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I get disappointed when I see someone build something cool, but maybe not commercializable, and the comments come in asking: “yeah, but how are you planning to monetize it”. 90% of the side projects I embark in are likely to have no commercial value, but are pretty cool, at least I’d like to think.
I'm happy developers have the ability to build and work on things they love. And create something fun.
But, at the same time, endless warnings about the seriousness of toys becoming monster businesses would be more believable if aborting companies and anti-trust wasn't still a shitshow a century after the big trusts.
This isn't the author's fault, but mixing "Let's have a conversation on Big Tech." with warnings about havoc seems disingenuous at best.
We understand that organizations are these complex things that take over everything and shit everywhere. And at the same time build things that make you smile and facilitate community.
We don't as citizens have all the tools to manage that without drama.
I get disappointed when I see someone build something cool, but maybe not commercializable, and the comments come in asking: “yeah, but how are you planning to monetize it”. 90% of the side projects I embark in are likely to have no commercial value, but are pretty cool, at least I’d like to think.
and the ever-popular snide reply: "you have too much free time on your hands"
I'm not sure about you, but the more experienced I am, as a developer or "builder", the smaller things I end up making. For instance, I launched a bunch of games that are, frankly, more fun to watch, than to play (e.g. an All-hands meeting simulator: https://rafsters.itch.io/all-hands ) or little tools this one https://sonnet.io/posts/reactive-hole/ (it's stupid, completely replaceable, but somewhat adorable). I come…
"Make the world a better place?"
to the agenda
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> an All-hands meeting simulator: Ha! Fantastic. > I come from a family with 4 generations of carpenters. It's a profession more similar to software engineering that most engineering jobs I can think of. The main difference is that in our domain so often the results of our work just don't feel real. That is the core issue I have with software development, it can feel ephemeral and extremely temporary. My remediation…
It sucks how temporary software is, especially Web software. If you don’t pay the hosting bill it’s gone. If you don’t upgrade to 64 but it’s useless. Essentially it’s a plate spinning on a stick and it needs constant attention to survive. Contrast that to a fine piece of furniture which barring fire or flood can just sit abandoned in a warehouse for 300 years and then be even more valuable than it was initially.
I have had several existential crisis wondering *"what the fuck am I doing this for, we produce nothing."*
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This happened to me at FB, SF, Lucas, Brocade...
I was like "yeah, im doing well professionally, making money - but at the end of the day, it was just "we produce nothing of intrinsic value"
I find it ironic that NFTs are now the version of creating something of digital content, but it has non-fungible (intrinsic value) and they are attempting to make a money laundering network out of NFTs (if you may not be aware, the art market is the largest money laundering scheme ever devised up until where we are at present.
I am currently going through a mid-life, as I can't stand tech at all - but its all I know, so I am attempting to just get into gardening and maybe work at a nursery...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is some of the appeal of urbit to me: https://moronlab.blogspot.com/2010/01/urbit-functional-progr... That blog post is old, urbit does exist now.
This article is extremely long-winded. Do you mind providing a summary of what exactly appeals to you? Also: Is "C. Guy Yarvin" Curtis Yarvin?
Yeah, Urbit was Yarvin's project until 2019 when he left the company.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is some of the appeal of urbit to me: https://moronlab.blogspot.com/2010/01/urbit-functional-progr... That blog post is old, urbit does exist now.
This article is extremely long-winded. Do you mind providing a summary of what exactly appeals to you? Also: Is "C. Guy Yarvin" Curtis Yarvin?
Exactly. I have a lot of the same feelings, so 6 weeks ago I wrote a similar blog post, "Why I prefer making making useless stuff". I haven't quite figured out how to convert my "useless stuff" into a company yet though... Blog post: https://web.eecs.utk.edu/~azh/blog/makinguselessstuff.html HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27256867 Reddit discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/n…
The notion of doing something for which I don't care about github stars or readability or even good programming practices (1000L files!) it's SO FREEING!
Thanks for that article, it has helped me found the joy I had when I was just poking around on the computer, which I've missed now that I'm a "professional"...