The (Inflated) Value of Source Code — part 2

(2nd in a series. Read Part 1 and Part 3)

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Ramifications of Inflated Value of Source Code

Now that I’ve established that source code is overvalued, what impact does this have on the tech world?

1. Tech Bros

Ok, so what has this dastardly turn of events done to the tech industry? It has led to a proliferation of insufferable tech bros who lecture us about free markets and other techno-libertarian hobby horses. Some of these are reasonably good (THC legalization) and some not so much (Buy Bitcoin!) It’s perhaps a little too tidy of an argument to blame one phenomenon on a single source, so it’s probably not the only reason we have this issue, but I posit it’s a big one. By deciding that source code itself was the thing of primary value, we then made the next logical step: people who write must be unicorn geniuses. After all, they provide the value that everyone else lives off, so we should prop them up and give them all the toys they want so they’ll be happy. I strongly believe that this is one of the major reasons why work culture in technology has been so toxic. When you tell people that they’re amazing and smart and they’re the reason we have all the nice things, that’s a great way to create narcissists with little empathy. Throw in the gender dynamics that led the…