MBTI Type and Emacs

As an INTP I know a big reason I love emacs is that it has this immense depth and complexity in the way it can be expanded and customized. I recently got to watching a video comparing INTJ's and INTPs in computer programming, and some of the points the youtube creator made had me pondering if emacs use skews more heavily into any particular typing. Clearly not the type of thing I'll be able to easily google so I figured might as well make an informal ask on the sub. So if you're aware of mbti and care at all, what is your type? \*Note to mods: if this is to far off topic feel free to delete\*

Fellow INTP here. Yes, I like emacs for the same reasons. And that extends to Linux and window managers and lisp and all sorts of things. I've found MBTI typing people to be rather fraught and reductive, so I don't think about it as much as I used to. But as a way of understanding oneself, it's the only thing out there that dares to put people in boxes. I like boxes. Boxes with open tops. So whatever is in the box gets the benefit of being in a box, but can also reach outside and link up with reality.

Honestly I don't put a huge amount of stock into it and mostly disregarded it years ago. Interestingly enough it was put back onto my radar recently when listening the the Lex Friedman podcast where he interviewed a former CIA spy and they discussed it at length and how it's an extremely useful tool when trying to quickly analyze people in a new setting for an operation. I agree as a hard line distinction it's not very useful. I think it's mostly useful to understand a persons underline tendencies. I also try to use it to help me with empathizing with others and myself. Follow up question(s) for you as a fellow INTP: 1. Are you a programmer by profession? 2. If so, what are some things you love and hate about programming from a work perspective. 3. Any tips for a new person looking to switch careers to development. I ask this because I know I like programming, I studied it in college and did it in my spare time but life took me a different path and I'm returning at 39. My only considerations now is figuring out the job/work experience around doing the work within the confines of it being a job doing a task I like. Thanks in advance for your time and thoughts!

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Oh interesting. I'm actually not crazy into MBTI and so I wasn't even aware of the assertive vs turbulent spectrum. I'll dive into it! Do you do a lot of customization on your emacs or did you go with a more preset package like a doom or spacemacs type thing?

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I'm quite new to linux, in the sense that I used it 20 years ago and am back to it again since April of this year. I might have to look into StumpWM over ubuntu eventually. Thanks for that tip!

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INFJ here. I hated Emacs at first and thought it broke a ton of design rules. Although some niggling feeling inside of me told me to just keep learning a little more every day. Eventually it made sense to me when I was looking at my old World of Warcraft character. Moving around my computer without Emacs was like a WoW character clicking all of their abilities with a mouse. I know it was made in 1970's, but I honestly believe Emacs is still in its early adopter stages, & as more people enter the ecosystem, the more user friendly environments will be developed, the wider the appeal. Emacs was built in a time when computers were not dominated by tech companies & business minded solo developers trying to monetize every app. It's pure of any monetary incentives, & that alone makes it one of the most intriguing apps in a world where everything needs to be about money.

Fantastic insights! Both the WOW comparison and the bit about monetary incentives. Thanks for the reply!

For now I'm a normal/water type. Unfortunately I will evolve into a ground/ghost type at some point in the future.

> a persons underline tendencies Double. Usually in red ink.

And what impact do you find this has on your implementation and usage of emacs? Water type seems dicey around pcs

From my perspective PCS and NPCS are the same.

You flatter me. I'm 19, I work as a legal assistant and program for fun/convenience. I do code at work, but just little powershell scripts for fetching court calendars and managing internal info. It's not my main job and I doubt it would be enjoyable if it were. OTOH if _you_ have any life advice I'd be glad to hear some.

Certainly my advice would be to work on self-discipline / the ability to make a decision and go forward. It's so easy to be stuck analyzing. Also for myself I suffer from Aphantasia so it might be worse for me, but don't forget the future in service of the now. I do believe it is partially my INTP ness as I'm often so focused on exploring the 'thing' i'm interested in probing/understanding. It doesn't help that I can't visualize so looking forward to the future is a double hard task with the aphantasia. For me a big problem in life was getting bored with my work every few years and leaving to a new job and/or industry. It's funny because almost every job I had once it got boring I'd try to get the small business owner of the place I worked to let me implement various programming solutions for stuff around the office. Not sure sure why it took me so long to just be like...dude go do a bootcamp and just get into the industry.

Well, the CIA once did think that there would be useful espionage applications for psychic reading and remote viewing. And the FBI (and CIA, as I recall) still requires polygraph screening as a condition of joining the agency... MBTI is the same sort of hogwash as astrology and Japanese style "blood type = personality type" beliefs. People don't even test the same MBTI type on two different takings of a test. Emacs is a fine program for anyone who's willing to take the time to learn it, regardless of personality type. Nontechnical secretaries at MIT in the 70s learned how to use it -- and how to write Lisp for it, once they were tricked into believing Lisp was a language for "customizing" Emacs, not for programming!

MBTI is practically astrology

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I was pretty baffled at how many people were chiming in on this nonsense. The only way it could be any sillier is if we pretended to be pokemon and our choice of pokemon determined the way we use emacs, like another comment alluded to.

You know... fantastic point.

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