Programming

I agree with the sentiment, but I do have to argue with some of his points (because it's fun, and it's okay to do things just for the hell of it). Excellent point, ineffectively articulated

I wrote my MSc on The Metaverse. Learning to built VR stuff was fun, but a complete waste of time. There was precisely zero utility in having gotten in early... But I'm struggling to think of anyone who has earned anything more than bragging rights by being first.

You're your own counterexample. You got to experience the metaverse when it was still alive, which you wouldn't have if you had waited for just a few years. And you got a Masters Degree out of it, not just bragging rights.

But I'm struggling to think of anyone who has earned anything more than bragging rights by being first. Some early investors made money

So you're not struggling that much if you can start of the next sentence with an example of people who earned more than just bragging rights.

But I'm struggling to think of anyone who has earned anything more than bragging rights by being first. Some early investors made money - but an equal and opposite number lost money.

This grossly overestimates the ratio of successes to failures. You're muuuuuuch more likely to lose money on the gamble of The Next Big Thing than win; for every HTTP there's a Gopher and Usenet and a dozen others that all look the same from the outside looking in.

For every HTML 2.0 you might have tried, you were just as likely to have got stuck in the dead-end of Flash.

Flash is a terrible example, it ran its lifecycle already, sure, but it was HUGE back in the day. And people benefited from using it; some of my favorite animators and gamedevs cut their teeth on Flash, people's work got recognized by a global audience, people landed jobs, Flash made it onto cable TV channels, people still light up at the mention of Homestar Runner to this day. People also made money, sure, but there are more benefits to playing with tech than "it makes money happen."

Which brings me to my final gripe: this is all framed as if the only benefit of a technology is if it's productive or profitable. When you discuss your favorite show with friends, are you considering whether the conversation can be converted into capital? When you watch a beautiful sunset, do you fret over whether the clouds will help you achieve your quarterly goals? Out on dates with your SOs, do you have to take a break in the bathroom to worry whether the evening is meeting KPIs?

Sometimes the benefit of things is just having the experience, instead of treating it as a means to an end. Yeah, don't let the FOMO ruin your day, but maybe take some time to play around with a doomed technology before it becomes abandoned and the community ceases to be. Maybe you'll become a recognized expert, maybe you'll learn some valuable lessons you can transfer to tech with more longevity, or maybe you'll just have fun.

And honestly, whats the fucking point of living, working and grinding and suffering, if not for the fun in between it all?