Ask HN: How to know when we are out of touch for ignoring the last tech trends?
7 comments
It stops being healthy skepticism when you start to immediately dismiss things. There is potential in NFT's, Web3, Metaverse, etc. just like there was potential in the dot com boom. People laughed at pets dot com but look at Chewy today.
There might be something revolutionary in some of these emerging concepts, we just don't know what it could be, if any.
I think a true industry changing tech could emerge if it is driven by technology, not marketing. Linked MMO's is how I think of the metaverse where avatars can "travel" from one MMO world to another, conceptually similar to Ready Player One. If some parties want to define technical standards for storage, 3D rendering, scaling, licensing, transport (across networks and 3D engines) of digital assets (music/audio, textures, avatar skins, etc.) that could go a long way towards letting creative people (not marketing) create worlds that could be linked into a metaverse. Maybe that is what Web3 could be, maybe not. Commercial paths would be easy to identify if such a tech standard was in place. For example, an indie clothing designer could release virtual and real world editions of a new piece of clothing simultaneously.
If you leave it to marketing to define a metaverse you end up with a grocery store chain creating virtual supermarkets for you to buy bread using a VR headset. Yawn.
There might be something revolutionary in some of these emerging concepts, we just don't know what it could be, if any.
I think a true industry changing tech could emerge if it is driven by technology, not marketing. Linked MMO's is how I think of the metaverse where avatars can "travel" from one MMO world to another, conceptually similar to Ready Player One. If some parties want to define technical standards for storage, 3D rendering, scaling, licensing, transport (across networks and 3D engines) of digital assets (music/audio, textures, avatar skins, etc.) that could go a long way towards letting creative people (not marketing) create worlds that could be linked into a metaverse. Maybe that is what Web3 could be, maybe not. Commercial paths would be easy to identify if such a tech standard was in place. For example, an indie clothing designer could release virtual and real world editions of a new piece of clothing simultaneously.
If you leave it to marketing to define a metaverse you end up with a grocery store chain creating virtual supermarkets for you to buy bread using a VR headset. Yawn.
I'm in the same boat... I don't get 'tagging' the internet with Web 2 and Web 3. It's constantly moving. I think that is just hype or marketing.
I find NFT's to be a terrible and imaginary thing, but I don't care if you spend money on things that don't exist or are easy to be copied. that's what virtual items are. (I can't buy them though... I mean, they don't exist, and I work for my cash.)
It's like, how many times do we invent the same chat? IRC to User Forms to Discord and beyond.
But then again, my idea is always better and different =D
I find NFT's to be a terrible and imaginary thing, but I don't care if you spend money on things that don't exist or are easy to be copied. that's what virtual items are. (I can't buy them though... I mean, they don't exist, and I work for my cash.)
It's like, how many times do we invent the same chat? IRC to User Forms to Discord and beyond.
But then again, my idea is always better and different =D
I think you are completely fine and on the right track with reflecting which topics actually mean technological improvement. Tech is full of hype that will be forgotten in a short time. On the other hand some companies would really love to induce the feeling you are missing out on a trend.
I guess you have to keep your cynicism in check, which is all but easy if you take a closer look at some tech solutions. I believe the startup hype can really net us something interesting, but you don't have to feel sorry to be skeptical.
I guess you have to keep your cynicism in check, which is all but easy if you take a closer look at some tech solutions. I believe the startup hype can really net us something interesting, but you don't have to feel sorry to be skeptical.
I’m not sure I agree with the premise of old people who don’t know text. This certainly happens to some but doesn’t have to. Technology and development is constantly evolving. Any good technologist who wants continued growth and success will invest in staying current and learning new skills and concepts. Sites like HN are great, there’s fantastic books, great blogs, and videos. Investing a few hours each week is how you prevent getting in a situation like this.
What's the difference between "Boomer-like foolishness" and actual foolishness? How to know when we are experiencing the former vs. the latter? /s
I'm not a Boomer but took offense to your ageist comments. I was actually with you until the last sentence. What the fuck does not understanding NFTs have to do with being a Boomer? I've had conversations about NFTs with 11 year old kids, 21 year old students, 49 year old dads and 73 year old grandmas. They all equally understood absolutely nothing about the topic.
I'm not a Boomer but took offense to your ageist comments. I was actually with you until the last sentence. What the fuck does not understanding NFTs have to do with being a Boomer? I've had conversations about NFTs with 11 year old kids, 21 year old students, 49 year old dads and 73 year old grandmas. They all equally understood absolutely nothing about the topic.
I'm talking NFTs, Cryptos, Web3, Metaverse, Nocode, most social medias, actually most new hyped startups, all of that seems really uninteresting to me.(also not really related, but also stuff like fortnite or roblox, I've been gaming since I was 3yo and actually enjoy some childish games, but I just don't get the hype for those)
I mean it's maybe not even a controversial opinion here, but let's take a step back for a second, how do we actually know when we finally got old and out of touch with "the future" of tech?
The only 2 things that have really impressed and interested me in the last 5 years were GPT-3 and GANs.
At which point does it stop being healthy skepticism and start being boomer-like foolishness?