4 ms·

Because the world is hard. People don't don't understand the implementation details well enough to intuit where the boundaries of possibility lie. They don't

Because the world is hard. People don't don't understand the implementation details well enough to intuit where the boundaries of possibility lie. They don't understand how morally bankrupt the valley is to know "tech" doesn't have a single shard of the restraint that would be necessary to create ethical boundaries.

FussyZeus 9y ago
To be fair, people don't know because they are constantly told by slick products, pretty interfaces and "easy" stuff that tech isn't hard. It's all just magic. Magic stopped working? Call tech support. I mean seriously, if you own a car, there's a certain level of competence that is expected from the owner, even if it's just the basic stuff like putting the gas pump in the right spot, making sure to get the oil changed regularly, keeping an eye on the various dials and gauges to make sure your engine isn't on fire. There are no such expectancies in a smart phone, they just sell you the thing at a steep subsidy and send you on your merry way, and I find this interesting because you can do far more damage to your life or someone elses with a smartphone than a car.
- d33 9y ago
  > you can do far more damage to your life or someone elses with a smartphone than a car. Could you elaborate? I find it difficult to imagine how one kills somebody using a smartphone, while with a car it's pretty obvious.
  - FussyZeus 9y ago
    I can't remember her name, but it wasn't long ago someone tweeted an incredibly stupid joke about AIDS in Africa, and by the time their plane landed they'd lost their job and had been publicly disgraced so thoroughly they were unemployed for something like 9 months. I should've been more specific, obviously a car will do more physical damage but I'm talking less about actually hurting someone and more about ruining someone's life.
    - wolfgke 9y ago
      > but it wasn't long ago someone tweeted an incredibly stupid joke about AIDS in Africa, and by the time their plane landed they'd lost their job and had been publicly disgraced so thoroughly they were unemployed for something like 9 months. The mistake in my opinion rather lies in doing such a strong reaction on a bad joke.
      - FussyZeus 9y ago
        Well yeah and if you're t-boned by a drunk driver the mistake is the person driving drunk, not you going for a taco bell run. Unfortunately your spine is still shattered regardless of who actually was making mistakes.
    - snerbles 9y ago
      The case of Justine Sacco. A magical combination of a single bad joke and outrage culture. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-t... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2955322/Justine-Sacco-reveals-destroyed-life-racist-tweet-trip-Africa.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2955322/Justine-Sa...
      - FussyZeus 9y ago
        Right. Now whether the reaction was too much or not enough is up to the reader, but what is clear is that simply sending a tweet like that can have ramifications for the literal remainder of your life, she's never going to be completely decoupled from telling that stupid joke as long as she lives and probably a decent time after that, too. I find it disturbing that so many people seem to think Twitter and Facebook and the rest are just places to dump whatever thought runs through your brains as though nobody but the people you want to see it will ever see it. But again, that's what things like Facebook advertise as, and that's the type of content Twitter encourages.
        zeroer 9y ago

FussyZeus 9y ago

To be fair, people don't know because they are constantly told by slick products, pretty interfaces and "easy" stuff that tech isn't hard. It's all just magic. Magic stopped working? Call tech support. I mean seriously, if you own a car, there's a certain level of competence that is expected from the owner, even if it's just the basic stuff like putting the gas pump in the right spot, making sure to get the oil changed regularly, keeping an eye on the various dials and gauges to make sure your engine isn't on fire. There are no such expectancies in a smart phone, they just sell you the thing at a steep subsidy and send you on your merry way, and I find this interesting because you can do far more damage to your life or someone elses with a smartphone than a car.

d33 9y ago
> you can do far more damage to your life or someone elses with a smartphone than a car. Could you elaborate? I find it difficult to imagine how one kills somebody using a smartphone, while with a car it's pretty obvious.
- FussyZeus 9y ago
  I can't remember her name, but it wasn't long ago someone tweeted an incredibly stupid joke about AIDS in Africa, and by the time their plane landed they'd lost their job and had been publicly disgraced so thoroughly they were unemployed for something like 9 months. I should've been more specific, obviously a car will do more physical damage but I'm talking less about actually hurting someone and more about ruining someone's life.
  - wolfgke 9y ago
    > but it wasn't long ago someone tweeted an incredibly stupid joke about AIDS in Africa, and by the time their plane landed they'd lost their job and had been publicly disgraced so thoroughly they were unemployed for something like 9 months. The mistake in my opinion rather lies in doing such a strong reaction on a bad joke.
    - FussyZeus 9y ago
      Well yeah and if you're t-boned by a drunk driver the mistake is the person driving drunk, not you going for a taco bell run. Unfortunately your spine is still shattered regardless of who actually was making mistakes.
  - snerbles 9y ago
    The case of Justine Sacco. A magical combination of a single bad joke and outrage culture. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-t... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2955322/Justine-Sacco-reveals-destroyed-life-racist-tweet-trip-Africa.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2955322/Justine-Sa...
    - FussyZeus 9y ago
      Right. Now whether the reaction was too much or not enough is up to the reader, but what is clear is that simply sending a tweet like that can have ramifications for the literal remainder of your life, she's never going to be completely decoupled from telling that stupid joke as long as she lives and probably a decent time after that, too. I find it disturbing that so many people seem to think Twitter and Facebook and the rest are just places to dump whatever thought runs through your brains as though nobody but the people you want to see it will ever see it. But again, that's what things like Facebook advertise as, and that's the type of content Twitter encourages.
      - zeroer 9y ago