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Programming in the Apocalypse

matduggan.com

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Re: Programming in the Apocalypse

#151

Post by coryrc »

madrox wrote: post #124
coldtea wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Covid looked nothing like a pandemic film, thank god. That's probably because it was not that great impact wise. If it was more like the Spanish Flu, with a huge death toll across all ages (as opposed to 1/10th the death toll, and mostly focused on older people and co-morbidities) it would have absolutely have looked like "a pandemic film".

I think there's a fallacy here in that "because covid's impact wasn't great, covid wasn't that bad." Any time we have to mobilize a lot of effort to head off the worst outcome, there's a tendency to say "well nothing really bad happened, so why did we go through all that effort?" Let's not trivialize the global effort necessary to bring us to 1/10th the death toll. It absolutely could've been worse. It's our response…

> there's a tendency to say "well nothing really bad happened, so why did we go through all that effort?

Basically a third of our country didn't go through that effort and the country is mostly still chugging along. Were it much deadlier, things would not have turned out okay.

Re: Programming in the Apocalypse

#152

Post by cassepipe »

madrox wrote: post #97

The pandemic taught me a lot about apocalypse. While people are a lot slower to buy into collective action and changing their way of life than I thought, society is far more robust than I expected. Covid looked nothing like a pandemic film, thank god. With that in mind, I have some ideas on what programming will look like in 30 years: 1. New frameworks and abstractions for making apps even more disposable while maint…

I feel the same about 5. Do 3d movies still exist by the way ? Or IMax movies ?

Re: Programming in the Apocalypse

#153

Post by jotm »

madrox wrote: post #97

The pandemic taught me a lot about apocalypse. While people are a lot slower to buy into collective action and changing their way of life than I thought, society is far more robust than I expected. Covid looked nothing like a pandemic film, thank god. With that in mind, I have some ideas on what programming will look like in 30 years: 1. New frameworks and abstractions for making apps even more disposable while maint…

1. Well, d'uh.

Also, everything will require a network connection (which is where ubiquitous Internet via cable or satellite comes in). No Internet? Pfft, what, do you live without electricity, too?

2. Pay for these kinds of professions (ever increasing complexity, whether necessary or self-made + decently mentally taxing) will only go up. Not everyone can be a programmer, or a lawyer, doctor, video/audio editor, electrician, etc. Barring some catastrophic event or the creation of good enough AI/robots.

4+5. in 30 years, if current development rates continue, VR will be the next revolution. Super compact and efficient devices + a world where you can do almost anything you want will be very popular with the masses facing ever increasing costs, climate problems, joblessness, lack of housing, etc.

Why even put up with all the bs when you can do the bare minimum and use technological opium the rest of your time? I wonder if VR could be banned in the same manner as drugs, actually.

Re: Programming in the Apocalypse

#154

Post by FargaColora »

ivm wrote: post #149
FargaColora wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's... one man's opinion and at the absolute extreme end of accepted science. You will find a person willing to have a view on anything if you look hard enough. If you read mainstream publications, then you will gradually form an opinion, which is that there is a climate emergency, but not that humanity will be destroyed. Climate doomerism has been a catasrophe, because it means many people have "given up", when t…

Humanity probably will not be wiped out, but the current global civilization will collapse like it happened to many other civilizations before because they reached the ecological overshoot. I also thought that something "could be done" on a large scale, but after studying the problem in depth (starting with the IPCC report), I began to prepare on the community level for the impact in the next 10-20 years. That's the…

"I began to prepare on the community level for the impact in the next 10-20 years"

Sorry, I don't think rational debate is possible here. Your beliefs are not based on science or rationality.

Re: Programming in the Apocalypse

#155

Post by coryrc »

titzer wrote: post #123
tasuki wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The pandemic taught me a lot about apocalypse. I don't think it has taught you much. All things considered, despite all the suffering by unlucky individuals, when you consider humanity as a whole, covid is an insignificant blip. If it's significant at all, it's only because of our response to it. > Covid looked nothing like a pandemic film, thank god. Covid was not 1% as bad as any pandemic featured in a film. Huma…

What COVID taught me is that the human ability to not give a fuck is apparently infinite. I have trouble processing the fact that a million people died (in the USA) and there is no mourning, no shared sense of tragedy or loss, no looking more kindly on other people, just a madder, faster dash on cash and even more finger-pointing. > Covid was not 1% as bad as any pandemic featured in a film. I'll be generous and not…

Something like 5 million people die every year, should we be in permanent mourning?

Re: Programming in the Apocalypse

#156

Post by jodrellblank »

peterweyand0 wrote: post #115

Raise your hand if you would be willing to lower your standard of living, voluntarily, in order to stave off global warming. Sell your car. Stop buying anything made with plastic. Stop using electricity. I don't see many hands.

Lots of people have tried to promote biking, urban zoning reform, denser cities, mixed living and working areas, reduction of urban cars and the overall need for cars, increased availability of public transport, remote working, less work to more time off ratio, reduction in use of plastic, companies have switched from oil based plastics to alternative plastics, people have switched to solar or wind generated electricity, triple-glazed their houses to save on heating bills, paid for a more efficient washing machine or lower power TV or fridge.

I see tons of hands and lots of companies lobbying against them because it wouldn't be as profitable if things changed and people bought less.

Re: Programming in the Apocalypse

#157

Post by throwaway4aday »

m3talsmith wrote: post #122
throwaway4aday wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, mindless distraction is only an option when you are comfortable. Try not eating for a day + turning off your heating/cooling and see how interesting Twitter is then.

Mindless distraction is exactly what you turn to when your efforts to better your life become too monumental to bear: lifespans shorten because destitution drives people to apathy or an open desire for suicide.

Sounds like we're talking about two different things.

Re: Programming in the Apocalypse

#158

Post by ivm »

FargaColora wrote: post #154
ivm wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humanity probably will not be wiped out, but the current global civilization will collapse like it happened to many other civilizations before because they reached the ecological overshoot. I also thought that something "could be done" on a large scale, but after studying the problem in depth (starting with the IPCC report), I began to prepare on the community level for the impact in the next 10-20 years. That's the…

"I began to prepare on the community level for the impact in the next 10-20 years" Sorry, I don't think rational debate is possible here. Your beliefs are not based on science or rationality.

…said the person who conveniently ignored the mainstream scientific forecasts. Well, with time you'll see.

Re: Programming in the Apocalypse

#159

Post by Grim-444 »

coryrc wrote: post #151
madrox wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's a fallacy here in that "because covid's impact wasn't great, covid wasn't that bad." Any time we have to mobilize a lot of effort to head off the worst outcome, there's a tendency to say "well nothing really bad happened, so why did we go through all that effort?" Let's not trivialize the global effort necessary to bring us to 1/10th the death toll. It absolutely could've been worse. It's our response…

> there's a tendency to say "well nothing really bad happened, so why did we go through all that effort? Basically a third of our country didn't go through that effort and the country is mostly still chugging along. Were it much deadlier, things would not have turned out okay.

This is a weird argument to make. The rational thing is to make different decisions in different scenarios. The choices I would make for how/whether to participate in society, whether to take a vaccine, etc., would vary greatly depending on whether a given disease has a 1 in 50,000 chance of killing me vs if it's like something out of the movie Contagion that would have a 1 in 10 chance of killing me.

If covid had a 1 in 10 chance of killing me I would have made very different decisions over the course of the pandemic. You're saying that people would still behave the same as they did during covid no matter how deadly a given disease is, which seems pretty ridiculous.

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