[antibland]

> ...we’ve built programs that just dont talk to each other at all.

This really struck me, the idea that perhaps software mirrors the human experience. In the US, we've traded tribalism for individualism, open discussion for echo chambers, and the exchange of beliefs for the walled garden of one's personal vision.

[hashtagmarkup]

It struck me too... but as completely wrong. A large majority of my work is in APIs, both as a consumer and provider; between local processes, local networks, and the global internet. Every program I build talks to other programs... a lot. If there is any problem at all, it's not that programs don't talk to each other; it's that they talk 1 of 1,000 different standards.

[gmueckl]

And yet, we have companies building their value based on giant, secret hoards of information hidden away in their lairs, offering mere glimpses of treasures (or horrors) within through their APIs.

Just try to imagine what would happen if the entirety of Facebook's or Google's user were dumped somewhere for everybody to rifle through... The only saving grace here seems to be that the amounts of data are so huge that copying it all takes an unreasonable amount of resources.

[hashtagmarkup]

This doesn't really have anything to do with Google and Facebook. Did you read the article?

[gmueckl]

To quote from.the article:

> Information has not become more seamless.

My comment is a reflection on this.

[hashtagmarkup]

Do you know what "reflection" means? You're not making any sense.

[gmueckl]

The Oxford dictionary lists multiple definitions of reflection. One is "your written or spoken thoughts about a particular subject or topic".