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> As soon as people start trying to use anything, AI or not, to make as much money as possible, we have a problem. I noticed that, around the turn of the centu

> As soon as people start trying to use anything, AI or not, to make as much money as possible, we have a problem. I noticed that, around the turn of the century, when "The Web" was suddenly all about the Benjamins. It's sort of gone downhill, since. For myself, I've retired, and putter around in my "software garden." I do make use of AI, to help me solve problems, and generate code starts, but I am into it for personal satisfaction.

FollowingTheDao 2y ago
[flagged]
- hobs 2y ago
  Are you jealous or mad that they didn't do more for you? Neither is a good look really. What have you done for me lately?
  - FollowingTheDao 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
      Sorry to hear that. Not our fault, and it won't make your life any better to be bitter about it. It certainly doesn't help you, in the least, to be attacking folks in a public professional forum. You're also not the only one doing charity work. Just sayin'.
      - FollowingTheDao 2y ago
        [flagged]
        sepositus 2y ago
        Do you think this style of argumentation is constructive and beneficial for the broader good of society? I can't think of a single person I've met who would respond positively to being labeled a (partial) sociopath after being able to only express a couple of paragraphs of thought.
        FollowingTheDao 2y ago
        Yes, I do, because I’m never going to change his mind, maybe I will, but probably not, but other people reading this can take sides and think about it in a non-direct way. Jesus turned over tables when they were trying to profit inside the church. His movement seemed to turn out pretty good.
        sepositus 2y ago
        Fair enough, but I would be concerned about the people who think that making (offensive) psychiatric diagnoses over the internet is a good thing that should be promoted. In the best case, it only confirms people's biases and does nothing to move the needle towards unity rather than continued division. > Jesus turned over tables when they were trying to profit inside the church. His movement seemed to turn out pretty good. Applying this story to posting anonymous comments on an internet forum seems like a stretch. There are hardly any meaningful consequences for your decision to write in this way, whereas Jesus very much became a target after that demonstration.
        dvaun 2y ago
        Have you considered socratic questioning and other forms of conversation, in order to affect more change? See https://www.streetepistemology.com/ https://www.streetepistemology.com/ for content about this. It is possible to guide discussions in a healthy manner and with positive goals in mind.
        FollowingTheDao 2y ago
        I am not trying to affect change. I am expressing myself.
- JKCalhoun 2y ago
  I'm retired as well, dislike what we have for the internet these days. In reflecting on my career I can say I got into it for the right reasons. That is, I liked programming — but also found out fairly quickly that not everyone could do it and so it could be a career path that would prove lucrative. And this in particular for someone who had no other likelihood, for example, of ever owning a home. I was probably not going to be able to afford graduate school (had barely paid for state college by working minimum wage jobs throughout college and over the summers) and regardless I was not the most studious person. (My degree was Education — I had expected a modest income as a career high school teacher). But as I say, I enjoyed programming at first. And when it arrived, the web was just a giant BBS as far as I was concerned and so of course I liked it. But it is possible to find a thing that you really like can go to shit over the ensuing decades. (And for that matter, my duties as an engineer got shittier as well as the career "evolved". I had not originally signed up for code reviews, unit tests, scrum, etc. Oh well.) Money as a pursuit made sense to me after I was in the field and saw that others around me were doing quite well — able as I say, to afford to buy a home — something I had assumed would always be out of reach for me (my single mother had always rented, I assumed I would as well — oh, I still had a modest college loan to pay off too). So I learned about 30-year home loans, learned about the real estate market in the Bay Area, learned also about RSUs, capital gains tax, 401Ks, index finds, etc. But as is becoming a theme in this thread (?) at some point I was satisfied that I had done enough to secure a home, tools for my hobbies, and had raised three girls — paid for their college. I began to see the now burdensome career I was in as an albatross around my soul. The technology that I had once enjoyed, made my career on the back of, had gone sour.
  - FollowingTheDao 2y ago
    It went sour for the same reason that you were "satisfied that I had done enough to secure a home, tools for my hobbies, and had raised three girls — paid for their college"; Money and selfishness. You were looking out for you and your little group. You got yours. Now what?
    - JKCalhoun 2y ago
      If you're trying to convince me that I was somehow part of the problem, it's not reaching me. I was as low(ly) as you can get in the "tech industry stack". While I still had some measure of agency as an engineer I added a crayon color picker to MacOS, added most of the PDF features people like in MacOS Preview. That was as much "driving the ship" as I was allowed — until I wasn't even allowed that. I could have skipped sooner maybe? Once I had kids though I found I had a higher tolerance for a job getting shittier, a lower tolerance for restarting in a new career. So I put up with a worsening job for them. I quit the moment my last daughter left for college.

