Software technology is in decline despite appearances of progress. While hardware improvements and machine learning create an illusion of advancement, software's fundamental robustness and reliability are deteriorating. Modern software development has become unnecessarily complex, with excessive abstraction layers making simple tasks difficult. This complexity reduces programmer productivity and hinders knowledge transfer between generations. Society has grown to accept buggy, unreliable software as normal. Unless active steps are taken to simplify software systems across all levels, from operating systems to development tools, civilization faces the risk of significant technological regression similar to historical collapses.
Preventing the Collapse of Civilization / Jonathan Blow (Thekla, Inc)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSRHeXYDLko
Software technology is in decline despite appearances of progress. While hardware improvements and machine learning create an illusion of advancement, software's fundamental robustness and reliability are deteriorating. Modern software development has become unnecessarily complex, with excessive abstraction layers making simple tasks difficult. This complexity reduces programmer productivity and hinders knowledge transfer between generations. Society has grown to accept buggy, unreliable software as normal. Unless active steps are taken to simplify software systems across all levels, from operating systems to development tools, civilization faces the risk of significant technological regression similar to historical collapses.