Preventing the Collapse of Civilization by Jonathan Blow
Shares rank 10 of 15 conference talks by recommenders
Commenters recommend this 2019 Jonathan Blow talk on software engineering as one of their favorites, saying its points remain relevant today.
Commenters recommend this 2019 Jonathan Blow talk on software engineering as one of their favorites, saying its points remain relevant today.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Favorite talk of many commenters
“One of my favorite talks of all time”
Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance” “One of my favorite talks.”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Andrew Kelley: Don't Take the Black Pill” Strongly recommended talk on software engineering
“I can't recommend this 2019 talk about software engineering by Jonathan Blow, entitled Preventing the Collapse of Civilization, enough”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “The West Forgot How to Make Things. Now It's Forgetting How to Code” “I think you are going to enjoy this talk by Jonathan Blow”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “The L in "LLM" Stands for Lying” Points still relevant, prescient
“could've been given today, with the points being more relevant than ever.”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Andrew Kelley: Don't Take the Black Pill” “Prescient, and perhaps a bit quaint in its optimism”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “The L in "LLM" Stands for Lying”
Other conference talks people recommend
The four most recommended other conference talks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Made Easy by Rich Hickey | 22 | 1 | 96% | 9 | — | Approved |
| The Birth and Death of JavaScript by Gary Bernhardt | 11 | 2 | 85% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs Video Lectures | 11 | 1 | 92% | 3 | — | — |
| Wat by Gary Bernhardt | 9 | 1 | 90% | 5 | — | — |
| Preventing the Collapse of Civilization by Jonathan BlowThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“One of my favorite talks of all time”
“One of my favorite talks.”
“could've been given today, with the points being more relevant than ever.”
“I can't recommend this 2019 talk about software engineering by Jonathan Blow, entitled Preventing the Collapse of Civilization, enough”
“Prescient, and perhaps a bit quaint in its optimism”
“I think you are going to enjoy this talk by Jonathan Blow”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.