Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Freire_Herval 1146 days ago
People don't have to dance. Incentive to dance is very strong though.

Here's the thing, when you look at the behavior of large groups of people the overall incentive is the overall outcome. As an individual you can resist but groups act predictably and follow straightforward patterns.

Think of it like drugs. You going to tell people to stop doing heroin and end the problem forever? No. You gonna tell people to stop dancing and end the problem forever? No.

The only thing that will bend the industry in favor of your idea is software unions. Centralized control can influence individuals to act in cohesion. Without leadership the short term incentive wins.

1 comments

You’re saying people are weak and can’t enable change if they chose to behave a certain way and instead we need more governance and powers above us

I fundamentally don’t agree. It’s simple: prioritize dignity in yourself and the world will give it

I don’t accept interviews where i’m required to dance. My career has only gotten better since I made that choice.

Even on the individual level you can make this right. It just takes effort.

>You’re saying people are weak and can’t enable change if they chose to behave a certain way and instead we need more governance and powers above us

Yes, I am saying people in aggregate are fundamentally weak. Certain individuals can overcome weaknesses but in aggregate we can't.

>I fundamentally don’t agree. It’s simple: prioritize dignity in yourself and the world will give it

Then you fundamentally don't agree with reality. Tell that dignity thing to a drug addict. Tell him to Prioritize his dignity and stop doing heroin. End the drug problem because people are strong. A few people will listen. In aggregate, nothing changes.

>I don’t accept interviews where i’m required to dance. My career has only gotten better since I made that choice.

On one hand you have control. On the other hand maybe you don't dance because you can't dance. There are people where "dancing" is equivalent to donating a dime to charity. A Trivial effort. To them the interview process is the equivalent of giving a dime in return for half a million dollars. Why the hell not?

>Even on the individual level you can make this right. It just takes effort.

The individual level is the only place where someone can refuse to "dance." For the industry to change it has to happen in aggregate. The aggregate change is impossible. There will always be people willing to dance, and there will always be people where "dancing" is a zero effort hand wave.

It’s not impossible, you’re just giving up and refusing to be a part of the solution

The path of least resistance long run is demand dignity. The path of more resistance long term but ease short term is accept undignifying circumstances

You can make your situation and the worlds better by doing the right thing. Or you can sit and argue to a stranger why it’s ‘impossible’ to tell a potential employer to pound sand when they ask you to do something demeaning

Choice is yours

>You can make your situation and the worlds better by doing the right thing.

Did you not read what I wrote? You or I both doing the right thing changes nothing.

People doing the right thing changes things. This isn’t about me reading it’s about you making a false claim repeatedly for some reason.