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Comment by pphysch | Hacker News Reader

> It is all well and good to advocate egoless programming, but the fact of the matter is that human ego is a very natural thing, and it is difficult to find people who can—or even should—divorce their ego from their work.

Ironically, it's the "egoless" crowd which tends to be ego-obsessed and solipsistic. They imagine an egoless world which simply requires that everyone thinks just like me; in effect, everyone shares the same "ego"/perspective. Only in this bizarre fantasy world can we move past the ego and focus on "objective reality". Ayn Rand is an example of this worldview.

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Claiming that the "egoless" crowd is egotistic, because "they want everyone to think like them" is like claiming the "tolerance" crowd is intolerant, because "they don't tolerate intolerance".

In my experience, It's both non-factual (ego-less people are the first to learn from others when poised with new ideas) and short-sighted.

There's a manifest difference between people who are naturally humble+curious, and people who are idealistically seeking an "egoless" environment. The latter is what I am referring to.

Now that you mention it, there are parallels with the "tolerance" ideologues. There are people who are naturally patient and empathetic, and then there are people who opportunistically pursue the in-vogue virtue of "tolerance", and end up practicing de facto intolerance in the process. Don't conflate the two.

I can agree that there's people who preach tolerance but don't actually seem to mean it, yeah. Have yet to see egotistical egoless-ness, but I'd suppose it'd just look like empty speech in a smilier fashion.

How predictable the ego's self-defensive reactions are. Merely encountering the suggestion that the ego is a necessary servant but a terrible master and it yelps "I'm not an egotist, you're the egotist!"

There's a complex of these passengers you can't discuss because it wakes them up and they reflexively defend themselves. They wrap themselves around your sense of truth and it's impossible to get them out.

Sleep tight. :)

We each have the free will to choose willful ignorance over humble learning.

You are correct, we can't "get them out"; only they can do that by exercising their free will to choose to become better human beings. We can, however, attempt to teach them with our positive ideals, attitudes, and behaviors, but we can only lead the horses' asses to water, not make them drink.

Note that we must remain humble and grateful in remembrance that we ALL used to be horses' asses, once upon a time, before we entered the Path of Love.

Which character is this referring to?

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