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The obsession with next

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Re: The obsession with next

#31

Post by nhangen »

JonnieCache wrote: post #28
nhangen wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, that's a reasonable objection, but look at what our society has accomplished over the past 32 years of my lifetime: 1. The Internet, computers, and everything that comes with 2. DNA Mapping 3. Treatments and cures for hundreds of diseases and other maladies. 4. Private space travel 5. Sending a robot to Mars 6. Taming the elements to provide real natural energy These are just a few things that get me excited, b…

Many of those things only affect a tiny minority of, relatively speaking, incredibly rich people though. They will have knock on effects for the rest of the world, especially in the long term, but I submit that there are other events in human history that affected everyone on the planet at once, or at least very quickly. An example would be plastic water piping for sanitation, as mentioned in my other comment. I woul…

I'm not incredibly rich and many of those things have had a huge impact on my life. My brother surviving stage IV cancer, for example. Being able to build a business with nothing more than a domain name and a programming book, etc.

If things keep moving as fast as they are, then my guess is that the trickle down effects will...well...trickle faster.

Re: The obsession with next

#32

Post by JonnieCache »

nhangen wrote: post #31
JonnieCache wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of those things only affect a tiny minority of, relatively speaking, incredibly rich people though. They will have knock on effects for the rest of the world, especially in the long term, but I submit that there are other events in human history that affected everyone on the planet at once, or at least very quickly. An example would be plastic water piping for sanitation, as mentioned in my other comment. I woul…

I'm not incredibly rich and many of those things have had a huge impact on my life. My brother surviving stage IV cancer, for example. Being able to build a business with nothing more than a domain name and a programming book, etc. If things keep moving as fast as they are, then my guess is that the trickle down effects will...well...trickle faster.

In global terms, you are incredibly rich. If you have ever owned a domain name or a programming book you are incredibly rich.

Around half the world lives on less than $2.50 a day[1]. If you have one dollar a day that you can afford to waste on something you don't need to live, you're in something like the top ten or twenty percent of the world's richest. Sorry, I don't have a source for that last one, although the figure could likely be derived from the stats here:

[1] http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-sta...

Re: The obsession with next

#33

Post by eng »

raghus wrote: post #29
twymer wrote: post #8

This post seems inspired from a discussion DHH had on twitter with @obie (founder of hashrocket) yesterday about people in their positions moving on to new ventures or staying for the long term of what they helped start. Obie's position was primarily that it's better to get out of your comfort zone and continue to create new things. (Discussion starting from http://twitter.com/#!/obie/status/39778057610997760 )

Is there way to follow a twitter conversation like a thread on HN with indented replies? Or maybe a 3rd party site that does that?

http://bettween.com/dhh/obie

Re: The obsession with next

#34

Post by subbu »

raghus wrote: post #29
twymer wrote: post #8

This post seems inspired from a discussion DHH had on twitter with @obie (founder of hashrocket) yesterday about people in their positions moving on to new ventures or staying for the long term of what they helped start. Obie's position was primarily that it's better to get out of your comfort zone and continue to create new things. (Discussion starting from http://twitter.com/#!/obie/status/39778057610997760 )

Is there way to follow a twitter conversation like a thread on HN with indented replies? Or maybe a 3rd party site that does that?

http://bettween.com/

Re: The obsession with next

#35

Post by twymer »

raghus wrote: post #29
twymer wrote: post #8

This post seems inspired from a discussion DHH had on twitter with @obie (founder of hashrocket) yesterday about people in their positions moving on to new ventures or staying for the long term of what they helped start. Obie's position was primarily that it's better to get out of your comfort zone and continue to create new things. (Discussion starting from http://twitter.com/#!/obie/status/39778057610997760 )

Is there way to follow a twitter conversation like a thread on HN with indented replies? Or maybe a 3rd party site that does that?

http://twitter.theinfo.org/39778057610997760

Re: The obsession with next

#36

Post by stop »

true_religion wrote: post #18
pragmatic wrote: post #15

Is it a tad odd that this comes from the RoR guys? Ruby + RoR in the mid to late 2000's was _the_ next language/framework. So it's ok for next as long as _you_ benefit, but not if it causes you inconvenience.

You're accusing them of mercurial morals, but did they ever previously promote the idea that "next" for the sake of "next" was a good thing?

Did they ever previously promote the idea that "next" for the sake of "next" was a good thing?

No one ever does that.

Re: The obsession with next

#37

Post by regomodo »

macrael wrote: post #26

This is the oldest bias there is. Singling out technology is a bit myopic, because as far as I can see, every field is obsessed with what's next. The sciences are an obvious example, the whole point is to discover something new and present it to your peers. Fashion is another easy example, no one cares what happened last year, they want to see this year's collection. Art was the first example I thought of: I once vis…

"I once visited a museum in New Zealand filled with beautiful paintings."

Was that in "Te Papa"? I saw an exhibition of local artwork, nothing ground-breaking but most were quite exquisite.

Re: The obsession with next

#38

Post by true_religion »

stop wrote: post #36
true_religion wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're accusing them of mercurial morals, but did they ever previously promote the idea that "next" for the sake of "next" was a good thing?

Did they ever previously promote the idea that "next" for the sake of "next" was a good thing? No one ever does that.

How about "Progressivists"? My terminology may be incorrect here, but they believe that progress will bring a better state even if the long term plans are unknown, and the short term appears to be negative. So long as things keep changing, new and better things will be invented.

Re: The obsession with next

#39

Post by PaulGuz »

The economy needs to grow, consequently developers are always going to feel pressure to make new products and improve current products. The question I have is, is it better to make products that empower antiquated markets (anything to do with a fax machine) or develop for new markets (skype) or invent your own market (?).
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