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I did it anyway

Saturday, June 16, 2007 by Dave Winer.

Fred Wilson says that kids are net natives, and that people over 30 don't invent new paradigms. To say that ticks me off is an understatement. Permalink to this paragraph

I've been a net native since before I was 20. Yes, I read newspapers growing up, but I also blogged before it was called blogging, and created a lot of the technology that the kids are developing now. Yet I've had arrogant idiotic asshole kids tell me I don't understand the net. Yeah sure.  Permalink to this paragraph

At this point in my career I'm ready to do the really big ideas, and it sucks that attitudes like the one exemplified by Wilson are in my way. Stop thinking about who can't do what, and start paying attention to who actually does it. Permalink to this paragraph

I listened to an interview on public radio with one of the founders of YouTube, a young guy. The things he says were new 20 years ago. He's a good marketer, and no doubt has attracted the people he needs to build a wonderful system. But he doesn't have all the answers. Sometimes a bit of experience can help, not hinder, progress. Permalink to this paragraph

In every other creative field people are active into their sixties, seventies or eighties. For some reason in tech we assume people are washed up at 30? Based on what? Marc Andreessen's experience. Hmm. Permalink to this paragraph

BTW, when I was a kid, the VCs had reasons why I couldn't do it then. I did it anyway. Permalink to this paragraph

Rex Hammock, who's my age, weighs in. Permalink to this paragraph

One more thing, since this thread is about Facebook, why is their network so tone-deaf to the lives of adults? Maybe it's because the kiddies don't have a clue about business relationships, adult sexual relationships, or family relationships more specific than "In my family?" How long does it take to add some checkboxes to a dialog? These are the new heroes? It seems we've set the bar too low. Permalink to this paragraph

Clay Shirky agrees with his friend Fred Wilson that people over 30 don't invent new stuff.  Permalink to this paragraph

Shirky also said a few years back that IBM would rule in web services. He was wrong then, he's wrong now. Permalink to this paragraph

Steven Hodson: "To Fred -- kiss my ass." Permalink to this paragraph





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