What concerns me a lot more is that there is too much unwarranted arrogance in the Lisp community. I don't know exactly where this comes from, but some Lispers seem to believe, just because they understand some Lisp concepts, that they are much smarter than anybody else in the universe. What they are forgetting is that computer science as a discipline is very, very young. In one or two hundred years from now, Lisp concepts will be common knowledge, just like elementary algebra. There is no reason to be arrogant just because you know that the earth is round, even if most other people still believe that it is flat.
I'm not sure I've experienced this "arrogance," but I've heard so many people talk about it or try to explain it that I suppose it must exist in some shape or form.
Either way, I thought this bit of advice was rather insightful and prudent. It doesn't just affect the Lisp community either mind you. In my experience anyone who is ignorant enough to believe they are smarter than someone else by virtue of what they already know is easily led into this sort of thinking... and it's a train of thought that is worth worrying about for those of us who are interested in fostering positive communities with valuable contributors.
I thought his comment was insightful, too, until I read the last line. Then it just sounded like arrogance. I suppose I read a positive spin on that comment--something like "well, most people just haven't discovered the facts about how great LISP really is," but the round/flat earth analogy doesn't necessarily foster such a reading.
I can see it that way now that you mention it, but when I read it initially, I gave it a more charitable reading.
It's possible that Mr. Costanza means by "not arrogant" that it isn't a reason to think that you're better than the flat earther at all. There are plenty of people for whom knowledge of the curvature of the earth does not often come into play. It isn't out of the question that Mr. Costanza means that those folks could learn about the shape of the earth if it came up, and that the fact that it hasn't come up for them is a matter of circumstance rather than in-born ability.
I'm not sure I've experienced this "arrogance," but I've heard so many people talk about it or try to explain it that I suppose it must exist in some shape or form.
Either way, I thought this bit of advice was rather insightful and prudent. It doesn't just affect the Lisp community either mind you. In my experience anyone who is ignorant enough to believe they are smarter than someone else by virtue of what they already know is easily led into this sort of thinking... and it's a train of thought that is worth worrying about for those of us who are interested in fostering positive communities with valuable contributors.