- Joined
- Mar 11, 2025
This is not another one of those threads rehashing folksy maxims like "They don't make 'em like they used to" or "If it ain't broke...".
This is a serious wake-up call about an industry that has lost its cultural cachet.
Tech used to be the industry of the rebels during the 90s and especially the 2000s. It was one of the few white-collar industries where you could dress like a blue-collar worker or even just in jeans and a T-shirt – literally just wear something and maybe don't stink. It was one of the most rapidly-evolving industries out there – while development in cars and home appliances was mostly stagnant with the occasional gimmick here and there, SV and Redmond were churning out so many new ways to do things in a short period of time. It was one of the few industries where it seems like autistic people could thrive – they were often the ones who enjoyed their jobs so much that they would work on "pet projects" on the side. Imagine if civil engineering positions were full of people who poured concrete or drafted on their spare time! Such an industry was surely an anomaly – and it also attracted a kind of rebellion too.
Consider that big tech has unabashedly flouted IP law various times, and were admired by the public for it. Consider that it was Big Tech that put CD-ROM drives in computers to rip disks and get around compulsory SCMS in dedicated equipment. Consider that Big Tech companies helped to strike down SOPA and PIPA, something that I think a lot of the anti-AI crowd would support in addition to a complete ban on automation in the arts. Consider that Big Tech used to release devices that you didn't *have* to connect to the Internet, so you could use them for your own nefarious purposes...
I often feel like all of the above represents a very anomalous time in history, and I highly doubt that time will come again.
The tech industry benefited from a reactionary attitude against 1980s puritanism and conservatism in "brand new" clothes, low tariffs with China, and a culture of people repurposing their International Business Machines for playing games or making beep boop music.
Now, I think Gen Z culture is moving back towards a "gradual" approach to life, where many people don't want a computer in their pocket, a high-powered desktop rig, or a lifestyle significantly different from their grandparents'. They want stricter copyright protection, perhaps a ban on cultural appropriation. They want machines that will correct your unsavory behavior. They don't want to know how things work or be able to see that their computer stopped working because of a divide by zero error – they are content with knowing that "something went wrong." And many of them think tech itself is problematic – I've seen more concerns about screens and eyeballs (including the arguably pseudoscientific research on blue light), tech products being made from Congolese minerals, Apple's logo being a conspiracy to get people to think their products are natural, and concerns about how engaging with this technology is just plain unhealthy no matter how you slice that apple.
Many even wonder if one day, heavy digital technology use will be thought of as similar to cigarettes. I doubt that many will actually switch to flip phones or swear off owning a computer because some TikToker who shares their gender and generation told them so, but there seems to be less... demand for tech products. Many just view them as boring, or merely a necessity you need because your work forces you to have a phone number and machine to type and browse on. A cell phone is like a mattress, and a computer like a vacuum.
I sometimes wonder if the current time, when amateurs can play around with massive ML and see all the profanity/pornography they want on KiwiFarms, will go down in history negatively. I wonder if people will view this time similarly to the early days of the automobile.
This is a serious wake-up call about an industry that has lost its cultural cachet.
Tech used to be the industry of the rebels during the 90s and especially the 2000s. It was one of the few white-collar industries where you could dress like a blue-collar worker or even just in jeans and a T-shirt – literally just wear something and maybe don't stink. It was one of the most rapidly-evolving industries out there – while development in cars and home appliances was mostly stagnant with the occasional gimmick here and there, SV and Redmond were churning out so many new ways to do things in a short period of time. It was one of the few industries where it seems like autistic people could thrive – they were often the ones who enjoyed their jobs so much that they would work on "pet projects" on the side. Imagine if civil engineering positions were full of people who poured concrete or drafted on their spare time! Such an industry was surely an anomaly – and it also attracted a kind of rebellion too.
