The Cynical Architect

Mayer's Law of Semantic Decay: Adoption and meaning always move in opposite directions.

A glossary of terms that meant something once — or are heading that way.

New Problems With Old Names #

1990s–2000s

API — We need two systems to talk.
Web Services — They talk, now over the internet.
Web 2.0 — Still the web, but it reacts to you.
Cloud — Let’s use someone else’s servers.

Old Problems With New Names #

2010s

Full Stack — One person builds the whole thing now.
Microservices — Still services, but smaller (if we’re lucky).
Serverless — Still servers, but now someone else’s problem.
Big Data — More data than we can possibly use.

All Problems Now Solved With AI #

2020s–2030s

AI — Still AI, but now it has a prompt.
RAG — AI can finally use all that data (if we’re lucky).
MCP — AI can finally use APIs (if we’re lucky).
AI Agents — Loop the prompt and give it a job title.
Human in the Loop — One person approves the whole thing now.
Autonomous AI — AI loops itself, but now someone else’s problem.
Sovereign AI — Let’s return to using our own servers.
Embodied AI — All of the above, but now with legs.