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_journals/2024-07-01_1507.md

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       title: July 1st, 2024

     

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       date: 2024-07-01, 15:07:45 -07:00

     

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       section: journal

     

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       link: https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths

     

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       ---

     

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       I was asked about [[Eternal September]] recently which reminded me about [[Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution]]. I’ve added both as notes.

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_notes/Eternal September.md

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       wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

     

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       tags:

     

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         - culture

     

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       ---

     

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       > **Eternal September** or the **September that never ended** refers to a cultural phenomenon during a period beginning around late 1993 and early 1994, when [

     

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       > Internet service providers began offering [Usenet](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet "Usenet") access to many new users. Prior to this, the only sudden changes in the volume of new users of Usenet occurred each September, when cohorts of university students would gain access to it for the first time. The periodic flood of new users overwhelmed the existing culture for online forums and the ability to enforce existing norms. [AOL](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL "AOL") began their Usenet gateway service in March 1994, leading to a constant stream of new users. Hence, from the early Usenet hobbyist point of view, the influx of new users that began in September 1993 appeared to be endless.

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_notes/Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution.md

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       link: https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths

     

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       tags:

     

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         - article

     

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         - culture

     

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       author:

     

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         - David Chapman

     

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       > Subcultures are dead. I plan to write a full  obituary soon.

     

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       > 

     

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       > Subcultures were the main creative cultural force from roughly 1975 to 2000, when they stopped working. Why?

     

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       > 

     

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       > One reason—among several—is that as soon as subcultures start getting really interesting, they get invaded by muggles, who ruin them. Subcultures have a predictable lifecycle, in which popularity causes death. Eventually—around 2000—everyone understood this, and gave up hoping some subculture could somehow escape this dynamic.

     

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       > 

     

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       > (You can read very brief previews of my analysis of subculture dynamics in [this table](https://meaningness.com/modes-chart) and/or [this page](https://meaningness.com/meaningness-history).)

     

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       > 

     

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       > <mark>The muggles who invade and ruin subcultures come in two distinct flavors, mops and sociopaths, playing very different roles.</mark> This insight was influenced by Venkatesh Rao’s [Gervais Principle](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F9IV64W/?tag=meaningness-20), an analysis of workplace dynamics. [[VGR]]’s theory is hideous, insightful [nihilism](https://meaningness.com/preview-eternalism-and-nihilism "Nihilism is the stance that regards everything as meaningless.  It forms a false dichotomy with eternalism, which sees everything as having a fixed meaning. The stance of meaningness recognizes the fluid mixture of meaningfulness and meaninglessness in everything. [Click for details.]"); I recommend it.

     

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_notes/Home-Cooked Software and Barefoot Developers.md

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       Presented by [[Maggie Appleton]] at [[Local First Conf]] in Berlin, May 2024.

     

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       Presented by [[Maggie Appleton]] at [[Local First Conf]] in Berlin, May 2024.

     

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       ## Video 

     

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       https://youtu.be/qo5m92-9_QI?si=XsYjuCIrWPSkumVc

     

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