A little dismayed that the sci-fi "tech futurism" attitude of previous decades is now a beaten, lifeless corpse. Opt-in health features that give you more control over your health? World-ending! But 20 years ago, we were imagining a little wristband-type machine that would be able to non-invasively and routinely analyse blood samples, detecting cancer a decade early, increasing human lifespans, etc.
This pattern is all over the place now. I get there's reasons for it, but let's take into account one thing: throughout history, the luddites/skeptics were rarely right in their apocalyptic predictions. People today may be deciding to drop all smartphones, avoid modern TVs, avoid modern computers and stick to a 2008 barebones ThinkPad, give up music streaming services and run their own email; i.e. refusing any of the time-efficiency gains technology gave us in the last decades and ensuring they'll spend much more time troubleshooting and maintaining tech, taking away from the precious, short time they have on this earth, all to what end?
That hypothetical person, who switches away from all corporate technology because of Apple's CSAM news, is now maintaining their own music library, turning music discovery from something that takes seconds, to taking minutes or hours. A pattern that'll repeat itself throughout their life if they're consistent.
But will Apple users be living in camps, in 2050, because the frog will finally be boiled by then? Or will none of these fears turn out to be real concerns, and CSAM-detection's (just using it as an example, since that seems like a catalyst for many here) errors will be extremely rare and rapidly corrected?
To me, the risk of dystopia is lowered not by those willing to burn it all down and give up modern society, it's lowered by the fact that modern society is too interconnected for these dystopian scenarios to unfold like a novel: laws will be passed, corporations will be pressured by social media campaigns, and the state of the world will remain "mostly acceptable" just like today. Why the endemic pessimism?
There's a kind of collective paranoid delusion here (I mean, on the Internet in general). When you start from the idea that they are all about to get you, it's easy to interpret anything as a confirmation of your suspicions. It is not easy to be rational with this sort of siege mentality, which is reinforced by the fact that non-technophiles do not seem to get it or take it seriously.
We've gone from a (unwarranted) radical techno-optimism to (just as unwarranted) general hostility. A consequence of that is the pervasiveness of this cynical, nihilistic mood, which quickly corrupts most discussions every time some subjects pop up. To some extent, these companies brought this onto themselves with some objectively despicable behaviours, but we are not doing ourselves any favours.
I am that hypothetical person, actually CSAM kicked me in the bottom and removed "tech fetishism" completely from my perspective.
Using my several NAS stations to find music takes seconds if I stream locally. If I want to listen on the go I find immense pleasure in selecting which playlist I will play.
Comparing this with dark patterns filled UX from any streaming service is funny. I control my UX, not some millennial PM trying hard to impress upper management for promotion.
I don't watch TV from 15 years. I have RSS for several sources to inform me, it is amazingly fast process, I have important shit to do in my day. I have a real library with real books, some of them very old (added value).
I produce technology, web-technology. But I see a future where a lot of people will pay good money to have user centered UX, not politically or "insert common good mantra" motivated experience.
There are no risk of dystopia, we are living in one. Palantir, NSO, countless other "surveillance businesses" are fighting over peoples data. The free petrol of the future overlords.
Why the endemic pessimism? There is no pessimism, there is real, factual information everyday. If someone wants to connect the political situation, the pandemic situation and the corporate movements, the data is obvious and accessible.
An insightful testimony. I'll be spending some time looking for books and talks about this, because it's very possible I'm misjudging this and having too much faith in the average person drawing the line if anything bad happens. Certainly I haven't thought deeply about where I would draw that line, and I'm no longer satisfied in my vague feeling that the line is far from having been crossed. I'll give it some thought. Thanks.
> That hypothetical person, who switches away from all corporate technology because of Apple's CSAM news, is now maintaining their own music library, turning music discovery from something that takes seconds, to taking minutes or hours. A pattern that'll repeat itself throughout their life if they're consistent.
That time expenditure will likely pay for itself. For a time, I was genuinely addicted to YouTube and its algorithmic feed, to the extent that I would regularly spend 2-4 hours a day watching nothing in particular, as long as it tickled my funny bone. Then I got rid of it for a while, and suddenly I have so much free time. I reinstalled the app a few days ago, and relapsed for a few days until I noticed it was happening again, and got rid of it again.
I've never even considered signing up for TikTok. If what I hear about it is true, I'd be hooked on it like on crack cocaine.
If the only way to function without having my brain hacked left and right is to run my own services and hoard my media on a NAS, then this is exactly what I do.
I use a dumb phone, ride a bicycle, use music cds. I refuse to use smart anything, even though my work goes into many of the smartphones and other devices.
>> laws will be passed, corporations will be pressured by social media campaigns, and the state of the world will remain "mostly acceptable" just like today. Why the endemic pessimism?
It is because of the pervasive lack of agency. Increasingly,
I am getting tracked/registered/surveilled for everything. And if I don't comply, I am an outlier.
If you would compare "mostly acceptable" from a few decades ago to today I think there would be many differences.
Just because things are normalized doesn't mean they should be acceptable.
I have come to the realization that it is pointless to depend on companies bent on exploiting you, to build devices that you want. You have to do it yourself and we have that capability now.
> People today may be deciding to drop all smartphones, avoid modern TVs, avoid modern computers and stick to a 2008 barebones ThinkPad, give up music streaming services and run their own email
Far more people talk about such things than actually do it. It’s the technological equivalent of “I’m moving to Canada”.
I would argue that modern TVs and smartphones are some of the most common ways that people are wasting their precious time on earth these days, but do what makes you happy I guess.
This pattern is all over the place now. I get there's reasons for it, but let's take into account one thing: throughout history, the luddites/skeptics were rarely right in their apocalyptic predictions. People today may be deciding to drop all smartphones, avoid modern TVs, avoid modern computers and stick to a 2008 barebones ThinkPad, give up music streaming services and run their own email; i.e. refusing any of the time-efficiency gains technology gave us in the last decades and ensuring they'll spend much more time troubleshooting and maintaining tech, taking away from the precious, short time they have on this earth, all to what end?
That hypothetical person, who switches away from all corporate technology because of Apple's CSAM news, is now maintaining their own music library, turning music discovery from something that takes seconds, to taking minutes or hours. A pattern that'll repeat itself throughout their life if they're consistent.
But will Apple users be living in camps, in 2050, because the frog will finally be boiled by then? Or will none of these fears turn out to be real concerns, and CSAM-detection's (just using it as an example, since that seems like a catalyst for many here) errors will be extremely rare and rapidly corrected?
To me, the risk of dystopia is lowered not by those willing to burn it all down and give up modern society, it's lowered by the fact that modern society is too interconnected for these dystopian scenarios to unfold like a novel: laws will be passed, corporations will be pressured by social media campaigns, and the state of the world will remain "mostly acceptable" just like today. Why the endemic pessimism?