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I think you’re just getting old. It happens. Personally, DMs are the only real thing in my life. Everything else feels artificial. You even set aside time to g

I think you’re just getting old. It happens. Personally, DMs are the only real thing in my life. Everything else feels artificial. You even set aside time to go see your parents, and make plans to go on vacation. DMs are where the magic is. Even HN comments are starting to lose the feeling, but it’s probably because I’m getting old.

Flankk 4y ago
It's not a getting old thing. Corporations ruin everything. Maximizing revenue at the expense of everything else has its cost.
- sillysaurusx 4y ago
  Is there an alternative? It’s true that in a thousand years, the systems that exist today are likely not going to be those of the next millennia. But it’s also true that the incentives of society change very, very slowly. And right now the most impactful work seems to be done by politicians and corporations. Which means the ambitious will always be attracted to those, like flies to sunlight. I just don’t see the point in even recognizing these truths, let alone trying to change them. There’s nothing —- nothing —- that you or I can do about it. Not even YC could. They sailed with the wind, not against it. The most we can do seems to be to maximize our own individual happiness. Speaking of happiness, dear readers, remember that 35 is middle age. Working until you’re 60 is the biggest corporate triumph of them all. Do the things you want before you retire.
  - marcosdumay 4y ago
    > Is there an alternative? Yes, make the markets competitive.
    - nichos 4y ago
      Competition comes from corporations and start ups.
      - pm90 4y ago
        And what makes it possible for lots of startups to exist? What makes it possible for upstarts to rapidly rise and replace an incumbent? Todays Big Tech replaced the earlier generation. But the markets have been so thoroughly captured that it seems impossible for any startup to replace Meta or Apple or Google. Netflix is struggling not against another startup but industry incumbents replicating its technology. Until the markets get competitive again, there won’t be much innovation domestically. TikTok should have shocked the entire US tech industry but rather than try to come up with better products the Tech industry tried to dismember the company and gobble up its US assets ( a process that stopped only because of a change in administration).
  - tonguez 4y ago
    the alternative is humans decide to invest their energy in improving the quality of life of other humans instead of pure (financial) domination
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- papito 4y ago
  Not revenue. "Shareholder VALUE".
  - Flankk 4y ago
    Shareholder value is a business term, sometimes phrased as shareholder value maximization or as the shareholder value model, which implies that the ultimate measure of a company's success is the extent to which it enriches shareholders.
natly 4y ago
I really doubt young people don't resonante with this message.
- DangitBobby 4y ago
  Unfortunately I can attest to the fact that chat apps is where it's at. I personally would much rather make plans in person but it's hard to get anyone to do anything, especially now. One of my friends jokes that COVID turned us all into "online friends" which is just a little too true to be really funny.
Spooky23 4y ago
There is a small cohort of people, 40-48 years old, who experienced the ideal of instant messengers in the late 90s to circa 2005. After that, everything in the unified/personal communications space got technically better but worse.
- kortilla 4y ago
  Agree but you did the math wrong. Teenagers in 2005 were all over instant messengers and they would only be 30s.
  - Spooky23 4y ago
    They were, but at that point it was a truly mass market. I poorly expressed the population that I was trying to describe. Circa 1999-2000, you could IM random ICQ users and they were not 100% dickpic creeps. It was almost like a pre-AOL internet for people in the know.
    - eastbound 4y ago
      I remember! Selecting profiles on ICQ as if on a dating website, and talking with someone in China! No dickpic, just naive remote friendship, well in fact he did fall in love with me but… wait was it only because we had no numeric cameras at the time?
- nunez 4y ago
  Small? Basically everyone born in the late-80s/early-90s used AIM, ICQ, or MSN Messenger when they got into high school or college. That's an entire generation! I agree that classic IM was best IM, though. Unfortunately you can't make money on IM alone, and AOL isn't the portal of choice anymore. (Google was so close with Hangouts!)
- csallen 4y ago
  I'm 34 and all my friends were using AIM in middle school back in 1999
- jszymborski 4y ago

Flankk 4y ago

It's not a getting old thing. Corporations ruin everything. Maximizing revenue at the expense of everything else has its cost.

sillysaurusx 4y ago
Is there an alternative? It’s true that in a thousand years, the systems that exist today are likely not going to be those of the next millennia. But it’s also true that the incentives of society change very, very slowly. And right now the most impactful work seems to be done by politicians and corporations. Which means the ambitious will always be attracted to those, like flies to sunlight. I just don’t see the point in even recognizing these truths, let alone trying to change them. There’s nothing —- nothing —- that you or I can do about it. Not even YC could. They sailed with the wind, not against it. The most we can do seems to be to maximize our own individual happiness. Speaking of happiness, dear readers, remember that 35 is middle age. Working until you’re 60 is the biggest corporate triumph of them all. Do the things you want before you retire.
- marcosdumay 4y ago
  > Is there an alternative? Yes, make the markets competitive.
  - nichos 4y ago
    Competition comes from corporations and start ups.
    - pm90 4y ago
      And what makes it possible for lots of startups to exist? What makes it possible for upstarts to rapidly rise and replace an incumbent? Todays Big Tech replaced the earlier generation. But the markets have been so thoroughly captured that it seems impossible for any startup to replace Meta or Apple or Google. Netflix is struggling not against another startup but industry incumbents replicating its technology. Until the markets get competitive again, there won’t be much innovation domestically. TikTok should have shocked the entire US tech industry but rather than try to come up with better products the Tech industry tried to dismember the company and gobble up its US assets ( a process that stopped only because of a change in administration).
- tonguez 4y ago
  the alternative is humans decide to invest their energy in improving the quality of life of other humans instead of pure (financial) domination
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
papito 4y ago
Not revenue. "Shareholder VALUE".
- Flankk 4y ago
  Shareholder value is a business term, sometimes phrased as shareholder value maximization or as the shareholder value model, which implies that the ultimate measure of a company's success is the extent to which it enriches shareholders.

natly 4y ago

I really doubt young people don't resonante with this message.

DangitBobby 4y ago
Unfortunately I can attest to the fact that chat apps is where it's at. I personally would much rather make plans in person but it's hard to get anyone to do anything, especially now. One of my friends jokes that COVID turned us all into "online friends" which is just a little too true to be really funny.

Spooky23 4y ago

There is a small cohort of people, 40-48 years old, who experienced the ideal of instant messengers in the late 90s to circa 2005. After that, everything in the unified/personal communications space got technically better but worse.

kortilla 4y ago
Agree but you did the math wrong. Teenagers in 2005 were all over instant messengers and they would only be 30s.
- Spooky23 4y ago
  They were, but at that point it was a truly mass market. I poorly expressed the population that I was trying to describe. Circa 1999-2000, you could IM random ICQ users and they were not 100% dickpic creeps. It was almost like a pre-AOL internet for people in the know.
  - eastbound 4y ago
    I remember! Selecting profiles on ICQ as if on a dating website, and talking with someone in China! No dickpic, just naive remote friendship, well in fact he did fall in love with me but… wait was it only because we had no numeric cameras at the time?
nunez 4y ago
Small? Basically everyone born in the late-80s/early-90s used AIM, ICQ, or MSN Messenger when they got into high school or college. That's an entire generation! I agree that classic IM was best IM, though. Unfortunately you can't make money on IM alone, and AOL isn't the portal of choice anymore. (Google was so close with Hangouts!)
csallen 4y ago
I'm 34 and all my friends were using AIM in middle school back in 1999
jszymborski 4y ago