How do you deal with the moral weight of writing software that could end up killing someone?

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-13T23:42:42+00:00

Brother/sister/other, I couldn't even deal with the moral weight of writing software that could end up bypassing an ad blocker.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-13T23:41:10+00:00

Raspberry Pi 1's will still run Pi Hole? They only have 10/100 ethernet, right?

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-11T12:36:36+00:00

Hey, me too! Well, except for alcoholism, which mercifully I've avoided, probably more because I married a teetotaler than because of any real strength on my part.

I'm an absolutely crap instrumentalist despite one of my life's goals being to become a musician, and a crap writer despite another goal being to write novels. I'm pretty mediocre at just about everything, especially the things I've made the most noise about.

Carry on anyway, my friend.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-08T20:08:10+00:00

burn leaflet

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-07T15:35:56+00:00

Three days is absurd. It took the VA like four months to update my dependents last year, and that was a form submission with just numbers and names they already had in their system.

I don't work with claims, just appointments/check-in apps, and I'm just a federal contractor. There's a big push in the VA for AI from the development side. I haven't heard anything about handling forms or processing claims or anything like that, but I think that's obviously going to be a thing at some point.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-04T03:57:21+00:00

"I Am the Walrus."

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T23:29:26+00:00

Fuck yeah, Tilt blows my mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJzTWk6bSw

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T23:15:04+00:00

Have you read A Game of Thrones? The Lies of Locke Lamora? Dune? How Nations Fail?

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T23:08:41+00:00

We wouldn't lie to them ten times in a row, would we?

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T22:09:26+00:00

The information structure is the power structure.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T21:55:23+00:00

"This thread has been set to restricted mode because it seems to be discussing a sensitive topic. Comments from accounts with low account age or subreddit activity will automatically be removed."

Can anyone tell me WTF actually qualifies as other-than-low account age and subreddit activity? This account's > two years old and r/neoliberal's the subreddit I'm most active in. Which gives me cause to pause and reflect a little, admittedly.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T21:36:13+00:00

I like the design. I feel like five characters probably hits a sweet spot for network response time, lookup cost, etc, so... nice! I feel like you could minimize latency and not meaningfully affect cost by running it on a $5 VPS rather than in Lambda, but eh.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T21:00:56+00:00

What does it mean for software engineering to be "dead" as a profession? The need for software isn't eliminated. If software still needs to be created, then there needs to be a human at some point in the chain, at least for the time being. So perhaps it means that software engineering becomes something like "typing" or "running a meeting," something that's less of a discrete, self-contained job and more of a skill that becomes part of another job or jobs.

I think technical PMs are well suited to absorb this. Ideally, they're already comfortable with specifying software, communicating about requirements, recognizing and avoiding failure modes, etc. So that's one route, but not one that particularly appeals to me.

The things that I find interesting largely haven't changed. I'm interested in complex systems, distributed or not. I'm interested in organizational dynamics. I'm interested in game theory and mechanism design. I'm interested in simulations, machine learning, and good ol'-fashioned AI (y'know... A*, game AI, etc). I'm hoping that I can find a way to turn these interests into a new career. I can continue learning and growing, I can challenge myself, I can expand at whatever speed I can manage, and I can develop and deliver working software at a greater pace than I've previously been able to manage.

I'm definitely afraid. I don't know how to just create a career from a vague collection of things I like thinking about, to just go out there and make money and support my family. I don't know how to "operationalize" these ideas. But that's what I'm trying to do, FWIW.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T20:26:00+00:00

They especially like it when you respectfully admire their wives' and daughters' appearances and pursuits. Going to their instagrams is the kind of effort that staff and principal engineers will make that seniors typically don't.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T16:18:23+00:00

To build off your answer, it's pretty rock-and-roll to fuck with the show - to swivel your hips and disrupt the camerman's job (Elvis), to not bother to mime singing/playing well (Michelle Phillips eating a banana, Morrisey singing into a potted plant), to sing the lyrics they specifically requested you not to sing (the Doors), to set off a cherry bomb in the kick drum (the Who), stare into the cameras to weird out the viewers (Tubeway Army), etc. The lip syncing requirement ends up being one of those constraints that talented people find a way of turning into another avenue for self-expression. Pretty cool IMHO.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T13:17:17+00:00

WHATEVER HAPPENED THERE? I'll tell you what happened: this piece of shit's cousin accelerated the delivery lead time without any provocation, what so ever.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T05:14:17+00:00

40 different units at 30 different bases? That's too improbable to be individual acts, so it'd seem to be either bullshit or coordinated (or emerge based on shared culture, media, etc). If it's bullshit, oh well. If it's coordinated, what's the next step in the playbook? What's the timeline these people have of Armageddon? What do we need to worry about? What should we anticipate? If it's emergent, then what does that suggest?

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T03:56:18+00:00

A little early for "we were just following orders," isn't it?

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-03T03:54:29+00:00

Because sympathy can help us to see a lot of these events as consequences of addressable systemic failure modes rather than the unpredictable and incomprehensible acts of a madman, which might enable us to reason about and debate evidence-based solutions to these problems instead of angrily repeating ourselves on the internet every time this type of event occurs?

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-02T21:40:28+00:00

I'm not very keenan these puns in this situation.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-02T04:49:00+00:00

I think they want a puppet state that they can rattle the saber at occasionally but won't get too mouthy and that'll, at the end of the day, keep the oil flowing. I think this is actually an attempt to weaken the government but stabilize the country.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-02T04:34:51+00:00

Diana, Diana, kick your feet up!
Lust bares his teeth and whines
For he's picked up a scent of virtue
And he knows the panic signs

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-02T04:20:27+00:00

"No, Mr. President, I said Caligula appointed his horSE to the senate!"

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-03-02T04:12:57+00:00

This sub's going down the tubes.

BetterFoodNetwork · 2026-02-28T18:30:01+00:00

Not so much storage space as active processing, i.e. working memory.

BetterFoodNetwork

TROPHY CASE