I didn't agree with the xkcd, and I don't agree with this post either.
Look, everyone likes epiphanies. If you're reading HN, you probably like them more than most people. I don't think this is a bad thing. Yes, it's important to be producing. Yes, you need feedback on your ideas from reality. But this is only true if we have ideas to begin with. The widely accepted startup methodology---start small and iterate---is just a process for generating epiphanies.
If we're "stumbling from one epiphany to another," we're not acting on them, or we only see part of the picture, or we just haven't gotten the right one yet. Despairing that rather than our methods, it's us that's broken is both unfounded (really? You've had every epiphany ever?) and unhelpful.
The girl in the comic is known to deploy cruelty for her own amusement; I think the author had excellent insight into the newbie pickup artist's mind, and gave his character a response calculated to strike at the core of the would-be Casanova's psyche.
A specialization to make your words more powerfully targeted:
The widely accepted startup methodology---start small and iterate---is just a process for generating epiphanies >based in reality<.
A deletion to make your words more powerfully generalized:
I think the author had excellent insight into the newbie pickup artist's mind, and gave his character a response calculated to strike at the core of the wanna-be's psyche.
"The longer they [those with the "good" ideas] wait, the
more they convince themselves of how perfectly that idea
should be executed, and they imagine it on a beatiful
platter with glitter and rose petals."
It's a simple discussion about implementation. Not sure what you're arguing against.
I guess I focused too much on the comic. You're right, the post does a good job of stressing the importance of implementation.
But it also dismisses the value of ideas too glibly. Bill Gates may have been "some dude who liked writing interpreters and funny games," but that is miles ahead of some dude who liked making marijuana sculptures. The ideas were what made the difference.
It doesn't seem odd to anyone that we're reading a post describing the author's epiphany that epiphanies are useless?
Look, everyone likes epiphanies. If you're reading HN, you probably like them more than most people. I don't think this is a bad thing. Yes, it's important to be producing. Yes, you need feedback on your ideas from reality. But this is only true if we have ideas to begin with. The widely accepted startup methodology---start small and iterate---is just a process for generating epiphanies.
If we're "stumbling from one epiphany to another," we're not acting on them, or we only see part of the picture, or we just haven't gotten the right one yet. Despairing that rather than our methods, it's us that's broken is both unfounded (really? You've had every epiphany ever?) and unhelpful.
The girl in the comic is known to deploy cruelty for her own amusement; I think the author had excellent insight into the newbie pickup artist's mind, and gave his character a response calculated to strike at the core of the would-be Casanova's psyche.
Anyway, thanks for the post, OP.