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Comment by Bored_Bystander | Hacker News Reader

Tech people, and especially the circle that is absorbed in the startup/techcrunch/combinator thing, have to be the most incredibly self absorbed, solipsistic bunch of twits in creation.

Most people are busy earning a living or living their lives doing something that actually matters, and the subtle nuance of details that tech startup types endlessly masturbate over is trivial background noise to most of the normal working populace.

To turn it all around, I have had the experience of explaining a legalism such as a specific application of labor or copyright law to a deep hard core techie. It's absolutely outside their universe and their frame of reference... does not compute... smoke starts coming out the ears... "Illogical! Norman, please coordinate..."

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'Frame of Reference' is exactly the right concept. This is what allows you to make sense of what you don't understand. Even the smartest people with the wrong frames can come up short when challenged.

Having a frame of reference is a combination of specific knowledge (typically gained through a program of formal study), and experience (typically gained from operating within a frame for some time, and building a private sense of how it works in practice).

The fastest way to infuriate an otherwise smart, capable person is to (a) fail to understand that they simply don't share your frame of reference, then (b) treat them like they're incapable of understanding anything at all while (c) failing to supply the kinds of helpful clues that can get them properly oriented, allowing them to use what they do know to make better sense of what they don't.

Computer people seem especially prone to this.

Agreed. I tried to eat it a Korean soup kitchen the other day. There I sat clueless with some murky broth and undescipherable dishes of 'stuff' while all around me Korean students scraped and mixed and ate with happy abandon.

I'm glad for the huge disconnect between techies and actual people. It makes it possible for the development of new ideas to connect with mainstream users. If techs understood mainstream people I wouldn't be on this site right now. Why do I feel Palinish? Ugh. . . too bad it's true.

Perspective Time: Being an expert means you are capable of a lot, it's great for sure, but it doesn't mean you're smart or have all the answers. Let's not be mad at each other, it's all good.

Go fuck yourself.

Can someone explain to me why I should respond to this person with any respect whatsoever given his complete lack of tact? Isn't this a tech site? Why am I more downvoted than him? Have a little more self-respect, tech community.

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