Re: On Hubris

[graff]

I think belg4mit may be confusing "hubris" with "self esteem", which is not just a common experience of programmers, but an essential, self-reinforcing trait of the human race (folks who lack it tend not to reproduce -- those who lack it in the extreme can be suicidal).

The difference between self-esteem and hubris is that self-esteem is directed inward, and is good because it serves to amplify the recipient's ability to do good work, whereas hubris is directed outward, and is bad because it tends to dampen or interfere with the recipient's ability to do good work.

[belg4mit]

I think this is rather presumptuous. Hubris is defined as arrogance. It is pretty rare to confuse the two. Even though the the 2nd definition of self-esteem is self-conceit, with a defintion close to that of hubris, in my experience it never the intended meaning. I think a major "difference" which would have made this distinction quite clear is that hubris is usually directed at a single facet of one's abilities, and I did speak quite clearly of programming. Self-esteem is a more general quality.

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