PCF_LABEL_AWESOME Here for software stuff. Cursed with eternal optimism. I want to make it all better. Make Agile Great Again! Views are my own.
Portal Point, Antarctica
Joined March 2010
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Just put the "flashing lights may affect photosensitive viewers" warning directly on the TV so they know never to watch anything
My issue with college as a job application filter is that it costs years of time and earnings and thousands of dollars to save a few minutes for the person sorting applications. There are other ways a person can show their ability to do a job, like doing their previous job.
When I run a tech company there will be a big screen in the lobby looping a video about my vision and what we do. This will be for expository purposes in case a scene from a movie happens there. Too bad for the people who work there.
I still don't care where the "Who's the Boss?" cast is now. Do they move around frequently? Am I supposed to be tracking them?
I was in this position many years ago when living was difficult, but easier than now. I don't like imagining doing it over back then, much less now.
My best advice is to stick close as a family unit. Do not try to make it alone unless you have no choice.
If you have to do it alone, lower your standard of living and lower it some more. You must have some time and strength left to claw your way out of the hole. You can work at Burger King, but it doesn't go anywhere. You have to learn something else, probably something hands-on that AI won't take away.
At least 50% of people, maybe more, don't care about being good at what they do. Relentlessly set yourself apart from them, even if that means you're better at washing dishes. Always be on the right side of that line. Unless you're a genius or starting at third base, you can't afford to slack.
I think this maybe this is different. I was around when the Internet went big. I don't remember us talking like this. Now half of us are going to live underground and become morlocks and I'm not sure which is better.
AI will split humanity into two unequal halves, similar to the white-collar revolution, but much more drastic.
"Exercise" as we know it didn't exist. The work itself was "exercise." Now, people have to create artificial environments and routines so their bodies don't fall apart. But how many people exercise? What percentage of the population? Not much. It takes very little effort to be healthier than 80% of the population.
The AI revolution will be more drastic. People are already getting dumber and lazier. To fend off the decay, we must set up artificial routines that keep our minds sharp.
Just like physical exercise.
But like physical exercise, only a minority of the population will do what's necessary to keep their minds sharp and active. The alternative is just too easy.
The difference, however, will be much starker than physical health, though at first it won't be as obvious. And the differences will grow.
One of the groups can't help but be slaves. They will have surrendered all of their agency and will to the machines they blithely dismissed as mere "tools."
The other group will build the future.
You want to be in the latter.
I think I've put my finger on why Star Wars has failed since the OT:
We remember the characters, but it was really about their arcs. The spaceships and robots were cool, but the real magic was seeing people change, grow, and do the unexpected. It felt good when people did the right thing.
None of the films since then captured that. I don't think they got the point.
The prequels were only about one character's arc. Anakin was not Michael Corleone. He was a dull character whose dull story was glazed over with special effects, nostalgia, pointless action that developed no one, and John William's music. It wasn't the least bit inspiring. We all knew he would go bad, and he did. Nothing about that backstory added an inch of depth to the OT's Darth Vader.
The sequels didn't get it at all. They tried to cash in by going through the motions and appealing to nostalgia. Maybe part was that we'd already seen the trick. Watching people change was no longer a surprise. But all of it was dull anyway. The original characters were miserable. The new ones didn't so much change as switch sides.
That's why it never felt the same again. Maybe they could have with different writers and different stories. It doesn't matter. They didn't care and they didn't try.
Before AI notes, it's amazing how many important decisions weren't documented anywhere. They just lived in our collective memory where we remembered wrong or changed the plan and not everyone knew.
Meeting notes still aren't the right place, but they're an improvement.
Extinguished Engineer retweeted
I'm starting to sense a divide in the tech industry:
- People thriving on autonomy who are reinventing how they work and what tools they use with AI: LOTS of work, but they're enjoying it and getting very efficient
- People used to being mentored / trained / or simply told what to do and how. Frustrated with the lack of guidance from management on what to do with AI; also frustrated by seeing some of their peers thriving; increasingly bitter about AI and the state of the industry, as a whole
Neither group seems to be aware that there's another group, or have empathy for the other group
I don't like UI work because some guy who doesn't know how to write a line of HTML talks to the users without me and designs stupid solutions I don't want to build. I have more ownership and autonomy with backend work.
If you are doing a corporate town hall, PLEASE do not attempt the fake talk show interview panel format. Maybe it looked cool at some conference. We're busy people and we don't want to listen to you chat with each other. Face the audience and say important things.
There are a ton of affordable homes. The problem is your awful neighbors and the loud cars going up and down your street at night.
The best I can suggest is to start with a tiny condo someplace where the HOA is reasonable.
I'm in my 40s. I'm a lawyer. My wife is a lawyer. We both work full time.
We cannot afford the house my parents purchased on a single electrician's income in their 30s.
We cannot afford the house my immigrant grandparents purchased on a single MTA bus driver's salary in their 30s. They had SIX CHILDREN.
For 30 years, politicians in Washington & their oligarch allies convinced regular people that this was just about avocado toast and fancy coffee.
In reality, this is end-stage capitalism. Everyone is stuck in place. It's impossible to buy a home. It's too costly to move. We work too much to have passion projects. We don't have enough savings to start our own businesses. We can't afford to go without healthcare to do it.
Thanks for writing this article @troy_closson. Would be very happy to discuss further.
nytimes.com/2026/10/25/nyreg…
