That was a good read and a stimulating argument. And it's true, but just don't go believing that it's ever been different, or ever will be. And it's not the end of the world.
First comment: I think the South Park clip was great - they get it. It's ironic. The Scotch's are really living such a terrible imprisoned life. BUT - it demeans and is totally ignorant of how bad the coal miner's had it if you start taking it too seriously. And if you think they had it bad, what about the Irish? And so on. That's why they used that song to such great ironic effect - a heavily automated Amazon warehouse is clearly not a 19th century coal mine.
I think the reason so many of the listed big names in software are still willing to create is that they aren't foolish or naive. They know that if you make something good, someone will always come along and do bad stuff with it. The problem is with the people who do bad stuff, not with the people doing the creating. Making, creating, advancing something is always a positive action in the universe. Not everybody or everything is bad. You also have to account for how the things positively effect people and realize that good people will also come along and do good stuff.
You can certainly choose to boycott a company you don't like or even a whole industry, but that's an extreme position. It begins to sound almost like the unabomber manifesto.
I suggest that everyone try to be excellent and be your best self, go work, create, and live life. If your real talent is software, then do that and do it well. To not do that is robbing society, and yourself, which is a worse crime than the potential of contributing to system that does have issues.
> I suggest that everyone try to be excellent and be your best self, go work, create, and live life. If your real talent is software, then do that and do it well. To not do that is robbing society, and yourself, which is a worse crime than the potential of contributing to system that does have issues.
I wholly disagree, but that's because I intend to build other talents instead.
It's just going to be hard to redo my 10k hours to become good at something.
Besides, all the software that I'm interested in has been done already. (Programming language, build system, VCS, init system.)
First comment: I think the South Park clip was great - they get it. It's ironic. The Scotch's are really living such a terrible imprisoned life. BUT - it demeans and is totally ignorant of how bad the coal miner's had it if you start taking it too seriously. And if you think they had it bad, what about the Irish? And so on. That's why they used that song to such great ironic effect - a heavily automated Amazon warehouse is clearly not a 19th century coal mine.
I think the reason so many of the listed big names in software are still willing to create is that they aren't foolish or naive. They know that if you make something good, someone will always come along and do bad stuff with it. The problem is with the people who do bad stuff, not with the people doing the creating. Making, creating, advancing something is always a positive action in the universe. Not everybody or everything is bad. You also have to account for how the things positively effect people and realize that good people will also come along and do good stuff.
You can certainly choose to boycott a company you don't like or even a whole industry, but that's an extreme position. It begins to sound almost like the unabomber manifesto.
I suggest that everyone try to be excellent and be your best self, go work, create, and live life. If your real talent is software, then do that and do it well. To not do that is robbing society, and yourself, which is a worse crime than the potential of contributing to system that does have issues.