I have a lot of criticism on the Max's conclusion:

The observation is right, and I think almost everybody in the HN know that.

Now, I don't get the "... event notification model is much more efficient than a poll model, both in programming and in the real world."

Efficient in what terms? energy? because what I am seeing in my micro-internet-world is that the mainstream news/links are more mainstream and the Internet exploration goes to the bottom. I see repetitions of repetitions of repetitions and it feels like TV.