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How is it different from relying on the internet, when most people don’t know what a routing table is, let alone how to manage one? Or from relying on word proc
by brookst 2mo ago
How is it different from relying on the internet, when most people don’t know what a routing table is, let alone how to manage one? Or from relying on word processors that the average user could never write themselves?
Civilization has always been about upwards abstraction, with a small number of specialists understanding the lower levels that everything’s built on. From sewer systems to cobol in banking, it’s always been this way.
I think the reason we see these reactions on e.g. HN is that we are the class of people going from “we understand the pinnacle of tech” to “we need to rely on opaque tech to do our jobs” and it’s kind of scary and personal because of the change.
- tarkin2 2mo agoI guess by practising the lower level things less and less we become less able to understand and maintain them, whereas any profession that required continued practice kept you sharp enough to learn things like networking.
- voakbasda 2mo agoThis is how we got cars that require visiting the dealership to get serviced, because they have total control over the ecosystem.
- brookst 2mo agoYes, exactly. As compared to 70 years ago, when cars came with a manual on how to adjust the spark gap, and buyers were expected to do so. It turns out most people don't want to be under the hoods of their cars, so cars are optimized for that, and the few people who do want to do that maintenance (me included) are no longer the target market. Meanwhile, everyone else can think about other things.