Hacker News Reader

Comment by autoexec | Hacker News Reader

> those who seek loudness uniformly present as men, and in large majority tend to treat prosocial-community responses with disregard, hostility, or mockery.

Is the loudness then just a big "fuck you" to the rest of the world or does it provide the loudness seeker with something besides the joy of knowing that they're pissing off everyone within earshot? If they were the last living person on Earth would they still go to the trouble to modify their vehicle for loudness?

View on HN

I think it’s worth pointing out that there’s a subset of people who have loud exhausts because the engine actually needs it. They’ve supped it up to an insane spec for performance reasons. You can’t have 500+ horsepower try to breathe through a straw. There are sports cars that are loud from the factory because of this.

Now is it smart to do all of that just to drive 35mph in traffic? That’s another discussion :)

Somewhat second this: high flow exhausts that are also appropriately catted & muffled will lose a few horsepower compared to an equivalent exhaust that is not. Laguna Seca and Sonoma iirc and other raceways ended up putting into place strict decibel limits, but I believe the only city applying serious decibel enforcement for retail street cars right now is NYC (where flooring a Porsche can actually break the noise laws, as Porsche sells cars from factory that way). You certainly can make the straw Even Bigger to compensate but generally both drivers and manufacturers tend to take the cheaper-louder or maxxer-louder paths if vehicle horsepower is their primary concern, unless externally pressured otherwise.

I think it's a mix across the different kinds of people.

For me my car isn't loud right now, but I do just genuinely enjoy the thrill and sound of the car in "track" setup. It's too loud to drive on the street but it's a thrill on track. The loudness isn't the point and I wish it were quieter, but the different exhaust components give it the raw visceral sound that I love.

I guess you can think of it like the difference between music on the TV or music at a concert, the sound is literally different not just louder, and the context makes everything more visceral.

I wonder too. Maybe it could be plumage to seek attention, maybe asserting "superiority", maybe dominating. security/insecurity?

I do know sometimes when someone pulls up nearby with loud music coming out of their rolled-down windows... I wonder what putting on loud disney princess music would do?

It's a pretty basic dopamine response, do something, hear something big happen, feel good. Real basic and, fairly universal. You may prefer a quieter car, but there is also a sound level that is below your preference. Your preference just happens to be different. You may prefer some other form of this concept. Maybe you like loud music. Maybe you like loud colors. Loud flavors. Maybe all of the above. That's fine, that's called a preference.

The hostility comes from the perception that someone wants to take away your toy. Again, it's very very basic, the same thing you see if you try to take away an item from an animal that is engaged in a dopamine response with that item. Like a dog eating something. They will bite you or at least growl if you take it away.

> The hostility comes from the perception that someone wants to take away your toy. Again, it's very very basic, the same thing you see if you try to take away an item from an animal that is engaged in a dopamine response with that item. Like a dog eating something. They will bite you or at least growl if you take it away.

Sure, but now replace “toy” with, “peaceful Neighbourhood”

The only reason anyone wants to take someone’s dumb truck away is because they made the the first move, destroying or significantly degrading something that other people enjoyed.

Yes exactly! Replace toy with peaceful neighborhood. From each other's perspective, you both appear to have the same goals. How would you solve that without taking away someone else's peaceful neighborhood?

I would say that if you want to drive loud fast cars, you’re welcome to do so, on a track intended for that purpose. Conversely, if you want to drive on public roads near children and where people live then you have to drive slow and quiet.

  Real basic and, fairly universal. You may prefer a quieter car, but there is also a sound level that is below your preference.

I do not believe this to be true. My feeling is: some people (or rather: some people in some occasions) enjoy to be noticed, and some others enjoy not to be noticed.

Stealth mode might be occasionally useful, but personally, I want my car to be just loud enough that I can tell when it's running. I've used cars where I couldn't always tell and it sometimes resulted in stupid mistakes like leaving them running when I didn't mean to, or trying to start a car that was already running. It can also be helpful for people outside of the car to be able to hear when a car is approaching. I've never wanted a car to be louder than necessary for those reasons though and whatever noise it makes it shouldn't be annoying or intrusive.

"Personally, I want my CPU to be just warm enough that I can tell its working. We should outlaw overclocking because of [insert some way that it bothers somebody]"

This is just culture war for HN commenters. Everyone should grow up a little more.

You're interpreting this completely differently; I was referring to the idea of big feedback being a driving factor in any human action. Feedback doesn't have to come from another person noticing you. It can be as simple as, I did this, its very loud, that feels very good.

My hearing is +20-30dB oversensitive, so for me it’s all just pain and suffering, which is why I live on a 25mph road rather than a 55mph road. What I’ve discovered is that there are two subsets of loud drivers: ones that are loud every time, and ones that are loud only when they’ve left the residential area. Harley drivers are a good example of this split, as they tend not to gas their engines loudly around residential zones.

Dogs that tend to bite when denied their pleasures tend not to be welcome in prosocial human societies. One wishes drivers were more often held to the same standard.

I like loud music, but I have headphones and don't try to impose it on everybody else. There are probably tons of antisocial activities that promote a dopamine reponse, but most of us know better.

> but there is also a sound level that is below your preference.

I would be thrilled with a silent car if it was safe and legal.

Same reason someone would wear bright red shoes or a loud outfit, I guess. Maybe to you it’s annoying, but maybe to them it’s cool, loud, and fun. Seems easy enough to understand, even if it’s a little antisocial. Same reason punks do punk stuff, kinda, could be one way to look at it.

That's a category error.

One is a presentation and the other is noise pollution negatively impacting everyone else and the environment.

the difference is that I can't hear your bright red outfit from 3 blocks away

*1 mile, here

Reply on news.ycombinator.com