Hacker News Reader

Are these squirrels and badgers resistant to other squirrels and badgers coming in, or just resistant to changing their behavior to fit in with the newcomers?

And do we really believe that squirrels and badgers are fundamentally that different?

View on HN

If you feel like surrendering the space you and your friends built to those more socially adept by all means go for it. Who cares if they have any real connection to the interest the group is centered about, they're... normal! Maybe it'll rub off on me! Maybe then I'll be a real boy!

One of the points of the fable as I understood it is that the badgers often aren't actually badgers, but all sorts of other individuals trying to mimic a badger.

On that idea, there was a very interesting lightning talk at EuroPython 2015: https://youtu.be/Tt-R2KdQUFs?t=2772

Which gets confusing because it makes one wonder if all the squirrels are actually squirrels are a bunch of different animals in squirrel costumes. If they are all squirrels, what does it mean that there are very few badgers, a bunch of animals looking like badgers, and a bunch of squirrels. But if most squirrels are actually other animals in a squirrel costume, it gives a second level of reflection in the squirrel society as well.

The ending of the fable seems a bit open ended, like a plot twist thrown in at the end but never resolved.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com