kvasir:

Grumpiness warning!

Paul Graham puts on a convincing case that he was raised by morons and then uses inductive logic to surmise that everybody is raised by morons.

Maybe it’s because I was raised in Iceland/in England by Icelanders but there isn’t a single note in that essay that rings true.

Inductive reasoning, as is Mr. Graham’s forte, is only good for creating elaborate but convincing fiction.

He also hasn’t noticed that the world has changed substantially. Lies don’t work any more as kids pick up almost-true-but-not-quite misconceptions off the internet faster than a sweater does cat hair.

The 18 year olds I’ve been teaching don’t think they know how to run the world. They think the world is ending. They’ve known about pollution, global warming, crime, death, sexual abuse and terrorism in gruesome detail for most of their lives.

Besides, the idea of an innocent childhood has been a myth for anybody outside of the pampered middle class for generations now.

Again, Inductive reasoning falls apart at the first sample set that deviates from the original. Mr. Graham is just writing about the experiences of his friends and family and at no point does he make a statement or establish an idea that is applicable outside a narrow band of moderate to high income American families.