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Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

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Re: Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

#171

Post by brootstrap »

randomdata wrote: post #162
bluescrn wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also the fact that much modern tech tends to be very locked-down, discourages tinkering/creativity, and is built to push ads/subscriptions/in-app-purchases. But there's rarely a 'wow' factor to new tech any more. Everything is incremental improvement and the era of huge leaps forward is well behind us. The step up from a C64 to an Amiga, or a SNES to a Playstation, or an early iPhone from a feature phone, or…

> But there's rarely a 'wow' factor to new tech any more. John Deere started commercially selling a self-driving tractor this year. That's a pretty big wow. Something straight out of the sci-fi books. I think it doesn't pop because the internet has been streaming the development of such tech for the last decade or more. It seems incremental because we have had insights into the development process, which is something…

self driving tractors have been around for years already. The guy operating usually just chills there listening to the radio and occasionally engages to help with precise turns or whatnot.

Re: Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

#172

Post by supernovae »

BlargMcLarg wrote: post #71
supernovae wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We still get indy games year over year that take the industry by storm. factorio, stardew valley, undertale, don’t starve, super hot, goat simulator, cup head, rocket league, kerbal space program and so many others. heck steam, Sony and Microsoft are competing to distribute this IP and open it up across platforms and it’s never been better.

Your point kind of proves the point of the GP: there is almost no middle ground. The differences between rates of success are orders of magnitude. Order N doesn't break even, N+1 almost makes you a millionaire and could effectively set you for life. Some of the examples you give also had quite a history of a backing in some form, which is a totally different animal compared to a "I wanna make a game!" indie developer…

There are a ton more games out there, i just know what i know and what i've played. I'm an old fart that remembers shareware and buying floppy disks with trials and getting on BBS's to download more... the entire experience of gaming has never been better. I have GamePass today and can play many of those titles on PC/Xbox and the developers seem to be doing well.

Re: Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

#173

Post by wombat-man »

I feel like tech has gotten to the point where it really does solve most of my every day needs. Take watching movies for example. Growing up when every year brought a number of computers that were twice as fast but it was hard to get a good copy of a movie to watch on it. Or at least difficult to connect it to a tv. Even if you could, the codec was trash and the video was low res.

Nowadays, I got a phone that can just get a 4k or hd copy at speed. I can cast it to my hd tv no problem. Now I can watch nearly any movie I can think of immediately.

Nowadays if I look at a tech magazine (heh) or any given gadget website. Everything is slightly faster or smaller. But I'd say most of my everyday tasks are already handled. Everything is pretty great, but the magic is gone. But that's ok.

Re: Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

#174

Post by randomdata »

brootstrap wrote: post #171
randomdata wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But there's rarely a 'wow' factor to new tech any more. John Deere started commercially selling a self-driving tractor this year. That's a pretty big wow. Something straight out of the sci-fi books. I think it doesn't pop because the internet has been streaming the development of such tech for the last decade or more. It seems incremental because we have had insights into the development process, which is something…

self driving tractors have been around for years already. The guy operating usually just chills there listening to the radio and occasionally engages to help with precise turns or whatnot.

Yes, but the new sensor pack to remove the rider is a huge upgrade. Like going from flipping toggle switches to Windows 95 kind of an upgrade. The previous commenter was amazed by the transition from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95.

But, again, it's boring because we watched the development of those sensors as it was happening. In the past the masses would have been unaware of the development going on. But nowadays we know what's coming and it seems old hat by the time it hits the market.

Re: Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

#177

Post by bluefirebrand »

jollybean wrote: post #151
gilbetron wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are more "nerdy", non-boring tech people, but you are correct, you won't find them at AirBnB, Facebook, or Amazon. So don't go there if you want to find it. There's a place in my town that uses drones to inspect Air Turbines - I can guarantee there are more interesting people there. Go into small, crazy businesses that exist to do cool tech. "Cool" people, in my experience, are pretty dull, at least for the soc…

