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It’s probably partially an illusion, but while everything wasn’t fine back then, it seemed that there was at least a vision of a positive self-determined comput
by layer8 1y ago
It’s probably partially an illusion, but while everything wasn’t fine back then, it seemed that there was at least a vision of a positive self-determined computing future that could be achieved and that we were roughly on-track on. Nowadays it feels more of a fight to keep things not getting worse, most of the time.
- bombcar 1y agoComputers were so new for most people that they weren't really yet on the "critical path". And when you got them working, they saved so much time that you had extra time laying around.
- ryoshu 1y agoBuilding value vs extracting value.
- CWuestefeld 1y agoI agree, but I also think it goes farther than computers and technology. Back then the overall zeitgeist was just a whole lot more positive. These days people are all about one-upping on the dark grittiness of music, movies, etc. But back then things were more upbeat. Yeah, we were worried about the cold war and nuclear armageddon, etc. But we still felt hopeful that we were working toward something better. I miss that.
- exikyut 1y agoZeroing in on this exact sentiment: > ...that could be achieved and that we were roughly on-track on. I think there's a strong lateral connection to this quote: “I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.” ― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time I think this has interesting implications wrt the perception of nostalgia, because nostalgia seems to be able to apply at any age to any event that happened far enough back in time; while the above theoretical model maps roughly to specific ages. So I wonder what things are actually a partially overlapped Venn diagram of the above maxim and nostalgia. In this case I think it's possible the idea that we were "roughly on-track on" with certain technologies - the notion of an emergent sense of structure that was certain to unfold - could map to some point in between points (1) and (2) in the maxim above. An objective analyses would instead recognize "success" as the survivorship bias that it is; but we're not objective :) - and I find that endlessly fascinating!
- anal_reactor 1y agoDude even kids recognize that TikTok is brainrot.
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- plastic3169 1y agoI once met this older gentleman at a wedding and when I asked about his life he said he used to be really into computers but the personal computing revolution made him sour. It turned professional field step by step into junk until there was only amateurs with their toy computers left.
- MaxBarraclough 1y agoDid you dare to mention 'vibe coding'?
- ferguess_k 1y agoI'd say, go back to the hardware. Pick a computer hobby that involves tinkering the hardware, not just the software. Holding something on one's hand means a lot.
- DrillShopper 1y agoI have set a goal to build an x86, Z-80, and 6502 based single board computers just to mess around with and program them in machine code. After working at the 6502 one for awhile I can start to understand why the Homebrew Computer Club was an obsession for many.