The problem is the tech is no longer addressing and solving existing problems. It is only being inserted into working systems to collect data and fees, breaking the processes.
"Science" and technology under capitalism are regressive forces for violent control.
Author is one step away from the realization that Capitalism is the culprit, and technology is just the vector.
Technology has never been the problem: there's nothing wrong with genetic engineering, AI, etc. They can (and have) been used for good.
The problem has always been the "greed is good" sociopaths using it for evil.
So many are...
Tech isn’t the problem. It’s the people in charge of it. It’s the capitalism/neo-feudalism controlling the politics.
Ah look, it’s in Antwerp. Wolstraat to be exact.i used to work in front of that place.
Weird seeing an Australian using a picture from a place in Belgium
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.
We'd all be better off if we learned to question tech as a gift and see it for its grift.
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.
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.
Technology absolutely helps advance science and helps the disabled, It’s greedy fucks that destroyed good tech
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.
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!
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.
Oh I'm so sorry someone asked for an enamel pin from Amazon. Maybe next time someone asks me for a gift from somewhere I'll subject them to a purity test.
apology not accepted
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
I prefer the saying "technology is a tool and a tool can be used for good or evil" or something like that
You can use a hammer to hammer nails or to injure someone
Technology can make the world better if its in the right hands for example open source hardware & software
I understand the complaint, but the big picture of tech has a ton of upside.
Tech itself is not the issue. How it's applied is the issue.
Once tech takes hold, there is massive pressure to monetize the asset.
That's where this complaint lives. Amazing advance becomes ubiquitous, then two things inevitably occur. Companies are formed that apply the technology on unnecessary and unpopular ways (parking app is a perfect example) or the pressure to make more more MORE MONEY triggers the enshittification spiral, where "wow, you can print wirelessly now!?" becomes "my printer won't take any cartridges but brand name, and I have to watch an unskippable 30-second ad every time I print now??!!!"
It follows that as tech saturates our lives, the inevitability of enshittification will also saturate our lives.
The year is 2044, you don't feel old but the ticker is starting to skip several beats a day. Your doctor is forced to use the product at his disposal to help you, which is the PaceXMaker produced by the Tesla-Cola conglomerate. The device is a true miracle of modern science. The size of a fingernail, it pulses electricity into your heart in carefully measured bursts to support proper function of all valves, and ensures that any plaque is dissolved harmlessly away. Your iEye tracks the device status, and alerts you when it starts to run low on fuel, a proprietary enzyme designed by Tesla-Cola. When the iEye app notifies you that the enzyme is running low, simply crack open an ice cold, refreshing can of Tesla Cola Zero to refuel your device for another two hours. Need to sleep? We got you. Hook up the Tesla Cola Zero-Venous BeautyRest to your ArmDock (patent pending) for up to five hours of relaxing enzyme replenishment. You can remove the arm dock after you confirm six ad-watch minute credits on your iEye.
Tesla-Cola: We Got You
tech is not the problem, corporations are.
Agree. It's not the tech it's how it's used and how business owners drive the product development and timelines.
I think this headline is slightly misleading. Here are some better ones:
This is weird take on an op-ed. OP didn't alter the title. The only ways I can conceive of a headline being "misleading" is when it declares a falsity (this doesn't; it's an opinion) or doesn't match the content of the titled text (this doesn't; it matches the text).
Wait. Is this satire? Like these suggested versions have been generated by running through a LLM AI?
Anytime I have to replace a device I find it incredibly frustrating. It certainly seems like technology is regressing. I've had the same phone since 2016 because nothing I've looked at has enough of it has to replace it and doesn't offer anything better to make up for those deficiencies. My mouse recently developed an issue that had me looking at potential replacements and again almost nothing currently available matches it or was even close. I found two that were potentially not a downgrade and one of those had awful reviews. Instead I'm just buying the part to fix it and hopefully I'll be able to keep limping it along for the foreseeable future. Same goes for my car. Nothing new that I've seen appeals to me. They're all loaded down with infotainment bullshit that's just a pain in the ass to deal with. Those were just 3 off the top of my head. At least with software you can usually find something open source that does what you want, but if it has to be manufactured by someone else you can forget about it.
I kinda agree with the article, I genuinely think humanity peaked with the computer of the PS2 era. Or maybe it had something to do with the patriot act. Just feels like after that things had gotten worse substantially
I disagree about such a generalization.
There are very few instances where people decide to be dumb and use technology for it but in general my life is much better thanks to technology.
My job exists due to technology, the Internet allows me to work from home, a washing machine washes my clothes, I can order food in the middle of a meeting and have it delivered on my lunch pause, I can speak to my family half a world away everyday, with video, for free, I can have the answer to any question in seconds from my a tiny device in my pocket, my car brakes automatically if I'm distracted (and heats up before I sit down in the morning)... you get the deal.
I hear you, but the writer isn't concerned with "can": If you replaced "can have the answer to any question in seconds from my a tiny device in my pocket" with "must" then you can see their dissatisfaction.
if I went to a restaurant and was told that I had to install and use their app to order their food, I would fucking leave. If it was the only restaurant left in town then I'd have much less choice in the matter. The insidious nature of technology is that it changes "can" with "must".
Tech =/= megacorps
That's like saying food doesn't make the world better where you mean food industry megacorps producing hunger & poverty.
I saw the writing on the wall when we started getting itunes updates that no one wanted.
I dont know... This Linux thing is pretty great, IMO.
I get their point, but it feels like it's more about tech being abused by large corporations, trying to squeeze another cent out of you.
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.
It's clear they did not walk out.
By the time I placed my order - paying a 1% fee to the app makers in the process - I would have happily paid double for the experience of simply flipping through a menu and talking to another human being.
(Emphasis mine.) This is from the very next paragraph after what I quoted.
You also clearly missed the point of my comment, which is that unless consumers start refusing to take this bullshit lying down, this stuff will be unavoidable in the future because there will be no other choices left.
You also clearly missed the point of my comment
I understood your point completely. Yet mine somehow still zipped over your head. This is not a choice any particular individual can make. Other people make that choice for you.
As someone who grew up before the negative effects of computer/internet technology became apparent, and who was excited and impatient for it to develop, I agree with the points made in the article. It didn't have to be this way; in a different kind of society it could have been a boon to everyone. But in our society all the benefits of good things are appropriated by the powerful so they can more readily exploit the less powerful for profit.
So many wonderful possible benefits that might have come from these technological advancements, to help people lead better lives, to address many of society's issues (hunger, climate change, disabilities, education, etc) simply never happened, because in our society money must be invested to develop them, so only things that would make more profits for the greedy were able to be developed. Yes, some things did get funded by governments or foundations, but they're only a drop in the bucket to what could be done.
Imagine VR so real that someone severely allergic to cats can know what it's like to give one scritches and feel it purr. Imagine someone who is paraplegic knowing what it's like to swim or climb a mountain. Now imagine how much money Mark Zuckerberg will make when it's $22.95/month with ads and requires you to put in your Social Security Number.
I'm tired of pretending companies are making the world better.
See:
The corporation
The new corporation
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
