Item — HN Reader

While I applaud her and wish her well — writing like this reminds me of a couple of things.

First my aging father insisting on navigating using his unfortunately fading memory instead of Google maps. Some people just won’t pick up technology out of habit or spite, even if it hinders them.

Second, a quote I read here that I’ll paraphrase “you can be the best marathon runner in the world and still lose a race to a guy on a bike.” Know the race you’re racing. It often changes.

I think it’s valid and commendable to keep the old ways alive, but also potentially dangerous to not realize they’re old ways.

3 comments

I don't think this diminishes your point, but, for a thing like memory, your father may be maintaining it by insisting on relying on it. It may diminish regardless, but its diminishment may slow down.

At work, we are in a certain kind of race. In life, we are in a certain other kind. To paraphrase a recent Brandon Sanderson talk about creativity in an era where AI can outpace and possibly soon, out-quality a professional, "The work you do on _you_ can be _the art_."

Strongly agree! As someone who has been caring for a parent with dementia, it's definitely a use or lose it kind of situation. See also the studies on long term cognitive health in London cab drivers

https://www.statnews.com/2024/12/16/alzheimers-disease-resea...

I had a significant other 20 years ago that would not use a GPS. This resulted in constant fights whenever she travelled. If she got off her route, I got a phone call. I lacked the skills to divine her exact location and what direction she needs to go based on vague descriptions of being on “some highway” for “some amount of time” and she is near mile marker “I don’t know.” After hanging up on me she would eventually stop somewhere or ask someone or figure something out or maybe never come home.

Then one day, She was on the way to an OB appointment she almost plowed into a car in front of her while she was looking at her Mapquest pages. Risking our unborn child.

Even after pointing out the danger she claimed the guy in front… He did no such thing, I saw everything from my position in the parking lot.

I bought a GPS unit “for me” and put it into my car. I just used it. If we travelled in my car she still insisted on her printed maps. I ignored them. (This was very intense.)

Then one day we took her car for a trip and I brought my GPS. And “forgot it” in her car. I claimed I would remove it “later”.

About two weeks later she gave me the look and said not to laugh. Dead serious. She then said “the GPS is ok “ and can stay in her car.

Hallelujah! The life expectancy of my wife and child just went up exponentially.

This day, I have no idea what her hangup was. The best I could come up with was she was bad with directions. Was probably taught how to read a map. And her father probably instilled her sense of pride for the ability to read a map. And choosing to use a GPS was retroactively wasting her time learning how to use maps. And devaluing a skill she worked hard to learn.

I don’t care. I just wanted my family to live.

> Know the race you’re racing

This is the KEY difference between people who are willing to adopt this technology and those who aren't.

If you are able to view your job as simply a pursuit of a craft, more power to you.

The reality is likely that over time your employer will realize you are slower than every other engineer, and that your enjoyment of the craft is actually just you being an old slow developer.

The "race" here is the race with every other developer out there. They're getting on bikes, and starting to pull away ... what are YOU going to do?

When are we going to realize these CEOs are just old slow extremely expensive humans? I want to see them replaced with AI as well. I have absolutely no doubt AI can manage a company better than they do.

From my vantage point, it looks like they’re getting on unicycles as clown music starts to play. And they’re the ones yelling at me.