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Comment by ericdschmidt | Hacker News Reader

Nothing is wrong with wanting to change the world. But you don't find the language being used rather creepy? It really does sound like delusions of grandeur. For a one-day event? There is nothing wrong with wanting to change the world, but there is something wrong with hubris, ego, megalomania...

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Delusions of grandeur, perhaps, but I don't see a problem with setting high goals for SHDH. At the events I've gone to, I've seen people doing all sorts of crazy shit - at one of them, someone was doing some sort of biotech experiments with DNA and yogurt, and at another event, I saw an early version of that Word Lens realtime translation app that came out on iOS a couple months back. I think genetic engineering and realtime translation both have the potential to change the world, don't you?

Ah, well first off I thought this event was just something these guys from his job organized, like, at one of their houses.

But still. Even for a large event like that, the language he quoted in the article was kinda creepy. I of course agree that at any time ideas can spark and work can begin that will eventually have a large impact. I'm sure there are CS conferences that use more sober language.

Except that when you're working in a technology field, everything you do changes the world. It may not have a sweeping impact, and may only make a small and seemingly superficial change. But that small change makes it that much easier on the next person.

Who knows - perhaps that one day event is where hacker X meets hacker Y and they go on to form company Z, and really do change the world by introducing product Δ.

Though I certainly understand where you're coming from, and how one could read the SuperHappyDevHouse blurb as being extremely egotistical.

Last I checked, software development kinda sorta is really changing the world.

Now, if they claimed they were trying to take over the world, that would be hubris. But changing the world? A noble goal if you ask me. Not creepy at all.

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