Chris Hanson
@eschaton.bsky.social
I used to get paid work on software for people to write software. Since retiring I still kind of do, as open source. I’m also setting up a Museum of Technical and Advanced Computing http://motaac.org/ in downtown San José, CA.
Proudly antifa.
Proudly antifa.
Reposted by Chris Hanson
And by the way, training your monster on data produced in part by my own hands, without attribution or compensation.
To the others: I apologize to the world at large for my inadvertent, naive if minor role in enabling this assault.
To the others: I apologize to the world at large for my inadvertent, naive if minor role in enabling this assault.
December 25, 2025 at 11:29 PM
And by the way, training your monster on data produced in part by my own hands, without attribution or compensation.
To the others: I apologize to the world at large for my inadvertent, naive if minor role in enabling this assault.
To the others: I apologize to the world at large for my inadvertent, naive if minor role in enabling this assault.
Reposted by Chris Hanson
My husband pointed out that that’s not even Black Mirror, it was a Max Headroom episode.
November 14, 2025 at 5:29 AM
My husband pointed out that that’s not even Black Mirror, it was a Max Headroom episode.
Its accreditation should be considered meaningless and any degrees it’s issued should be treated like they came from a degree mill unless someone can show good subsequent follow-on work at an actually reputable institution.
November 16, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Its accreditation should be considered meaningless and any degrees it’s issued should be treated like they came from a degree mill unless someone can show good subsequent follow-on work at an actually reputable institution.
He was a great designer when someone else defined the product and provided a set of constraints and could say no to him and argue with him, but not when given a blank sheet of paper on which to design a product and given final authority.
November 16, 2025 at 5:45 AM
He was a great designer when someone else defined the product and provided a set of constraints and could say no to him and argue with him, but not when given a blank sheet of paper on which to design a product and given final authority.
Much of the terribleness of Apple Park can be laid at the feet of Jonathan “Jony with One N, Please” Ive, just like getting rid of ports that Pro laptops needed and demanding a Mac Pro design that was so thermally constrained it could only last a single generation. Form over function.
November 16, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Much of the terribleness of Apple Park can be laid at the feet of Jonathan “Jony with One N, Please” Ive, just like getting rid of ports that Pro laptops needed and demanding a Mac Pro design that was so thermally constrained it could only last a single generation. Form over function.
No shelves ALLOWED. Gotta preserve the look!
November 16, 2025 at 5:10 AM
No shelves ALLOWED. Gotta preserve the look!
Yeah, that kind of garbage is part of why Apple Park is an abomination. It’s not just a matter of “they didn’t have bookshelves.” They weren’t ALLOWED to have bookshelves by the Architecture Police.
November 16, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Yeah, that kind of garbage is part of why Apple Park is an abomination. It’s not just a matter of “they didn’t have bookshelves.” They weren’t ALLOWED to have bookshelves by the Architecture Police.
At least on mailing lists and newsgroups, people would get pushback when they’d say “I don’t want all the background, I don’t want to be told don’t do that, just answer the question I asked.” (Example: The non-Mac game devs who would show up asking how to take over the event loop from Cocoa. Ugh.)
November 16, 2025 at 5:07 AM
At least on mailing lists and newsgroups, people would get pushback when they’d say “I don’t want all the background, I don’t want to be told don’t do that, just answer the question I asked.” (Example: The non-Mac game devs who would show up asking how to take over the event loop from Cocoa. Ugh.)
It also actively devalued expertise: I literally had a situation where I said “I am in a position to state this authoritatively: the accepted answer is incorrect, my answer is correct, I was part of the team that designed this” and the response was “No, the community decides what’s correct.”
November 16, 2025 at 5:05 AM
It also actively devalued expertise: I literally had a situation where I said “I am in a position to state this authoritatively: the accepted answer is incorrect, my answer is correct, I was part of the team that designed this” and the response was “No, the community decides what’s correct.”
Reposted by Chris Hanson
stack overflow considered harmful.
caravelle here makes an excellent point: stack overflow’s rules halted the spread of craft.
if you can’t write 2 paragraphs of background before your answer, you can’t spread actual knowledge, understanding, or cultural history.
caravelle here makes an excellent point: stack overflow’s rules halted the spread of craft.
if you can’t write 2 paragraphs of background before your answer, you can’t spread actual knowledge, understanding, or cultural history.
Now this is a very interesting observation I think on what Stackoverflow wants to be vs what it could have been. The "we're only a knowledge repository, social interactions must be minimized" approach actively prevents such intellectual traditions from forming!
yeahhh
and stack overflow is like… service. you ask a question and you get given answers. you are being served. there’s no intellectual tradition in a service model
and stack overflow is like… service. you ask a question and you get given answers. you are being served. there’s no intellectual tradition in a service model
July 22, 2025 at 7:13 PM
stack overflow considered harmful.
caravelle here makes an excellent point: stack overflow’s rules halted the spread of craft.
if you can’t write 2 paragraphs of background before your answer, you can’t spread actual knowledge, understanding, or cultural history.
caravelle here makes an excellent point: stack overflow’s rules halted the spread of craft.
if you can’t write 2 paragraphs of background before your answer, you can’t spread actual knowledge, understanding, or cultural history.
They absolutely do when it’s not the ones they want to win. See all their behavior since Obama usurped “her turn” in 2008.
November 5, 2025 at 7:55 AM
They absolutely do when it’s not the ones they want to win. See all their behavior since Obama usurped “her turn” in 2008.
Reposted by Chris Hanson
This is how it looked on the ballot.
Clear and easy to understand.
Clear and easy to understand.
November 5, 2025 at 4:10 AM
This is how it looked on the ballot.
Clear and easy to understand.
Clear and easy to understand.
Sorry; I was trying (poorly) to say that I think the urgency of the drive to prevent Sanders getting the nomination was entirely independent of COVID. Especially since they’d done it already in 2016, and had also made major changes since Obama’s “usurpation” of Clinton’s “turn” in 2008.
November 5, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Sorry; I was trying (poorly) to say that I think the urgency of the drive to prevent Sanders getting the nomination was entirely independent of COVID. Especially since they’d done it already in 2016, and had also made major changes since Obama’s “usurpation” of Clinton’s “turn” in 2008.