Jonathan Blow

I dunno man, the bit about our expectations (of how reliable software should be) sinking into the mud resonates pretty strongly

There are other explanations for that that seem more plausible to me, e.g. we use a lot more software, software has gotten a lot more complex, there's a much lower bar to writing software and so there are more beginners writing it, etc.

I don't think JB would disagree with any of that — it's the effects that are the problem, not the causes

Side-effect of a lot of new people starting to learn technology is that a lot of previous knowledge gets lost, because there are way too few good teachers. The "archetype" developer avoiding human communication makes the data loss even worse.

I think one of the things I disagree with is that the previous knowledge is "lost" - diluted maybe, but the knowledge is still there. It's in books and on lecture videos. It's there for people who need it / want it, unlike the examples of past empires JB opens with.

Many/most people write mediocre software (myself included). I suspect most people in 4th century Rome couldn't have made the Lycurgus Cup, or design an aqueduct. I don't think this signals the downfall of civilization or the fact that we're "losing" any ability.

Even I lose abilities over the time. Memory degrades, and skills often do that too. If that happens on a personal level, there might be something similar elsewhere too. It has more to do about forgetting the knowledge, as data disappears and books get burned.

> the knowledge is still there. It's in books and on lecture videos his claim is that we can lose that faster than we imagine — in ancient civilisations that knowledge was literally *carved in stone*, yet it was still lost. All the knowledge on YouTube could be lost instantly