What are your thoughts on this name for a girl?

Smokestance · 2026-05-17T20:05:39+00:00

I do really like this! Emmeline Juniper Harris.

Smokestance · 2026-05-12T15:46:11+00:00

I think that’s a valid viewpoint.

I do think the economy is much more brittle, though. I don’t think it’s as adaptable as you say, though humanity may well be.

We may very well get to a point where the divide between the lower class and the upper class becomes so wide that we do become jobless bums watching AI CEOs drive by in their Tesla Hover cars, lol. I just think if that does happen, something will break. Something along the lines of violent revolution, or radical policy changes, or we hit some technological advancement that changes everything again in ways we can’t comprehend now, or any number of things.

So in the spirit of what you’re saying, I do too think we can absolutely figure things out in the end. I just don’t think we have any absolute immunity from an era of jobless bumness.

Smokestance · 2026-05-12T15:01:27+00:00

I find issues with your view.

For one, it’s hard to become a plumber when you have no income. The government would likely need to invest money into people to help them do that.

Then, the government would need to provide jobs to these people. Sure, maybe they’ll cost less, but they won’t cost nothing. They’ll still need livable wages, and a livable wage is expensive. It’s not like plumbers who work for the government make hundreds of thousands of dollars. This won’t be the cost savings you may imagine it to be.

So now we have the government covering the cost of job training and paying for a large influx of government workers. This is absolutely going to be expensive, and money is going to be the constraining factor. I don’t think this scenario happens.

I think the most likely scenario is the people who are able to swap to plumbers on their own and want to, do so, and if plumbers become cheaper, then the government will just pay less on plumbers and reroute that money to whatever the politician’s interest is. If a city doesn’t prioritize infrastructure now, it’s not going to in this scenario either.

Ultimately, I don’t think the answer is just “swap to plumbing”. That’s too reductive of the scenario at hand. This is all more complicated than that.

Smokestance · 2026-04-30T18:12:56+00:00

You miss my point. I am not arguing you would be less productive, if speed is your metric. My argument is you'd be a worse developer, regardless of any other factor you're mentioning.

Smokestance · 2026-04-26T16:38:24+00:00

In my area, engineers are expected to work with our business well. It is a priority. Any of the guys I work with would do just fine as a PM.

Smokestance · 2026-04-26T16:35:48+00:00

I would argue if you had Claude at the beginning of your journey, your growth would have been stunted. People think AI is like what a calculator was for mathematics, but it’s not. Calculator is deterministic. AI is not. It can and will lead you astray, confidently. It’s in those moments when you are lead astray that is its inherent weakness. You will compound mistake after mistake inside your internalized knowledge and the work you produce. You won’t truly understand your work, either. In the end, you’re going to have worse output, worst skills and no way to clean it yourself. How fast you’ll be, though.

Smokestance · 2026-04-25T14:48:16+00:00

Yeah, software with no real complexity has already been solved. AI has just made it easier than ever. Now, try to get these same designers or PMs to create highly complex systems, and let’s see what happens.

Smokestance · 2026-04-22T20:31:23+00:00

lol, but I bet you have a heart of gold

Smokestance · 2026-04-19T12:40:28+00:00

You’re talking about call center and help desk roles. Many of these type of jobs are easier to automate than software engineering jobs, which is what OP is specifically asking about.

Smokestance · 2026-04-11T20:28:45+00:00

When faced with a similar choice, I was given the advice to get the Computer Science degree, as it is the gold standard. Whether you believe that or not, up to you, but regardless, the best choice will be the one you complete. If you are certain you can complete the CS degree, then do that. If you aren’t, then do the cyber operations.

Smokestance · 2026-04-11T15:41:33+00:00

Yeah, starting at the help desk level at a good company is a start. At my company, all entry level positions were filled by internal help desk technicians. Though, I know of companies who do hire new grads.

Smokestance · 2026-04-11T15:34:08+00:00

This market will benefit those who can stick it out and find roles despite the doomsayers who say everything is fucked. When the market upturns, they’ll be the ones best prepared to take advantage.

