There are programmers for everything. They have different cultures, different tribal folklores, that they use to organize their working life.
His explanation of programer sub-cultures is interesting. The metaphor of tribes and and "folklore" is creative and pretty acurate in my opinion.
Not bad for six or seven decades—but keep it in perspective. Software may be eating the world, but the world was previously eaten by other things, too: the rise of the telephone system, the spread of electricity, and the absolute domination of the automobile. It’s miraculous that we have mobile phones, but it’s equally miraculous that we can charge them.
I think this is an interesting analogy to represent the perspective that the rapid evolution techonology and its dramatic integration into every field is not as drastic as we think. It seems people today are either afraid of such rapid change or super excited by it, taking the perspective that that the world is transforming more rapidly than it has before. Paul Ford seems to be trying to debunk this opinion by saying that other developments have been equally transformative. I thik this is an interesting argument and I don't have fully formed opinion on it. I don't know what evidence he used to arrive at this opinion, but I would want to know if there is quantitative evidence to suggest whether this is true or not. Perhaps information about how much time humans interact with new technology and how that compares to the change to using electricity and/or cars. I also wonder how emotionally affected people are by these changes and how extreme/emotional public opinions were about electricity and cars and other relatively recent developments
Technology conferences are where primate dynamics can be fully displayed, where relationships of power and hierarchy can be established
I just thought this was funny and so true.
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