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Comment by PaulHoule | Hacker News Reader

Young people are easier to control. (When the "charge of the light brigade" was first written is was seen as a beautiful thing that soldiers would match obediently to their deaths; maybe in software we will accept how tragic it is in 2050 or something.)

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younger people are also more likely to work more hours for a lot less pay.

...and, due to inexperience, to do less effective work. Not saying this is a given; we are just talking about likelihoods here.

Ideally you put together a team of young and old where you get something more than the sum of the parts.

This. It's easier to sell them bullshit about "disrupting" as well, make them work long-hours and so on..

> was seen as a beautiful thing that soldiers would match obediently to their deaths

Poems are full of traps. I think you can read The Charge of the Light Brigade either way, or both ways at once. On the one hand, it calls on us to honor the heroism of the young cavalrymen. But on the other hand, "someone had blundered." Their heroism is futile. Tennyson had to be seen supporting the team, as it were, but when I read the poem, I see his reservations more than anything.

We need more casual literary criticism here at HN. Thanks!

I was under the impression that younger programmers are desired because they are perceived as being able to work a lot of hours and because they are less likely to have the family commitments that would prevent them from doing so.

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