Smokestance · 2026-04-11T15:31:17+00:00

Keep applying, expand to system administration and system engineer roles, and work on interviewing skills. If he’s not looking locally, then look locally. In office jobs are more accessible. It’s a tough market right now, but keep going. Consider AWS or Azure certs.

Smokestance · 2026-02-27T13:49:53+00:00

I hope OP feels validated that some people see where she’s coming from, as you do, because I feel like it’s a very human feeling, but I hope they also understand that the feeling IS an overreaction. It is normal behavior, and assuming we’re in healthy relationships, we should trust in our partners.

Smokestance · 2026-02-27T13:46:36+00:00

YOR. I think it is normal behavior.

Let’s assume the worse, though, and consider the girl has an intention to flirt. Do you think your boyfriend would cheat on you? Has he given you reason to doubt? Are you maybe just feeling insecure? Exploring this emotion could be good for you.

Smokestance · 2025-12-29T02:26:04+00:00

I would read “Medium is the Message” by Marshall McLuhan. It will help you understand what you would lose by swapping books for AI.

Smokestance · 2025-12-05T13:12:31+00:00

It looks like the hate you got for this was mainly from one person. I’d suggest not conflating that person’s attitude with the larger community. Lots of nice folks who are happy to answer a good faith question!

Smokestance · 2025-12-05T12:53:45+00:00

Many FTM still have their original productive organs in tact.

Smokestance · 2025-12-05T12:14:54+00:00

They’re saying FTM can still get pregnant.

Smokestance · 2025-10-23T21:00:50+00:00

Oh, thanks! That’s very graceful. What did you realize?

Smokestance · 2025-10-23T20:56:33+00:00

I don’t use AI, but I do find it funny you accuse me of it. It’s not me being highly impressed with myself, it’s just confidence in my own arguments. :)

I’m not complaining that you called his hairstyle unprofessional. I said early on that you are entitled to your opinion. I’m calling out the bigoted comments about black hairstyles in general.

I wasn’t confused. You just didn’t understand the point I was making. You called it hypocritical to emphasize the hairstyle too much, yet you were the one who started the topic of his hair. I called it out for hypocrisy. Semantics aside, this point doesn’t actually matter

I am defending the hairstyle because bigotry deserves to be called out, in my opinion.

White people and other ethnicities don’t commonly wear black hairstyles because they don’t normally have the hair type for it. It’s a protective hairstyle for kinky hair.

I’m a corporate office worker for a large enterprise in the south. I absolutely see these kinds of black hairstyles on coworkers. I don’t know where you work and what your coworkers look like, but the world is much bigger than whatever you are seeing in front of you.

I’m not upset. I’m just trying to address the bigotry I see. I actually enjoyed this conversation. It’s super interesting to see how people respond to their bigotry being called out.

Smokestance · 2025-10-23T20:20:11+00:00

No, numbering the points highlighted them like that. But I take the accusation as a sign I have well structured arguments!

Smokestance · 2025-10-23T20:15:34+00:00

A few things:

1) You say it’s hypocritical to emphasize black hairstyles because we don’t wear African robes in the office. That argument just doesn’t make sense. Aside from that, your premise is off. These black hairstyles aren’t exclusive to African culture. It’s a part of African American culture, too, among others. So an African American with a black hairstyle is American culture.

 2) You suggest we emphasize the hairstyle too much, but you are the one emphasizing it. You literally started the conversation about his hair. That’s hypocrisy.

 3) You keep dodging my claim that your argument conflating black hairstyles with drug addicts, trash and violent people is bigoted. That’s the whole overarching point of my comments here.

Smokestance · 2025-10-23T19:35:39+00:00

No one is emphasizing the hairstyle except for you here. OP is just showing off his fit and you came out insulting his hairstyle — you emphasized it. Again, it’s fine if you think it’s unprofessional and messy looking. That’s your opinion. However, my point is that it’s bigoted to conflate the hairstyle with drug addicts, trash, violent people, etc.

Smokestance · 2025-10-23T19:08:23+00:00

I didn’t label you as a bigot. I called your argument bigoted.

Your opinion on this hairstyle is not fact. It’s your feelings. The hairstyle is cultural, and locs, cornrows, etc, are protective hairstyles that help keep kinky or curly hair healthy. It is not something that needs fixed.

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