116 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
116 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "Our Summer Update"
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meta_title: ""
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description: "See where we stand halfway through the year"
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date: 2025-06-23T12:00:00Z
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image: "/images/hmc/ocean.jpg"
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categories: ["Press Release"]
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author: "Abner Coimbre"
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tags: ["meta", "hmc"]
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draft: false
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---
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Catch up on our progress this year. Ticket discounts are ending soon!
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**Things to Discuss**
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- Conference Theme: Handmade at Home
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- Discord Off-Ramp
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- My Thoughts on AI
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- Bonus Video: Is Handmade like Suckless?
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Dear community member,
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Summer is here! **I’ve [extended](/tickets) the Spring Sale a few more days,** but the discounts vanish after Wednesday:
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{{< button label="Register" link="/tickets" style="solid" >}}
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Check out our new [downloadable](/calendar) calendar to keep track of event dates.
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---
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### "Handmade at Home"
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This year’s conference theme is *Handmade at Home*, and it has two meanings.
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#### Meaning #1: Cleaning House
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With our industry in upheaval, it’s tricky to settle down and reflect, let alone evangelize our values. Here’s what we’re facing:
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1. Handmade Cities is full of gamedevs and they're [in very hot water](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/topics/layoffs)
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2. International attendance is dropping to [near zero](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44084767). I'm not the only organizer [suffering](https://archive.is/QWmxO) consequences
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3. Morale is at an all-time low due to AI (more on this later)
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Therefore I'm keen for talks or demos that offer hope, strategies, and inspiration against these grim realities. The theme is open-ended.
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**Reminder:** Our new content will be 80% technical and 20% about programmer well-being.
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#### Meaning #2: Elevate Our Own Talent
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Historically, I've chosen high-profile speakers outside our community to come talk to us. This is valuable. However, I haven't spent nearly enough time platforming community voices.
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We have astounding system programmers at our [meetups](/meetups) and I wish to hear from them.
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{{< image src="images/meetups/cowork_seattle_2025.jpg" caption="Seattle Coworking Session (2025)" alt="cline bot landing page" height="806" width="605" position="center" command="fill" option="q100" class="img-fluid" title="image title" webp="false" >}}
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Someone reading this may be a worthy candidate and not even know it. Send an informal proposal to submissions@handmadecities.com
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{{< button label="Submit a Talk" link="mailto:submissions@handmadecities.com" style="solid" >}}
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---
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### Discord Off-Ramp
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It's not controversial to say I want to shut down Discord: everyone can sympathize for one reason or another! I’ve left all servers except for my own [HMC](/discord) and [TC](https://terminal.click/discord) for now.
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I’m moving us to [Revolt](https://revolt.chat) through an invite-only system. Here’s how it’ll work:
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- I invite people I know personally
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- Meetup hosts can invite their meetup groups
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- Conference ticket holders are auto-invited (2025 onwards)
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Indeed, [meetup](https://handmadecities.com/meetups) hosts will send chat invites with my command-line tool, which they already use to send newsletters. (I'm in the middle of completing this feature.)
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{{< image src="images/hmc/revolt.png" caption="Revolt is an open-source Discord copycat (and that's a good thing)" alt="cline bot landing page" height="" width="" position="center" command="fill" option="q100" class="img-fluid" title="image title" webp="false" >}}
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I am, in essence, [heeding the advice](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44331351) of this HN comment:
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> I honestly couldn't tell you right now what the long game looks like. Only to find your humans, build your digital fortresses, and help each other as best you can.
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Revolt won't be foolproof of course. The host could go rogue and invite randos, or the ticket holder might take on a fake identity. I'm fine with some cracks on the floor though. This transition is happening over the summer and I’ll keep folks posted if they're [subscribed](/news).
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---
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### My Thoughts on AI
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All right, it's a stretch to call my take on artificial intelligence a "real" philosophy, but it is informed from careful study.
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I'm no longer a stranger to AI; I can effectively use the [cline](https://cline.bot) bot and deploy MCP servers. I review, quantize, and self-host open models. I stay on top of the "latest and greatest" and have vibe coders on speed dial (I keep dissenting opinions closer than friends.)
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So what's the conclusion? I offer two.
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{{< image src="images/hmc/cline.png" caption="Cline Bot - Landing Page" alt="cline bot landing page" height="" width="" position="center" command="fill" option="q100" class="img-fluid" title="image title" webp="false" >}}
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#### Conclusion #1: Handmade Ethos is Competitive
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Serious Handmade projects, like my own [Terminal Click](https://terminal.click), don't gain from AI. It does help at the margins: I've delegated website work since last year, and I enjoy seamless CI/CD for my builds. This is meaningful.
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However, it fails at novel problems and isn’t practical for my systems programming work. (Skeptics should check out the bonus video at the end.)
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#### Conclusion #2: A Market for the Artisanal
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Let's imagine LLM agents become essential for true innovation: the top 5% of 'manual' coders are officially threatened! From what I observe at our in-person events, there remains the eternal craving for what's purely human.
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Even True Believers conceded to me users will crave Handmade projects the same way people crave artisanal crafts, furniture or goods. They called this futuristic market fringe - I call it sustainable.
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**TL;DR:** I don't lose sleep over my craft disappearing. I lose sleep over the automation of mediocrity.
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---
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### Is Handmade like Suckless? (Video)
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Anyone who made it this far deserves a cool video! I've set up a permalink at [terminal.click/suckless](https://terminal.click/suckless)
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<div style="padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1091637660?badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" title="Handmade is NOT Suckless"></iframe></div><script src="https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js"></script>
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Over the years some new community members often think [suckless](https://suckless.org) and Handmade are similar if not the same. Out of respect for both, I feel it's time to respond.
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The payoff is worthwhile if viewers watch patiently.
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*P.S. Don’t expect a deep philosophical breakdown. Instead, I casually compare their signature terminal software against my own: two real-world products from competing ideologies.*
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Your indie organizer,<br>Abner Coimbre
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