[TillE]

Yeah and to be clear, that's not merely an HN thing, or an internet thing. People - even people who seem very clever - generally have no idea what they're talking about.

It's sort of exhilarating to truly understand just how much of the world is built on absolute bullshit.

[aleksiy123]

You're right of course.

However, I think it's more dangerous on sites like HN where it's wrapped up in this illusion of rationalism, intelligence and elitism along with HN reputation for a "higher level of discourse" which makes people more likely to believe.

Turns out HN falls prey to all the same human biases as everywhere else.

A quick way to see it in action is find a thread about something you know deeply and read the comments.

[rootusrootus]

At the risk of falling into the age old Eternal September trap, I do feel like I've become significantly more disillusioned in the last year or so at the quality, or rather the lack thereof, of discourse on HN. It's as tribal as Reddit is, and not consistently higher quality discussion.

What we do have here is dang, though, which is a lot more than Reddit generally has.

[lapcat]

> It's sort of exhilarating to truly understand just how much of the world is built on absolute bullshit.

Exhilarating perhaps if the goal is to bullshit through life. Fake it until you make it, as it were.

If you hate bullshit, on the other hand, it's exhausting.

[ignite]

Just read through the comments on any popular hacker news post. So many divergent opinions, many conflicting. People are sure they are right.

[natch]

Some of us are right ;-)

But at least I’ll admit that I’m not always right.