Commodification of all things except for queries
Is commodification a good thing?
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More services should be commodified. Like a cafe is commodified, it pops up everywhere.
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Incremental structure discovery is not only the property of software development, but of engineering of unique hardware, unique individualized treatments, creating unique art, etc. The commodification happens when an item of certain qualities becomes in demand, that's when commodification and packaging makes a lot of sense. Don't forget, software is also commodified already, e.g., it's packaged. You need to run a simple function at scale? Just use a serverless computing solution, and get even a small piece of software development (a function) commodified.
// At some point the price of the skilled labour for computer systems will hit a plateau and software development will no longer be a high paying job. We have to avoid this reality as much as possible.
Oh oh. A software developer in fear of AI? Look, in a sense, lawyers are also programmers, and legalese is a programming language. In a sense, everyone is a programmer. In the AI domain, programming is called "planning". Example of AI planning is driving directions software, that finds the best program to go from point A to point B (just like devops tools take a system from state A to state B). Just because such programming gets automated, and everyone uses declarative programs (e.g., "I want the system of these properties built, and it gets built automatically.") instead of imperative programming, the world doesn't fall apart -- you'll still need good ideas from people, what kind of programs need to get auto-constructed, and what actually are properties of good programs.
So, imagine that we now have a system, that we have a system, that auto-develops ad-hoc software based on ad-hoc specifications, just like Google Maps gives ad-hoc driving routes, and people don't need to program anymore, but instead, just to wish that something happens, e.g., that one's personal history is auto-indexed in personal cloud with specific whims of the person who wants, and becomes available for one's queries -- and the operating system (let's call it "Master" computer in one's home) auto-develops and auto-deploys such system. Imagine of every whim, like, "I wish I had an app for this and that." -- and such things auto-developing. Would that be bad? Just like these days we don't think it's bad to program in higher level programming language, the people of the future will simply enjoy the capability of "Thought-to-Software" systems, where they don't even have to speak, but think that they'd want something happen in some way, and it would....
Ultimately, I guess it's high level thinking and feeling, not software development, is what don't want to delegate.
Commodification has the impact of reducing salaries and the maximum chargeable price for a good or service but has the side effect of making entire industries possible.
MacDonalds is possible because all the products they purchase are commodified (beef, bread products, chicken products, kechup, cola drinks, drinks)
The PC industry is commodified where CPU, RAM, motherboards and computer cases are all available for cheaply. But the expensive thing is skilled labour. At some point the price of the skilled labour for computer systems will hit a plateau and software development will no longer be a high paying job. We have to avoid this reality as much as possible.