Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool? • Hacker News Board

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

#311

Post by m3047 » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 5:41 PM UTC

screye wrote: post #49

Economies of scale ruined it. Good indie games like Super meat boy & Hollow Knight take more human resources than AAA-gamechanger Doom did, back in the day. Your 'kind of useful but fun/dirty' hacker project either becomes ad-infested to survive or is too-useful and gets copied by a big-company. If your problem is cool enough and you can solve it, investors will throw millions at you in hopes of making a global succe…

> mom-n-pops places have gotten replaced

This is demonstrably false in my metropolitan area, we even have a few which are supermarket sized. They're often ethnic. Read an essay somewhere a month or two ago about how the supply chain economics are different, can't find it now. Think Zillow vs a guy with a lawnmower in the back of his pickup truck.

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

#312

Post by kooshball » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 5:53 PM UTC

dvh1990 wrote: post #197

koonsolo wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you crazy? I'm from '79, so probably a bit younger than you. We can now buy an Arduino board for the price of a computer game, and make a flying drone. Even with a small camera or some sensors if you want. Or create some small robots with all the motors and sensors that you want, custom 3d printed. My son is now 13 and doing STEM. I only wish I had access to all the things that they can now do for cheap, especial…

Well yes, but flying drones are not exciting when everybody can build/buy one.

what a ridiculous statement. it also shows why the whole premise for this post is so misguided.

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

#313

Post by yywwbbn » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 5:54 PM UTC

bluescrn wrote: post #131

gilbetron wrote: post #13

It's an age thing - the dreams you had when you were younger didn't turn into reality - dreams usually don't. Or at least, not as you expect it. Tech is still really cool, compared to decades ago. But we have so much of it and it is everywhere, that we re-calibrate and think that all this amazing, cool tech is boring. You can get a 3D printer for a few hundred bucks, build it yourself, build a better 3d printer, get…

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…

I personally found the improvements between the original iPhone and iPhone 6/6s or especially the X much (of course it took 10 years so I’m stretching it a bit..) much more impressive than the step up from an Symbian/Windows smartphone to the original one. It was basically a feature phone with a nice screen and great UX. Stuff like 3G and third party apps were a result of an incremental updates.

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

#314

Post by somenewaccount1 » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 5:57 PM UTC

It was boring when you experienced it the first time, and also was going in a terrible direction.

The difference is, old people are the only one who knew it at the time. And now you are old. Congrats!

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

#315

Post by the_only_law » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 5:58 PM UTC

gilbetron wrote: post #13

It's an age thing - the dreams you had when you were younger didn't turn into reality - dreams usually don't. Or at least, not as you expect it. Tech is still really cool, compared to decades ago. But we have so much of it and it is everywhere, that we re-calibrate and think that all this amazing, cool tech is boring. You can get a 3D printer for a few hundred bucks, build it yourself, build a better 3d printer, get…

> I think all the great stuff has been invented, it's all boring now.

This reminds me of a half-joking quote I think I saw on HN years ago about CS being mostly completed by the 80s.

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

#316

Post by Vixel » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 6:00 PM UTC

When everyone that knew how to access the Settings menu on their phone or power cycle a router are considered geniuses by everyone around them. My point is, tech being used by everyone now, even though they are just using the product instead of creating them.

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

#317

Post by railing » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 6:06 PM UTC

gilbetron wrote: post #13

It's an age thing - the dreams you had when you were younger didn't turn into reality - dreams usually don't. Or at least, not as you expect it. Tech is still really cool, compared to decades ago. But we have so much of it and it is everywhere, that we re-calibrate and think that all this amazing, cool tech is boring. You can get a 3D printer for a few hundred bucks, build it yourself, build a better 3d printer, get…

you think it's boring* y'all oldies speak for yourself, the future is now, hell my friend is a vertual reality designer making 6 figures. Kids who grew up with modern tech are really only just starting to hit the market

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

#318

Post by me_me_mu_mu » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 6:09 PM UTC

I don't think it stopped being cool. If you want to do something cool, level yourself up and start a company or build a product that is cool. Otherwise you can just accept 200k+ offers and enjoy hobbies/spend time with family, and not take tech so seriously.

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

#319

Post by bluefirebrand » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 6:22 PM UTC

liquids wrote: post #291

bluefirebrand wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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) The…

I think you’ve done a good job of summarizing the landscape – it matches my experience. The progression seems to be the decline of the nerd-nerd monoculture in the professional tech environment. With some irony, the increase in diversity is from the non-neurodiverse. Product managers, engineering managers, vertically integrated teams. I believe on the most part this creates healthier productivity for the business – b…

I think part of the problem is that we haven't moved from the "nerd nerd monoculture" to more diverse cultures. What has happened instead is that we've adopted an MBA, Agile-driven monoculture instead. That culture is honestly pretty hostile to neurodiverse people by forcing them into marching orders and restricting their freedom to be themselves.

At least that's my experience.

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

#320

Post by cosmodisk » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 6:33 PM UTC

When the pretty people arrived to join the bandwagon. You know, all those who previously worked in investment banking and other sectors that had little to do with tech.