Akshay

This would be devastating. And it’s one of the main reasons I don’t regret not mining bitcoin many, many years ago, when I had a chance to when it was worth only a cent. Because the best way to be happy is to be able to have, but choose not to. And the best security there is, is your own ability to produce and create. Having a fortune in bitcoin that grew in value through no effort of my own would be a constant thing of worry. Did I mine enough? Did I sell at the right time? Do I sell now? Do I wait? The worry would come from the fact that I would be unable to recreate that wealth if something happened to it. Same reason lotto winners are unhappy and go broke more often than not. They don’t have a way to recreate that money. True wealth comes from the knowingness that you could loose it all and recreate it from scratch again. Investing in yourself and your ability to create is the most important thing you can do in your life. True happiness comes from creating and not having.

This episode is great to learn about Ken Griffin and his career. Ken listened and emailed me saying he loved it:

A bespoke software revolution? I don't buy it. It'll exist. It already exists. Small consultants and big consulting firms have made custom software for years. It almost always sucks. It’s bloated, confusing, and because the client pays, it’s built wrong in all the ways. Who’s excited about bespoke software? Software makers! Of course they're excited about building bespoke software — that's what they do. X is full of them. Your feed is full of people who love making software talking about making software. Of course they’re excited about the revolution. Echo, echo, echo... Most people don’t like computers. Nobody in tech wants to say that out loud. People tolerate computers. They use them because they have to. Given the choice, most would rather not think about them at all. So when someone suggests that AI means everyone will build their own custom tools, ask who "everyone" is. The three-person accounting firm drowning in client paperwork? They want the paperwork gone, not a new system to maintain. The regional logistics company with 40 trucks? They want the routes optimized, not Joe spouting off about this new system he’s been messing around with. The law firm billing 70-hour weeks? They want leverage on their time, not a software project to design. They don’t hate technology. But building and maintaining their own critical systems isn’t their wheelhouse, regardless of how much faster and easier it’s become. It's another job on top of the job. Will these people use AI? Absolutely, for all sorts of things. Will some outliers go deep and build real custom systems? Sure, but they're almost always people who already had some pull toward software. The curiosity was already there. They were dabblers before. Giving everyone access to software building tools doesn't mean everyone becomes a builder. A powerful excavator doesn't turn a homeowner into a contractor. Most people just want the hole dug by someone else. They don’t want the responsibility either.

Over a year on Omarchy now. No regrets.

Software engineer is solved in the same way that accounting is: Most people still don't want to do it. It doesn't matter how "solved" it is, you still need to ask a specific professional to do it.