Systemic abuse in the software industry is ruining lives… and taking them.
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Re: Systemic abuse in the software industry is ruining lives… and taking them.
#2While these were all tragic, they are hardly representative.
Do you know how when you ride a bicycle and look off to one side, you tend to steer towards that side, involuntarily?
Stop being obsessed with oppression, depression and suicide. Not to downplay them, but you have free will (oh, debatable, sure, but it's better for happiness to just believe you do) and can act, and can steer your consciousness towards more positive points on the horizon.
Re: Systemic abuse in the software industry is ruining lives… and taking them.
#3Reading the precursor essay, "Living in the Age of Software Fuckery" begs a pretty big question: if the author has such a clear picture of the structural flaws inherent in software development organizations, why isn't he out there starting his own firm and hiring all of these mistreated, misunderstood developers and making a killing off of all of their limitless creativity?
Re: Systemic abuse in the software industry is ruining lives… and taking them.
#4While these were all tragic, they are hardly representative. Do you know how when you ride a bicycle and look off to one side, you tend to steer towards that side, involuntarily? Stop being obsessed with oppression, depression and suicide. Not to downplay them, but you have free will (oh, debatable, sure, but it's better for happiness to just believe you do) and can act, and can steer your consciousness towards more…
> Stop being obsessed with [...] depression.
So you're one of the persons who would suggest to clinically depressed people to "just smile again" as if that would magically solve all their problems and mental disorders?
The point is that even if such people are a minority, we should treat them with the appropriate discretion and be sensitive to their psychological needs.
Re: Systemic abuse in the software industry is ruining lives… and taking them.
#5Reading the precursor essay, "Living in the Age of Software Fuckery" begs a pretty big question: if the author has such a clear picture of the structural flaws inherent in software development organizations, why isn't he out there starting his own firm and hiring all of these mistreated, misunderstood developers and making a killing off of all of their limitless creativity?
Probably because he has other things going on, why is this a "big question"? He's not obligated to do anything.
Re: Systemic abuse in the software industry is ruining lives… and taking them.
#6While these were all tragic, they are hardly representative. Do you know how when you ride a bicycle and look off to one side, you tend to steer towards that side, involuntarily? Stop being obsessed with oppression, depression and suicide. Not to downplay them, but you have free will (oh, debatable, sure, but it's better for happiness to just believe you do) and can act, and can steer your consciousness towards more…
You don't just "stop" having intrusive thoughts, that's why they're called intrusive.
Re: Systemic abuse in the software industry is ruining lives… and taking them.
#7This article more seemed to suggest that extremely intelligent people are more likely to get into trouble than any apparent root cause to me. In Schwartz and Turing's case, while the law was misguided, it compounded their stressors and took their lives. In the one fellows case he apparently broke into someone's house wasted and was arrested. And there was the guy announcing his suicide on twitter (that might be the same guy, can't remember), a serious call for help.
I'm not so sure this article made me think it's endemic to the software industry. Large numbers of people commit suicide in the United States and abroad every year. Maybe it's the cultural stressors of bills, and grades, and social exclusion, and yada yada yada onward and onward for as long as you'd like that contributes to the high rates of suicide in high stress environments.
And then this weird tangential aside about Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump and how they'd be equally disastrous convinced me this was an emotional plea for something (the vague sentiment that we should treat eachother like humans regardless of seniority when humans don't particularly have a great track record on that front and while... positive is just as kooky if not much more so than anything Bernie Sanders has said) not particularly well grounded in reality and with no proposed solutions besides a call for empathy.
If you want people to stop commiting suicide you need to take away their major stressors which compound their depressive states. Correct the law so that gays are free to be themselves. Pay people living wages so their bank accounts have at least a small buffer. Make sure health care and education are affordable and accessible.
So in a way his potential future vote for Bernie based on Bernie's empathy was the wrong path to the right choice. It's not just in this individual instance that Bernie feels empathetic towards man, but in almost all instances of Bernie's recorded public profile. Whether it comes to the oppression of African Americans and gays, or to the inability to pay bills or access health care of education of the lower and middle class Americans he represents, Bernie has consistently been on the empathetic side of the equation.
But it's his policy proposals which make Bernie the right man for the job, not his empathy which shaped them.
Re: Systemic abuse in the software industry is ruining lives… and taking them.
#8While these were all tragic, they are hardly representative. Do you know how when you ride a bicycle and look off to one side, you tend to steer towards that side, involuntarily? Stop being obsessed with oppression, depression and suicide. Not to downplay them, but you have free will (oh, debatable, sure, but it's better for happiness to just believe you do) and can act, and can steer your consciousness towards more…
I agree with your first sentence. Alan Turing's death especially can't be attributed to abuse in the software industry.
The rest of your comment is not only condescending, it is baseless. Your premise that the author should think happy thoughts and he will be okay if not as helpful as you may think. The author may or may not suffer from a depression/mood disorder, or even many other more serious conditions. You don't know him. Instead consider telling people that they should talk to a therapist about their problems. You know, an expert.
Re: Systemic abuse in the software industry is ruining lives… and taking them.
#9This article more seemed to suggest that extremely intelligent people are more likely to get into trouble than any apparent root cause to me. In Schwartz and Turing's case, while the law was misguided, it compounded their stressors and took their lives. In the one fellows case he apparently broke into someone's house wasted and was arrested. And there was the guy announcing his suicide on twitter (that might be the s…
To paraphrase Nietzsche, to live is to experience stressors. The changes you're talking about might (might!) lower the number of stressors in people's lives and thus have an overall positive impact on mental health, but a better path toward that goal, in my opinion, is to encourage people to seek the help necessary to deal with stressors.
Edit: you did mention making mental healthcare accessible, but it wasn't the brunt of your message.
Re: Systemic abuse in the software industry is ruining lives… and taking them.
#10While these were all tragic, they are hardly representative. Do you know how when you ride a bicycle and look off to one side, you tend to steer towards that side, involuntarily? Stop being obsessed with oppression, depression and suicide. Not to downplay them, but you have free will (oh, debatable, sure, but it's better for happiness to just believe you do) and can act, and can steer your consciousness towards more…
> Stop being obsessed with [...] depression. So you're one of the persons who would suggest to clinically depressed people to "just smile again" as if that would magically solve all their problems and mental disorders? The point is that even if such people are a minority, we should treat them with the appropriate discretion and be sensitive to their psychological needs.
>So you're one of the persons who would suggest to clinically depressed people to "just smile again" as if that would magically solve all their problems and mental disorders?
It sounds more like "things aren't panning out the way they were supposed to" in his head and now he's mad about it and he's trying to find ways to make it a systemic issue rather than one of his own goals/achievements/motivation.