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There is a quote about progress depending on the old folks who cling to an old way to see the world, to die. (But I can't find it.) But with regards to programm

There is a quote about progress depending on the old folks who cling to an old way to see the world, to die. (But I can't find it.) But with regards to programming: Where do you think is the negativity about progress coming from? A feeling that skills once learned with difficulty are becoming obsolete?

KittenInABox 6y ago
Science advances one funeral at a time?
nitrogen 6y ago
A feeling that skills once learned with difficulty are becoming obsolete? It's seeing every tiny bit of progress accompanied by ten steps backward as a new language community re-solves and then re-breaks things that were already figured out by other ecosystems. Most "progress" is just going in circles with NIH syndrome, plus a bit of counterproductive cargo culting whatever some famous company does. New science is only accepted if it does a better job of explaining old problems and anticipating new ones. Every new tech should have to justify itself in the same way. If it's not giving you a clear superpower over what already exists, it's not worth using. If it does, then adopt it ASAP.
- Kaze404 6y ago
  That's a very narrow minded view of technology in my opinion. People can create, re-solve and re-break whatever they want. If an unproven and untested technology makes its way into a system you deem critical, that's a flaw of management not of the technology itself.
  - nitrogen 6y ago
    People can create, re-solve and re-break whatever they want. I agree with you here. On my own time I'm just now reimplementing a bunch of audio algorithms in nearly pure Ruby with a DSL just for fun and learning. But I'm not going to go give speeches about how much better the new way is than the old way, how anyone fighting my code is just a luddite who resists progress and is afraid to learn, and how all the doubters are on the wrong side of history.
    - Kaze404 6y ago
      That's fair enough. I think we agree that there needs to be a balance between the weird evangelism of new tools (I literally have psychological damage as consequence of previous experience with a Medium-obsessed CTO) and the cynicism I often see when it comes to those same new tools.
Scarblac 6y ago
Planck's principle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_principle A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. . . . An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: it rarely happens that Saul becomes Paul. What does happen is that its opponents gradually die out, and that the growing generation is familiarized with the ideas from the beginning: another instance of the fact that the future lies with the youth. — Max Planck, Scientific autobiography, 1950, p. 33, 97 Informally, this is often paraphrased as "Science progresses one funeral at a time".
hinkley 6y ago
Software is not really one field though, and you can pick and choose which 'tribe' you belong to. What's happening at insurance companies has very little to do with your day-to-day.

KittenInABox 6y ago

Science advances one funeral at a time?

nitrogen 6y ago

A feeling that skills once learned with difficulty are becoming obsolete? It's seeing every tiny bit of progress accompanied by ten steps backward as a new language community re-solves and then re-breaks things that were already figured out by other ecosystems. Most "progress" is just going in circles with NIH syndrome, plus a bit of counterproductive cargo culting whatever some famous company does. New science is only accepted if it does a better job of explaining old problems and anticipating new ones. Every new tech should have to justify itself in the same way. If it's not giving you a clear superpower over what already exists, it's not worth using. If it does, then adopt it ASAP.

Kaze404 6y ago
That's a very narrow minded view of technology in my opinion. People can create, re-solve and re-break whatever they want. If an unproven and untested technology makes its way into a system you deem critical, that's a flaw of management not of the technology itself.
- nitrogen 6y ago
  People can create, re-solve and re-break whatever they want. I agree with you here. On my own time I'm just now reimplementing a bunch of audio algorithms in nearly pure Ruby with a DSL just for fun and learning. But I'm not going to go give speeches about how much better the new way is than the old way, how anyone fighting my code is just a luddite who resists progress and is afraid to learn, and how all the doubters are on the wrong side of history.
  - Kaze404 6y ago
    That's fair enough. I think we agree that there needs to be a balance between the weird evangelism of new tools (I literally have psychological damage as consequence of previous experience with a Medium-obsessed CTO) and the cynicism I often see when it comes to those same new tools.

Scarblac 6y ago

Planck's principle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_principle A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. . . . An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: it rarely happens that Saul becomes Paul. What does happen is that its opponents gradually die out, and that the growing generation is familiarized with the ideas from the beginning: another instance of the fact that the future lies with the youth. — Max Planck, Scientific autobiography, 1950, p. 33, 97 Informally, this is often paraphrased as "Science progresses one funeral at a time".

hinkley 6y ago

Software is not really one field though, and you can pick and choose which 'tribe' you belong to. What's happening at insurance companies has very little to do with your day-to-day.