2023 So Far - An Analysis
Tl;dr
An analysis of how 2023 is going so far, from a technology and personal point of view.
Day 111
111 what's your not-an-emergency?
21st of April 2023, the 111th day of the year.
Wow, time is flying and here we are: almost at the end of the 4th month of the year.
If we want to be precise, we are at the 30.41% of the year.
I always find fascinating how much effort humanity puts into time.
Time calculations, time management, time consumption, time saving, time this, time that.
Time is the invisible log of our lives.
I honestly prefer thyme: it's a lovely herb that you can use for cooking, for example with potatoes.
Yes, talking again about recipes. And guess what? You need to time your potatoes seasoned with tyhme.
You don't want them too hard or too soft.
OK, I get that. Time is important. Great. So what?
Well, actually time is just a way of measuring the distance between 2 or more facts.
I hope I am not responsible for changing the law of physics with the above statement.
What I am trying to say is that time is important, but definitely less than facts.
Actions, meetings, events. That's what really matters.
Please, allow me to take out the time variable from the equation of this [weird] article.
I would like to start this analysis from a series of considerations about what happened in the technology field.
Then, I will move into my personal/professional life.
Are you still there?
Technology and Emotions
There is a bunch of interesting stuff happened so far in the technology landscape.
Some of that stuff is hype, some is more defined, some is definitely promising tech.
Rust
I am currently learning Rust. It seems a great System Programming language.
I am quite excited about it, but there's something that really touched me.
The Rust Foundation released a very confusing draft of the new policy.
A lot of developers tweeted badly about the ideas proposed by the Rust Foundation, because the written words seemed to explain that it's not possible anymore to use the Rust word (being a trademark) in content created without the permission of the Foundation. For example, a YouTube video or a blog article dedicated to Rust.
Luckily, the Rust Foundation seems to have started listening to the angry voices of programmers all over the Internet.
I didn't have a chance to read the full document, so I really can't tell how much it was misleading.
But the fact that so many Rust enthusiasts were affected means something.
It means that you can't play tricks with a passionate community.
A community that helped Rust to become a loved language doesn't deserve to be treated just as end users.
Passion is a driving force in a community, and it can determine what will be the future of a cool piece of technology.
Yes, we can build as much technology we want, but we are still humans.
And everything that limits our creativity or our ability to promote great things will eventually become wrong in our minds and hearts.
I personally think that the Rust Foundation learned a lot from this mistake:
- it's necessary to involve the community from the beginning of every kind of policy draft
- once filtered from drama, the direct and harsh feedback is carrying value
- emotions still matter
- transparency is good, but it requires the right communication skills and planning
Anyway, I believe in Rust and I am looking forward to build great products with it.
SpaceX
At the moment, I don't have a strong opinion about Elon Musk, although I tend to admire his entrepreneurial spirit.
I mean, if I have to choose a tech person to take inspiration from, I would probably choose John Carmack.
If you don't know John, well you can watch this short interview.
And John surprised me when he declared that he was participating at the first SpaceX's Starship launch.
Who knows what John is up to? He is my hero.
Anyway, I was talking about Elon and then I got distracted.
Yes, I don't care a lot about Elon, but I care more about SpaceX.
I think that SpaceX is a company that is capable of connecting people across the globe for a common goal: move heavy stuff into the space with new - often bizarre but still amazing - engineering tools.
Launching a big rocket is a big deal.
Tons of special materials, fuel and human knowledge are pushed into the sky, trying to win gravity.
Humans already did unbelievable things with aerospace technology.
But SpaceX has something more, something different.
Probably it's able to poke our childhood curiosity, motivating even non-STEM people to get excited about going into space.
At the end, a lot of companies and governments go into space.
But my impression is that only SpaceX is capable of convincing people around the world to look up in the sky.
Only SpaceX allows humans to enjoy the process of going out of our planet.
So, inspired by SpaceX, what are you going to launch soon?
AI
I am not going to mention the tool from OpenAI that everybody talked about.
Yes, I've tried it and did a bit of work with that.
I also tried the Google competitor and some generative AI tools for images and videos.
Here is my honest analysis, as a software engineer - not as an AI or Machine Learning expert:
- Generative AI is a nice tool, but it has limits, like every tool. So, avoid to be extremely dependent on it
- There's too much hype around AI, pumped by billions of investments. Hype is dangerous from a technology point of view
- AI is a powerful technology that has undefined consequences, so it needs a proper regulation and a compliance entity, something similar to what already happens with nuclear energy
- Large Language Models (LLMs) are becoming bigger and bigger, requiring a huge amount of computational power
- Software Engineers will not be replaced by AI
- A programmer like me still has to deal with all the necessary noise around code
- Necessary noise is everything regarding software enginnering, but code.
- For example: architectural decisions, customer needs, documentation, collaboration, discussions, etc
- Even if AI will write tons of amazing code, dealing with the unrecorded complexity is really difficult for something that still requires a kind of input
- AI can help humanity to solve problems and chase new fascinating challenges, we can't waste the opportunity to do something better for us - humans - not for machines
It's time to leave the hype behind and seriously start considering AI for what it is and what it could be.
A Bit About Me
My 2023 has been generative so far:
- Officially co-founded Umbria Green Heart Ltd, a UK-based deli food/wine startup
- Appointed as director of another startup that wants to innovate office and work furniture
- I will provide more details about this in the next weeks or months
- Started tweeting again, allowing me to virtually meet great people across the globe
- Becoming a father of a little girl, I am so proud of her mother and her
- Re-started training regularly
- Launched my voice on the Internet, don't know if it will be a podcast or something like a series of video
I am quite sure that this year will bring more interesting stuff in my life.
I am also sure that I will never stop building something new, something better.
Let's hurl new challenges at the stars!