Byrne's Blog » Blog Archive » Why Are Middlebrow Dismissals So Tempting?

A “Middlebrow dismissal” is a Hacker News-ism that refers to a response to an idea that’s both a) popular, and b) uninformative. You’d think these would be rare, but they are incredibly common. Below, a couple objections you can write down for use the next time someone tells you about something new and cool:

Byrne's Blog >> Blog Archive >> Why Are Middlebrow Dismissals So Tempting? Byrne's Blog Home Contact About Why Are Middlebrow Dismissals So Tempting? A “Middlebrow dismissal” is a Hacker News -ism that refers to a response to an idea that’s both a) popular, and b) uninformative. You’d think these would be rare, but they are incredibly common. Below, a couple objections you can write down for use the next time someone tells you about something new and cool: This is a feature, not a product. Google/Facebook/Amazon could easily do this. It’s not scalable. I

related reading

• Sort By Controversialslatestarcodex.com
• The Renaissance of Rise and Grindinvesting1012dot0.substack.com
• Did Medium Succeed?every.to
• Early Workpaulgraham.com
• Stupid Apps and Changing the Worldblog.samaltman.com
• Rule Thinkers In, Not Out — LessWronglesswrong.com
• Early Workpaulgraham.com
• Mediocre Success Is Worse Than Outright Failureevery.to
• The billionaire’s typewriter | Butterick’s Practical Typographypracticaltypography.com
• The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial — Ribbonfarmribbonfarm.com
• Crazy New Ideaspaulgraham.com
• Crazy New Ideaspaulgraham.com