I love this comment. It strikes at the heart of many things that I have been vocal about for decades at the same time I could take the devil's advocate approach to say: a computer naturally stores information on physical volumes, since these have different address spaces you will probably not get around this conundrum.
However, fundamentally I completely agree with you. Information we seek should not be bound to the medium it is stored on in this day an age. I wish we could get out of the containerized knowledge but it seems to me we are creating ever more virtual containers in which information is stored. I for one only get a glimpse of the vast amounts of information TikTok is making available to it's users when it is posted on one of the few websites I visit.
I guess the reason we still think of information being in books and on paper is because we are human and its hard to get rid of millennia of habits and institutions that have grown around us to accommodate for our limited ability to grasp the universe.
I agree, but only to an extent. From my perspective OSS contributors are not "privileged developers" who can afford to commit their spare time. Yes, software development is a privileged career, but the privilege is not really pay, but education. Anybody in the world with access to the internet and a decent education can become a software developer. It is a highly competitive global market. My suggestion to any developer who is working something crazy like a 996 schedule is to look for opportunities elsewhere.
I had to chuckle at your comment (at first glance it does seem foolish), thinking about it a little more however, I realize that there is a good reason to why they do it, and if you are careful enough you can probably evade the negative consequences. I guess you have to know what you are doing.
I appreciate that you elaborated on your opinion and I believe many of your points are valid. COVID is not a big threat to you and your family (based on my assumptions about you which could very well be wrong). Neither is it a big threat to me, 30 year old, healthy, single male living in Germany.
However, some of your assertions are not true. The COVID waves were vastly different in different countries across Europe, and despite Germany having elevated cases again and a second "Lockdown" the situation is nowhere near what it was in May. No constant Sirens from Ambulances (where I live), no overcrowded ICUs (some exceptions). Similarly, the lockdown proposed now is more lenient than a couple of months ago.
There is a definite talking point to be made about which rules are more effective than others and I personally would be more lenient than what my government proposes, but all in all we fared fairly well in comparison with our neighboring countries.
One point you made about a generation only caring about itself I can falsify immediately: The only reason why I am missing a basketball game with friends tonight is because I had an encounter with a positive covid case (my cousin). While I'm >99% sure I'm COVID free, I opted to argue on the internet tonight as some of my basketball peers are in a risk group (>60).
However, fundamentally I completely agree with you. Information we seek should not be bound to the medium it is stored on in this day an age. I wish we could get out of the containerized knowledge but it seems to me we are creating ever more virtual containers in which information is stored. I for one only get a glimpse of the vast amounts of information TikTok is making available to it's users when it is posted on one of the few websites I visit.
I guess the reason we still think of information being in books and on paper is because we are human and its hard to get rid of millennia of habits and institutions that have grown around us to accommodate for our limited ability to grasp the universe.