However in the process of the jobhunt I keep finding new and exciting bugs in clunky job application form software and think "if only there was someone willing and able to fix this in return for a modest wage! oh well, back to filling out these janky application forms i guess".

Therefore I think there is real work to be done in fixing software jank. But making the user experience slightly better (and for the unemployed, no less!) doesn't bring in the kind of big bucks new products supposedly do. as a result we get existing software becoming jankier and weird tech trends. and sometimes the latter causes the former!

They're terrified of the moment people figure out that both hardware and software have been "good enough" for most everyday tasks for at least a decade, and new computers are getting faster, but not better.

we’re going to keep getting the first 80% (of four-five 80%s) of the same idea for a while though

we’ll, software has capsid analogues, maybe we can incremental our way there.

@amsomniac @twipped

I have met an experimental weeding robot out in a field and, while the computer vision was reportedly cutting edge, I had the impression that grit and clods were unexpectedly difficult. 80-20 is great stuff but it’s also mostly made of crevices.

@SistaWendy @meltedcheese @twipped

I suspect this also is driving the SpaceX interest.

So they try to make them. Meta went on its own for VR. Apple is largely sitting out AI.

They’re simply blue chip companies now waiting to be disrupted, spending their owners cash buying the potential disrupters before they can be disrupted.