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If you had offered someone in 1916 a device that they could put in their pocket that would let them instantly communicate with nearly anyone on the planet, tap

If you had offered someone in 1916 a device that they could put in their pocket that would let them instantly communicate with nearly anyone on the planet, tap into a large fraction of the world's knowledge base, read books, navigate across the country, take photographs and movies, and play almost any song ever written, what do you think that person would say? "No thanks." ? The smartphone is one of the most significant inventions of the last 100 years.

cognivore 11y ago
Ah, but you didn't mention the most egregious aspect of a smart phone - a device that they could put in their pocket that would let nearly anyone on the planet instantly communicate with them. That is one Hell of a lot of people I have no interest in talking to.
- eddieroger 11y ago
  So what? Don't answer. Set up VIP email lists, or SMS. The tool isn't the problem, it's how you use it. I get more email that I don't care about than I do care, so I don't let email distract me, in that I silence it's notifications. But that isn't enough to keep a smartphone out of my pocket.
  - cognivore 11y ago
    Email has the advantage of white lists. Until phones have the same you'll always be looking at a ringing phone trying to decide if it's a call you want to take - in of itself annoying and time-wasting.
ekianjo 11y ago
Smartphones are just portable computers. There is nothing new to them apart from the fact that 1) they have internet mobile connection 2) their form factor makes them very practical to carry. Technology-wise, we already had about everything when we had laptops and modems attached to them. It's just become much more convenient but it's still the same concept.
- msabalau 11y ago
  Smartphones outsell computers 5 to 1 and for the next billion smartphone users a smartphone will be their first computer. Dismissing them as mere refinement of what went before is to ignore the scale of their impact on the world. One may as well dismiss laptops with modems as "more fully featured telegraphs", or "smaller mainframes".
  - CydeWeys 11y ago
    > for the next billion smartphone users a smartphone will be their first computer. Smartphones will be their first and last computer. Laptops, let alone desktops, are being permanently bypassed.
    - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
      Well, no. There are lots of situation where a tiny screen and no keyboard is laughably insufficient.
    - joonoro 11y ago
      >Smartphones will be their first and last computer No, unfortunately smartphones are toys at best. Nobody uses them for real work, just consumption and browsing facebook. When they go to work, they will use a real computer.
      - chakalakasp 11y ago
        That's just... not accurate. I know lots of people who do real work on smartphones. Hell, I'd be dead a few times by now if I didn't use mine as a radar HUD while photographing tornadoes. (While also using it to report digitally directly to the weather service, and running a GPS tracker so that they both can see me on a map and so that I later can geotag photos taken on cameras that don't have integrated gps). To say nothing of how much I use my phone to take photographic and text notes. Don't make the tremendous mistake of assuming that just because you can't find a use for a smartphone in your line of work that nobody else can or does.
shpx 11y ago
You convieniently didnt mention that it also allows their government to know where they are and where they were and what they're saying and what they've said, and what they're reading, and glimpses of what they've seen, forever.
- soared 11y ago
  Everyone knows this already and most happily make the trade-off. My gov knows exactly what and when I do something in public, and probably on my phone/desktop. Do I have things to hide? Sure. And I take the proper precautions to ensure its safety because I know the trade I made. Plenty of govs still police your speech, enjoy that ours only hears but does not act.
- dan_m2k 11y ago
  Meh, at some point we've gotta see this as a trade off. And do you know something, I'm really not that concerned that .gov knows my browsing history.
- dan_m2k 11y ago
  Meh, at some point we've gotta see this as a trade off. And do you know something, I'm really not that concerned that .gov knows my browsing history.
- c0nducktr 11y ago
  That's a government problem, not a smart phone problem.
  - garrettgrimsley 11y ago
    As developers shouldn't we view it as a smart phone problem? When trying to reach Poitras and Greenwald Snowden turned to a technical solution, encryption, for what is a government problem, spying on private communications. Using a VPN to bypass the Great Firewall is certainly easier than tearing it down. A VPN isn't a permanent solution, you can see we play a cat and mouse game with the GFW, but we should use our talents in the most effective way possible. Whether or not developing technical solutions to government problems is the best use of our skills I do not know.
joonoro 11y ago
>"No thanks." ? If you then showed them a real computer, nobody in their right mind would have said "yes." The thing about smartphones is, they don't actually do anything new. The only thing better about them is the form factor, they sacrifice everything else in comparison to a real computer. None of those things you listed are inherent to smartphones. >The smartphone is one of the most significant inventions of the last 100 years. This is hilarious. Oh yeah sure, nukes are pretty forgettable compared to smartphones, because now anyone can post on Hacker News from while on the toilet.
- scrollaway 11y ago
  > Oh yeah sure, nukes are pretty forgettable Stop trolling. GP said "one of the most".
fiatjaf 11y ago
Do you think he would trade that for a horse?

