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Comment by latexr | Hacker News Reader

> sorry about the tangent

I understand why you felt the need to do it, but it’s still sad that you have to apologise for it. It’s not like if using technology for killing is a fringe hypothesis, it’s happening right now and on the news. It’s a discussion worth having.

> This really is the quote of the century

I loathe that quote. The people thinking about how to make others click ads are only concerned with themselves and their own profit. To me that does not qualify as a “best mind”. Maybe a “smart” or “good at computers” or “good at manipulation” mind, but certainly not “best”. A “best mind” should be capable of empathy and have a broad societal view of consequences for their actions.

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> I loathe that quote

I thought this quote was a direct invocation of Howl / Ginsberg, “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness”.

Seen in that light I think there’s another layer to it.

At a certain point, quotes (like any other part of language) get a new meaning, sometimes the opposite of what they originally stood for. Like any popular saying, whatever they were in reference to is forgotten and they stand and are interpreted on their own.

It doesn’t matter what the quote used to invoke if no one using it is thinking of the invocation.

A nice attribute of discussion is the opportunity to see references and quotes through the eyes of other people, perhaps especially if the interpretation is novel.

I agree. But that doesn’t contradict my point at all. Two things can be true at once.

So when is society gonna start thinking of us in return? Where are our rewards?

It's a rotten world out there. Everything is corrupt. Taking the moral high ground is an enormous sacrifice. In the best case scenario, society will just laugh at you for it. Chances are they will actually fight you since your moral stand will probably get in the way of their profitable schemes.

I find it increasingly hard to blame people for playing the game. The reality is that the honest man is punished while the corrupt man is rewarded.

Ignoring the fact that your description is far from absolute (“society” isn’t a single thing; there are—and I’ve been in—smaller scale societies which do work together for the collective good) and that shrugging off the situation only makes it worse and never better, none of what you said contradicts my point. In fact, it only reinforces it; being a “best mind” isn’t supposed to be easy. You may excuse it, but there’s nothing laudable about deciding to be corrupt in a corrupt world, the opposite is true. The one who choses to do the right, moral, good, altruistic thing despite personal consequences is the one deserving of admiration.

Admiration and respect are great and a clean conscience lets you sleep well at night. It still doesn't help to make up for the profound demoralization you experience when you realize that unscrupulous people are making millions completely unpunished, nor does it help the people who get persecuted, bankrupted or even outright killed for trying to oppose the never ending corruption.

Again, none of that contradicts what I said. It frankly feels like you’re trying hard to justify to yourself why you do things you know deep down aren’t right. You do you, whatever helps you sleep at night and get through the day, I guess.

Maybe you get demoralised by the state of the world and feel like giving up. Others see the same thing you do and are pushed towards action. Sometimes they are able to improve the world, other times they aren’t and may even get killed in the process. But only those who try, do.

> It frankly feels like you’re trying hard to justify to yourself why you do things you know deep down aren’t right.

The opposite. Watching borderline criminal people and even actual criminals be much more successful than me honestly makes me depressed and sometimes makes me curse my upbringing. I could be a lot more successful than I am right now if I was sociopathic enough.

I live in a country so corrupt the supreme court is not only involved in but is actively covering up scandals literally right now. The only people who mustered enough balls to protest them are in jail right now for a coup attempt, and some of them have already died in prison.

So I just don't blame people anymore when they just give up and start playing the game.

> The opposite. Watching borderline criminal people and even actual criminals be much more successful than me honestly makes me depressed and sometimes makes me curse my upbringing. I could be a lot more successful than I am right now if I was sociopathic enough.

I understand what you mean. Thank you for clarifying.

> So I just don't blame people anymore when they just give up and start playing the game.

Right, but the crux of my original point wasn’t so much to blame people who do it, but pushback at the idea those are “the best minds”.

>A “best mind” should be capable of empathy and have a broad societal view of consequences for their actions.

9 years of philosophy later: You are not a best mind. Sorry. But you think morals metaphysically exist and no best minds do.

I find it fascinating how you can read someone’s own definition of a subjective concept and immediately make wrong assertions about them and their opinions and do so by employing a No True Scotsman, a logical fallacy so basic one learns it in high school introductory class.

> A “best mind” should be capable of empathy and have a broad societal view of consequences for their actions

Empathy and introspection are so 20th century. They are a hindrance when your aim is to make as much money and put it on fire as quickly as possible. Because somehow that’s how we decided to measure success.

Another user posted this article earlier https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/03/introspection-andr... which was interesting

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