27 replies

1. Phil Giammattei 11 min later

   @zachleat the problem with this perfectly functional public service/utility is that I cannot personally enrich myself with it

2. Ethan Marcotte 19 min later

   @zachleat what if a calculator but worse

   1. Ethan Marcotte 20 min later

      @zachleat what if a coffee cup could sort of tell time

      1. Ethan Marcotte 20 min later

         @zachleat what if a filing cabinet had anxiety

         1. Ethan Marcotte 20 min later

            @zachleat what if your doctor shouted your medical history aloud at passersby

            1. Ethan Marcotte 21 min later

               @zachleat call me a16z

            2. Jason Garber 1 hr later

               @beep what do you mean what if oh oh no

         2. Jason Garber 1 hr later

            @beep it me

      2. Dave 🧱 25 min later

         @beep @zachleat what if a search engine provided bad results as well

   2. Zach Leatherman 22 min later

      @beep if we destroy the air we can monetize breathing oops sorry I may have violated an nda

      1. Tony Mottaz 11 hr later

         @zachleat @beep President Skroob 🫡🫡

         1. Zach Leatherman 22 hr later

            @tonymottaz @beep haha I need to rewatch Spaceballs, clearly

3. Matt Stein 32 min later

   @zachleat what if it’s a digital septic system but the flow is reversed and an algorithm keeps it filled

4. Pete Gamache 36 min later

   @zachleat after three years and two VC rounds, a blog post about how it failed because React Native

   1. Zach Leatherman 42 min later

      @pete this… this feels very specific 😅

5. Jason Garber 1 hr later

   @zachleat zach what if we charged fees for access to emergency services in exchange for medallions you affixed to the front of your dwelling

   1. Zach Leatherman 1 hr later

      @jgarber yes, we love badge-based gamification

      1. Jason Garber 1 hr later

         @zachleat fire department rolls up to your burning house with an updated terms and conditions in need of review and acceptance

         1. Zach Leatherman 2 hr later

            @jgarber Amazon Kindle Fire Festival

            1. ~/src; 2 hr later

               @zachleat @jgarber Springfield Fire District 13 has partnered with Late Capitalist Plague Solutions to offer a limited time achievement: house burning down while prevented egress due to quarantine!

               1. ~/src; 2 hr later

                  @zachleat @jgarber Winners eligible for Free Delivery from Emergency Medical Transport from Uber!

                  Service fees may apply, prices may be different from those posted in person, cash value $0.01, subject to availability and blackout dates. By reading this, you accept full liability for all crimes committed by our contractors who are definitely not employees.

6. phae 2 hr later

   @zachleat hah. Have I got some good tech-in-gov sad stories for you!

   1. phae 2 hr later

      @zachleat an actual person on a board who I won't name but rhymes with Pohn Billy actually said out loud to me something like "Well, my family just expects there to be an icon on their iPhones to talk to their city. They don't go to websites." in response to a gov website modernisation programme.

      1. Stuart Langridge 2 hr later

         @phae @zachleat really? oof. More grist for the PWA installation mill, I suppose, but that's quite a disappointing thing to hear someone say nonetheless; that distinction they're drawing. Hmph. Need to work harder to help people understand why that's not a good distinction.

         1. phae 3 hr later

            @sil That was ~2016.

            I only mention it because Zach's "feels like" is actually alive and well in the VC/monied/power sector, esp. in the Bay.

            They got those rich people brain worms.

            @zachleat

            1. Stuart Langridge 3 hr later

               @phae @zachleat they really, really do. The rich people brain worms are another pandemic.

               1. Alex Russell 3 hr later

                  @sil @phae @zachleat The foisgreymatter outbreak is real.