Zompist Bboard Again

Torco wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 1:22 pmmalloc, try and add some class analysis into your thinking. obviously the techbro startup ceos don't have the same interest than actual tech workers who actually do the work have.

Maybe but from what I can tell, even rank and file tech workers make quite a lot of money. People laugh at my claim that they make a quarter million a year, but that's the explanation I have always heard for why the tech industry is so right wing.

malloc wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 3:55 pm

Torco wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 1:22 pmmalloc, try and add some class analysis into your thinking. obviously the techbro startup ceos don't have the same interest than actual tech workers who actually do the work have.

Maybe but from what I can tell, even rank and file tech workers make quite a lot of money. People laugh at my claim that they make a quarter million a year, but that's the explanation I have always heard for why the tech industry is so right wing.

Again, you speak of the "tech industry" as if it were some monolith. Just because the techbro CEO's are right-wing does not mean that the individual programmers will be. As I've asked you before, is Richard Stallman right-wing? Is Linus Torvalds?

malloc wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 3:55 pm People laugh at my claim that they make a quarter million a year

Because it's wildly wrong.

Being wrong is not shameful. But holding to a false claim out of sheer bloody-minded refusal to learn is.

"they" make a quarter million huh? i'm reminded of eddy. okay bro

Torco wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 5:23 pm i'm reminded of eddy. okay bro

malloc is eddy. (Or so I’ve heard; I wasn’t around back when he went by that name.)

bradrn wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 5:29 pm

Torco wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 5:23 pm i'm reminded of eddy. okay bro

malloc is eddy. (Or so I’ve heard; I wasn’t around back when he went by that name.)

Yes, malloc is Eddy.

zompist wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 4:45 pmBecause it's wildly wrong.

Being wrong is not shameful. But holding to a false claim out of sheer bloody-minded refusal to learn is.

My apologies then. It's just that I have consistently heard that cited as the typical salary of tech workers over the years.

malloc wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 7:06 pm

zompist wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 4:45 pmBecause it's wildly wrong.

Being wrong is not shameful. But holding to a false claim out of sheer bloody-minded refusal to learn is.

My apologies then. It's just that I have consistently heard that cited as the typical salary of tech workers over the years.

According to Indeed, the average base salary for a software engineer in the US is $134,528 USD per year, which is considerably lower than the quarter-of-a-million you claim.

In unrelated news, for the first time in a long time, I really, seriously don't understand an xkcd:

https://xkcd.com/3270

Raphael wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2026 5:18 am In unrelated news, for the first time in a long time, I really, seriously don't understand an xkcd:

That’s why https://explainxkcd.com/ exists!

My only question is why have Cueball and Megan not removed power from the failed hardware and taken the fire extinguisher from it, because magic smoke is notoriously unpleasant, much more than, say, typical wood smoke?

Ares Land wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 3:41 pm (If he does, he probably triple checks though. LLM or not, I wouldn’t go near any kind of building if they built them like we build software.)

Time to roll out the old chestnut¹ again:

If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programmers, the first woodpecker² who came along would destroy civilisation.

¹ For humorous purposes I was going to include a picture of some chestnuts, but they were unable to appear.
² Of course, this is not why woodpeckers do their characteristic thing, but I think the point still stands.

bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2026 5:29 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2026 5:18 am In unrelated news, for the first time in a long time, I really, seriously don't understand an xkcd:

That’s why https://explainxkcd.com/ exists!

Thank you!

(Though this dialogue between us sounds a bit like a commercial written by very unimaginative writers.)

Ooooooh, man that makes so much sense. the vibe was uncannily similar.

Ares Land wrote: ↑Thu Jul 09, 2026 1:25 am I think the AI industry, having seen three technological revolutions: personal computing, the Internet and cellphones; all three took over the world very quickly and were (relatively) easy money-making machines. They entirely expect to replicate the same success. There have been other attempts to produce The Next Big Thing (with VR, for instance).

Recently, investment in startups have been declining. (I have previously shown you data on this.) This is a Hail Mary to keep the Silicon Valley dream going.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Thu Jul 09, 2026 8:52 pm Some people actually like writing code, and conversely have little interest in bot-herding ─ and having an LLM write my code for me would take the fun out of it.

For some tasks, I prefer coding. For other tasks, I prefer natural language. I'm wondering if using both can bridge the gap.

malloc wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 11:08 am Except the techies clearly have a vested interest in promoting AI

Yeah, I'm so excited to be out of a job!

malloc wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 3:55 pm

Torco wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2026 1:22 pmmalloc, try and add some class analysis into your thinking. obviously the techbro startup ceos don't have the same interest than actual tech workers who actually do the work have.

Maybe but from what I can tell, even rank and file tech workers make quite a lot of money. People laugh at my claim that they make a quarter million a year, but that's the explanation I have always heard for why the tech industry is so right wing.

$250k/yr with no reports means you work at one of a small set of companies your grandmother has heard of. It's probably 996, up-or-out, or both, and its hiring pipeline competes with McKinsey's. ICs at a startup might not even break the six-figure mark. I've heard of people making $85k/yr in tech in DC. Rent in DC, which is a major city but not a desirable one, will be about $2500/mo, which is $30k/yr. If you want a cutoff point between middle and lower-middle, comfortable rule-of-thirds compliance seems as good a line as any.

If you want a cutoff point between middle and upper-middle, imagine you have two kids. They each, of course, have their own bedroom, and they don't go to government school. So you're looking at a three-bedroom house in a decent area (let's say Sterling, VA, which is decent but not nice) and private school tuition for two kids. A house in Sterling will run you $600k - this calculator says the mortgage will be about $3.5k/mo, or $42k/yr - and tuition is $40k per. So you're looking at a COL of $122k/yr, and let's say to afford that and food you'll need to be making at least $150k/yr post-tax. Assume tax is a third of your gross income and you'd need a gross income figure of $225k, not far from a quarter mil a year.

You live in St. Louis, right? St. Louis is poor. The median price of a square foot of house in St. Louis is $173, compared to $515 in DC. That's about a 1:3 ratio. Try multiplying all your numbers of dollars by three. $250k/yr is upper-middle. $750k/yr would be rich.

Risla wrote: ↑Thu Jun 18, 2026 4:16 pm Hi everyone! Been a hot minute since I was here!

A belated welcome back.

I have read some alarming news that AI is solving mathematical conjectures that have stumped human mathematicians for decades. That sounds like indisputable evidence that AI is more than just smoke and mirrors and indeed that it may be getting smarter than even the smartest humans.