This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
While I appreciate a top-level post talking about VisionOS, you seem to be claiming that keyboard/mouse is the moat around high-income tech jobs that keeps out "the strong and physically capable", which seems crazy to me.
Typing speed doesn't meaningfully affect an engineer's productivity (except maybe in the low-complexity world of undergraduate projects). A new operating system isn't going to increase the percent of people who can use threads.
What stops more people from becoming software engineers is that it's hard.
It’s shocking to you and me, but most people spend more time using a touch screen than using a mouse and keyboard. Modern UX prioritizes mobile experiences over mouse/keyboard.
Specifically, it's not ability to type, it's having the vision and creativity to actually know how to conceive of something in the first place that most people lack. And neither AI nor fancy headsets can really help with this. Yes, the AI can write code for you, but you need to know what to tell it to write first. You still need to spot pitfalls with its interconnectivity with other parts of the project and know how to smooth them out. Typing faster similarly won't help you if you don't know what you should be typing in the first place.
A machine can assemble a car. But humans still design the cars.
More options
Context Copy link
I don't have research or anything on this, but I'd be willing to bet it's a massive barrier to entry. In programming yes, but most jobs are 'email jobs' where a ton of what you're doing is tying natural language sentences to other people. In those jobs, and pretty much any white collar job that requires communicating, typing speed is important.
Not just typing speed, but the ability to quickly and easily synthesize and write down a chain of thought. I know many people who can speak brilliantly and eloquently, but when it comes to writing or typing down their insights they struggle mightily. Here on the Motte I'd imagine we're heavily biased towards typists and writecels.
More options
Context Copy link
Past some threshold, no. But low typing speed (slower than even your system 2 thinking) certainly impedes productivity. I have a junior in my team who drives me up the wall during 1:1s with her typing speed or rather lack thereof.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link