[chucknthem]

I remember this. Wish I'd kept my little piece of history. Written at a time when people were still optimistic and hopeful about tech.

[jonas21]

Lots of people are still optimistic about tech. They just generally don't have time to get into silly arguments about it on HN.

[dowager_dan99]

You're right - but also very wrong. People can be optimistic while still having an existential crisis about what they see/feel is happening. That's what makes them believe they can influence and change the world, and why they even try.

What we're seeing in tech today feels like it started in the 80's, and before that point computers, etc. were viewed by some as the downfall of humankind and by others the saviour.

[pie420]

i'm sure there's lots of tech optimists in absolute numbers, but my personal experience in the bay area has been that a vast majority of my friends in tech and tech adjacent have become highly pessimistic of the current tech landscape, AI, VR, etc.

[aprilthird2021]

Eh, people back then were optimistic about tech AND had time to get into silly arguments about it on HN. So something's changed

[udev4096]

And yet, you are still here making silly arguments for not getting into silly arguments

[cflewis]

Yeah, the dreams of what computers could do around Windows 95, and what the Internet could do around Windows 98/Windows 2000... it felt amazing as a teenager who wanted to go into computer science. IMHO social media heralded the beginning of the end, although no-one knew that at the time.

A lot of the 90s nostalgia is just the same rose-tinted glasses as all generations experience, but I think in this one dimension it truly felt a lot better back then.

[alex1138]

I have a serious problem with calling everything social media and (more importantly) how it spells doom for this that and the other

If you want to criticize specific companies - yeah. But I literally do not understand what people are talking about when employing the usual "Social media was a mistake" type stuff

[gosub100]

FB has done a lot of great things. There just aren't any articles written about them.

[PaulHoule]

From the viewpoint of developer culture I think Facebook is better night and day than Google.

Google's culture is hire 15 geniuses from the Ivy League with 130+ IQ and make them fight with a 40 minute C++ build and a balky Kubernetes culture because "we only hire the best"; YouTube and the advertising system are a money printing machine, the team works for 3.5 years at something that get canceled at the last minute.

Facebook is much more oriented towards greasing the skids with the goal that a fresher developer would be able to push a change to a shared development system the first day on the job.

Look at React vs Flutter.

Like Microsoft, Google is thrashing around looking for "the next big thing", sometimes like a mindless beast. I've met person after person who told me that they went there because they believed they could make an impact and came to the conclusion within a year that they couldn't make any impact at all.

Facebook on the other hand is still run by the founder and it is pushing hard to develop a technology that he believes in even if the rest of us don't. It's a riskier strategy than Microsoft or Google who are likely to stumble on another multibillion dollar business despite themselves.

[dowager_dan99]

I agree, but you don't get to weigh everything out on a scale and be measured by the balance - even if you could. How would you compare say, GraphQL, with providing a mechanism for 24/7 cyber bullying, or sharing photos with grand parents? Which side of the ledger does React even go on?

[throwawayq3423]

The Cuban government provides great health care, while keeping everyone desperately poor. It's not one or the other.

[disgruntledphd2]

I still have mine, which is apparently unusual.

[sprice]

A surprising number of people are optimistic and hopeful about technology while not experiencing an existential crisis about it.

FWIW I’ve noticed with some confusion that over the past years HN has become more cynical and pessimistic towards tech.

[disgruntledphd2]

This has always been the case, particularly for Facebook. Even when they acquired Instagram, the vast majority of the comments were negative (the top comment called it well though).

I do think that HN has gone from indie entrepreneur/ real startups to Big Tech and then back again over the time I've been hanging out here.