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>"Today, bereft of understanding of fundamental issues and writings in the development of liberal democracy, computer geeks devise ever better ways to track peo
by eli_gottlieb 9y ago
>"Today, bereft of understanding of fundamental issues and writings in the development of liberal democracy, computer geeks devise ever better ways to track people... simply because they can and it's cool."
Rubbish. Geeks do it because that's what they can get a job doing.
- theoh 9y agoThe quotation doesn't reflect my opinions, but I think you are taking an overly simplistic "people are driven by money" line. It's not unusual to encounter this kind of view expressed on HN, and it's disturbing because it is so reductive. I mean, seriously, you think "geeks" in general have no choice but to build the software that maximizes revenue? Geeks are, if anything, more likely than other people to pursue activities for intellectual satisfaction, to attack difficult problems for fun, etc. The previous time this came up, someone was claiming that every restaurant owner only cared about their bottom line -- and that absolutely no restaurant owners were in it for the love of hospitality (as a social good or something more professional) and self-expression/self-actualization. Honestly.
- eli_gottlieb 9y agoI don't think people are driven only by money, but if inventing cool stuff doesn't make any, you do it in your spare time after you take someone's money to push ads into eyeballs.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]