These Used to be Serious People

Maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m jaded. Maybe I’m boring. Maybe I’m no fun anymore. Maybe <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKV7v2Oh71U" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">I’m getting too old for this shit</a>. Maybe I’m the old man with the lawn. But maybe I’m not. Admittedly, I haven’t been paying that close of attention — because, in general, I’ve been paying a lot less attention to Twitter itself recently — but the idea of a cage match between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk doesn’t strike me as fun or exciting or cute or clever. It strikes me as lame. Really fucking lame. Honestly, sad. <a href="https://500ish.com/arrogance-peaks-in-silicon-valley-b3020f542e5e" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">I wrote something just over five years ago</a> about Silicon Valley losing the plot which got some attention, and truly this is almost exactly how I extrapolated it all playing out. We’re barreling ever faster towards literal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Idiocracy</a>. And the powers that be — people with all the money and power in the world — are fueling it. And they don’t see it. They’ll say they do. That they’re in on the joke. That it’s all for the lols or whatever. But it’s fucking stupid. These people have given us some of the greatest products and technology the world has ever known. And now they’re wrestling. Literally wrestling. In some weird combination of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan_syndrome" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Peter Pan Syndrome</a> mixed with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge_of_the_Nerds" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Revenge of the Nerds</a>. Or something. It’s all just so stupid. And depressing. Here’s an idea: don’t wrestle. Go back to building stuff. Making cool shit. That’s the job. It may seem sort of boring now with all the money and attention of the world. But that’s what we, the people, actually want. And like and respect. Do that. That’s the North Star. But you can do both, you say! You can! You can also walk and crap your pants at the same time. You can do anything. Literally. Do something else. Use the time to do something great. Spend more time with your families. I don’t care if it’s for charity or whatever guise is put in place to justify this. Just donate some money directly to not fight. It would be more money anyway. We have MMA fighters. If we want to watch MMA, we can watch them. Those MMA fighters aren’t technologists, nor are they trying to play ones in the public eye. If you want to train and learn to fight in your own free time, by all means. But don’t drag us all into it. <a href="https://500ish.com/these-used-to-be-serious-people-fec426c5531c">Click Here</a>