Not just in this particular discussion, but overall a shift away from talking about individual, inspired and sometimes entrepreneurial creativity toward how to pass a FAANG-style interview or have better standups and corporate culture.
HN is one of the rare places where free thinking is still allowed (probably thanks to pg), but the new ideology is spreading fast.
On the bright side, this may be a good time to found a startup.
Comparing hackers in an individual context is apples and oranges to talking about them in a company context.
It's great when hackers use their knowledge and creative energy to create new things or startup new companies.
It's not great when super-hackers use their assumed intellectual superiority to make life miserable for their team members and managers. There are plenty of real "hackers" who have the right interpersonal skills and self-awareness to be lead teams in a business context and get work done. Unfortunately, there are plenty of self-described "hackers" who use think their intellectual superiority excuses a lot of bad behavior in the workplace, from stonewalling projects unless/until they get their way to railing against the corporation.
If these hackers want to go off and start their own companies then I'm all for it. As a coder-turned-manager, I don't want any self-absorbed hacker types on my team, though.