Hacker News: spinel

New comment by spinel in "The old world of tech is dying and the new cannot be born"

spinel — Fri, 15 May 2026 13:59:21 +0000

There was someone who said ten or fifteen years ago that these trillion-dollar issues weren't technology companies but technology control companies. It's been in my mind ever since.

New comment by spinel in "The old world of tech is dying and the new cannot be born"

spinel — Fri, 15 May 2026 13:53:40 +0000

What's often understated is how much of an advantage the US has because it speaks the language of global commerce and technology, which for the entire 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st has been English. That's huge. It means teenagers reading man pages are reading fluently.

At some point, though, the balance could tip. It's impossible to say, and it'd be irresponsible to try to predict it, but there isn't any reason English is natively superior, any more than French was 150 years ago, or Latin 600 years ago. But it's a major advantage the US has that isn't acknowledged often enough.

New comment by spinel in "The old world of tech is dying and the new cannot be born"

spinel — Fri, 15 May 2026 13:49:38 +0000

I knew the old world was lying to us when I saw what happened to Michael O. Church. Freedom of expression, unless you challenge the people at the top of the ladder. Then they erase and try to murder you.

And now there's evidence that Epstein was behind the prosecution of Swartz. He knew the man was onto something.

The authoritarianism is only more obvious. No one bothers to hide it. The social irresponsibility ramps up and up. Genocide in Burma? The cost of social connection. The cost of freedom.

At some point, it all breaks. No one knows what happens next. Models smooth reality, but reality, at some point, detests smoothness enough to become pointed.