends and your significant
other - a special kind of intellectual(?) loneliness that goes away in your
virtual community.

HN feels like home. I lurk here, without commenting or participating, without
coding or doing a startup. I bask in the warmth of human insight and
intelligence, witness our triumphs and tragedies. It feels good to see people
struggle to succeed against odds and their dedication to their craft. Feel-
good high!

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pjscott
Ebert has a follow-up article here, and it's a good one:

[http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/11/i_had_no_idea_for.ht...](http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/11/i_had_no_idea_for.html)

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robg
Can you pls post this as a link?

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hermanthegerman
There should be a community for lonely people without the possibility to
contact, friend or connect to other people.

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adambyrtek
Looks like you'd have to invent another name for that, because it wouldn't be
a _community_ anymore.

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xsltuser2010
Why ? People live in big cities, don't have to worry about other people around
them, and it's still a community.

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epo
This renders the word "community" meaningless. The essence of a community is
that people know and care about each other. People in big cities are, for the
most part, just a collection.

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xsltuser2010
No, a community is a group of humans who share a common interest and therefore
gather in some form. This would apply to people who are not interested in
direct contact as well, it's what separates them from the rest and makes them
a community devoted to that special interest.

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lubos
every community needs some kind of interaction, otherwise it's not a
community.

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jonhendry
There needs to be some connection, not necessarily interaction. Geographic
proximity creates communities whether or not they interact, because the
members have inherent shared interests. Something may arise that spurs
interaction and action in concert. But the community exists already by virtual
of residence by the members. It may be latent, but it's there.

Other relations between members are possible as well. Students and faculty at
a university, for instance. Or staff and patients at a hospital. Or a regional
technology interest group. In these cases, membership in the communities is
more tenuous, and is maintained by group participation, enrollment in the
university, participation in a hospital treatment program, etc.

Virtual communities such as HN are almost entirely reliant on interaction for
establishing membership.

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Supermighty
_Now I see that all relationships are virtual,_

This is such a great line.

~~~
sliverstorm
_Perhaps I wasn't lonely before because I didn't have it, so it couldn't be
gone._

This, too. It's absolutely true, at least for me.

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silentbicycle
His writing feels so _human_. In particular, his post about rice cookers
really spoke to me, but I'm a cooking geek.

Also: After years working in a public library, I _know_ lonely people. They
all have their stories, though many just want to be left alone.

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boloroso
This is a very "Serial Experiments Lain" article

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wallflower
As a software developer who has the ability to create things people want, that
alone makes me happier than some of my non-programmer friends in their jobs.

> Of all the purposes of education, I think the most useful is this: It
> prepares you to keep yourself entertained. It gives you a better chance of
> an interesting job. Those who stare at the TV for hours might as well be
> sitting on a stone under a tree in a primeval village; indeed, that might
> offer more interest and variety. I can't remember the last time I felt
> bored. I can't eat, drink or talk, and yet I have so many other resources to
> keep myself entertained. I think I must be a case study.

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VMG
Serious question: how did this get to #1 on a site titled hacker news? Are we
really that cliche?

~~~
robg
What to Submit

On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes
more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the
answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.

In Comments

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you did.

<http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

~~~
mathgladiator
There is probably value in asking why it is appropriate as that will clue
readers in to a different meaning due to the fact that writing is not exactly
perfect way to convey meaning.

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RtodaAV
Great Read.

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bobx11
What is this doing on hackernews?

