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Forget crypto, VR, AI. When it comes to empowering humans, new tech has nothing on the well-tempered clavier.

- PAUL FORD

IT IS POSSIBLE to fall out of love with technology. I have seen skilled, successful software engineers give up their laptops to become farmers or therapists or realtors. They may use spreadsheets and software to manage their crops, but code is no longer their main concern; they're more worried about the disposition of their goats.

No one wants to talk about it at the morning stand-up, but everyone is thinking: How could someone turn their back on the future? Especially when so many people are trying to find their way in. But replacements are hired, memories fade, and new JavaScript frameworks are released. "Remember Jeff?" people say. "One of his goats gave birth on Instagram."

The basic ethos of tech is that once you're in, you're in for life-after you launch your first app, you'll never want to do anything ever again but make more apps, or manage other people as they make apps. Merely wanting a paycheck is suspect; passion is required. Which is why, whenever I fall out of love with technology-as has happened to me perhaps five times I keep my mouth shut. I'm a professional software-liker and the cofounder of a software startup. I browse GitHub for fun and read random code. So I cannot, must not, tell people that one day last month I was getting coffee before a meeting and looked up from Slack and thought, "Man, coffee is hot and liquid, and people drink it. I would like to do things that have flavors and temperatures."