(Only half-/s)

There’s also convenience at the returning side. You can always just return the error, and not have to care about dummy values for the other return values (which is especially annoying when changing the returned types).

That said, it might still not be worth the added complexity.

The err != nil quickly turns into metrics, logs, fallback strategies, retry mechanisms, flight recording, rate limiting, updating caches, so on.

Anyone who’s trying to shorten this hasn’t maintained any actual real software.

And further, see how much effort companies spend on trying to prevent people from putting games onto computers like that and using emulation to play them. There's a pretty solid argument that copying games from older physical media like that to purely digital copies actually preserves them, because it's a lot harder for someone to construct a bunch of mechanically functional SNES consoles than it is to distribute copies of an emulator.

The "cup" measure of coffee is a blunt quantization. My ideal amount is approx 3-4 oz.

The issue was alongside the API boundary (timezone shenanigans) but the agent invented a lot of reasons with reasonable looking arguments because of the tunnel vision that there should be something wrong inside the project.

Individualism doesn't require a society free from rules, with every person allowed to do whatever they want.

The Protestant and Calvinist roots of American culture emphasize individual moral agency and personal accountability. This makes it easy to view things like addiction as a personal moral failure or lack of discipline rather than a systemic or biological illness.

At the same time, these same Protestant and Calvinist roots supported a level of paternalism in the form of blue laws, temperance movements, vice squads, etc.

You are arguing that laws regulating "sin", which are intended to promote public virtue, are evidence that the US really isn't individualistic because they're (in principle) taking away your ability to do whatever you want, but what you're missing is that criminalization contributes to the widely-held belief among Americans that people who break those laws are weak, undisciplined people making bad choices.

Most Americans don't view "sin" laws as social welfare. They view them as moral boundaries, and when someone crosses them (say, into addiction), the default is to place the blame on the individual's own willpower. You chose to do drugs. You got addicted because you couldn't control yourself. You failed at recovery because you're undisciplined.

This is pervasive in the US and it even extends to issues like poverty. Three-quarters of Republicans and over half of independents believe that personal choices are a major reason people are poor.

https://thehill.com/business/economy/5495065-americans-perso...

Which reminds me of one of Kurt Vonnegut's most insightful observations about American culture:

> America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.

> Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.

The Protestant roots of the US are arguably one of the reasons American culture is so heavily focused on individual responsibility and the idea that people who are addicts are weak and undisciplined.

https://www.madinamerica.com/2020/07/history-addiction-arden...

They do pick up when I use all CAPS and !!!

Sounds like all of the outside sales jobs I had. While I did not last very long in sales, one thing remains, not matter what. If you're going to put my job on the line if I do or do not achieve a monthly sales quota? You better bet your ass I'm going to lie steal and cheat to make that quota. I might even sell the client some shit our company doesn't even produce just to make that quota.

And lemme tell you, even in the short time I was in sales? I have some insane stories that would shock you. The fact AI's did the same thing isn't all that shocking. I would be more shocked if it didn't do anything to achieve the goal.

What people's jobs? There are no people.