> a cover for something else
What are you accusing me of? I am literally just a technology professional who likes to compare notes about important aspects of my career with other professionals. It's not a cover for anything else. I am just one individual trying to stay informed and so are the people I have met through these channels. I can't imagine for what "something else" an autobiographical blog post might cover.
>It would be nice to talk to the generations you mentioned. Not sure you did
I am a third generation software developer, as it happens, so I have more-than-average familiar with the history of the information technology industry (to say nothing of the history I've read). Of course, there is a LOT of ground I haven't covered, and of which I remain ignorant. This is one of the many reasons I like articles such as these, autobiographical works and conversations with other technology workers.
> Workplace was a lot worse in the 50s, from working hours to safety
Not in every way and while, yes, we've seen improvements—so what? Are we done? There's still much unnecessary suffering. I don't think we're done. Ours is an industry of innovation, of development. Why should employee relations stagnate? Why should working conditions stagnate? And, in some cases, get worse?
> Still, people had liberties, could create friendships and gather and talk openly and free. These days
These days, we alter our language to evade censorship algorithms from private for-profit corporations who've enclosed the public forum. We create mere token "friendships" in undemocratic virtual reality, or undemocratic workplaces — where a friendship is terminated when employment is terminated: at the whim of a boss. It's the legalistic corralling of human behavior by undemocratic software media that's "killing free speech," and "forcing agendas" written in code. Read some Kafka, for crying out loud. To go online is to "stand before the law" as much as in any analog bureaucracy of which I've read an account — including Solzhenitsyn's!
The "atomizing [of] society" comes from a hollowing out of our social institutions by television, by the commercialization of public space and of free time. Read Putnam's "Bowling Alone" for the details.
"Friction between races, sexes, classes and everything" has always been here, but now that the internet's letting us peer into one-another's lives, we're noticing it. And we're going to have to resolve it. We can't sweep it under the rug for another generation.
> With one hand they complain, with the other they cause the situation
Famously: we didn't start the fire. ;)
> there is no honesty there
I don't know who you're talking about, but probably not the author of this post, and probably not me. Again, I am just a 3rd generation software engineer trying to make it in the industry just like my parents and grandparents, except conditions have changed and what worked for them isn't working any more.
Thanks for the opportunity to exchange perspectives.