

Ask HN:  Are you a rebel? - amichail

One would expect a lot of people on HN to be rebels, but one might wonder from the comments on this site whether this is so.  For example, there is surprisingly little criticism of computer science, social networking, employment, etc.<p>It seems that there are few true rebels as most people try to be part of one group or another.  For example, I would not consider people who are part of a counterculture to be rebels if they are part of a large group.<p>Are you a true rebel?
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cperciva
No. I refuse to conform to expectations of non-conformism. (And you may all be
individuals, but I'm not.)

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rewind
If your definition of being a rebel means not being "part of one group or
another", then I would speculate that the number of "true rebels" on HN is
zero.

~~~
amichail
Well, not part of a large group.

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mooism2
> One would expect a lot of people on HN to be rebels

Why?

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amichail
Because entrepreneurship involves rejection of authority -- namely a boss.

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bhousel
Most people on HN are neither rebels nor entrepreneurs. They have drifted here
from other social news sites suffering from the Eternal September effect.

In fact, I'd argue that this site has far more rigorous unwritten social rules
than other sites. It feels like a priggish country club at times. The average
HN user is concerned more with politeness than insightfulness.

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eof
I don't think your definition of 'true rebel' is really that robust. A rebel
is not a someone who refuses to be apart of anything. A true rebel is someone
who acts of their own convictions, and those convictions happen to conflict
with the hierarchical structure the person is acting within.

I was definitely a rebel for a big part of my life; my convictions haven't
changed, but I can barely call myself a rebel now.

I was a raging atheist in an east-texas public (read: baptist) high school. I
was a catalyst in the conversion quite a few kids away from their church, and
the catalyst for many dozens in getting high their first time. I didn't do it
because I hated the establishment, though I did hate the establishment. I did
it because a) I thought religion was bad, and b) I thought getting high was
good.

I was a successful rebel in that regard, not only in my endeavors, but I
benefited socially from it as well. I had hot girlfriends and got a
superlative at prom, people liked me etc.

Now, ten years later, my convictions are largely the same. But I live in the
northeast. Atheism is boring when everyone around you isn't a raging theist.
Being a pot evangelist doesn't really make sense to me anymore.

However, my convictions with regard to politics and science are often severely
removed from the general zeitgeist. In that regard I am still a rebel.
However, since I don't actually function in any visceral way inside a
hierarchy that those convictions conflict with day to day; I don't really feel
like or consider myself a rebel like I did back in the day.

With regard to seeing a lack of rebels here; I am not surprised at all. Not
because I don't expect self-directed people here (as all true rebels are), but
because of what is being discussed. Computer science especially doesn't leave
too much room for rebels. Sure there are design elements that people don't
like (I love web2py but pyhtonistas seem to hate it); but that is hardly
'rebellious.' Computer science is such an objective `thing` that if you
disagree with 'everyone' you are probably wrong, rather than a rebel.

As far as employment: ???. There are more people per capita here than nearly
anywhere with people taking an alternative approach into making money. How
often to you hear 'degrees are worthless, if you can code you can get paid' on
here?

Social networking, I have to somewhat agree with you here. I am somewhat
surprised by the lack of foresight people show with their willingness to
divulge their lives to facebook. There are however many of us who opt-out; I'd
guess a larger-than-average population here than elsewhere do opt out.

But in general, a rebel is not one who is 'not part of a large group.' That is
a loner. Or a nihilist, or a pariah. A true rebel is one who exists within a
hierarchy and acts in ways that defy the implied or explicit authority of the
hierarchy. Not being part of a majority is only incidental; a true rebel who
convinces 51% of people to be on their side no longer has anything to rebel
against.

tl;dr: I used to be a rebel but not anymore. People don't come across as 'true
rebels' on here as often as they are due to what is being discussed.

~~~
amichail
By social networking, I was referring to its use in Silicon Valley -- as
opposed to merit alone.

And one can criticize computer science based on its claim that it is the best
way to study computing.

