Bullshit Has Dominated the Tech Industry
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Bullshit Has Dominated the Tech Industry
1–10 of 109 posts
Re: Bullshit Has Dominated the Tech Industry
#2"Too big to fail" means everything fails. In my opinion we are on the precipice of civilization collapse. The reason is that people can no longer think logically and the tools they use are increasingly becoming a hinderence.
The problem crosses multiple domains, not just "Tech."
Basically we have reach a point as a civilization where failure and ineptitude are increasingly not penalized.
Re: Bullshit Has Dominated the Tech Industry
#3Well, then maybe the problem is that, from an economic point of view, it is unsustainable to make decent software. However, when we analyze the increase in productivity compared to the increase in wages, we see that, for decades, the former has grown at a much faster pace than the latter. Currently, this gap is almost 50%.
Some of this can be explained by employer sponsored healthcare and other benefits for employees. Also, employees can capture this divergence by investing wages in index funds like the S&P 500. The divergence, which began in the early 80s, also tracks the start of the huge bull market. Profits that would go to employees are instead reflected in rapidly appreciating share prices and dividends. A lot more people today have IRAs compared to 40 years ago, representing significant wealth .
Re: Bullshit Has Dominated the Tech Industry
#4"Too big to fail" means everything fails. In my opinion we are on the precipice of civilization collapse. The reason is that people can no longer think logically and the tools they use are increasingly becoming a hinderence. The problem crosses multiple domains, not just "Tech." Basically we have reach a point as a civilization where failure and ineptitude are increasingly not penalized.
We're living in the Golden Age: they with the gold (money actually) make all the rules.
As the article mentions, the emergence of quasi-monopolies constrains decisions at all levels in service of further maximizing financial gains. The 99.9% are mere pawns in this game.
Re: Bullshit Has Dominated the Tech Industry
#5This article has stated very clearly and succinctly something that a lot of knowledgeable people have been screaming about for a long time. Excellent work.
Unfortunately, I don't see a solution to it anytime soon, short of everything just falling apart.
Re: Bullshit Has Dominated the Tech Industry
#6"Too big to fail" means everything fails. In my opinion we are on the precipice of civilization collapse. The reason is that people can no longer think logically and the tools they use are increasingly becoming a hinderence. The problem crosses multiple domains, not just "Tech." Basically we have reach a point as a civilization where failure and ineptitude are increasingly not penalized.
We optimized for the short term without caring about the long term (climate, sustainability, equality, prosperity). Now everyone and everything is in debt (money, natural resources, compassion), yea I could see it all fall apart.
Re: Bullshit Has Dominated the Tech Industry
#7Well, then maybe the problem is that, from an economic point of view, it is unsustainable to make decent software. However, when we analyze the increase in productivity compared to the increase in wages, we see that, for decades, the former has grown at a much faster pace than the latter. Currently, this gap is almost 50%. Some of this can be explained by employer sponsored healthcare and other benefits for employees…
> Some of this can be explained by employer sponsored healthcare and other benefits for employees.
I don't see how. Those things aren't new, and aren't better than they used to be. Their impact applies to before "the divergence" at least as much as it applies now.
Re: Bullshit Has Dominated the Tech Industry
#8Cathartic venting for some, perhaps, but not a very insightful piece. Rehashes various mostly wrong examples and comes to a predictably lame conclusion about “capitalism”.
Re: Bullshit Has Dominated the Tech Industry
#9Counterexample: RaspberryPi. Little tech still has a future (but everything the author says about overhyped Big Tech outfits sounds pretty accurate).
Personally I think it comes down to an over-financialized economy. Raising taxes on corporations and individuals while providing loopholes in the form of writeoffs for re-investing profits in R & D and manufacturing facility upgrades etc. is one obvious solution.
Re: Bullshit Has Dominated the Tech Industry
#10> Capitalism has never put so much money in so few hands as it does nowadays, and it is just getting worse every year. There is less real competition in the market, as companies are buying each other, centralizing power.
I assume the author is talking about the US.
Genuine question: How does the software industry look in more non-capitalist countries? Is it flourishing without these issues. I bet their equivalent of Apple Maps was perfect on first release!
The software industry has issues but I am sure the author has a causal link from capitalism to these issues coming up in a second edition of this post that is thoruoughly researched!
(Edit: any snark is accidental!)