FollowingTheDao 2y ago

[flagged]

hobs 2y ago
Are you jealous or mad that they didn't do more for you? Neither is a good look really. What have you done for me lately?
- FollowingTheDao 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
    Sorry to hear that. Not our fault, and it won't make your life any better to be bitter about it. It certainly doesn't help you, in the least, to be attacking folks in a public professional forum. You're also not the only one doing charity work. Just sayin'.
    - FollowingTheDao 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - sepositus 2y ago
        Do you think this style of argumentation is constructive and beneficial for the broader good of society? I can't think of a single person I've met who would respond positively to being labeled a (partial) sociopath after being able to only express a couple of paragraphs of thought.
        FollowingTheDao 2y ago
        Yes, I do, because I’m never going to change his mind, maybe I will, but probably not, but other people reading this can take sides and think about it in a non-direct way. Jesus turned over tables when they were trying to profit inside the church. His movement seemed to turn out pretty good.
        sepositus 2y ago
        Fair enough, but I would be concerned about the people who think that making (offensive) psychiatric diagnoses over the internet is a good thing that should be promoted. In the best case, it only confirms people's biases and does nothing to move the needle towards unity rather than continued division. > Jesus turned over tables when they were trying to profit inside the church. His movement seemed to turn out pretty good. Applying this story to posting anonymous comments on an internet forum seems like a stretch. There are hardly any meaningful consequences for your decision to write in this way, whereas Jesus very much became a target after that demonstration.
        dvaun 2y ago
        Have you considered socratic questioning and other forms of conversation, in order to affect more change? See https://www.streetepistemology.com/ https://www.streetepistemology.com/ for content about this. It is possible to guide discussions in a healthy manner and with positive goals in mind.
        FollowingTheDao 2y ago
        I am not trying to affect change. I am expressing myself.
JKCalhoun 2y ago
I'm retired as well, dislike what we have for the internet these days. In reflecting on my career I can say I got into it for the right reasons. That is, I liked programming — but also found out fairly quickly that not everyone could do it and so it could be a career path that would prove lucrative. And this in particular for someone who had no other likelihood, for example, of ever owning a home. I was probably not going to be able to afford graduate school (had barely paid for state college by working minimum wage jobs throughout college and over the summers) and regardless I was not the most studious person. (My degree was Education — I had expected a modest income as a career high school teacher). But as I say, I enjoyed programming at first. And when it arrived, the web was just a giant BBS as far as I was concerned and so of course I liked it. But it is possible to find a thing that you really like can go to shit over the ensuing decades. (And for that matter, my duties as an engineer got shittier as well as the career "evolved". I had not originally signed up for code reviews, unit tests, scrum, etc. Oh well.) Money as a pursuit made sense to me after I was in the field and saw that others around me were doing quite well — able as I say, to afford to buy a home — something I had assumed would always be out of reach for me (my single mother had always rented, I assumed I would as well — oh, I still had a modest college loan to pay off too). So I learned about 30-year home loans, learned about the real estate market in the Bay Area, learned also about RSUs, capital gains tax, 401Ks, index finds, etc. But as is becoming a theme in this thread (?) at some point I was satisfied that I had done enough to secure a home, tools for my hobbies, and had raised three girls — paid for their college. I began to see the now burdensome career I was in as an albatross around my soul. The technology that I had once enjoyed, made my career on the back of, had gone sour.
- FollowingTheDao 2y ago
  It went sour for the same reason that you were "satisfied that I had done enough to secure a home, tools for my hobbies, and had raised three girls — paid for their college"; Money and selfishness. You were looking out for you and your little group. You got yours. Now what?
  - JKCalhoun 2y ago
    If you're trying to convince me that I was somehow part of the problem, it's not reaching me. I was as low(ly) as you can get in the "tech industry stack". While I still had some measure of agency as an engineer I added a crayon color picker to MacOS, added most of the PDF features people like in MacOS Preview. That was as much "driving the ship" as I was allowed — until I wasn't even allowed that. I could have skipped sooner maybe? Once I had kids though I found I had a higher tolerance for a job getting shittier, a lower tolerance for restarting in a new career. So I put up with a worsening job for them. I quit the moment my last daughter left for college.