Decades ago, the more optimistic futurists probably thought that we'd eventually be living on space settlements in a scarcity-free utopia where robots do all the work for us and no one wants for anything. Few predicted that the future would look more like accepting “terms and conditions” before ordering a cheeseburger at the drive-thru, or internet-connected “ smart ” license plates that require a paid subscription in order to function properly. Yup, the future is now, and it's dumber than ever…

There's a new chatbot in town and it's unhinged.

Ring ring

Connecting objects to the internet just leads to boring dystopia

As technology progresses over the years, there always seems to be a number of people stomping their feet in protest. When I was younger, I would always dismiss these people as Luddites - until Apple took away our precious headphone jack back in 2017. For about two or three years, playing music from an iPhone got a bit more complicated. IPhone users were forced to buy dongles, and impromptu DJ sessions at friends' houses or at bars involved a frantic search for these adaptors. It was frustrating…

Being a relatively new programmer is like living in two completely different worlds. Non-programmers think you are the absolute dog's meow. They act like you cured cancer, achieved world peace, and are worth 20 billion dollars. That kind of validation for choosing a well-paying career path can feel good, but it wears off soon enough when you're around senior programmers . You feel like the most useless ant at the picnic basket when you're with guys who've been doing it for years. In that room,…

The insane ways that tech companies treat their employees never cease to amaze me. This past Friday, workers at Google in NYC found out whether they were getting laid off with a borderline dystopian method. Workers lined up early to test their employee badges. If they scanned it and the light turned green, they didn't lose their job. If the light turned red, they were laid off. Of course, Google didn't intend to act like an evil government in a young adult novel. They sent emails the night befo…

One of the coolest things about being a programmer is the lack of formality. People laughed at Mark Zuckerberg in the 2000s for enabling a culture where everyone wore a t-shirt and sweatpants to work. These days, it's not even a second thought that tech workers are not dressing up in a suit and tie. As somebody who works in an artsy-fartsy industry, I openly enable coders and programmers wearing their pajamas to work. We've got to stick together in this world and fight against the rules and reg…

It seems like artificial intelligence is coming to replace everything these days. So many news sources are reporting on AI being able to solve complex coding problems or write whole essays. Allegedly it can create art too, but all of the robot art I've seen has like seven weird phantom knuckles, so I'm not entirely buying it's art proficient. Luckily, we're not at the point where AI can really replace us yet. It's advanced, but it's not that advanced yet. AlphaCode, a new artificial intelligenc…

A journey through time and space

It's just like a person

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Twitter Blue has arrived

It's challenging to summarize the sheer number of wild things Elon Musk has proposed as the new unwanted overlord of Twitter. He laid off an excessive number of Twitter employees seemingly without understanding the consequences of doing so. He will allow people to buy verification for $8 a month. He has permanently suspended comedians with no warning for mocking this new initiative by impersonating him. He has begun unblocking his personal account from people who have blocked him. He has even p…

“Don't you get it? If you die in the game, you die for real.”

This year for Halloween, there are so many ways to dress up as programming concepts. Of course, you could take the easy way out and just dress like a programmer. Get some sweatpants on, put some black makeup under your eyes to make you look even more tired, and you're good to go. You could also go as a 404 error . Wear a white T-Shirt and write “Error 404 Costume Not Found” on it. You could even go as some of the most famous programmers in history. A Steve Jobs costume is classic and perfect fo…