Ask HN: Does HN ever make you feel great about the world?

This would seem to be the other side of the recent thread, "Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?". The proverbial "glass half-[full|empty]", if you will. In fact, HN does make me feel great about the world. It provides a venue that celebrates innovation, while being extremely personally valuable. Learning from the accomplishments and mistakes of others is both inspiring and educational.

HN exemplifies the awesomeness of the age we live in. Products, inventions, and ideas can be spread so fast and be started by anyone. People from 100 years ago would be terrified at the things the average person can create. The rate of productivity seems exponential, as if it will just keep multiplying.

Absolutely: HN stories and comments invariably teach me something new every day. And judging by what stories become very popular, HNers like to be inspired, and cheer on those making a difference. Such impacts are very important when programming and startup work tend to be lonely endeavours to begin with.

In particular, since all ability and knowledge starts from unconscious incompetence, and the transition to conscious incompetence can be haphazard, personally I like the experience of finding out what I didn't know I didn't know.

I personally am indebted to the HN community for the last 3.5 years of constant learning opportunities and positive interactions with like-minded people. While I recognize the other poster's complaint about feeling bad when they read HN, I myself am happy to be a member of a welcoming community that praises continuous improvement and provides external motivation to its members. I sometimes find myself awe-stricken by the talent of this community but then remind myself that it is better to look ahead to see how much I can aspire to instead of seeing how far behind I think I am.

Yep, HN especially its community never fails to awe and inspire me.