Part of the problem, I'm afraid, is that most of the technological frontier has been settled. It appears that most problems that could be solved by an individual programmer, even one of exceptional talent and quixotic motivation, are solved: We have open-source operating systems and office suites, a free encyclopedia, a free map of the world (I think OSM might be an even better community success story than the Wikipedia), software like TeX, Gimp and Audacity... All that remains are things that are inherently social, of questionable value, or too large-scale to be addressed by "mere" enthusiasts. (Decentralizing email again would be a great quest, but the challenges seem to be less on the technical front. AI at the current level rewards bigness in a way that nothing in programming has since the 1970s. Cryptocurrencies seems to have failed on both technical and social levels. And the coming crypto wars will need good political skill just as much as they will need 10x programmers.)
I am more optimistic about beating back the progressive blob than I am about getting the hacker boom of the 90s back.
i'd kickstart that coffee book :)
fwiw i have enjoyed your more frequent emails as of late! but good luck over the summer and see you on the other side 💪🏼!
Does the article not contain any images of the office?
Part of the problem, I'm afraid, is that most of the technological frontier has been settled. It appears that most problems that could be solved by an individual programmer, even one of exceptional talent and quixotic motivation, are solved: We have open-source operating systems and office suites, a free encyclopedia, a free map of the world (I think OSM might be an even better community success story than the Wikipedia), software like TeX, Gimp and Audacity... All that remains are things that are inherently social, of questionable value, or too large-scale to be addressed by "mere" enthusiasts. (Decentralizing email again would be a great quest, but the challenges seem to be less on the technical front. AI at the current level rewards bigness in a way that nothing in programming has since the 1970s. Cryptocurrencies seems to have failed on both technical and social levels. And the coming crypto wars will need good political skill just as much as they will need 10x programmers.)
I am more optimistic about beating back the progressive blob than I am about getting the hacker boom of the 90s back.