this post was submitted on 21 May 2024
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Programmer Humor

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago

Here's the source:

https://xkcd.com/2501/

And the alt text:

How could anyone consider themselves a well-rounded adult without a basic understanding of silicate geochemistry? Silicates are everywhere! It's hard to throw a rock without throwing one!

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Stop linking xkcd without including the alt-text.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

It's not the original

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 months ago (3 children)

It still confuses what basic computer skills the average person lacks. Like, how are you even supposed to troubleshoot your computer, if you don't know the basics about your computer?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Everyone has a limited time on this earth. Some of us don't mind or actively enjoy spending that time learning about the technology we use. Others, not so much. I think this comic is really spot on because it's hard to understand as a tech literate person just how little other people may know. "What browser are you using?" "What's a browser?"

The foundational knowledge is not that tough, but when you're just interested in getting the damn thing to work so you can get on with your life, it's easy to get frustrated by having to take a crash course on what the hell a BIOS is before you can try to fix it. And when you learn all that just for it to still be broken, patience quickly runs out.

As long as people have the general understanding that power cycling will solve a good 75% of issues, I'm happy. I hope people give me the same grace when I pay a someone to fix my car or replace my phone screen (I love building computers, but god I hate working on phones).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

For the phone bit, I started off with really old smartphones like a Galaxy S1, but basically any old old phones are really built like mini laptops and are usually pretty modular as they weren't often water resistant or actively anti-repair

However I fully get your point and fall into the same boat with cars

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Dude I'm the same with my car.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I mean, cars can be demystified the same way computers can: By building and maintaining it yourself. Everyone is afraid to build their first computer, because it seems way too complicated and delicate. Then you actually build your first one, and go “oh hey this actually isn’t so bad after all.”

Yes, cars (especially modern cars) have a lot more difficult-to-build parts. But modern cars are also a lot like computers in the sense that you don’t need to know every single component on an GPU to be able to install one. You don’t need to be able to build a car part from scratch. The same way you can slot a GPU into a motherboard, you can just buy the entire car part preassembled and bolt it into place. The important part is learning what the different components do, so you can troubleshoot them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Problem is I have zero interest in cars. If I could I'd live car free.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

you don't you just call the most technical person you know and ask them to do it

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

You got a point there. I also regularly forget that you don't have to know shit about PCs do use windows/Mac.

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