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The Organic Software Manifesto

Organic Software Developer at work

Reader of the future, this blog post was our 2023 April Fool. The blog post was 85% generated by ChatGPT, and the illustration is the fruit of Stable diffusion.

Can you write a blog post for me? The blog post is written by a startup.

The first paragraph will explain what the Arts and Craft movement history is, and explain it appeared in reaction to the excess of the industrial revolution

The second paragraph will tell about a specific key event in the creation of the organic food movement.

The third paragraph will tell a specific key event in the history of laws against dopping.

The fourth paragraph will then state that today is our turn to have such a moment in the software industry.

The fifth parapagraph will explain our concern about the effect of AI technologies on software craftsmanship.

The sixth paragraph will explain that in reaction to that phenomenon we redacted the organic software manifesto.

Then will follow a list of 10 rules that constitutes the organic software manifesto.
For instance, we should not use autocomplete features.

In the late 19th century, the Arts and Craft movement emerged in reaction to the excesses of the industrial revolution. It emphasized the importance of traditional craftsmanship and sought to create beautiful and functional objects that were made by hand and reflected the skill and creativity of the individual craftsman.

In 1962, Rachel Carson's book, "Silent Spring," alerted the public to the dangers of pesticides and other chemicals used in agriculture and led to increased interest in organic farming methods.

In 1967 a British cyclist, Tommy Simpson, died during the Tour de France. His death was caused by amphetamines that he had taken to boost his performance. This tragedy led to the creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Today, 2023, we believe that the software industry is at a similar inflection point. It's time to take a hard look at the use of AI technologies in software development.

At Quickwit, we are deeply concerned about the impact of AI technologies on software craftsmanship. On the one hand, we fully acknowledge these tools can be incredibly useful for automating repetitive tasks and increasing productivity. On the other hand, they can also lead to a "cookie-cutter" approach to software development. We worry that this trend could lead to a degradation in the quality of software, stifle creativity and innovation, and alienate software developers.

In reaction to this phenomenon, we have redacted the Organic Software Manifesto. The manifesto outlines ten rules that we believe are essential to creating software that reflects the core values of Organic Software:

  • We should strive to create software that is beautiful and elegant.
  • We should avoid creating software that is addictive or harmful.
  • We will value the human touch and collaboration in software development.
  • We will avoid relying on metrics and quantitative measures of success.
  • We will strive to continually improve our skills and knowledge through learning and practice.
  • We will resist the temptation to use pre-built templates or libraries without fully understanding their workings.
  • We will encourage experimentation and creativity in our code.
  • We will write all of our code by hand and never rely on autocomplete features.
  • We will not enforce a restrictive codestyle, nor rely on linters in our CI process.
  • We should avoid taking nootropics unless organic.

We believe that by adhering to these principles, we can create software that is not only functional but also elegant, efficient, and human. We hope that others in the software industry will join us in this effort to preserve the art and craft of software development for future generations.

We also invite all software developer following the organic software's principle to adopt a three-codepoint craftman's mark and to start marking their source code's authorship, to express their support.

Yours truely, ٤🝱魚.