Ask HN: If not a bicycle for the mind then what?
Software was supposed to be a bicycle for the mind. Instead we got something else, what is the best analogy for "the thing" software actually became?
Software was supposed to be a bicycle for the mind. Instead we got something else, what is the best analogy for "the thing" software actually became?
The best analogy? opium. The only "beneficiaries" are the makers.
So be a maker of great things.
Every one of us can make software the great tool for empowerment and creativity that it was meant to be.
To quote early Apple employee Guy Kawasaki: "Don't kvetch; Kick Butt"
As to what technology wants: Ask Kevin Kelley This is the earlier version of what he wrote:
https://kk.org/thetechnium/what-technology/
But in short (summarized with human intelligence)
Extrapolated, technology wants what life wants:
Increasing efficiency
Increasing opportunity
Increasing emergence
Increasing complexity
Increasing diversity
Increasing specialization
Increasing ubiquity
Increasing freedom
Increasing mutualism
Increasing beauty
Increasing sentience
Increasing structure
Increasing evolvability
Somewhere between tv and an infinite filing cabinet for bureaucracies; not to mention the holy grail of false productivity for the NYSE-conscious, an 'activity treadmill' for rosters of highly-credentialed people to seem concerned about.
There’s a documentary that should be released soon named “Message Not Understood” that covers the history of personal computing, with a heavy emphasis on Xerox PARC and its contributions, and how modern computing has become less about user empowerment these days. There is a publicly-available trailer, and I’ve seen a 30-minute preview (disclaimer: I was one of the Kickstarter donors).
https://messagenotunderstood.com/
There is no broad analogy for "software" because the concept is too general.
Obviously, there are plenty of examples of software being a "bicycle for the mind," and plenty not.
Make your own software, and find yourself not wanting.
A hamster wheel for the mind. A tricycle with training wheels for the mind.
Snake oil
Snake oil is high in omega-3 fatty acids so there is some benefit. It was just over-hyped by unscrupulous sales demons in that it doesn't cure baldness, liver disease, incontinence, erectile dysfunction, blindness, anxiety and surely does not attract the ladies even when mixed with horse urine. I wish I could somehow undo its bad reputation.
A lot of software now is just colorful bloatware wrappers around existing software. Old stuff, found new money. I still can't wrap my head around the concept of phone apps. as in why they even exist in the first place. I've heard all the reasons but my mind can not accept any of them.
> It was just over-hyped by unscrupulous sales demons in that it doesn't cure baldness, liver disease, incontinence, erectile dysfunction, blindness, anxiety and surely does not attract the ladies even when mixed with horse urine.
Just as LLMs have a useful niche but they are hyped as being able to cure baldness, liver disease, incontinence, erectile dysfunction, blindness, anxiety and surely and attract the ladies even when mixed with agentic tools.
In medicine, it's a rule of thumb that if a product claims to cure a wide variety of things that have no common pathogenesis, the claims are bunk.
In software, if a product claims to solve a variety of problems that have no common cause, those claims are bunk.
Snake oil salesmen were also not selling actual snake oil most of the time. I think the analogy works.
only snake oil?
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