We automate tons of software. That's what compilers and interpreters are. And now we're even entering the era of plausibly-deniably-stealing-other-people's-code-from-Github-as-a-service.
I worked at a place a long time ago upgrading legacy software from the 80s. I helped them update their build process from file shares, copy/pasting and manual building to Git, Jenkins and automated builds/tests/packaging. I know it's not automated code, but it certainly saved us a lot of time with about 50 assemblies. I'm sure some companies were ahead of the curve when it comes to stuff like that, but this was a really small company. Modern CI/CD software is great and saved us lots of time.
Same. It's fair to say our tooling today is far superior, but "fully automated" implies virtually zero input from humans beyond the initial configuration.
Being a bunch of engineers on HN, I get it, but that’s needlessly pedantic. My first real job was a systems and tools programmer working on scaled database systems.
Literally every aspect of that job is fully automated.
Where I work today 20+ years later, we have 1/3 of the people doing like 100x the amount of work by several measures. Little teams of developers can just crank out work.
You call it pedantry, I call it "field of work". I've managed to avoid working on apps built around databases for my entire career, instead focusing initially on operating systems, device drivers and OS-level tools; then later on software for pro-audio/music creation workflows. Literally no aspect of this work is "fully automated".
Yes, the productivity of modern day "stored-in-the-DB/presented-in-the-browser" project teams can be astounding. But that's only one type of software.
then why isn't construction automated? i think if your company's processes are so specialized and nuance, you should really take a step back and ask if they should be.
That's the convenient myth to think banks caused crisis. Money printing and credit rates lowering by government caused this. Free money? Sure, why not. Please watch princes of yen documentary where they speak about "credit window guidance" conducted by Japanese national bank for more than decades
I don't deny frauds in credit agencies. However, somebody was buying banks' CDOs? Who, ancient aliens? No, they weren't called surprime because credit agencies cheated on their rating, they were called so because they were inherently risky more than a normal mortgage ( so called ninja loans, no income, no job ). That's the people were buying this shit with the all time low rate loans. Human greed huh? That's less convenient than blaming banks for all the evil in this world
I hope you’re not reading any paper books - the environmental impact of paperbacks is phenomenal when compared to eReaders.
And of course, you would never waste energy by purchasing a hardcover, that would be morally reprehensible.
Honestly wouldn’t surprise me if a kid playing minecraft on an old computer had drastically less impact on the environment than your average book snob - especially the “I buy paper for the experience” kind.
Here’s one analysis that takes those factors into account, and eReaders still come out massively on top on average.
Paper isn’t the problem, it’s the fact that’s books are heavy and bulky, so the transportation and storage have massive carbon implications.
On top of that, most books end up in landfill as a result of not selling in stores. If you care about the environment and read books an eReader is a worthy investment.
I was just going to comment on this book; one of my favorites as well. The follow on book "Thinking Forth" was similarly mind opening. http://thinking-forth.sourceforge.net/
I would like to make quick (<30 min) transactions of large amounts. I can do that with BTC, but it would be nice to do this with USD. Currently, this involves finding a bank, go during the right time, proper account numbers, etc.
Long story there. It's an artifact of bankruptcy and tax law.
A company exists to pay dividends, and its value is the present value of all future dividends. That's the classic view, and it was the normal pattern for companies until the 1970s or so.
Two things changed. One, bankruptcy became less painful. "Secured creditors" became a more general concept. This meant that banks and bondholders moved up in priority, at the expense of unpaid vendors, customers with deposits, and others who never wanted to lend money in the first place. This paved the way for Michael Milken and the junk bond industry.
Second, interest and principal payments on debt are not taxed, while dividends are. This makes debt more attractive than equity as a means of obtaining capital. A high-interest loan with the strong possibility of bankruptcy is effectively an equity investment but is taxed as a debt.
This combination has warped capital markets out of shape. It's why there's "private equity", which is essentially a leveraged buyout. It's what powered the financialization of everything.
All things being equal, a company that doesn't pay a dividend, made $10B last year and $11B this year is worth more than it was a year ago because it could pay a dividend, or it could sell, or it could liquidate. There are ways to get money, even if the shares have no buyers.
Or another way, if AAPL went to $0 and I bought up all the shares, it still prints money, and I could tell the board I want a dividend. It has some amount of intrinsic value in extreme situations. If I own all of some cryptocurrency (and maybe I do!), there's no way to extract value without finding a sucker to sell to.