Consider that big tech has unabashedly flouted IP law various times, and were admired by the public for it. Consider that it was Big Tech that put CD-ROM drives in computers to rip disks and get around compulsory SCMS in dedicated equipment. Consider that Big Tech companies helped to strike down SOPA and PIPA, something that I think a lot of the anti-AI crowd would support in addition to a complete ban on automation in the arts. Consider that Big Tech used to release devices that you didn't *have* to connect to the Internet, so you could use them for your own nefarious purposes...
I often feel like all of the above represents a very anomalous time in history, and I highly doubt that time will come again.
The tech industry benefited from a reactionary attitude against 1980s puritanism and conservatism in "brand new" clothes, low tariffs with China, and a culture of people repurposing their International Business Machines for playing games or making beep boop music.
Now, I think Gen Z culture is moving back towards a "gradual" approach to life, where many people don't want a computer in their pocket, a high-powered desktop rig, or a lifestyle significantly different from their grandparents'. They want stricter copyright protection, perhaps a ban on cultural appropriation. They want machines that will correct your unsavory behavior. They don't want to know how things work or be able to see that their computer stopped working because of a divide by zero error – they are content with knowing that "something went wrong." And many of them think tech itself is problematic – I've seen more concerns about screens and eyeballs (including the arguably pseudoscientific research on blue light), tech products being made from Congolese minerals, Apple's logo being a conspiracy to get people to think their products are natural, and concerns about how engaging with this technology is just plain unhealthy no matter how you slice that apple.
Many even wonder if one day, heavy digital technology use will be thought of as similar to cigarettes. I doubt that many will actually switch to flip phones or swear off owning a computer because some TikToker who shares their gender and generation told them so, but there seems to be less... demand for tech products. Many just view them as boring, or merely a necessity you need because your work forces you to have a phone number and machine to type and browse on. A cell phone is like a mattress, and a computer like a vacuum.
I sometimes wonder if the current time, when amateurs can play around with massive ML and see all the profanity/pornography they want on KiwiFarms, will go down in history negatively. I wonder if people will view this time similarly to the early days of the automobile.
- There was no such thing as a driver's license in the early days of cars, and states would hand them out to pretty much anyone of any age who could reach the pedals afterwards. People would say "WHOA" instead of braking because they thought they were in a horse-drawn carriage.
- DUIs weren't a thing until 1910 in New York, and until the 1980s, most states were very lenient with both giving them out and taking away privileges for them. It was a minor crime, like speeding.
- There were no crosswalks and speed limits were inconsistently enforce in many areas.
- There was very little standardization for the controls of a given vehicle. A Ford Model T had more in common with a lawnmower of today.
- Cars would pollute, pollute, pollute that low-quality gasoline with lead.
- Cars were durable, but not people. No crumple zones.
- The government did not give a fuck about highways. Many were built and maintained by "auto clubs" that eventually turned into AAA.
- There's very little regulation for being a software developer or electronics engineer. No PE or registration needed in the US for computer engineers, as long as you don't mind not calling yourself an engineer in some states, and no one regulates programmers. Amateurs can solder away, or program their own ML algorithms.
- For every person given a rigorous punishment for copyright infringement/piracy/illegal emulation, there's thousands of others who openly brag about it in their "Intro to electronic circuitry" class.
- There's no limit on how much electricity a home PC build uses as long as you can pay the 40c/hr for a 1000W machine, and no limit to how fast a home computer can be. Unlike radio, we never really tried to keep swear words off the goddamned bitchin' internet.
- There's very little standardization in the computer industry over time or between standards. MacOS and Windows are radically different – Java and Python more so, and the way Google employees write their Python is also radically different from the Python in Redmond. Conversely, other fields have opted for as few standards as possible – consider sheet music or pretty much any form of mathematical symbolism you learn in a K-12 math class.
- Computers are inefficient and made with blood minerals. They are basically sold at a loss with cheap Chinese labor and the benefit of an unclear supply chain.
- Companies care more about their products being made of aluminum and using durable SSDs instead of caring about the connectomes of young women irreversibly scarred by social media.
- Cable companies, cellular companies, and satellite companies are fucking cartels.
