82 upvotes, 7 direct replies (showing 7)
View submission: Curtis Yarvin Says Democracy Is Done. Powerful Conservatives Are Listening.
I'm a software engineer and a great way for me to lose some respect for fellow engineers is an embrace of libertarianism (which is also super common).
There is this anti-pattern in software, basically a variant of the Dunning-Kruger, where an arrogant engineer confronts a system that they think is overcomplicated, "This is dumb. I'll fix it!" and they start rewriting it from scratch. "Oh I didn't think about that..." they say 100 times as they slowly just rebuild the old system, warts and all. If we're lucky they admit defeat, if we're unlucky they launch a new "modern" system that has more holes in it than the old one. 1/10,000 times they really did do the whole thing thoughtfully and we end up with a utopian new system that is legit better (nothing is free, that system probably took 10x the resources than then doomed "simple" one the one guy was gonna build).
This is libertarianism. SWE's know that rules have side effects, so we're skeptical of any laws. But we should also know that the world is complicated with 1000s of edge cases and behaviors that are extremely difficult to model. If we fail to look deeper we might forget that taxes pay for trash services that cleanup trash which prevent bears from invading the town[1].
Comment by BioSemantics at 19/01/2025 at 19:17 UTC
28 upvotes, 1 direct replies
This thread about Elon Musk and his belief he needs to have twitter rewritten from the ground up seems like it fits your example.
Comment by veringer at 19/01/2025 at 18:54 UTC
16 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Same and same. I feel like I'm reading my own words in your comment.
In my early professional years, I noticed the types of software engineers who locked into the "one *true* [language|framework|pattern|stack]" were the most likely to be religious and/or libertarian types. It was the bible belt, and my business was in the shadow of a prominent baptist university. It was so exhausting. Hiring was a challenge because there were many very talented and capable young coders, but culturally they'd often be *cancerous*. So, I tried to suss out their zealotry by asking about a software flavor du jour and their opinions about it. It is indeed rare to find the balance of judgemental, parsimonious, open-minded, and humble.
Comment by freakwent at 20/01/2025 at 09:20 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I think a big part of it is people assuming that when they guessed about the reasons why some convention, rule or law exists, not only do they often get the reason wrong, but even if they get it right, they may miss other reasons.
It's just so *arrogant* to decide that you know better that a few thousand years of legal development and iteration because it feels good.
Comment by NudeCeleryMan at 19/01/2025 at 20:36 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
As someone who works with these folks as well, you've absolutely nailed it. Great post
Comment by Brainvillage at 20/01/2025 at 23:52 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
There is this anti-pattern in software, basically a variant of the Dunning-Kruger, where an arrogant engineer confronts a system that they think is overcomplicated, "This is dumb. I'll fix it!" and they start rewriting it from scratch. "Oh I didn't think about that..." they say 100 times as they slowly just rebuild the old system, warts and all.
This is why I am very skeptical anytime someone says something needs a rewrite. Usually when someone says that it just means "I don't understand the full scope of the problem this software is solving."
Comment by bastianbb at 23/01/2025 at 09:58 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Sounds a little like Chesterton's fence. Or the law of unintended consequences in economics. The interesting thing is that overzealous government interventions are typically the example of blunt instruments that have lots of unforeseen problems in economics.
Comment by gunshaver at 23/01/2025 at 08:19 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
You would not be surprised to learn that Yarvin has his own pet software project, Urbit, that is essentially like a Lisp except with political feudalism, that promises to revolutionize all of computing somehow. Even though they can't even really describe what it actually is.