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Comment by acangiano | Hacker News Reader

In computing, there is an emphasis on the tools, rather than what you do with them.

It's worth noting that it's not limited to computing either. Countless amateur photographers spend their time discussing hardware, rather than techniques and other aspects that would benefit their craft to a much greater extent.

Personally, as much as I'm fascinated by the tools, I'm much more curious about what you do with them. So I'm always glad when I see someone succeed and create something useful with an odd stack of technologies. It reminds me to focus less on the tools and more on the creation process.

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>Countless amateur photographers spend their time discussing hardware, rather than techniques and other aspects that would benefit their craft to a much greater extent.

You see the same thing among firearms enthusiasts. It's fairly common to find people that spend (tens of) thousands of dollars chasing the best gear, but won't spend $2-400 on training from a reputable instructor.

And snowboarders. People spend probably minimum $1k for clothes, boots, board and bindings; plus $70+/day for a lift ticket; but won't spend $50 to go to a group class and actually learn how to do it. And they're dangerous to everyone around them because they can't dismount a goddamn lift without falling down and probably knocking down their neighbors.

And climbers. Nothing like wading through a gibbering horde of prana wearing gumbies topropting with their $350 shiny new 70 meter bicolor ropes first thing in the morning at the crag.

And kayakers. I've lost count of the number of times I've had someone's shiny new boat (closely followed by an expanding slick of random gear) float past me on class III+ runs.

And hikers. Ever see a day hiker doing a mile and a half loop trail wearing a $350 hydration pack, $150 trail shoes clad head to toe in North Face gear?

And blacksmiths. Endless are the rants on why a $800 Beverly throatless shear is infinitely superior to an identical model from Harbor Freight that costs a mere $90.

And car enthusiasts. Ever see a $90,000 sportscar dinking around in traffic on a Saturday afternoon?

See a pattern forming? People (mistakenly or otherwise) attach prestige to the latest expensive gear, regardless of the activity in question.

Good point, with broad examples. Seems like you've led an interesting life - not many people would pull out "blacksmiths" as an example :)

I'm a man of many parts. :)

Ditto guitarists.

It's not just the emphasis on tools. Context matters too. I know that pud was trying to make a narrow point, but it's interesting to note that the blog doesn't mention the problem he uses the tools for or the rest of the context. There's a lot of that in the industry as well.

I would extend this to just about anybody who could be considered a "geek". Photography, Programming, Writing, everything. There is so much discussion over tools and process that everyone forgets to actually make stuff.

Which reminds me, I should stop reading HN and get back to work.

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