'Software is dead' takes get the camera analogy rebuttal: it's software's Kodak Brownie moment
mgill25 · x · 2026-10-12
Responding to the claim that software is dead because agents let anyone build it, several prominent developers push back with an analogy (credited to simonw): declaring software dead is like saying movies died because everyone has a hi-res camera in their pocket — yet film and video are more lucrative than ever.
dabit3 argues this is software's Kodak Brownie moment: the first generation for whom building software feels no different from using it. Expect an explosion of personal and disposable software, dramatically raised quality bars for everyday apps, and agents as the foundation. Lower barriers mean a creative boom, not the end of software.
More from AGI Musings
- If AI outperforms humans at everything, would you want it conscious or just a tool? — MustBeSomethingThere · 2026-10-12
- Debate: AI capability gains stack fragile architecture layers and more tokens each step — rickasaurus · 2026-10-12
- Investor predicts 2027 will be the year of the personal agent — and an AI customer-service boom — neal_lathia · 2026-10-12
- A tiny elite of power users likely burns most of the world's tokens — sinclairx · 2026-10-12
- The sentient superintelligence hypothesis: only an ASI that feels might care — cccalum · 2026-10-12
- Another literary prizewinner under fire: Caine Prize story suspected to be AI — Puzzleheaded-King584 · 2026-10-12