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> This rarity breeds isolation highly related: the opposite of addiction isnt sobriety, its connectedness. https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_yo

> This rarity breeds isolation highly related: the opposite of addiction isnt sobriety, its connectedness. https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_addiction_is_wrong https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_y... a large amount of resources are spent reimprinting the fact that people and emotional, irrational animals. ignoring this fact leads to its rediscovery and reexplanation in so many facets of our life: disaster planning and recovery, politics, economics, drug addiction, social media, you name it.

ReactiveJelly 7y ago
And because we get more done by specializing, everyone has to be as disconnected as we can afford. And although there was always a hidden price on it, now the price is obvious: Friendship is expensive, and your friends also have to pay, for it to work. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like in a village where everyone did the same agriculture tasks and I was working together with everyone of the same gender. Even though that's only half of all the people I know, it would be far more programmers than I currently know. Programming isn't traumatic, it's not like war and miscarriage, but it seems like _everyone_ in the working class is isolated, and it sure isn't fun. I imagine farming is more lonely too, now that one person and a tractor can manage so many acres.
- icebraining 7y ago
  That's interesting; I never felt that programming was an isolated job. The offices I worked at always had plenty of socialization, both in interaction for work purposes (with not just other programmers, but also other people on the company and even quite a few clients) and during breaks, lunches, post-work outings, etc. I guess this might be different in a large org with impermeable "silos", where you just talk to your direct teammates and work comes in the form of tickets. I mostly worked in small companies (under 50 people), with little bureaucracy, and specialization is a little less strict.
valuearb 7y ago
Pop psychology.

ReactiveJelly 7y ago

And because we get more done by specializing, everyone has to be as disconnected as we can afford. And although there was always a hidden price on it, now the price is obvious: Friendship is expensive, and your friends also have to pay, for it to work. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like in a village where everyone did the same agriculture tasks and I was working together with everyone of the same gender. Even though that's only half of all the people I know, it would be far more programmers than I currently know. Programming isn't traumatic, it's not like war and miscarriage, but it seems like _everyone_ in the working class is isolated, and it sure isn't fun. I imagine farming is more lonely too, now that one person and a tractor can manage so many acres.

icebraining 7y ago
That's interesting; I never felt that programming was an isolated job. The offices I worked at always had plenty of socialization, both in interaction for work purposes (with not just other programmers, but also other people on the company and even quite a few clients) and during breaks, lunches, post-work outings, etc. I guess this might be different in a large org with impermeable "silos", where you just talk to your direct teammates and work comes in the form of tickets. I mostly worked in small companies (under 50 people), with little bureaucracy, and specialization is a little less strict.

valuearb 7y ago

Pop psychology.