# Preventing the Collapse of Civilization by Jonathan Blow

6 Hacker News commenters recommended Preventing the Collapse of Civilization by Jonathan Blow and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Commenters recommend this 2019 Jonathan Blow talk on software engineering as one of their favorites, saying its points remain relevant today.

## Why people recommend it

- Favorite talk of many commenters (2 comments): "One of my favorite talks of all time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49425056)) "One of my favorite talks." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041560))
- Strongly recommended talk on software engineering (2 comments): "I can't recommend this 2019 talk about software engineering by Jonathan Blow, entitled Preventing the Collapse of Civilization, enough" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47914667)) "I think you are going to enjoy this talk by Jonathan Blow" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47260314))
- Points still relevant, prescient (2 comments): "could've been given today, with the points being more relevant than ever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041420)) "Prescient, and perhaps a bit quaint in its optimism" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47260366))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Simple Made Easy by Rich Hickey](https://hackerapproved.com/p/simple-made-easy.md): 22 recommend
- [Porting Linux to Apple Silicon by Asahi Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/asahi-linux-porting-linux-to-apple-silicon.md): 8 recommend
- [Hammock Driven Development by Rich Hickey](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hammock-driven-development-talk.md): 7 recommend
- [The Root of the Root of All Evil by Casey Muratori](https://hackerapproved.com/p/root-of-the-root-of-all-evil.md): 7 recommend
- [Children of the Magenta Line](https://hackerapproved.com/p/children-of-the-magenta-line.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Preventing the Collapse of Civilization by Jonathan Blow", https://hackerapproved.com/p/preventing-the-collapse-of-civilization/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).