Soup-Like Gender Homogenate ✅

So a tweet I made today on Birdsite blew up. Specifically this:

"When engineering is about “solving interesting problems” and never about why these are problems, you get stuff like Uber.”

I think it touched a nerve. But it’s true. Like the whole Jeff Goldblum line in Jurassic Park, developers all preoccupied about whether they could do a thing and not about whether they should.

And this is a huge. fucking. problem.

Apr 23, 2017 at 11:43pmWeb
Show threadSoup-Like Gender Homogenate ✅Apr 23, 2017

Also interesting that so many of the tech companies pulling gross, unethical shit are run by the same tech douchebag CEOs who push the “College is for losers” narrative.

Because heaven forfend we teach developers critical thinking skills about the world. Just shut up, write your algorithms, and think about your stock options.

Show threadSoup-Like Gender Homogenate ✅Apr 23, 2017
(Why, yes, I do have a Liberal Arts degree, how ever did you guess?)
Show threadguretsuguApr 23, 2017
@sanspoint It's also fun that while their leaders are like "fuck college, I'm great with no degree" and yet their companies won't hire you without 2 degrees and 2 millennia of related experience.
Show threadjmz🦀(CARCIFIED)Apr 24, 2017
@sanspoint I think Uber is symptomatic of another, more sinister kind of myopia. The problem Uber solves isn't "how can I solve an interesting problem?" (the tech is a user friendly taxi app, it's...ok?) it's "how can I become the one extracting money from this problem?" People want more taxis, buzz is created around an an app, drivers are underpaid, the business loss leads & investors are sold on pipe dreams, a wave of capital rolls in, repeat until bubble bursts.
Show threadSoup-Like Gender Homogenate ✅Apr 24, 2017

@paralithode That's huge too, but it's partially enabled by a culture of programmers who don't think about why they're doing the things their employers ask them to do.

But yes, the VC bubble is a huge problem, and fed by the lack of returns in more safe investments.

Show threadPietro GagliardiApr 24, 2017
@paralithode @sanspoint @twryst how will this bubble bursting affect places like LA where uber has become the de facto best way to get around? at least as far as everyone told me/I experienced when I went for my job interview
Show threadSoup-Like Gender Homogenate ✅Apr 24, 2017
@andlabs @twryst @paralithode The one good thing Uber did is open the door to other, less scummy, ride hailing services. Use Lyft. Use a local taxi app. Anything.
Show threadPietro GagliardiApr 24, 2017
@sanspoint @paralithode @twryst Are they less scummy? I thought Lyft did the same thing Uber did wrt treating drivers? And what are the good local taxi apps for <insert city here>?
Show threadSoup-Like Gender Homogenate ✅Apr 24, 2017
@andlabs @twryst @paralithode Lyft isn't perfect, but boy are they less gross than Uber. I don't know LA, but there's an app in NYC called Juno that's a driver-owned cooperative. I've been using that and like it.
Show threadPietro GagliardiApr 24, 2017
@sanspoint @paralithode @twryst I forget if I have heard of Juno from 1010 WINS or not; if not, they should probably start promoting themselves there
Show threadPietro GagliardiApr 24, 2017

@twryst @paralithode @sanspoint actually if I did hear about them there I probably lumped them in with uber and lyft and what not :S that's the joy of these big companies, they ruin the reputation of the whole business :D

but glad to see something is being done about it; now if only something could be done about the safety of taxi drivers in nyc...

Show threadPietro GagliardiApr 24, 2017
@sanspoint @paralithode @twryst (I'm gonna miss Long Island and NYC once this job starts... but from those two days this move is gonna be good for me, so)
Show threadSoup-Like Gender Homogenate ✅Apr 24, 2017
@andlabs @twryst @paralithode Good luck with it!
Show threadsmol Florian 🍑Apr 24, 2017
@sanspoint I've seen someone describe it as "Silicon Valley is very good at solving problems it has created itself, generally by replacing it with another"