Technology is a defining attribute of humanity. We have evolved with tools, extending our capability well beyond our physical form. If we can think it, we can do it.
We shape our tools, and they shape us. The Amish people are very deliberate about the tools they introduce into their lives. No mainstream Western society is that discerning, to my knowledge. We prefer to let the market decide what’s good for us.
Market economics has incentivised the creation of many brilliant tools, and some harmful ones too. Market economics defines the good in dollar-terms, measured in the relatively short term. This is not a reliable barometer for broad social good, even accounting for the benefit of profits.
All engineering is fascinating, but my career has happened during the boom of cloud software. Consequently my expertise is centred here.
I’m particularly interested in how human groups, usually companies & their subset teams but also open-source groups, make software and handle its complexity. These human systems are interesting microcosms for understanding how we think about and manage technology at the societal level.
I also, more simply, love building new things, and learning new things.
Technology drives human progress. It makes sense that this is big business.
The dynamics between innovation and commerce are interesting because it is the only place where genuinely new comes to market,
where that new-ness can reshape all our lives, and where managing that reshaping falls into the hands of product creators.