What if programming languages, operating systems, concurrency primitives, databases, networking protocols, UI frameworks are already good enough, and the innovation lies elsewhere?
You can do a lot of cool stuff with the same lego pieces.
I remember saying the exact same thing here on HN like two weeks ago, which someone then promptly corrected me saying that Steam/Valve actually "explain" what their "Buy" means right before payment, and I think they were right, there is some greyed out text somewhere explaining you don't actually "Purchase a copy of the game" but you license it via Valve/Steam somehow, can't remember the details atm, later at the checkout process though.
Thanks! I don't know if the article OP linked is slop or not - site is plainly inacessible from Ukraine.
I find it interesting that they only analyzed texts that mention at least two cities, like this one:
> From Durhumit until Kanes I incurred expenses of 5 minas of refined (copper), I spent 3 minas of copper until Wahsusana, I acquired and spent small wares for a value of 4 shekels of silver. (Tablet AKT 8/145, lines 24–29)
Because I know some local businesses here that are based in city X would not mention this fact in the books, at least not for every transaction. They would write something like 'Got shipment from Y' or 'Sent for repairs to Z' etc.
They also exclude texts that mention Assur, which is the largest city there
> We exclude Assur, the home city of the Assyrians, from our automated search. First, the word Assur is also the name of the main Assyrian deity and occurs very often as an element of personal names. Second, the city of Assur is often referred to as simply alum — “the City” (comparable in use to references to the financial district of London)
So very cool work, and it can be improved upon too!
Serious question: why don't these communities 'succeed' then. Meaning, why don't they keep existing for decades, and why don't more people get interested in this way of living?
The lure of modern society is difficult to resist: most kids would rather live in the suburbs, play video games, and scroll social media than be sequestered on a remote farm with sparse accommodations.
A close approximation may be the Amish or Mennonites. It's a difficult life, and not prone to explosive growth.
do you mean like half of the worldwide population [0]? or anything on top of that like remote villages anywhere in the world that aren't liberal like hippies but are very much tied to pastoral ways of living? heck if back in 1600 we didn't killed dozens of millions of people maybe this type of communities would be much more widespread
I don't think "pastoral ways of living" are a genuinely held cultural preference for a lot of that population. I'd hazard a guess that quite a few of them want electricity, reliable clean water from a tap, and paved roads.
They are living that way not out of choice but out of poverty. Those kinds of villages with the kind of pastoral life you are ruing for are those villages and regions where medical care, education, and other basic services are sparse to no nonexistent.
The reasons are varied… groups implode or become cults… people move on often times when kids get involved for all the reasons other have stated already… but also things get co-opted way faster now given less time for groups and movements to gestate and coalesce… but theres still groups like this and there probably will be in perpetuity…
they either implode or get so successful that they assimilate and morph… The early US was rife with utopian societies whose stories are legion, onieda and the mormons to name two contrasting early examples.
More modern and infamous inline with the time period of this post is drop city… they got too successful as they were a stop on the way out to sf but they went onto do great things.
Because family brings vurnersbility and vurnersbility brings dependence on stability aka conservatism. The phase of life you start into with one another transports you right into adulthood and responsibility. And some just dont grow up to that. Some eternally leech on others. And all the nice words and good intent wont fix that.
What an incredibly callous comment that both manages to assume everyone should have the same goals you've decided are proper, to completely disregard socioeconomic, environmental and genetic differences which can cause life to be a breeze for some and a constant struggle for others.
I never heard of Gangrel magazine [1]. It had only 4 issues total, and this essay was in the last one. Editors J.B.Pick (age 24 at the time) and Charles Neil asked Orwell and other writers to explain why they write. Pick later became a writer himself.
All this to say that we might've not see this essay if not for those two young editors trying to get established writers' perspective on the craft.
You can do a lot of cool stuff with the same lego pieces.
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