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Uncomfortably accurate. If tech is supposed to make the world a better place (however you define better) and the people we inflict products on walk away disgust
by mben94 10y ago
Uncomfortably accurate. If tech is supposed to make the world a better place (however you define better) and the people we inflict products on walk away disgusted by the cutting edge of tech, that's a problem.
It doesn't matter how poorly the article articulates itself, when devs care more about the next round of investment, or simply being able to say "I work in a start-up" than if their idea is actually going to help people, then we are doing it wrong.
It is entirely understandable to appear as a Luddite when the people developing and pushing the technology have no regard for the wider societal impact of their creations.
- azuajef 10y agoWell said.
- detaro 10y agoIs the Web Summit "the cutting edge of tech"? I'm not sure where my impression comes from, but I don't particularly associate it with high quality, more with mass. But even if it is not, it likely represents a large subset of the "scene", so observations about it are still interesting.
- mben94 10y agoYeah, maybe cutting edge is the wrong phrase. Maybe "latest things seeking funding / promotion" would have been more accurate.
- samsonradu 10y agoPeter Thiel summed this all up perfectly: "We were promised flying cars but all we got was 140 characters." I found his talk [1] about the state of technology very accurate. And after watching it I turned on Bloomberg and happened to see Snapchat s IPO for a few billion. [1] https://youtu.be/Q_3r49XXRw4 https://youtu.be/Q_3r49XXRw4