learning a new DSL to install packages.

This is an understatement. It’s like a build system, package manager, and git repository were thrown in a blender. Those don’t need to be separate systems, but boy does it help pin down what’s going wrong.

Rant:

I noped right the fuck out after 60 minutes of trying to get nix to work as an isolated dev+build environment under Ubuntu. It probably works better under NixOS, but it’s documented for this use-case too. After things stopped lining up with the docs, I realized it was going to cost me more time than it it would save.

Thank you for posting this obligatory gem of a training video.

not to become a walking surveillance device / info mine.

This is really where everyone should nope the fuck out. Sadly, it probably won’t pan out like that.

Gibson was so incredibly close to prescient on this one. With this kind of tech, we’ll have actual “gargoyles”, but all the data makes a pit-stop at a corpo database where it can be mined for value, before it ships off to the CIA:

Gargoyles represent the embarrassing side of the Central Intelligence Corporation. Instead of using laptops, they wear their computers on their bodies, broken up into separate modules that hang on the waist, on the back, on the headset. They serve as human surveillance devices, recording everything that happens around them. Nothing looks stupider; there getups are the modern-day equivalent of the slide-rule scabbard or the calculater pouch on the belt, marking the user as belonging to a class that is at once above and far below human society. They are a boon to Hiro because they embody the worst stereotype of the CIC stringer. They draw all of the attention. The payoff for this self-imposed ostracism is that you can be in the Metaverse all the time, and gather intelligence all the time.

https://cyberartsweb.org/cpace/cyborg/kawstretch.html

Damn. Missed opportunity there. More sass and backchat between these two would have been amazing.

This is how you lose the worst friends and keep the best ones.

How easily I forget. IMO, TNG could have used a few more like this.

While not a 40k nerd by any stretch, what I’ve been exposed to absolutely tracks with this assessment. The writers behind it very clearly did some deep thought-exercises about the possible ramifications of such mind-boggling scale. Including what values might be normalized if you toss out the idea that mankind itself has such an inconceivably enormous headcount that extinction isn’t even a consideration, no matter what happens.

I kinda feel for Capt. Borg Fodder here.

To be completely fair, that’s a non-event. It’s hard to write an episode around “nothing happened.”

At the same time, it’s a missed opportunity for a “slice-of-life” episode - something the Japanese have down to a science at this point. These give a series breathing room, adds some worldbuilding, develops characters in a more personal way, and can be a ton of fun to watch. So, an episode where everyone screws around on shift, with PADDs just full of news about other ships saving the day would be great.

Honestly, now that I can see the “business productivity” through-line from COBOL, to BASIC, and most recently, Python, I should probably just learn COBOL.

What a fun explanation. I love this.

Cadet: Wait, there’s no laundry on the ship?

Ensign: Nope. We just wear a few uniforms in rotation then toss them all into the replicator when the new ones come out.

Thanks!

I was thinking the same thing. I feel kind of bad now.

Also: this is what it would look like if Linus wrote a CPM kernel instead.

I humbly submit myself for this poll.

There’s also diffusing responsibility across the organization. It’s easy to achieve unethical things, when the individual’s part of the job hardly seems “bad” at all.

And here’s Jonathan Cain with his Jupiter-8:

Video in case this is making your brain itch.

“DOPE” is probably the most succinct way to describe it. It’s a helluva good watch.

It really makes the holodeck seem WAY more amazing when you think about it. Just being able to build a cohesive environment that exists in euclidean space, from a vague vocal prompt, is an achievement.

Writing the tests first, or at least in tandem with your code, is the only way to fly. It’s like publishing a proof along with your code.

it sounds trite: make the tests fit the code. Yes, it’s a little more work to accomplish. The key here is that refactors of any scale become trivial to implement when you have unit-test coverage greater than 80%. This lets you extend your code with ease since that usually requires some refactor on some level.

Well, now it’s obvious why they cast Martin Quinn as Scotty in SNW.