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The World Wide Web, defi, and NoSQL are just a couple random examples of new technologies which we were pitched as having the potential to change software devel

The World Wide Web, defi, and NoSQL are just a couple random examples of new technologies which we were pitched as having the potential to change software development forever. Can you remember any other time in history a new programming technology was treated with the same apprehension and kid gloves we’re currently seeing with image diffusion? If not, I actually think you’re the one being childish and the OP’s actually made a perfectly reasonable observation.

II2II 4y ago
Encryption is the first one that comes to mind, particularly since it ended up affecting consumers once the internet became commercialized. Anything remotely military related also fits into that basket, though few people would have run into the self-enforced hesitancy to release code since (outside of the military) it would affect very few people outside of academia. That said, the reality is that we live in a time that is very self-aware of the unintended consequences of technology as well as a time where we have communications technologies that propagate that awareness at a speed and breadth that were difficult to conceive of thirty years ago. This ranges from our impact on the environment to criminal activities online. I don't think that it is unusual for people to be questioning the unintended consequences of their work.
greenthrow 4y ago
The WWW was not viewed as revolutionary when it first came out. Remember, it was all text at first and hyperlinked documents were already a thing. Gopher existed already. The revolution that happened with the web wasn't one little thing, it was the culmination of a lot of small things. Home dial up internet access becoming available. Modem speeds picking up. The addition of images to the web by Mosaic. JPEG compression making images small enough to download "quickly" over the dial up connections, etc. NoSQL wasn't a new technology. It was rebranding of old technology and a rejection of what people felt were overly complicated and bloated solutions for certain problem spaces. Defi is a bad joke. As another reply already mentioned, certain forms of encryption were kept from the public and restricted. I think right now it is likely the current state of the art of quantum computing is being kept under wraps for similar reasons. Lots of weapons related technology is kept restricted for good reasons. You and the OP have a distorted ideologically based view of history that never happened.
- joenot443 4y ago
  > I think right now it is likely the current state of the art of quantum computing is being kept under wraps for similar reasons. If this is the worldview you're operating under I don't think anything I have to say about Defi or NoSQL is going to be very meaningful to you. All the best, though.

II2II 4y ago

Encryption is the first one that comes to mind, particularly since it ended up affecting consumers once the internet became commercialized. Anything remotely military related also fits into that basket, though few people would have run into the self-enforced hesitancy to release code since (outside of the military) it would affect very few people outside of academia. That said, the reality is that we live in a time that is very self-aware of the unintended consequences of technology as well as a time where we have communications technologies that propagate that awareness at a speed and breadth that were difficult to conceive of thirty years ago. This ranges from our impact on the environment to criminal activities online. I don't think that it is unusual for people to be questioning the unintended consequences of their work.

greenthrow 4y ago

The WWW was not viewed as revolutionary when it first came out. Remember, it was all text at first and hyperlinked documents were already a thing. Gopher existed already. The revolution that happened with the web wasn't one little thing, it was the culmination of a lot of small things. Home dial up internet access becoming available. Modem speeds picking up. The addition of images to the web by Mosaic. JPEG compression making images small enough to download "quickly" over the dial up connections, etc. NoSQL wasn't a new technology. It was rebranding of old technology and a rejection of what people felt were overly complicated and bloated solutions for certain problem spaces. Defi is a bad joke. As another reply already mentioned, certain forms of encryption were kept from the public and restricted. I think right now it is likely the current state of the art of quantum computing is being kept under wraps for similar reasons. Lots of weapons related technology is kept restricted for good reasons. You and the OP have a distorted ideologically based view of history that never happened.

joenot443 4y ago
> I think right now it is likely the current state of the art of quantum computing is being kept under wraps for similar reasons. If this is the worldview you're operating under I don't think anything I have to say about Defi or NoSQL is going to be very meaningful to you. All the best, though.