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> Would you consider a different pattern, woven on a old loom a new technology? A app is not a "new technology". A microprocessor is a technology and the code y

> Would you consider a different pattern, woven on a old loom a new technology? A app is not a "new technology". A microprocessor is a technology and the code you run on it is just another pattern on the loom. It's not useful to get pedantic about the definition of a "new technology." What is your point? Take the example cited in the article about deciding whether to store your data in SQL databases, vector databases, or blockchains. Are you saying that this is a purely aesthetic choice and not a choice that bakes in a lot of other patterns and decisions?

willcipriano 3y ago
It's a different mindset once you start thinking in those terms. Inventing a new technology sounds impossible but writing some code isn't difficult. You'll be less likely to get paralyzed daydreaming about the lofty future of this new technology if it's just some code that can be thrown away at any time for something better. When we list humanities technological inventions a century from now, I don't think we will be listing CockroachDB or similar.
- terminous 3y ago
  > it's just some code that can be thrown away at any time for something better. That's exactly what the author is arguing against. Decisions about foundational infrastructure (frameworks, databases, programming languages) have consequences for the organizations that decide to use them. Switching costs can be high. Lock-in of all kinds is real. > When we list humanities technological inventions a century from now, I don't think we will be listing CockroachDB or similar. That isn't at all what I or the author of the article was saying.
  - willcipriano 3y ago
    In this use, sometimes technology will upgrade itself with new technology that uses technology to prevent the users from doing things the technology previously had the technology to do, but it no longer has the technology due to the technology that was downloaded and installed on the technology in the user's closet.

willcipriano 3y ago

It's a different mindset once you start thinking in those terms. Inventing a new technology sounds impossible but writing some code isn't difficult. You'll be less likely to get paralyzed daydreaming about the lofty future of this new technology if it's just some code that can be thrown away at any time for something better. When we list humanities technological inventions a century from now, I don't think we will be listing CockroachDB or similar.

terminous 3y ago
> it's just some code that can be thrown away at any time for something better. That's exactly what the author is arguing against. Decisions about foundational infrastructure (frameworks, databases, programming languages) have consequences for the organizations that decide to use them. Switching costs can be high. Lock-in of all kinds is real. > When we list humanities technological inventions a century from now, I don't think we will be listing CockroachDB or similar. That isn't at all what I or the author of the article was saying.
- willcipriano 3y ago
  In this use, sometimes technology will upgrade itself with new technology that uses technology to prevent the users from doing things the technology previously had the technology to do, but it no longer has the technology due to the technology that was downloaded and installed on the technology in the user's closet.