rob pike4d ago

Although trained in physics, I worked in the computing industry with pride and purpose for over 40 years. And now I can do nothing but sit back and watch it destroy itself for no valid reason beyond hubris (if I'm being charitable).

Ineffable sadness watching something I once loved deliberately lose its soul.

Show threadrob pike4d ago

I spent my time trying to make it better. Not just write code, but find better or at least different ways to do so. Simpler, cleaner, more general, more comprehensible.

What's happening today is a complete repudiation of everything I was trying to achieve.

Show threadrob pike4d ago
But hey, the industry has spoken. Who am I to question it?
Show threadLykso4d ago
@robpike Voices in the industry, as in capitalism in general, are weighted by how much wealth they command, and the acquisition of wealth is largely not a merit-based process.
Show threadLykso
@robpike Ergo, capitalism tends to become ever-more detached from reality, and, if let alone, will destroy itself eventually. That which better comports with reality will remain, and will serve as foundations for whatever comes after. (Hopefully this includes us as a species, let alone high technology, but I suppose nothing is guaranteed.
May 11 at 9:18pmWeb
Show threadthe gripe ibis3d ago
@lykso @robpike it's also really important that the people making the decisions have as little understanding as possible of the product. ideally, it should be something they don't even use. that way they can think of it in purely economic terms.
Show threadLykso3d ago
@thegarbagebird @robpike Even this is more rational than reality, in many cases. These people are quite often a sort of nouveau aristocracy; people lifted up only because of personal connections, with little regard for actual competencies.
Show threadthe gripe ibis3d ago
@lykso @robpike oh absolutely. bonus points if the board brought them in from an outside organisation that is collapsing under their leadership, leaving them with a generous golden parachute on top of the massive signing bonus
Show threadOzzelot 3d ago
@lykso
welp, can it destroy itself faster please, this slow death of it has grown quite annoying
@robpike
Show threadLykso3d ago
@ozzelot @robpike It very well may take life on the planet with it, if we don't build get busy building structures to replace it.
Show threadPaul Healey2d ago
@lykso @robpike Capitalism always tends to fascism, as competition muffles and expropriates the cultural value of cooperation. The result is the exploitation and mass consumption of capital markets. Their injustice and inequality fuel the Nationalist sentiments of fascists ethnic supremacy, which depends on the cult of mob rule financed by the ultra rich! The reason, that colonial Empires are unsustainable and ultra violent is because their industry, military, intensive agriculture and tech superiority depend on the institutional ideologies of exploitation like Capitalism, but end with the totalitarian corruption of markets by celebrity cults of the mob like Fascism.