Matthew Weser

Paranoid Architect:

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@dbdiagram Is it just me, or is your website not available right now?

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

Umm, Microsoft SwiftKey, is there something you're not telling me? 😰

[db @whokilleddb]

This has to be my fav sticker from #SecurityFest

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

😂

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@Johnonabote Also once you let go you must be finished with it

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

Today, we remember a legend.

On this day in history, Harambe would have celebrated another birthday. An icon that became part of internet history, American culture, and an entire generation’s timeline.

Tomorrow marks 10 years since we lost him. Ten years since the moment the world stopped scrolling and collectively mourned something bigger than a meme.

He became a symbol of loyalty, strength, chaos, unity, and the strange beauty of the internet bringing millions of people together for one cause: never forgetting Harambe.

Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. And somehow, a decade later, his legacy still lives on.

Gone, but never forgotten.
Rest easy to a true patriot. 🕊️🇺🇸

May 27, 1999 — May 28, 2016
Forever in our hearts.

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@machines_sad @sanandreafault It doesn't go under the ocean, just through the mountains

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@Syraavibes No one mentioning Shinkansen?

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

Oof, that’s gotta hurt. Everyone please line up and form a straight line.

[Formula🌵 @1realFormula]

Google designers need to be stopped😭

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@Cipher_twt Vista, not even close.

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@emiliacastelao If the pieces were magnetic and you were in null-g, you could have six games going at once.

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@ThankGod1903 Cool site, although should probably be able to see distance on each card (and filter).

Just launched?

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@chesscom Only if you throw in a couple railroads

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@leejooca Clearly you've never seen poutine 🇨🇦

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@_BRCooper @TerribleMaps What an idiot. The "birds" argument is Ali implying that modern humans come in different "species". The man was a terrible listener.

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@8teAPi If you truly have done 200 dives you wouldn't be getting "panic attacks just thinking about them". Ridiculous take.

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@8teAPi Dude you don't understand Chinese politics, no matter how confident you make yourself sound. Modern China isn't the Soviet Union. Plenty of homegrown multimillionaires popular in society there.

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

I think it's hilarious to watch people be so anxious as a result of a lack of drive beyond just money. It's fine pursuing achievement, but when it's all about "retiring as soon as possible" or "hitting a numeric value" rather than finding a deeper intrinsic value to existence beyond vanity, people get what they deserve for being so shallow.

As someone who got into tech and engineering for purely the innate love of building and solving problems, I loathe those who are in it to see what they can extract from others. They're in the wrong area and should think of what they can offer the world instead.

[Deedy @deedydas]

The vibes in SF feel pretty frenetic right now. The divide in outcomes is the worst I've ever seen.

Over the last 5yrs, a group of ~10k people - employees at Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Nvidia, Meta TBD, founders - have hit retirement wealth of well above $20M (back of the envelope AI estimation).

Everyone outside that group feels like they can work their well-paying (but <$500k) job for their whole life and never get there.

Worse yet, layoffs are in full swing. Many software engineers feel like their life's skill is no longer useful. The day to day role of most jobs has changed overnight with AI.

As a result,
1. The corporate ladder looks like the wrong building to climb.
Everyone's trying to align with a new set of career "paths": should I be a founder? Is it too late to join Anthropic / OpenAI? should I get into AI? what company stock will 10x next? People are demanding higher salaries and switching jobs more and more.

2. There’s a deep malaise about work (and its future).
Why even work at all for “peanuts”? Will my job even exist in a few years? Many feel helpless. You hear the “permanent underclass” conversation a lot, esp from young people. It's hard to focus on doing good work when you think "man, if I joined Anthropic 2yrs ago, I could retire"

3. The mid to late middle managers feel paralyzed.
Many have families and don't feel like they have the energy or network to just "start a company". They don't particularly have any AI skills. They see the writing on the wall: middle management is being hollowed out in many companies.

4. The rich aren’t particularly happy either.
No one is shedding tears for them (and rightfully so). But those who have "made it" experience a profound lack of purpose too. Some have gone from <$150k to >$50M in a few years with no ramp. It flips your life plans upside down. For some, comparison is the thief of joy. For some, they escape to NYC to "live life". For others still, they start companies "just cuz", often to win status points. They never imagined that by age 30, they'd be set. I once asked a post-economic founder friend why they didn't just sell the co and they said "and do what? right now, everyone wants to talk to me. if i sell, I will only have money."

I understand that many reading this scoff at the champagne problems of the valley. Society is warped in this tech bubble. What is often well-off anywhere else in the world is bang average here.

Unlike many other places, tenure, intelligence and hard work can be loosely correlated with outcomes in the Bay. Living through a societally transformative gold rush in that environment can be paralyzing. "Am I in the right place? Should I move? Is there time still left? Am I gonna make it?" It psychologically torments many who have moved here in search of "success".

Ironically, a frequent side effect of this torment is to spin up the very products making everyone rich in hopes that you too can vibecode your path to economic enlightenment.

[Matthew Weser @johnny_blastoff]

@lindictive @Spotify I love how offline search isn't supported for downloaded music (SQL must be too much of a mystery to query), but they have time for this.