Technology

The sick sad history of computer-aided collaboration:
https://www.quora.com/Who-invented-the-modern-computer-look-and-feel/answer/Harri-K-Hiltunen

Tech was ruined in the 90s when capitalistic influences (microsoft being the dominant force but far from the only one) propagandized the industry and eventually populace at large with the idea that competition in the industry is what drives innovation.

Granted, much of their work was already done for them thanks to western influence perpetuating this ideal for ages. But when the frameworks for open standards, interoperability, and collaborative development were being proposed and put into place they were shot down and/or actively sabotaged

As a result 40 years later we have this mess. A landscape filled with nightmare tech. Fragmentation everywhere, design heavily influenced by a small handful of sociopaths with no empathy and active disdain for users, the idea of open standards is something that requires government intervention (and still rarely occurs), interoperability is something that has to be hacked around and frequently breaks as a means to encourage purchasing a competing product.

What could have been. Tech designed for people’s needs rather than tech designed to extract income

Tech could make our life easier, if only the fruits of increased efficiency would go towards us all instead of the few rich people at the top.

The overwhelming majority of software ever written is fucking terrible and causes more problems than it solves.

Since software is easily copiable and mutable, that small sliver of good software gets replicated all over the place and serves as a foundation for other software, both good -- and at the risk of repeating myself -- and mostly bad.

People would be better off considering new tech as the tool it is rather than seeing every piece of software as inherently better than the thing it replaces.

First world problems: the article.

Tech doesn't make the world better. It's a tool that's been used to make rich people richer. Everyday people coming together for a greater cause makes the world better.

I remember Andrewism's take on Luddites dispelling a lot of common misconceptions (and results of propaganda, iirc) on the topic

That is what naked apes said about clothes

Technology has started to make it easier and easier to be anti consumer. To maximise how much you can extract out of consumers.

It is making it easier to understand and control exactly how they use products and services. This allows you to structure your price and offering to give them the minimum amount they'll accept at the maximum price. Allows you to strip features out and offer them for extra. Allows you to hide things behind ongoing subscriptions. Allows you to better lock people into products and services, making it more difficult to switch/leave.

All of this was possible (and being done) before, but technology makes this so much easier/better.

Technologies often start out by making something easier for the consumer. But beyond the early stages, it's all about making the world better - for the corporations developing and selling products and services.

Technology and progress were at one time closer to synonymous but those definitions have forked widely. It's important to identify what is a development that brings value and pushes progress and what is a use of technology that punishes us, controls us, or simply makes life more complicated. The vast majority of technology now falls into these categories.