Ask HN: What are you working on? (May 2025)

Previously, the focus was on IoT—something and stupid kubernetes that barely stirred any genuine interest—or on Blockchain, before that, it was the rise of tablet PCs, eBook readers, and micropayments.

All of it amounted to little more than distractions, fleeting fascinations with the latest shiny novelty.

Interestingly, statements like this hardly ever provoke any reaction, yet people are inexplicably drawn to nonsense of the aforementioned kind.

Comments (4)

rossdavidh · 12h ago

So, there is a glut of computing power, and they want to use it for something. IoT, Blockchain, AI, etc. are all ways of using up a surplus of computing power, rather than admitting that supply has gotten well ahead of demand.

https://www.rosshartshorn.net/stuffrossthinksabout/computing...

minimaxir · 12h ago

IoT/Blockchain only had proof-of-concepts of practical applications and hype. AI/LLMs have actual applications with a tangible increase in utility.

That isn't to say the hype for AI is proportionate to said utility, but it's the key difference.

gsky · 12h ago

we would not have had computers and internet if 80s people chose not to chase next big thing.

MobiusHorizons · 11h ago

Not really. Modern hype cycles are an artifact of increasing irrationality in markets fueled at least in part by index fund investing, which moves a lot of money based solely on blind criteria like market cap. So these days hype cycles from the VC world start to impact the public market and get amplified by index funds. Companies then go chasing the money by jumping onboard the hype regardless of how irrational it is. As far as I can tell, that’s not how any of this worked in the 70s and 80s when DOD funded the development of ARPANET through traditional university research and computer companies developed microchips small enough and cheap enough to allow personal computers.

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Comments (4)