My fear is that the 'All Birds Nerds' exclude 'Nerd Nerds'. 'nerd nerds' don't know what they are doing in terms of presentation or communication. If 'nerd nerds' are 'hip' it's completely by accident. I also think 'nerd nerds' just say whatever, meaning that occasionally they will say something un-PC, or lacking in empathy and be 'pushed out' for that reason. There was a time (and some people are still like this) wh…

I suspect, with no evidence, that the distinction you are making here can be described as neurotypical nerds (what you call All Birds nerds) versus neurodivergent nerds (autistic, adhd, whatever you want to bucket them under)

Neurodivergent people tend to have a bit less of a social filter, they are more direct and honest, often to the point of bluntness (leading to the 'just say whatever' behavior you mentioned)

They also tend to be pretty unfiltered when it comes to their passions, and hyperfixate on them to the detriment of other areas of their life, like laundry.

And yes, these people are often excluded basically anywhere they go, and they have to mask their behaviours to appear more normal to get jobs. In that respect, the All Birds culture has absolutely pushed them aside, or pushed them under.

This is just my 2 cents, attempting to put some definitions around the All Birds and Nerd Nerds groups you described. I could be entirely mistaken.

Re: Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

#179

Post by brimble »

anotherhue wrote: post #18

Smartphones. Purely consumption devices changed the balance to be more producer/consumer than collaborator. The world is on board now so rapid tech changes aren't possible to market. There's still crazy/genius if you look for it, but hobbyist only in most cases. NixOS, Urbit, any DHT or CRDT system, VR, Graal, WASM, mesh nets like ygssadril.

> Purely consumption devices

I don't understand how this sentiment is still so common on HN. It's plainly false.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the vast majority of computer-aided personal creative work happens, in whole or part, on a smartphone—it's just that most of it's audio-visual and largely for personal wants and needs, so HN doesn't think that counts, I guess?

I only have a smartphone for those things. Do I browse HN and other crap on it? Yeah, of course. Would I buy it if it the only things it could do, aside from calls and texts, was watch Internet videos and browse the web? Hell. No. The GPS, the camera, the mic & speakers (it's my tuner when I play music!), and so on, are what sell it to me. I am 100% sure I'm far from unique in this. It also remote-controls my thermostats, acts as my document scanner completely replacing other forms of scanner for me, and probably a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting about right now. It's my still and video camera, for all purposes.

"But using the GPS, tuner, et c. is still kinda consumption!" BS. Tools aren't about "consumption". Not the way people seem to mean it when they sneer at smartphones (and usually tablets, too).

Re: Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

#180

Post by supernovae »

hotpotamus wrote: post #93
supernovae wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being a maker isn’t about creating “things of value” or being “useful”. That same mindset is ruining many a good hobby. Astrophotography is going down a shameful route where the only thing your peers want to see is the misery of all the debt you have to out fancy someone else. as for 3d printers.. they have come a long way and have become a core part of creativity and engineering for programs like First Robotics.. ha…

For some reason I feel the need to weigh in here. I love photography and astronomy but I see no point in mixing the two. We just spent $10 billion to send a fabulous camera and lens into the L2 Lagrange point. Not to mention the over 30 year old Hubble which no amateur has any hope of matching despite decades of advancements in amateur tech (and to be fair to the amateurs, they can do remarkably better than their pee…

Citizen scientists do make discoveries - we often discover NEO's, comets and supernova to assist scientists who have limited capacity - I've seen some great work here and lots of technology + telescope convergence of being able to scan thousands of plate solves a night using GPU to find near earth objects. This part of citizen science is doing well...

but astrophotography, it used to be able the wonder of capturing it - regardless if you prefer visual with your eye or assisted seeing with a camera. There used to be a aura of DIY - find a camera, adapt it, take some photos, share them, have people say good job.

Now its really about memes, trolling and who can get the most Instagram's.. and that's kind of depressing.

The people doing citizen science are way outnumbered by the vocal ones comparing their debt, their investment and their preference of equipment as a superiority complex and social media feeds into that and supports it with the algo favoring the controversy and the fights

It was a bitter sweet day to sell off my remote observatory and get my nights back...

but the passion for the heavens is still there

however, that "eyepiece vs a camera" thing is very much part of the problem with the hobby... it just shouldn't matter.

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