I once worked at a company that sold industry-specific core-business software to deep-pocketed corps who couldn’t / wouldn’t / shouldn’t roll their own.
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Martin Vermeer FCDreplied to Paul Cantrell last edited by
@inthehands I once half in jest claimed that the real reason proprietary software companies don't disclose their source code is not because it is a 'valuable business secret' but because they are ashamed of it. The code quality, I mean. Those rare opportunities I have had to look at source have not changed my mind...
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Paul Cantrellreplied to Martin Vermeer FCD last edited by
@martinvermeer
Yes, and not just ashamed of the quality; in many causes it would expose the product as being an empty promise, maybe even expose outright negligence or fraud. -
Because I’ve apparently driven some people to despair with this thread, some rays of hope:
First, note that point of my very first example is that the product was •not• a hoax. It really did make things better for real people. Sometimes it can be hard for perfectionists like myself to accept that better is •better•. Sometimes we do actually build things that matter, even if they kind of stink relative to some nonexistent Platonic ideal. Take the win, Paul!
Ah, but the rest of the thread…
A/1
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As many point out, there are systemic forces at play that create these situations where “fake and dangerous” is acceptable to a business, even if it harms actual humans. It’s not just that there are awful people; it’s that our system creates the awful people it needs.
Leaving aside grandiose utopian theories, a few concrete things that could help:
1. Giving antitrust real teeth
2. Repeat 1 for emphasis
3. Making industry less investor-driven
4. …which means reducing wealth inequalityA/2
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@inthehands spectacular thread. no notes.
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Expanding on 3 & 4 a bit: Right now, there’s a huge mass of concentrated wealth whose owners aren’t going to spend it, so they want to invest it. And they want returns. They want more returns than actually are out there to be found. So industry needs to •invent• those returns.
That means a company that will never and can never ever deliver anything of true value can still make it if in convinces investors it might grow.
“Does it matter if it’s wrong?” Not if it's convincing to investors!
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Paul Cantrellreplied to Paul Cantrell last edited by [email protected]
Much the same thing created the 2008 mortgage crisis. Wealth needs a place to roost → mortgages look safe → more demand for mortgage investments than there are mortgages → people find ways to invent mortgages that shouldn’t exist, to attract investment.
Then: mortgages. Now: AI.
It’s not just a hype bubble; it’s an “oversupply of investment dollars” bubble. Is there a word for that? I am not an economist.
@Npars01 replied with more on this here: https://mstdn.social/@Npars01/113604472161286632
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Weirdly, the old consumer-driven version of capitalism, where profit came from sales, now looks lovely compared to the current investor-driven version where profit comes from wooing the ultra-wealthy.
Sorry, Marxists in the replies, I am not optimistic about the inevitable market swing bringing about revolution and glorious utopia. It didn’t in 2008, and it won’t now either. But I do believe the pendulum will swing back, at least.
And we do have greater than zero power to help it swing.
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OK, I promised you optimism:
The world, including the business world, is •full• of good people doing good things. Yes, there are actually businesses that do manage to do good sometimes…but that's not where I’m going with this.
Even in the most useless, soul-sucking, useless, everything-is-fake business environment, there are people solving fun problems, forming collegial relationships, being kind to each other, finding joy in the mundane. And •that• is life’s real work.
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Yes, a whole lot of business activity is fake. It’s playing with sand castles and pretending that princesses are going to live in them. But hell, at least it’s people playing!
If like me it’s hard for you to keep the MBA goggles on, and you keep asking “What about real good for real people?!,” well, all the sand castles come and go, profits come and go, and the lives lived along the way matter more than any of it.
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Paul Cantrellreplied to Paul Cantrell last edited by [email protected]
I don’t want to downplay the harm our systems do. The world is •full• of preventable harm. It’s enraging, and it’s heartbreaking.
All I’m saying is this: don’t neglect the importance of the humans living their lives in the middle of all the corporate nonsense. I’m concerned about the quality of the product, but in the end, I’m a lot more concerned about the lives of the people building and using it. And the product isn’t the most important thing in any of their lives.
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Even in the fakest and most ridiculous places I’ve worked, including the ones upthread, I’ve seen people being beautiful, exemplary frigging human beings, caring for each other, living good lives that are bigger and better and so much more important than the boulder we’re rolling up the hill just to see it roll down.
•That• is the most important thing in the world. I’d like less waste along the way. I’d sure like less harm. But I recognize that we are very, very far from hopeless.
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@inthehands *insert Southpark meme here*
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@Mela
For all the problems I have with that show, which are many, it really did capture this specific kind of cynicism very well. -
finger to the moon, man
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@inthehands oh Paul I felt so so so much empathy reading this. Because everyone who is an evidence bringer and data questioner ends up having this shocking moment at some point. When we realize that it is *what we are good at doing* and *what is good to do* that has made people who *asked us to do that thing* turn on us....how I recognize it
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CatSalad🐈🥗 (D.Burch) :blobcatrainbow:replied to Paul Cantrell last edited by
@inthehands Nailed it, right there
[Gen AI] leads people on wild goose chases •far• more efficiently than the humans.
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@grimalkina
What a kind and humane reply, Cat. Of course it would be you who infers the author’s emotional and psychological experience from their writing, who spots the human in the situation. I appreciate you so much for it. -
One of the alternative "investments" being made is public corruption in broad daylight.
Using campaign finance & Citizens United, #KochNetwork #RockbridgeNetwork , #AtlasNetwork converted constitutional democracy into kleptocracy.
Elon Musk bought a president for a quarter billion bucks. A bargain. He now gets to enrich himself on the taxpayers dime now.
https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/elon-musk-trump-donations-2024-election-rcna183231The Supreme Court has legalized bribery of elected officials, and relabeled it as "a gratuity".
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@inthehands David Graber's "BS jobs" should be a high school textbook. Late Stage Capitalism is a religion, and his 2013 artivle was 95 theses nailed to its door.
Especially when you ponder the "real" jobs done entirely in support of BS: top floor of management consultants bringing in money, supported by IT, HR, accounts receivable, payroll, janitors, cafeteria staff, and their managers... And all the jobs with 2 hours of real work a week and 38 looking busy.
