Comment by monero-xmr 16 hours ago
My first comment on this whole thread was how security in tech is theater, and the sellers mostly snake oil salesmen. I’m not the first to make this observation and I don’t think it’s wrong. Which is why employment in the sector is down, full circle to the OP
> Just don't pretend that it's for our benefit or that we downvote it because we're unthinking drones
The reason many comments are downvoted on HN in general is most often unknown to me. One interpretation is that it's a major flaw in HN.
This design decision by HN could be intentional, as a trade-off to achieve something else. For example, it could be done to have high velocity of discussion. High velocity could preserve an invariant of keeping or pulling users on the site.
If it's a trade-off, which would suggest something is given up for it, it might be worth exploring what's given up.
This website is full of unthinking drones acting with hive mind behavior, that is my contention, and I think very differently, not just on here but with almost everyone I engage with. However I succeed over and over with asymmetric bets on a wide variety of things, including and especially tech and making money in tech, so if we compare bank accounts and career trajectories, investments, etc. it would be wise to let me speak
Overweighing people's opinions on matters they demonstrate a shallow engagement with on account of their success in other areas is cargo culting. Maybe you should worry less about HN and more about your own reflexes to accept bad ideas from yourself and others based on their wealth. Maybe succeeding in contrarian bets doesn't make you "correct" in some moral sense, but only successful in the trade.
It's easy for me to believe you're an intelligent person who's accomplished impressive things. But it wouldn't contradict anything I've said.
I own a software business with hundreds of employees I built from nothing. I know all about tech security, hiring security guys, etc. It is a cost center, the directors / VPs / CSOs are overpaid salesmen, 99% of the products you want are features from cloud vendors or provided by standard tools like device management or password managers. I totally get the patina desired by large corporations who need to show wall street they care about security. When I box check I use a super cheap cut rate firm who can check boxes for me at the lowest cost because it is total bullshit. I'm sorry this is the reality
It's understandable to have sour grapes after having some bad experiences, but what I'm hearing is unrelated to any impact AI is having on the job market. You're talking about security products you think are snake oil and executives you think are overpaid; that is unrelated to trends in job postings for security professionals, working at software companies, and how that might be impacted from AI.
This is what I've been saying. You've got some random grievance, you want to take this discussion as an opportunity to get it off your chest. But you don't want to engage with people challenging your ideas. And when for whatever reason you do explain yourself to me, your explanation is "I am wealthy and successful, so I must be right. Those who disagree with me are an undifferentiated mass of imbeciles that I have nothing to learn from."
If that's how you want to live, it's your right. You're only cheating yourself, so maybe I'll just shut up and let you get on with it.
Go ahead, take that slim, speculative, tangential connection and interpret it as permission to inject your hot take into the discussion. Decline to elaborate when your supposition is challenged. You've every right to do that.
Just don't pretend that it's for our benefit or that we downvote it because we're unthinking drones, or that you decline to elaborate because we're simply not capable of having the discussion.
I tell you this because if I were insulating myself inside a bubble and rationalizing my interactions with those who disagree with me as being the reflexive behavior of a hive mind, I would hope someone would point that out to me. So here it is; again, do with the opportunity what you will.