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> It's all so gorgeous and beautiful and stupid and wasteful. Indeed. I don't think of hobby computing as stupid and wasteful if it's something you enjoy and i
by musicale 3y ago
> It's all so gorgeous and beautiful and stupid and wasteful.
Indeed. I don't think of hobby computing as stupid and wasteful if it's something you enjoy and it doesn't harm others or the environment. On the other hand, I've seen so many examples of harmful and wasteful computing systems that create intense negative effects, directly and indirectly, intentionally and unintentionally, usually in order to control humans and/or accumulate more money.
- anymouse123456 3y agoFor the record, I was talking more generally about all the software (including much of what I've written). It's just awful in almost every way, but also beautiful in so many others.
- musicale 3y agoIt's a very interesting perspective. I wonder what is a good example of such a system?
- anymouse123456 3y agoIt's literally all of them. I think Apple puts in enormous effort and skill to create beautiful software (and things too), but then these efforts make contact with reality and become something incredibly frustrating and ugly. For example the glass surface on an iPhone. This is a beautiful object in many ways, but it's meant to be held securely in a human hand and hopefully survive falls from 3-4 feet. Slippery glass is one of the stupidest surface materials one could choose for the back of this device. We can dig around in just about any open (or closed) software. There are always some small, beautiful ideas floating around in there just waiting to be seen. But then, when the code is actually executed it becomes a terrifying Geiger-like[0] morass of interconnected tentacles that reach into unexpected places and rip at whatever soft flesh they touch. [0] https://www.google.com/search?q=geiger+art https://www.google.com/search?q=geiger+art