If You Were Ahead of the Curve 30 or 40 Years Ago…
That means you built a first-principles understanding of computing, networks, and systems. Most people today—even in AI—are building on abstractions. But you? You understand the layers beneath. And remember: that’s not obsolete; it’s leverage.
What I’m really saying is, you’re lucky if you encountered any kind of engineering before the world’s speed and scale dragged you into chaos.
Information Overload ≠ Understanding
Remember when all you had was a couple of books—and that was enough to build mental models? It worked for me. I had just one book to learn assembly language for the 68000 processor. That limitation turned out to be a gift. It wasn’t easy, but it gave me deep understanding. Like studying a microbe under a microscope, and that’s all you’ve got—you learn how to observe and analyze.
Now we have infinite tabs, infinite tutorials, infinite distractions. The brain doesn’t build depth when it’s skimming breadth.
Tooling Obscures the Craft
We used to write a sort algorithm. Now we import sort() and move on. We used to design systems. Now we copy boilerplate repos. The joy of invention has been replaced by the speed of assembly. And with it, quality and originality have diminished.
External Validation Replaces Internal Mastery
Likes, stars, GitHub followers, job titles—these have become the metric. But we never learned for applause. We learned for truth.
I’m not trying to be philosophical—that’s just the dynamic. I’m speaking about this because I want you to step back from the corporate noise, the shiny TV screens, the millions of articles begging for your click, and the ease of AI writing code for you.
Step back so you can be who you used to be: an inventor, a pioneer, or simply a human with deep passion to build something extraordinary.
The world isn’t heading in the wrong direction. AI isn’t bad. It’s just that the cumulative effect of all this makes us feel a little drunk. Like alcohol—fundamentally not evil—but it becomes a problem for the binge drinker. Right?