
Better  - brm
http://www.43folders.com/better
======
jacoblyles
I'm sure I consumed my share of junk from the internet, but it was not all
without value. I am glad that I have learned about so many technologies, old
and new, from places like Hacker News. I may not be able to use them expertly,
but when I run into a problem I know what tools are out there. I know about
Lisp, Python, Perl, Haskell, EC2, Ruby on Rails, Django, Cocoa, Couch DB,
scalability, functional programming, object oriented programming, design
principles, VCS and DVCS, and a hundred other things. Sure, there's a lot of
noise in there, but also a signal.

When I recently had a chance to work with some programmers not so steeped in
internet lore, all they knew was Java, and not well. They also knew of PHP's
existence, and considered it the wave of the future for web apps.

Now, if both of us were to start a web company, which do you think would win?

~~~
sgrove
_Now, if both of us were to start a web company, which do you think would
win?_

I'm of the opinion that while you'd have a head start, if the other
programmers have the drive and skill (for studying) that they would need to
succeed in any case, they would be able to pick up on the technology and
principles as they go.

It's not your previous exposure to various tech principles and "internet lore"
that will make you succeed, those will only give you a small head start (and
some interesting material to discuss with other hackers at meetups). It will
come down to skill, determination, timing, and a fair bit of luck.

~~~
jacoblyles
It's hard to hold constant all variables except one between persons. Is it
reasonable to expect that a programmer with drive and skill wouldn't know
about some internet lore, wouldn't know of resources like freenode and
stackoverflow.com, and wouldn't know something about the variety of
technologies that are out there?

The direction of causation is tricky to unwind. I think you're right, however.
If a two programmers were of equal competence, except one only knew about Java
and the other sat on Hacker News all day, the Hacker News reader would
probably only have a small head start. However, it would be hard to find two
programmers that met those descriptions and were of equal competence.

~~~
zandorg
I recently discovered that you can pay freelancers for 2 hours work on a small
problem [an edge case], and save yourself 10 hours. You don't even have to pay
stock, as people are pleased to be paid $80 for an hour's work.

EDIT: However, knowing what to ask for (what you need doing) is important!

------
concretecode
I've become a fan of Merlin's writing since he posted this last December.

If you enjoyed this, go read Real Advice Hurts
<http://www.43folders.com/2008/12/03/real-advice-hurts> which speaks to some
of the same issues, and struck a chord with me. I've re-read it at least half
a dozen times.

------
ashot
Its a nice thought, and I feel where he's coming from, but it feels like one
of those rants thats a bit in denial about human nature.

~~~
bbgm
Given that the rant comes from Merlin, it's likely that he has his tongue
somewhere in his cheek

Edit added later: After hearing the podcast, he might just be sincere about
this. Somewhat weird to see Merlin's cynicism not laced with a healthy dose of
sarcasm.

~~~
tdavis
Why wouldn't he be serious? As more and more people spew forth garbage onto
the Internet, we just end up wasting more and more of each others' time. For
god sakes, look at Twitter! Maybe there's some useful information in there
sometimes, but for the most part it is pure noise -- and look how it's taking
off! It's as if people would rather waste time both creating and consuming
fluff than to spend the time to create and consume content that is actually
worth something.

~~~
jfornear
You don't think social interaction is worth something?

~~~
tdavis
Broadcasting something to an undefined group of people doesn't really count as
social interaction in my book. Even if it did, I'd consider it a pretty lazy
and meaningless method thereof.

~~~
jfornear
Your characterization of online social interaction is plain wrong. You can't
assume everyone else approaches Twitter or Facebook the same way you might.
People learn from each other online, argue with each other, start
relationships, start/run businesses, share photos and videos, etc. I have no
idea how you can overlook all the positive things to promote such a negative
view.

------
anthonyrubin
Does Merlin take his own message very seriously? Take a look at his personal
blog:

<http://www.kungfugrippe.com/>

------
r0bins0n
Since this manifesto came out his output has slowed significantly and it's
hard to argue that his posts and blog are "better" than they used to be.

------
c00p3r
Good vision, good post.

Yes, all those so-called social networks are just about an ability to say
something, because it makes you feel a little better for at least several
minutes. The feeling is what matters, not the content itself.

In 2000 - 2001 the livejournal.com service gained a huge popularity in Russia
among mass-media and hi-tech workers. It were really good times.

It was a possibility to say something aloud, and to feel this so necessary
feeling of being not alone, which, of course is mere an illusion.

That is why facebook got their 200 million users - I see them each day in
those internet caffees in Thamel, uploading all the same almost identical
photos and writing almost the same banal stories.

Self-exibition as another time-killing and keeping-the-mind-busy process, why
not? Twitter is also here.

