I agree with your sentiment about the lamentable, though typical HN response. However, it is totally in accordance with the mean audience of the site. Almost 50% of HN readers are under the age of 25 [1]. HN is a product of Y Combinator, an accelerator that predominantly focuses on software-based startups frequently run by kids in their 20s. The average perspective is highly skewed and very different from someone several years into a non-CS technical PhD let alone a humanities one.

[1] http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/08/21/report-social-network-de...