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I think this comment from jacques_chester [1] does an excellent job at explaining why it is important to break free from this mindset periodically. It is all ab

• jacques_chester 13y ago
  Local maxima, exactly. We often lose sight of how and why we are at a particular maxima and assume that the current layering is the only acceptable layering. But sometimes it's just accidents, or was just the shortest path to a working system, or lots of little local solutions that agglomerated into larger global solutions. Every once in a while punching through the old layers is useful. Not always. Sometimes. Having a sense of history makes this easier ... and harder. Sometimes the outcome is so stunningly obviously better that everyone slaps their foreheads and wonders how it could have been any other way. Other times ... well, other times we all spend our workdays arguing about it on HN.