After 10+ years working on video streaming technologies I’ve finally achieved artful results without trying. The most rational activities can lead to beauty.
Engineers will tell you to look at the data and monitor as much as you can. But if you build a prison for yourself you’ll never achieve beauty and serve your neighbors and family in the deepest sense.
There’s a misconception with what technology is supposed to do for us, solving problem is a tiny part of it, often tied to the market. In truth it should empower each and every one of us and lead to a more democratic and healthy society.
Ask yourself, this thing I’m building on my spare time, how confidently could I recommend it to my closest friends, my wife, children, grand parents ? Is it serving them in the deepest sense, or am trying to extract value from anonymous customers ?
It’s okay to make money from computing. But it’s not okay to subvert technology to the sole profit goal. We should be bothered if we’re not worthy from what we’ve received and inherited. Make a living, but above all, become a good person.