[simoncion]

> But yes, pointing that out is also a meme at this point; it starts to feel like a hash-table dismissal...

Eh. I think of it as a warning that younger us (or -at least- younger me) would have very, very, very much appreciated when we were first reading the essays.

Yeah, _you_ have had these realizations about how less-profound-than-they-seem the essays are, and _you_ have read the essay(s). But, like, the essays keep popping up... why not also keep mentioning that they're not as profound as they seem? There's _always_ going to be someone who's reading the essays for the first time, so why discourage folks from providing the new reader the opportunity to read valid criticism of the essays developed over the years?

[TeMPOraL]

Fine, but that comment was not a proper criticism or a warning - it was a dismissal. Even having revised my opinions on pg and his writings, I find coldtea's summary to be unfair.

[coldtea]

How about maciej's criticism, which is basically the same with more words (though also much funnier than mine)?

https://idlewords.com/2005/04/dabblers_and_blowhards.htm

[nickpp]

Loved that essay back in 2005, you know. PG and YC were just starting then, no? But, since then, I watched in awe what they built and how their work touches and improves my life every day.

Maciej? He's writing about how we shouldn't go to Mars these days. He's and excellent and very entertaining writer and I am sure he has plenty to teach me but I'd rather listen to PG. My focus is limited and I'd rather follow someone who already helped me get ahead and showed me what the possibilities truly are instead of pushing his limits onto me.

[coldtea]

>Maciej? He's writing about how we shouldn't go to Mars these days.

Which, I, for one, also find 100% on the money. A lot of snakeoil has been sold by Musk, Bezos, and co about the matter.

[nickpp]

Of course you do.

But, please indulge me, I am curious: how is this mindset serving you? Are you a happy person? Are you a balanced person? Are you a successful person? Do you have everything you need? How long have you been thinking like that? What would it take to change your mind?

Thanks for your answers.

[coldtea]

How is turning an exchange about the merits of going to Mars or the quality of a VC-slash-startup-guru-blogger output into cheap psychologizing and ad hominems serving you?

Do you think you come out as balanced and happy by doing this?

Do you regularly think anybody that thinks differently than you, or doesn't gulp down whatever snake-oil the "succesful" sell, is problematic, unhappy, unsuccesful, unbalanced, and should "change their mind"?

Do you think that only business guru admirers or grind culture entrepreneurs are "happy"? Do you think only techno-optimists dreaming of strongmen like Musk and Bezos giving them Mars colonies are "balanced"? (And do you think either groups are anywhere close to a balanced person, as opposed merely naive and happy-go-lucky victims of Californian Ideology?)

How long have you been thinking like that?