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Comment by LPTS | Hacker News Reader

I got a question for all you people who follow PG real close. Do you think 23 year old PG would be following someone like 2008 PG this obsessively, or be sick with people who worship someone like this?

Nothing against PG. Just curious.

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I'm not really one of the people to whom the question is being posed, but my guess is 23-year-old pg would be too busy working on his startup to care about, let alone get "sick" about, what complete strangers choose to spend their time being interested in.

it's funny how you agree with LPTS's main point but also insulted him.

I don't agree with him -- I have a ton of respect for pg (and I happen to really like this word cloud), but I'm relatively new here and I didn't want to act like I was speaking for people who've been following his work longer and more closely than I have.

LPTS said pg-obession is bad and made the point in terms of what pg himself wouldn't have done. you agreed that pg himself wouldn't have done it. therefore, like it or not, you agree with LPTS.

I suppose I didn't explicitly say that "young pg" would be into hero worship, but I didn't mean to imply the opposite -- I just thought it was a silly thing to be talking about. I was trying to reframe the argument and I guess I didn't succeed.

I know you didn't mean to imply to opposite, but you did. Someone who's so busy wouldn't have time for obsessing. As you said.

All these people seem to admire PG, but the way to emulate him is to stop trying to emulate someone else so strongly, stop trying to create an identity by taking giant pieces from people you admire, and take the risk of digging into discovering this stuff for yourself. The path PG tread is now tired and stale. What made PG good was that path he made. But there should be more cognitive dissonance between admiring him as a trailblazer and worshiping him incessantly while trying to emulate the same path he walked.

I like PG too. Don't get me wrong. I like reading his stuff. But this fanboy shit depresses me.

AFAIK pg was 29 or 30 when he started Viaweb.

You only have one life. It's smart to collect data points from other people's successes and failures to shape your ideas. Otherwise, you might waste time following low expected value paths.

>Do you think 23 year old PG would be following someone like 2008 PG this obsessively

I'm sure there's a 23 year old "PG" who follows PG right now.

> Do you think 23 year old PG would be following someone like 2008 PG this obsessively

Yes, especially if he's giving stock tips from the future. ;)

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