Hacker News Reader

In an interview, Evan Spiegel described Facebook with the single best succinct description in my opinion: “Facebook is a market for attention.”

HN can be too, and I like to think that I am asynchronously contributing stuff that may lay off the typical radar of the Venn diagram of typical HN readers.

View on HN

Most of the Internet’s economy is a market for attention. HN in particular tends to glorify this as the vast majority of people here make their money from other peoples attention in some respects.

I don’t think seeking attention is bad as it’s the process of individualization. The opposite is far worse. Being expressive is the only way to connect with others, and often shameless, provocative or wild expression can be charming and relationship building.

The problem is our mindsets, our shallow culture and our lack of resilient thinking. We’re being provocative about the wrong things and we’re focusing our creative wonder on only the superficial.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com