Who Are We Now?
5 hours ago
- Giambattista Vico's concept of Verum Factum ('the true is the same as the made') emphasizes deep understanding through creation, applicable to software development.
- Verum Factum gives developers confidence to ship and respond to issues because they know the code intimately as an extension of themselves.
- The relationship between developer and code is a 'symmathesy'—a learning system where both change and learn from each other through tests, logs, and production feedback.
- As teams grow, collective Verum Factum weakens, but can be strengthened by practices like pairing, expressive code, better tests, and observability.
- AI agents cannot achieve Verum Factum because they are not changed by writing code; they lack ongoing participation and accountability.
- To work with agents, developers must double down on objective verification (tests, observability, CI) and treat agents as tools within a larger context they engineer.
- Developers remain in charge of goals, architecture, and the agent's learning loops, regaining Verum Factum by improving the agent's environment and experience.
- AI enables faster experimentation and side projects, but demands new skills like context engineering and architecture, while reducing the value of detailed coding skills.
- Human ways of knowing—curiosity, play, togetherness, repetition (Erfahrung)—are uniquely valuable and should be leaned into as AI takes over rational tasks.
- Work is a Gesellschaft (transactional association); real community (Gemeinschaft) comes from family, neighbors, and enduring relationships.
- Society is accelerating technologically and socially, and developers must consciously participate in shaping their systems, teams, and broader society.
- The talk calls for responsible use of AI, provenance of media, transparent algorithms, and political engagement to improve the systems we make.