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I write in C and Vulkan because I refuse to code in the dark. JavaScript and its npm ecosystem are obfuscation as a service, ridiculous by design.
C forces you to be explicit. You manage the memory. You control the logic. If the code breaks, it is your fault, and you can track exactly where the failure happened. There is no magic. There is no hidden abstraction layer doing things behind your back, deciding what it thinks you meant.
The same rule applies to audio engineering. In Max/MSP or Ableton, when I route a kick drum to duck the bass, I see the signal path. I control the parameters. If it sounds wrong, I fix it. No magic. No surprises.
The modern tech industry isn’t just building black boxes; it’s selling them as progress.
When Anthropic deployed their Fin AI Agent to handle my twenty-dollar billing dispute, they weren’t solving a problem; they were outsourcing my frustration to a proprietary middleman. They do not want users touching the underlying logic. They absolutely do not want you talking to the person who holds the keys to the database.
The AI is just a buffer, massively expensive software designed to absorb your anger, exhaust your patience, and simulate empathy while lacking the power to fix a damn thing. It agrees with you. It apologizes to you. It tells you that your logic is sound. But it is intentionally nerfed, a wall that smiles at you while it denies your request.
And if you refuse to roll over? They hit you with the ultimate corporate insult: “Your account does not generate enough revenue to warrant a human.”
I spent seventeen years working as a nurse. In healthcare, when a system fails or a person is in distress, you have to look them in the eye while conveying confidence and competency. You assure them that you are actually going to address their issue. Accountability is immediate, physical, and human. You cannot pawn a frantic patient off on an automated kiosk.
But tech companies have decided that human accountability is a line item they can simply cut.
The environmental burn? Just overhead. The twenty-dollar moat? A beta test. The real danger is who buys the architecture next.
If tech companies are using black boxes to erase human accountability in customer service, the state will not just use them, it will fucking weaponize them.
I have spent my entire adult life protesting policing. It is an antiquated, violent construct that should not exist. ACAB. And now, the tech industry is handing them the ultimate weapon.
AI is not just going to be a tool for law enforcement; it is going to be the new DNA evidence. It is going to be the infallible, mathematical rubber stamp for state violence.
Combine predictive LLMs with the network of Flock cameras already tracking every license plate. Add that to the military-surplus gear local PDs are already wearing. The result? Cops rioting like never before, with the absolute blessing of an algorithm.
And who is accountable when they kill someone? You cannot cross-examine a proprietary neural network. You cannot FOIA a black box. The cops will just shrug, point to the screen, and say the machine told them to do it.
The exact same architecture that smiled and apologized while denying my refund will be used to politely justify a body count.
They call this the bleeding edge of progress. But when you strip away the marketing and the corporate tech bro bullshit, it is just the same old extraction and state violence, buried under a shiny new layer of obfuscation.