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I think this is just a part of life in the technology world. There are lots of things that should be better and could easily be made better if they wouldn't to

by j_baker 17y ago

I think this is just a part of life in the technology world. There are lots of things that should be better and could easily be made better if they wouldn't totally break backwards compatibility and decades of professional expertise. It's easy to say that the modern state of computing sucks, but it's a whole lot harder to actually do something about it.

asciilifeform 17y ago
> It's easy to say that the modern state of computing sucks, but it's a whole lot harder to actually do something about it Many have told me that spewing hot air is pointless. However, it seems that almost everyone in programming-culture is afflicted with a kind of Stockholm Syndrome and refuses to believe that there has been any kind of systemic decline. If I can cure even one such sufferer, the hot air will not be for naught. The best (or even sane!) technology does not automatically win, people. Valuable things have been lost. Mankind is effectively stupider for the lack of the intelligence-amplifiers which could have been - could still be.
- plinkplonk 17y ago
  "If I can cure even one such sufferer, the hot air will not be for naught." You won't cure anyone by "hot air". At least you won't "cure" anyone half way intelligent. Talk is cheap. "[programmers] refuse to believe that there has been any kind of systemic decline. Mankind is effectively stupider for the lack of the intelligence-amplifiers which could have been - could still be." So, code up these "intelligence amplifiers" and show us. Talk is cheap. Code is more convincing. It also gets over the problem of all these deluded programmers (on HN and elsewhere) who "refuse to believe" something just because you said so. ;-)
  - asciilifeform 17y ago
    > Talk is cheap. Talk is cheap. I do not specialize in talk, however. Compare my hot air output to that of the professional blowhards and hucksters who are revered here. I don't hold a candle to them, volume-wise. And if the fact that I don't release to the peanut gallery every byte of incremental progress I achieve means that I will be dismissed as a blowhard, then so be it.
scj 17y ago
Not to mention the amount of momentum in these systems. The x86 architecture is hideous. But Intel and AMD have pumped billions of dollars of research into it that is difficult to overcome. Look at Apple's transition from the PPC to x86. The reason given was performance/watt. Do you think Jobs spent more than a minute worrying about how annoying x86s are to work with?

by j_baker 17y ago

asciilifeform 17y ago

> It's easy to say that the modern state of computing sucks, but it's a whole lot harder to actually do something about it Many have told me that spewing hot air is pointless. However, it seems that almost everyone in programming-culture is afflicted with a kind of Stockholm Syndrome and refuses to believe that there has been any kind of systemic decline. If I can cure even one such sufferer, the hot air will not be for naught. The best (or even sane!) technology does not automatically win, people. Valuable things have been lost. Mankind is effectively stupider for the lack of the intelligence-amplifiers which could have been - could still be.

plinkplonk 17y ago
"If I can cure even one such sufferer, the hot air will not be for naught." You won't cure anyone by "hot air". At least you won't "cure" anyone half way intelligent. Talk is cheap. "[programmers] refuse to believe that there has been any kind of systemic decline. Mankind is effectively stupider for the lack of the intelligence-amplifiers which could have been - could still be." So, code up these "intelligence amplifiers" and show us. Talk is cheap. Code is more convincing. It also gets over the problem of all these deluded programmers (on HN and elsewhere) who "refuse to believe" something just because you said so. ;-)
- asciilifeform 17y ago
  > Talk is cheap. Talk is cheap. I do not specialize in talk, however. Compare my hot air output to that of the professional blowhards and hucksters who are revered here. I don't hold a candle to them, volume-wise. And if the fact that I don't release to the peanut gallery every byte of incremental progress I achieve means that I will be dismissed as a blowhard, then so be it.

scj 17y ago

Not to mention the amount of momentum in these systems. The x86 architecture is hideous. But Intel and AMD have pumped billions of dollars of research into it that is difficult to overcome. Look at Apple's transition from the PPC to x86. The reason given was performance/watt. Do you think Jobs spent more than a minute worrying about how annoying x86s are to work with?