Cynical non-pioneers

It appears there does not exist a suitable antonym for the word “pioneer” 1 . The closest that exists, as far as I can tell, is the Plato’s Cave metaphor. Baring a suitable word that gets suggested to me, I will use “Cynical non-pioneers” to refer to such peoples.

Cynicism of non-pioneers …

A non-pioneer is merely someone that is not a pioneer (in whatever field/ idea). A cynical non-pioneer is one that obdurately resists that new thing using spurious reasons, thus exhibiting a cynical outlook. One of the things that prevents people from adopting a new idea in general is cynicism or doubt. How does it manifest in various domains?

… in tech

Here are some examples of cynicism exhibited by non-enthusiastic “outsiders” (non-niche population) in tech:

… Actualism

See here.

See also

  • Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution
  • “the mediocrity of those who say you can not do it”
  • Trump/Elon Derangement Syndrome

    Chalk it down to MDS - Musk Derangement Syndrome. There is something in Elon Musk which triggers people to start acting irrationally just like there is something in e.g. Donald Trump which does the same. It is probably related to the way they - Musk and Trump and others like them - act like they are not bound by the laws which keep others from attempting the types of ventures these often undertake as well as their lack of humility about them. Some are awed by their boldness and become fanboys, others are disgusted by their lack of humility and failure to abide by the standards and fall victim to some form of ‘derangement syndrome’. When Musk started gaining successes with SpaceX and Tesla there were many articles posted by the ‘fanboy’ section of the crowd while those who started to suffer from DS were just waiting for him or his companies to trip somewhere, somehow so they could torch the man. His purchase of Twitter / X as well as the underwhelming performance (compared to the claimed capabilities) of Tesla’s ‘fully self driving’ system have given them ample fuel just waiting for someone to put a match to.

  • Stockholm syndrome
Footnotes
1.
a person who is among the first to research and develop a new area of knowledge or activity
2.

From the comment by user “kstenerud”:

What’s interesting to notice about this thread is how many messages are just oozing with smug superiority and disdain for anyone who doesn’t share their knowledge.

The cynicism characterization comes from the fact that the person (kstenerud) who wrote the top-level thread engages in the projection of one’s own feelings of offense (else, the author can surely and readily reference those specific words that connoted “smug superiority and disdain”) rather than discussing the merits of the topic at hand.

“Gatekeeping” is another fancy word used elsewhere to express this felt offense, making it pass for a factoid.

The author even goes to the extent of condescendingly claiming to read the minds of the people involved (FP proponents) better than those people themselves can by exclaiming, “I don’t think they can even see what they’ve become.” when the fact of the matter simply is that “what they’ve become” is nothing but a cynical creation of this person’s mind (else, the author can surely and readily reference those specific words that connoted “smug superiority and disdain”) which projection is then introjected by other such criticasters and naysayers as evidenced by the place this factoid holds in the hierarchy of comments.

None of this is unique to functional programming per see. When something new is presented to humanity, the initial tendency generally is to resist it at all costs. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave

Links to this page
  • Haskell
    Lose the limiting beliefs, if any.* Approach Haskell, with maximum locus of control, as if it is a new programming language that had been created this year (ie. sans any vague preconceptions introjected from naysayers and their enablers).
  • Courage of your convictions

    RICHARD: At times this audacity* – that it will be me who does it – approaches megalomania* … after all, one thinks, who am I to think that I can break through the impasse that has baffled humankind for millennia? As long as one does not succumb to delusions of grandeur, a healthy dose of what appears to be megalomania* is appropriate … otherwise one is held back by the mediocrity of those who say you can not do it. You can. The only requirement is that one be a human being – and that I hereby devote my entire life to breaking through to the perfection and peace that is lying open all around right now … if only I had the eyes to see it. It takes great courage and fortitude to fly in the face of all those ‘would be’s’ and ‘want to be’s’ who, alas, only talk about it. One has to do it … because, after all is said and done, it is my life that I am living.