Comment Re:A watershed moment (Score 1) 65
I just have to chime in here. My drop-out paper - back around '91 - was titled "Shovels & Society". It was the final for my Computers and Society class - which I did not think much of. The TA was great, though.
After a few weeks in the class, the TA asked our group how many of us were in this because we enjoy programming. I raised my hand. I was it. I decided I was no longer in the right place.
Anyway, my brief argument was that computer/software advances were a lot like those of the shovel -> bulldozer, etc. Just like every other advance, ever. People would lose jobs like they always had, etc. It was supposed to be 15 pages - but I just wrote 3. I feel bad for my TA - she was so disappointed.
I've been happily programming ever since (and before). I'd learned everything I was gonna for compsci anyway.
But holy crap. AI. The shit I can get done now. I feel like there is no way I could get another programming job - between AI and Agism.