We may flock to TED and Hacker News to read about what others are doing, but not for inspiration in the sense that we will be inspired to do things, but rather we seek reassurance that people are doing things, things that we feel we could do if we tried.
We want to see people we can relate to doing great things so that we can feel that those things are with in our ability.
When you watch Nascar you think you can drive fast. When you watch TED you think you can change the world. You aren't inspired by Nascar, you are envigorated, excited, but not inspired.
I don't disagree, but I do find myself having moments of clarity when I look up from work and come check out HN. Often it's just a brief comment just resonates, and clarifies something I'd been chewing on for the past few days/weeks. In that way, I guess it's a precursor to what the author labels as true 'inspiration.'
In any case, I like dropping in on smart people debating stuff.
We may flock to TED and Hacker News to read about what others are doing, but not for inspiration in the sense that we will be inspired to do things, but rather we seek reassurance that people are doing things, things that we feel we could do if we tried.
We want to see people we can relate to doing great things so that we can feel that those things are with in our ability.
When you watch Nascar you think you can drive fast. When you watch TED you think you can change the world. You aren't inspired by Nascar, you are envigorated, excited, but not inspired.
TED and Hacker News is nascar for geeks.