When I discovered computers, it became even more fun to make things - websites, animations, scripts to make chemistry homework automatic, etc. My classmates would spend the same amount of time discussing who was the best at throwing pig-skin balls in an arena, or how funny that last South Park episode was.
Now that was before every kid had an portable entertainment system on hand for 24 hours a day, with interfaces tailored for consumption, and operating systems discouraging fiddling. I can only imagine the maker culture is dwindling, especially in younger generations. Is there a way to fix this?
How true. Amazing what passes off for high fives on HN. Anybody ever watch any documentaries on the real world showing what people with serious jobs build and maintain everyday? (I saw one last night about the complexity of the military supply chain ships near Somalia).
Many of these posts that I see here on HN seem like the equivalent of a kid in elementary school bringing home an art project to show their parents and grandparents who exclaim how wonderful an achievement and how promising they are.
These posts do serve a purpose though. They bring traffic and exposure to the poster's company website (in this example 37signals but there are many others) by highlighting some simple revelation or discovery.
Look around at most of the people you interact with every day. Many of them are stuck in a cycle of not making things, and this guy worked hard enough to break that cycle for himself. He found his calling in writing code. That is inspirational, and something to be proud of.