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AI is just one facet of the issue, and it only exacerbates the real problem. Algorithmification, enshitification, etc. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infini

AI is just one facet of the issue, and it only exacerbates the real problem. Algorithmification, enshitification, etc. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/why-the-internet-isnt-fun-anymore https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/why-the-in... The old guards of Amazon and Google are gone - no one is there to nurture the product. The new business school jocks are there to juice it, juice it to the max, bro! Quarter to quarter, so that the vaunted SHAREHOLDER does not get all madzies.

gjvc 3y ago
I think this The old guards of Amazon and Google are gone - no one is there to nurture the product really explains (perhaps obviously to many) why company culture changes over time, and that retaining engineering in leadership can be crucial to long-term success.
082349872349872 3y ago
Maybe we ought to just be heading to Venus ("and still we stand tall"), as in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Merchants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Merchants ?
- TomSwirly 3y ago
  Or even Venus, as in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons (Text here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51233/51233-h/51233-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51233/51233-h/51233-h.htm) Both involved Cyril Kornbluth, what a great talent, taken far too soon. Interestingly, Pohl wrote a sequel to The Space Merchants decades later, and I picked it up, fully expecting it to be terrible, and it was brilliant, and made me cry at the end. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchants%27_War_(Pohl_novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchants%27_War_(Pohl_nov...
  - 082349872349872 3y ago
    Luckily enough, population genetics[0] doesn't follow the model[1] of the year 7-B-936 so much as it does https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean . [0] as many would-be racing breeders have discovered, it's easy to breed the best to the best, but the number of trials incurred while hoping for the best takes deep pockets. [1] or were the story's names a nod to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid -isation?
throw_m239339 3y ago
Investors demand infinite growth. So when your company is already very lucrative, how do you make it even more lucrative? By taking financial risks in new product creation? No, by squeezing as much profitability as you can from existing products... edit:grammar
- renegade-otter 3y ago
  By providing dividends. Investors who seek high risk and high growth can then go elsewhere, or maybe catch a flight to Vegas for some real gambling. There will always be investors looking for "slow and steady". As a company grows, its culture changes, but so should its approach to growth and to investors.
rchaud 3y ago
Pray tell, who in Google's senior leadership team is a business school jock in sole control of these decisions? The SLT are corporate stooges who are doing Wall St's bidding to pump the stock. Blaming 'business school types' belies a fundamental misunderstanding of who holds the reigns.

gjvc 3y ago

I think this The old guards of Amazon and Google are gone - no one is there to nurture the product really explains (perhaps obviously to many) why company culture changes over time, and that retaining engineering in leadership can be crucial to long-term success.

082349872349872 3y ago

Maybe we ought to just be heading to Venus ("and still we stand tall"), as in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Merchants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Merchants ?

TomSwirly 3y ago
Or even Venus, as in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons (Text here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51233/51233-h/51233-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51233/51233-h/51233-h.htm) Both involved Cyril Kornbluth, what a great talent, taken far too soon. Interestingly, Pohl wrote a sequel to The Space Merchants decades later, and I picked it up, fully expecting it to be terrible, and it was brilliant, and made me cry at the end. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchants%27_War_(Pohl_novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchants%27_War_(Pohl_nov...
- 082349872349872 3y ago
  Luckily enough, population genetics[0] doesn't follow the model[1] of the year 7-B-936 so much as it does https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean . [0] as many would-be racing breeders have discovered, it's easy to breed the best to the best, but the number of trials incurred while hoping for the best takes deep pockets. [1] or were the story's names a nod to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid -isation?

throw_m239339 3y ago

Investors demand infinite growth. So when your company is already very lucrative, how do you make it even more lucrative? By taking financial risks in new product creation? No, by squeezing as much profitability as you can from existing products... edit:grammar

renegade-otter 3y ago
By providing dividends. Investors who seek high risk and high growth can then go elsewhere, or maybe catch a flight to Vegas for some real gambling. There will always be investors looking for "slow and steady". As a company grows, its culture changes, but so should its approach to growth and to investors.

rchaud 3y ago

Pray tell, who in Google's senior leadership team is a business school jock in sole control of these decisions? The SLT are corporate stooges who are doing Wall St's bidding to pump the stock. Blaming 'business school types' belies a fundamental misunderstanding of who holds the reigns.