cognivore 11y ago

Ah, but you didn't mention the most egregious aspect of a smart phone - a device that they could put in their pocket that would let nearly anyone on the planet instantly communicate with them. That is one Hell of a lot of people I have no interest in talking to.

eddieroger 11y ago
So what? Don't answer. Set up VIP email lists, or SMS. The tool isn't the problem, it's how you use it. I get more email that I don't care about than I do care, so I don't let email distract me, in that I silence it's notifications. But that isn't enough to keep a smartphone out of my pocket.
- cognivore 11y ago
  Email has the advantage of white lists. Until phones have the same you'll always be looking at a ringing phone trying to decide if it's a call you want to take - in of itself annoying and time-wasting.

ekianjo 11y ago

Smartphones are just portable computers. There is nothing new to them apart from the fact that 1) they have internet mobile connection 2) their form factor makes them very practical to carry. Technology-wise, we already had about everything when we had laptops and modems attached to them. It's just become much more convenient but it's still the same concept.

msabalau 11y ago
Smartphones outsell computers 5 to 1 and for the next billion smartphone users a smartphone will be their first computer. Dismissing them as mere refinement of what went before is to ignore the scale of their impact on the world. One may as well dismiss laptops with modems as "more fully featured telegraphs", or "smaller mainframes".
- CydeWeys 11y ago
  > for the next billion smartphone users a smartphone will be their first computer. Smartphones will be their first and last computer. Laptops, let alone desktops, are being permanently bypassed.
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    Well, no. There are lots of situation where a tiny screen and no keyboard is laughably insufficient.
  - joonoro 11y ago
    >Smartphones will be their first and last computer No, unfortunately smartphones are toys at best. Nobody uses them for real work, just consumption and browsing facebook. When they go to work, they will use a real computer.
    - chakalakasp 11y ago
      That's just... not accurate. I know lots of people who do real work on smartphones. Hell, I'd be dead a few times by now if I didn't use mine as a radar HUD while photographing tornadoes. (While also using it to report digitally directly to the weather service, and running a GPS tracker so that they both can see me on a map and so that I later can geotag photos taken on cameras that don't have integrated gps). To say nothing of how much I use my phone to take photographic and text notes. Don't make the tremendous mistake of assuming that just because you can't find a use for a smartphone in your line of work that nobody else can or does.

shpx 11y ago

You convieniently didnt mention that it also allows their government to know where they are and where they were and what they're saying and what they've said, and what they're reading, and glimpses of what they've seen, forever.

soared 11y ago
Everyone knows this already and most happily make the trade-off. My gov knows exactly what and when I do something in public, and probably on my phone/desktop. Do I have things to hide? Sure. And I take the proper precautions to ensure its safety because I know the trade I made. Plenty of govs still police your speech, enjoy that ours only hears but does not act.
dan_m2k 11y ago
Meh, at some point we've gotta see this as a trade off. And do you know something, I'm really not that concerned that .gov knows my browsing history.
dan_m2k 11y ago
Meh, at some point we've gotta see this as a trade off. And do you know something, I'm really not that concerned that .gov knows my browsing history.
c0nducktr 11y ago
That's a government problem, not a smart phone problem.
- garrettgrimsley 11y ago
  As developers shouldn't we view it as a smart phone problem? When trying to reach Poitras and Greenwald Snowden turned to a technical solution, encryption, for what is a government problem, spying on private communications. Using a VPN to bypass the Great Firewall is certainly easier than tearing it down. A VPN isn't a permanent solution, you can see we play a cat and mouse game with the GFW, but we should use our talents in the most effective way possible. Whether or not developing technical solutions to government problems is the best use of our skills I do not know.

joonoro 11y ago

>"No thanks." ? If you then showed them a real computer, nobody in their right mind would have said "yes." The thing about smartphones is, they don't actually do anything new. The only thing better about them is the form factor, they sacrifice everything else in comparison to a real computer. None of those things you listed are inherent to smartphones. >The smartphone is one of the most significant inventions of the last 100 years. This is hilarious. Oh yeah sure, nukes are pretty forgettable compared to smartphones, because now anyone can post on Hacker News from while on the toilet.

scrollaway 11y ago
> Oh yeah sure, nukes are pretty forgettable Stop trolling. GP said "one of the most".

fiatjaf 11y ago

Do you think he would trade that for a horse?