I ask stupid questions sometimes.
I’m old (in computer years) but Ive been breaking stuff professionally for 25 years.
If I ask a stupid question, I appreciate not being written off for asking it.
It may be I dont know because it’s not in my domain (very little we do here is), or because after 25 years I’ve gotten very good at asking the type of stupid questions that reveal foot-guns hidden behind good ideas.
*It is much easier to respect and admire the skills and talents of those who are not patronizing*
Getting older has also taught me to greatly value having friends in many domains who are willing to give feedback on my ideas before I waste days trying them. Even non-devs are experts in multiple domains and worth listening to. In fact, theyre 99% of any userbase, so you could argue they’re one of the most important experts to listen to. Nobody can tell you better how they’re going to use a piece of software better than a user.
I’m also old enough to know I don’t have shit to prove to anyone to get them to listen to me. I think my character has spoken for itself. One of the things that was awesome about the early Internet was you never knew if major architectural flaws were being addressed and fixed by a Sr. Software Engineer who was typically (at the time) some older white guy with a degree, or a 12 year old girl from a country most rich white folks couldn’t pronounce. Ideas were currency and intelligent questions were respected with an answer, and everyone was excited when someompne new wanted to play in the sandbox with us.
We need to recultivate that attitude. There are many who still act this way, but its no longer a majority. Development communities have become toxic landscapes filled with arrogance and asinine arguments over favorite tools, elitism over how much an individual understands, and a serious disregard for what has come before. We stand on the shoulders of great people who came from everywhere, often worked in garages with scrap parts, and many of whom lacked or dropped out of formal education. We essentially *still use the technology created by these people*.
It’s not all doom and gloom. There are pockets of supreme positivity and groups of people being encouraged to play in the giant sandbox who never have been. The sandbox is truly global in scope now. And Ive met some of the kindest, most helpful, and genuinely coolest ass people on here who are also developers.
But we need to be cautious. Success can breed arrogance. The new creation we enjoy here does not mean we will be successful in reinventing everything. Nor does it exempt us from laws of development that are older than the majority of us. Nor does it mean that the lessons learned from previous failures (and successes) should be forgotten. It certainly doesnt make us better than other developers or users.
Listening is a skill we should all cultivate. So is helping, teaching, and allowing ideas better than your own to flourish. We are *not* naturally good at these things. They take years of honing and constant vigilance.
The first step is remembering that the Nostr of today, will be the MySpace of tomorrow - and we will not be judged by what we built (which will be replaced) but by how we behaved.
“Stay hungry,
Stay foolish.”
— Steve Jobs
