I emphatize with depression on a deep level. The population of software developers is so large that just picking a few known cases of depression makes for an argument of unknown statistical strength.
One thing is known - software development is hard, potentially stressfull with recurring pathologies that really don't have any known remedies except 'dedicated craftmanship'.
On the other hand, a few of the examples pinpointed to a cruel and unkind society as the root cause of depressive issues - system issued chemical horrors in the case of Alan Turing and zealous politically ambitious ptosecutor in the case of Schwartz.
The issue is then not that the software shop cannot function always as the surrogate family but that systems should not treat individuals cruelly.
Which is an admirable dream - but goes really weirdly with antagonizing with liberal politics. Anarchism would not lead to a kinder society with the human species as it is.
One thing is known - software development is hard, potentially stressfull with recurring pathologies that really don't have any known remedies except 'dedicated craftmanship'.
On the other hand, a few of the examples pinpointed to a cruel and unkind society as the root cause of depressive issues - system issued chemical horrors in the case of Alan Turing and zealous politically ambitious ptosecutor in the case of Schwartz.
The issue is then not that the software shop cannot function always as the surrogate family but that systems should not treat individuals cruelly.
Which is an admirable dream - but goes really weirdly with antagonizing with liberal politics. Anarchism would not lead to a kinder society with the human species as it is.