As a longtime HN user. I've noticed a drastic shift in the last few years in the industry. The glamour of a "hot startup" has gone away in lieu of the inevitably of big corporations and big platforms. Being a programmer doesn't seem as desirable or command nearly the respect that it did just a decade ago.

The "hacker ethos" seems to be in decline, for any number of interconnected reasons:

- The rise of AI

- High interest rates

- Dooming/decline of tech optimism

- Decline of the open internet and the rise of proprietary services

- Abandonment by tech leaders

- Diminishing returns of software on human productivity

- Generational changes

Does anyone else share this feeling? Temporarily or as a fundamental shift?

To that end, to what purpose is HN if the idea of a "hacker" goes away? It's hard not to understand the sudden shift of HN posts being political news, but what other topics are more broadly relevant to tech people right now?