Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Build Unix, Not Uber

thesephist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 117 posts

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#11

Post by dasil003 »

tmp_anon_22 wrote: post #4
sklargh wrote: post #2

It's always interesting to me how little credit is given to GPS in Uber's story. The existence of space-based, free and ubiquitous semi-precise navigation was an enormous subsidy.

> how little credit is given to GPS in Uber's story Uber would not exist without GPS. I wonder how many other of the unicorns: * Twitter without Rails * Facebook without PHP (I think this is fair but maybe not) * Reddit without Python * Tesla and Solar City without huge government subsidies Crazy to think how many Lake Tahoe vacation homes were transferred thanks to these projects.

Middle three don't feel a major dependency. I would say:

- Twitter without iTunes Podcast Directory (because it killed Odeo, the parent business)

- Facebook without MySpace / Friendster

- Reddit without Digg / Slashdot

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#12

Post by Phrodo_00 »

axblount wrote: post #7
tmp_anon_22 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how little credit is given to GPS in Uber's story Uber would not exist without GPS. I wonder how many other of the unicorns: * Twitter without Rails * Facebook without PHP (I think this is fair but maybe not) * Reddit without Python * Tesla and Solar City without huge government subsidies Crazy to think how many Lake Tahoe vacation homes were transferred thanks to these projects.

Maybe this is apocryphal, but I think I remember hearing that Reddit was originally written in some kind of lisp. Not to say it doesn't owe its success to python.

Very early versions, but they were already using python before you could create your own subreddits, for example (which is around the time when it started becoming more mainstream)

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#13

Post by vanjajaja1 »

armitron wrote: post #10

Unix was a terrible idea that probably set us back multiple decades not to mention fueling the computer security circus and the trillion dollar cybercrime industry it spawned. But yes, we need more ideas like it I’d prescribe the author multiple courses of The Unix Hater’s Handbook but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a cure.

what's the tldr on a proposed world where the unix mistake didn't happen? how could have computing played out and iterated better?

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#14

Post by andrewxdiamond »

abathur wrote: post #5

At the risk of saying something dumb and meta... it's ideas all the way down (for a really long time now). The individual corporations are ideas, and then of course there's the idea of the corporation itself. As the post notes, corporations only work because of other ideas about property rights and scarcity. But more fundamentally they only work because they're an idea quite a few people already believe in. I'm a lit…

> good ideas that don't make market sense

I think this is incorrect framing. You have to shape the market, not the idea.

Capitalism’s fault is not accounting for externalized costs, like climate change.

The market allocates resources very effectively, but the costs the market uses to allocate resources are lies. They omit costs that producers can ignore or otherwise avoid paying for.

If these externalities were captured and embedded into the price of the good/service, the market could actually account these issues.

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#15

Post by EddieDante »

vanjajaja1 wrote: post #13
armitron wrote: post #10

Unix was a terrible idea that probably set us back multiple decades not to mention fueling the computer security circus and the trillion dollar cybercrime industry it spawned. But yes, we need more ideas like it I’d prescribe the author multiple courses of The Unix Hater’s Handbook but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a cure.

what's the tldr on a proposed world where the unix mistake didn't happen? how could have computing played out and iterated better?

GP should be grateful we didn't get stuck with Multics, ITS, or TOPS20 instead.

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#16

Post by jayd16 »

sklargh wrote: post #2

It's always interesting to me how little credit is given to GPS in Uber's story. The existence of space-based, free and ubiquitous semi-precise navigation was an enormous subsidy.

I wonder if Uber is feasible with wifi and cell tower location routing alone and if not how close you could actually get.

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#17

Post by andrewxdiamond »

andrewxdiamond wrote: post #14
abathur wrote: post #5

At the risk of saying something dumb and meta... it's ideas all the way down (for a really long time now). The individual corporations are ideas, and then of course there's the idea of the corporation itself. As the post notes, corporations only work because of other ideas about property rights and scarcity. But more fundamentally they only work because they're an idea quite a few people already believe in. I'm a lit…

> good ideas that don't make market sense I think this is incorrect framing. You have to shape the market, not the idea. Capitalism’s fault is not accounting for externalized costs, like climate change. The market allocates resources very effectively, but the costs the market uses to allocate resources are lies. They omit costs that producers can ignore or otherwise avoid paying for. If these externalities were captu…

I guess you could also have “Tragedy of the commons” good idea. Those could be adapted to capitalism with subsidies or other government funding, or VC funding

Not much of an expert in any of this, just openly postulating to invite conversation

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#18

Post by coderdd »

vanjajaja1 wrote: post #13
armitron wrote: post #10

Unix was a terrible idea that probably set us back multiple decades not to mention fueling the computer security circus and the trillion dollar cybercrime industry it spawned. But yes, we need more ideas like it I’d prescribe the author multiple courses of The Unix Hater’s Handbook but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a cure.

what's the tldr on a proposed world where the unix mistake didn't happen? how could have computing played out and iterated better?

I think https://www.dreamsongs.com/WIB.html "2.1 The Rise of Worse is Better" is as good a comparison as one can get.

(I'm neutral but I like the historic context)

Post reply on HN