Clojure is my favorite language, and I love Rich Hickey, but I don't think I would have sought out something like Clojure if not for PG's essays.
There was a tweet from Nathan Marz that I felt summed it up nicely a while back "Paul Graham set the bait, Rich Hickey reeled me in". Maybe you're right that I think it's more common than it is because it's true for me, but maybe you think it's less common than it is because it's false for you?
Well, I am quite sure that among HN folk there is a high occurrence of people who found decided to give Clojure a shot because of pg's lisp advocacy. This is his website, after all. But HN isn't the world.
But yeah I'm definitely prepared to entertain the possibility that I undervalue pg's essays in the world of general purpose computing. It may be that indeed Rich Hickey should be paying Paul Graham royalties but I truly doubt it.
There was a tweet from Nathan Marz that I felt summed it up nicely a while back "Paul Graham set the bait, Rich Hickey reeled me in". Maybe you're right that I think it's more common than it is because it's true for me, but maybe you think it's less common than it is because it's false for you?