I'm Tired of Pretending Tech is Making the World Better
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Open-source technology absolutely is making the world better.
People forget that technology is agnostic to morals and ideals. Which is a big part of why I support FOSS. It is tech with goals that do aim for accessibility and making the world better. I am not a huge donator as I don't make much money, nor can I code well, but I donate and contribute where I can.
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You see, it actually did still save you time from finding a local shop that sells it and interacting with your neighbor
Yeah my neighbors suck
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technology has the potential to make life so much better, there are two problems.
Tech that makes life better, usually doesn't create much value. Because it's either, already been created, and if it has, it's probably enshittified by now.
Go use open source FOSS tech, it's great. Contribute to the improvement of society by not using terrible technology and begin using good technology, it's free!
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Yeah I think blanket statements either way are misguided. Some tech does help the disabled, other tech makes their lives much more difficult. It's like any other tool, when it's used at scale by something aiming for optimizing profit it will have terrible side effects
sure, some tech makes life more difficult, but it'd be weird to require it's use, so you're either going to go through a bad government structure (different problem) or choose to use bad products for some reason.
I guess the secret third answer is working somewhere that requires you to use shitty tech, but like, same problem as no 1.
I find the bigger problem to be implementation and support, shit like QR codes and phone based payment taking over things like paper, and card based payment, that's objectively worse. Though both QR codes and phone based payment are in isolation, explicitly good and beneficial things.
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What's sad about a lunch pause? Do I need to keep working 8 hours straight?
Or about a car braking automatically? I has saved me twice in four years, I was looking to see if someone was coming from one direction while the guy in front of me braked suddenly. Car stopped before I rear ended the other guy.
I must be missing something...
The sad part as I read it is that you actually have to work 8 hours at all. Productivity has increased more than thrice in the last few decades, yet, the early industrialization 8+ hours are still the norm while it has been proven to be unproductive for most jobs and defiantly unhealthy. Or at least that is what I interpret into it. There are different models of work breaks, I think the french have a somewhat long lunch break because they celebrate it more while other work cultures are more on the nutrition acquisition road
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We'd all be better off if we learned to question tech as a gift and see it for its grift.
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Tech isn’t the problem. It’s the people in charge of it. It’s the capitalism/neo-feudalism controlling the politics.
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yes, that is the root of the problem
focusing on the boils is meaningless; you take out one, another popus up.
the root problem needs to be addressed. i understand that people might have a difficult time understanding that, but capitalism is ultimately targeted towards making progress, and if there's no more healthy progress to be made, it starts making unhealthy progress instead. Similar to a toe nail that won't stop growing until you end up with an in-grown toe nail. And you know how painful that is.
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Open-source technology absolutely is making the world better.
Open source analytics tools are still pushing for ad-driven business models that make the world (and the content) worse.
Open source LLMs still waste computational power and pollute.
And the list continues. Some open source technologies serve a good goal, some contribute to make the world as bad as some non-OSS. -
I agree, and good for you for leaving the restaurant. You could open a competing restaurant that doesn't use apps and let people vote with their wallets. It's not the nature of technology, its the decision of some people who are bad at knowing their customers. I don't "have to" wash my clothes in the washing machine, but you bet I won't even think about doing it manually. Forcing the use of an app is like only offering a vegan selection. If your customer didn't ask for it you are going to have a bad time. If you are the only place in town is a monopoly problem, and a different discussion.
Having to use an app to order food might be slightly annoying, but it beats working 12h a day in the field to feed my familiy. It's the firstest of first world problems.
but it beats working 12h a day in the field to feed my familiy.
btw, people didn't work 12 h a day in the field
the long work days are a result of capitalism. yes, progress has increased average work hours, instead of decreasing them.
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Consumer technology I can see being very toxic and also toxic for the environment because people don’t know how to recycle or purchase correctly. Commercial tech like IoT is going to help save the planet and support the majority with them knowing.
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Author is one step away from the realization that Capitalism is the culprit, and technology is just the vector.
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focusing on the boils is meaningless; you take out one, another popus up.
the root problem needs to be addressed. i understand that people might have a difficult time understanding that, but capitalism is ultimately targeted towards making progress, and if there's no more healthy progress to be made, it starts making unhealthy progress instead. Similar to a toe nail that won't stop growing until you end up with an in-grown toe nail. And you know how painful that is.
but how to get people to understand that it even is a problem? So many seem to be content to constantly go against even their own interests. Its like most have been brainwashed so they attack you if you dare even suggest there is something wrong with all this. Or if they dont they will just be apathetic and throw canned "it is what it is" at you.
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Tech speeds things up. If you want to do good, it'll help you do it faster. If you want to do evil, it'll help you do it faster.
A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible exceptions of handguns and Tequila.
—Mitch Ratcliffe
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The sad part as I read it is that you actually have to work 8 hours at all. Productivity has increased more than thrice in the last few decades, yet, the early industrialization 8+ hours are still the norm while it has been proven to be unproductive for most jobs and defiantly unhealthy. Or at least that is what I interpret into it. There are different models of work breaks, I think the french have a somewhat long lunch break because they celebrate it more while other work cultures are more on the nutrition acquisition road
I don't have to, I could go half-day and have a decent living, maybe downsizing the house a bit, but I like the big house and the fast car, and the sushi for lunch.
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Author is one step away from the realization that Capitalism is the culprit, and technology is just the vector.
So many are...
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but it beats working 12h a day in the field to feed my familiy.
btw, people didn't work 12 h a day in the field
the long work days are a result of capitalism. yes, progress has increased average work hours, instead of decreasing them.
People back then didn't have Healthcare, cars or iPhones. I like all of those.
Communist countries work even longer hours, look for instance 996 in China.
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My phone struggled to load the site to order a single cold brew, pop-ups to install the custom App kept obscuring the options, and I had to register with my phone number, email address, and first and last name to buy a $5 cup of coffee.
Then walk out. Don't reward the bullshit with your money. The coffee shop ain't gonna give a shit if you keep buying coffee just to go home and complain on your blog.
Maybe they did? You're kinda missing the point though, which is that this stuff is becoming more and more common and will be nigh-unavoidable in the future.
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Weird seeing an Australian using a picture from a place in Belgium
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I had an Amazon bot lie to me. I told it some item didn't show up and I wanted a replacement. It said it would send one and it would show up in my orders. It never did. So I requested a refund later. So tedious.
If you use and consequently support scummy Amazon you fully deserve it.
