> A popular criticism of Silicon Valley, usually levied by people not building anything at all themselves
Why can or should criticism only come from [1] people that are building things themselves? What about the press (as only one example) or people who write books? What about people teaching in colleges? What about people leaving comments on HN or any other forum?
Criticism only valid if coming from someone building something themselves? Don't agree with that. [2]
[1] Which to me by the choice of words is what is meant by this statement.
[2] If that is the case companies should never solicit any feedback from their customers about their product or their business model.
>> A popular criticism of Silicon Valley, usually levied by people not building anything at all themselves
> Why can or should criticism only come from [1] people that are building things themselves? What about the press (as only one example) or people who write books? What about people teaching in colleges? What about people leaving comments on HN or any other forum?
Another interpretation is that while criticism can come from any source, those who are not building things themselves necessarily have a different perspective than those who do, and therefore their arguments should be heard in that context.
Also there are people not currently building but that have built something in the past (or assisted others who have done so). Such as sama or pg.
> have a different perspective than those who do, and therefore their arguments should be heard in that context.
That perspective could also be more valuable in some cases. Keep in mind that many of today's "disrupters" are people outside a traditional industry who actually do great things exactly because they have little experience and are not jaded. Fresh outlook not restrained by traditional thinking.
The problem that I had (if you want to call it that) was not that sama made that statement. It's the fact that I feel he implied a negative which was not warranted. Plus the use of "usually" when the truth is nobody is in a position to know the exact experience or background of someone offering criticism particularly what they have done in the past. [1] [2]
[1] There could be people even here on HN who have extremely significant backgrounds in building things that prefer to remain anonymous.
[2] I am now thinking maybe this is why PG has others read his essays. So he could simply change a sentence or insert a word and avoid criticism and excessive footnotes.
I think "the thing you are building is too trivial", as a criticism, implicitly expands to "you should be building something more important than the thing you're building". And it's correct to be skeptical of any "you should x" claim from someone who is not xing.
I just read it as a bit of defensiveness that slipped in to the opening. "People claim we're not doing real stuff but where's THEIR real stuff huh?" Agree the essay would've been better without it, but at least for me it's easy to skip over.
Why can or should criticism only come from people that are building things themselves?
Because the people who associate themselves with their products will bite their tongues for business reasons. If Sam pretends like the only people who worth hearing criticize from are exactly the group that won't voice their criticism, he can act like there isn't valuable criticism coming in.
Am I building something? Who knows, I use this account anonymously so I can call bullshit, not be a kissass because I'm worrying about my reputation and the reputation of my products (if they exist).
Why can or should criticism only come from [1] people that are building things themselves? What about the press (as only one example) or people who write books? What about people teaching in colleges? What about people leaving comments on HN or any other forum?
Criticism only valid if coming from someone building something themselves? Don't agree with that. [2]
[1] Which to me by the choice of words is what is meant by this statement.
[2] If that is the case companies should never solicit any feedback from their customers about their product or their business model.