What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? Most tech companies are not affirmatively evil, and are filled with thoughtful folks trying to solve problems while building tools people actually enjoy using - ThreadSky

gregdoucette.bsky.social • 4 days ago

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?

Most tech companies are not affirmatively evil, and are filled with thoughtful folks trying to solve problems while building tools people actually enjoy using

Reposted from Alex Wild

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?

A majority of the world’s insect species have no living expert who can identify them.

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demdefend.bsky.social•4 days ago

💯

mere--mortal.bsky.social•3 days ago

lol, no. So much lol, no that one of the biggest tech companies ever, they had to affirmatively declare that their corporate motto was "don't be evil". So... lol, no.

ismy.social•3 days ago

Good design is hard.

kodra.bsky.social•4 days ago

[Padme Panel 2] As well as the C-suites that run them?

gregdoucette.bsky.social•4 days ago

jlillyreed.bsky.social•4 days ago

Most. ...then there's crypto companies

rfrancissmith.com•4 days ago

Lots of university professors, and not just adjuncts, are paid jack shit. Nobody (at least nobody sane) goes into academia to make stacks of cash. I dunno, maybe Ivy Leagues or whatever are different.

Corollary: many of those old profs that persistently haven't retired? They can't afford to.

gregdoucette.bsky.social•4 days ago

100% believe it

emilysenefeld.bsky.social•3 days ago

In TN you could be a community college instructor w M.A. or Ph.D. making $1500 pre taxes per 35 person class per semester with a max of 3 courses per TN Board of Regents schools per semester--so, as little as $9000 pre taxes per school year per college.

insaanity.bsky.social•4 days ago

As a spouse of an academic, can definitely confirm.

semperfitrex.bsky.social•4 days ago

I dont think most tech *workers* are evil, but the industry as a whole, especially Silicon Valley, has that tendency.

galdireonai.bsky.social•4 days ago

That's every industry, really, the moment it becomes an industry operating under a profit motive.

semperfitrex.bsky.social•4 days ago

Well, I work in healthcare, and people here would *never*.

ernestpwarhol.bsky.social•4 days ago

The industry went sour when the finance people took over.

galdireonai.bsky.social•4 days ago

Wouldn't exactly let the actual tech-heads off the hook for that one either.

semperfitrex.bsky.social•4 days ago

Every industry becomes evil when MBAs have the wheel.

alfoote3.bsky.social•4 days ago

C'mon, be honest, Greg. How many times have you said "Muah-ha-ha" while tapping your fingertips together a la Montgomery Burns since starting with GH/MS?

gregdoucette.bsky.social•4 days ago

Can't tap my fingertips together, don't have enough time while simultaneously banging my head against the desk dealing with bureaucracy at the mothership 😉

gregdoucette.bsky.social•4 days ago

Like right now, a fresh example:
- searching for a common document template
- no longer exists on the template website b/c no one maintained the Sharepoint
- go to a different internal website
- search
- algo says 1 template found
- but displays 60+, non-sortable
- none of them are the document

alfoote3.bsky.social•4 days ago

Sharepoint is not something you mention when trying to convince us MS is not evil.

kootsoop.com•4 days ago

I think Teams can be worse.

meliakelley.bsky.social•4 days ago

One of the easiest vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit is the human element. Social engineering is like the "Easy" button to gain access/elevate privileges inside a network.

jasonfdc.bsky.social•4 days ago

"Filled with" is doing some heavy lifting there, I think. That code doesn't write itself.

bjorning.bsky.social•4 days ago

Unfortunately, that's only most.

dutchdoor.bsky.social•4 days ago

If you have a warrant for a traffic ticket (or most misdemeanors, really), call the court and find out when they have a walk-in docket to take care of it. The point of a failure to appear warrant is to get you to court, not put you in jail. If you get stopped for speeding, though, and they see

dutchdoor.bsky.social•4 days ago

an active warrant, your first stop will probably be jail, where you'll have to bond out or wait until the next court date. Just call the court and avoid all that.

rebuthered.bsky.social•4 days ago

How little hourly wage adds to price of a vehicle. Our plant, your paid $40 and hour but we make 140 trucks an hour. That is 28 cents per truck per employee. 3000 employees per shift to make it, $840 per truck. So if they used slaves, only save you $840 a truck in wages. Trucks can cost nearly 100k.

mere--mortal.bsky.social•3 days ago

There was a moment a long time ago when the largest single cost input for a GM vehicle was health insurance, more than the cost of the steel.

ranryu.bsky.social•4 days ago

(X) Doubt

gritmonger.bsky.social•4 days ago

Honestly going to press X to doubt

bdowney.bsky.social•4 days ago

Knowing this is why it made it so sad to see 2017 Sergey Brin at protests over the Muslim ban, and 2025 Sergey Brin at the inauguration as a donor.

:|

I knew him when.

antimoof.bsky.social•4 days ago

bright or intelligent? tech's chock-full of that. thoughtful? that's are way, way rarer to come by (and folks that are such are most often are not in positions of authority)

engineer brain isn't inimical to thoughtfulness or self-reflection, but does seem to discourage it

deesull.bsky.social•4 days ago

Now do Palantir, Acretrader, crypto companies…

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