An Ode to the Old

Welcome to my blog. If you found this, I am flattered.

Since this is my first post, I will now proceed to engage in stream-of-consciousness spitballing. Consider this blog a public journal. If you’d like something more filtered, close this tab and save yourself some time.

My thoughts are my own. IANAL. This is not financial advice. Etc.

Why you do dis

I wanted to make something from scratch that would not have a WordPress-template-kind-of-feel. It’s an ode to the ways of the old Internet, though I am not that old myself. I remember being fascinated with what one can do with basic HTML and CSS when I was nine years old, and I think it is time to get some of that curiosity back. These paragraphs are being written in the HTML file itself (tags and all) using a Vim plugin for VSCodium. I will probably automate some of this process, if blogposting becomes a new hobby of mine.

I think technology is fun when you get to tinker with it. Unfortunately, as technology becomes more widespread, it is made more accessible for less savvy users via layers of abstraction. These layers end up being so complex, that the average user only has the faintest clue of what is happening inside their device. This leads to more outsourcing of maintenance and more granular specializations among those who work in the field.

There’s a rule of thumb I’ve heard of that goes something like, if a thing has existed for X number of years, it will likely exist for X more years. Despite things like Rust and Go becoming more mainstream, I will bet that a large number of programs will be written in C 50 years from now. Concurrent (re-)inventions attempt to improve what they consider shortcomings of an already-existing, robust invention. Ultimately, they require another paradigm shift, or another iteration of Moore’s law to become sustainable. But the old? The old stays as efficient as it ever was.

Following every tech trend can get tiring, while there are so many computing fundamentals in the likes of UNIX and aforementioned C. Considering how amazingly efficient software used to be–given the hardware resources–modern software captures the same essence, and is able to perform the same general tasks, but requires relatively incredibe amounts of computing power.

The rational next step is to offload this heavy processing to corporate datacenters affectionately termed the Cloud™. Loss of abstract concepts like ownership or control does not concern a user in the least, as long as their device is able to do the same mundane tasks +/- some neat tricks, if they’re feeling adventurous. It is a most curious trend, in which the hardware of the average PC is insanely fast, yet we are transitioning to a cloud-first “personal” computing model.

It is what it is

No one is to blame here. This is a natural consequence of progress, tampered by physical limits and human desires. AI is a great example. The average user does not have a supercomputer on which to train an LLM, hence we outsource it to corporations with enough money to afford one. I think in the near future, PCs will be synonymous with thin clients.

What would it take for people to care about these abstract concepts? There is only so much time in a day to learn how technology works and too many other fundamental things we should all know more about.

My conclusion is, one becomes a leader in their own right when they develop solutions for their community. I believe in digital concepts like federation and decentralization, because it is quite literally the manifestation of “giving power back to the people”. FOSS developers and volunteers are usually not motivated by money, but by a sense of morality or belief in the idea. Just as prophets of the past, you have to enlighten those around you, so we are all a little better off.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.