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Now this is a very negative opinion in a general anti-consumerist sense but: Why does one buy items like an Alexa? I get that it performs some features, it sli

Now this is a very negative opinion in a general anti-consumerist sense but: Why does one buy items like an Alexa? I get that it performs some features, it slightly increases convenience but it does not enable anything new or different. Something I do not understand about hackernews: There are a lot of people on here who, on average, care about the environment. By the same token, there are many users here who have an interest in electronics and technology, and are just generally interested in new gadgets. How do you square buying gadgets with being somewhat conscious of the mounting environmental problems? The amount of electronic waste, the almost literal slave labour to mine the resources, the energy necessary to transport and assemble the parts, and the final device. All to not use one's smartphone's assistant but a home assistant. The consumer does not ask himself 'why do I consume', every decision is in the framework of making consumerist choices (e.g. buy a Tesla instead of a Jeep), the option 'I do not need to consume most of these things at all' is barely present. So I am honestly asking to people buying these things, what is the thought process? Is there a feeling of happiness or joy in having new gadgets? Does it last? Are environmental or more generally philosophical considerations on whether you need to buy new things part of your thought process?

briandear 9y ago
Alexa/Siri et al aren’t about “consumerism” — that’s the naïve interpretation— that’s just a surface look. These devices represent the future of how man interacts with machine. Right now, they are mostly toys used for “consumer” purposes, but look at the internet itself — during the early days one could have asked “why should we be building networks for the military? Dismissing Alexa/etc. as mere vehicles for consumption is missing the greater possibilities. This tech has to start (and be financed) somewhere: thus Amazon using this as a tool to buy things is fine — because it ultimately will push the future forward despite your worries about slave labor. If we stopped buying everything tomorrow, there would still be slave labor and bad things in the world as there always has been. People need to eat, clothe themselves and make shelters. Stopping weapon production doesn’t end wars nor would stopping AI personal assistants reduce some poorer people working for some less poor people to fill an economic need. That’s reality.
- megaman22 9y ago
  I really hope that we never have to control our computers with something as ambigous and fuzzy as speech. It's going to happen, because people think Star Trek is cool, but, gah, I'm not interested in it. Interfaces are getting progressively less useful, as far as I'm concerned; people try to displace mouse and keyboard, but it's always worse, and drags down the standard for everything.
- naturalgradient 9y ago
  So any consumption is justified because it supports the overall advancement of technology and we need not think about consumption because things will be consumed either way? I am sorry I do not buy this - where is the justification for the assumption that this is the only way we can advance tech? As an AI researcher, I strongly strongly disagree that I have to enable more consumption for tech to progress.
- saiya-jin 9y ago
  That's your opinion. To me, they are exactly that - gadgets for early adopters, nothing more. You have no clue where future will go, so that part of reasoning doesn't make much sense. Also future will arrive with or without your financial contribution, just by pure scale of mankind. For example I base my shopping decisions on true long-term added value to my life - and such thingies fail on that scale. With this logic, I bought recently my first paraglide because I know what profound impact it will have on my life. And in same vein, I still use 2-year old cheap big huawei honor phone that is not great at anything, but good enough for everything I ever need from it. Explaining this to some iphone x owner is a good lesson on futility. Maybe in 20 years these thingies will be different, then I'll adjust my opinion about them. No reason to do it sooner. As for consumerism OP mentioned, most people are incredibly selfish, me probably included. It's just very hard to live with oneself while admitting it, so people go to great lengths to paint themselves in some positive light, see argumentation above. Living frugal is doable but hard, a selfless act for potential future. Respect to those from high above
dominotw 9y ago
I saw a billboard this morning on the highway for alexa which said "Alexa buy me an Kenmore washing machine" wtf.

briandear 9y ago

Alexa/Siri et al aren’t about “consumerism” — that’s the naïve interpretation— that’s just a surface look. These devices represent the future of how man interacts with machine. Right now, they are mostly toys used for “consumer” purposes, but look at the internet itself — during the early days one could have asked “why should we be building networks for the military? Dismissing Alexa/etc. as mere vehicles for consumption is missing the greater possibilities. This tech has to start (and be financed) somewhere: thus Amazon using this as a tool to buy things is fine — because it ultimately will push the future forward despite your worries about slave labor. If we stopped buying everything tomorrow, there would still be slave labor and bad things in the world as there always has been. People need to eat, clothe themselves and make shelters. Stopping weapon production doesn’t end wars nor would stopping AI personal assistants reduce some poorer people working for some less poor people to fill an economic need. That’s reality.

megaman22 9y ago
I really hope that we never have to control our computers with something as ambigous and fuzzy as speech. It's going to happen, because people think Star Trek is cool, but, gah, I'm not interested in it. Interfaces are getting progressively less useful, as far as I'm concerned; people try to displace mouse and keyboard, but it's always worse, and drags down the standard for everything.
naturalgradient 9y ago
So any consumption is justified because it supports the overall advancement of technology and we need not think about consumption because things will be consumed either way? I am sorry I do not buy this - where is the justification for the assumption that this is the only way we can advance tech? As an AI researcher, I strongly strongly disagree that I have to enable more consumption for tech to progress.
saiya-jin 9y ago
That's your opinion. To me, they are exactly that - gadgets for early adopters, nothing more. You have no clue where future will go, so that part of reasoning doesn't make much sense. Also future will arrive with or without your financial contribution, just by pure scale of mankind. For example I base my shopping decisions on true long-term added value to my life - and such thingies fail on that scale. With this logic, I bought recently my first paraglide because I know what profound impact it will have on my life. And in same vein, I still use 2-year old cheap big huawei honor phone that is not great at anything, but good enough for everything I ever need from it. Explaining this to some iphone x owner is a good lesson on futility. Maybe in 20 years these thingies will be different, then I'll adjust my opinion about them. No reason to do it sooner. As for consumerism OP mentioned, most people are incredibly selfish, me probably included. It's just very hard to live with oneself while admitting it, so people go to great lengths to paint themselves in some positive light, see argumentation above. Living frugal is doable but hard, a selfless act for potential future. Respect to those from high above

dominotw 9y ago

I saw a billboard this morning on the highway for alexa which said "Alexa buy me an Kenmore washing machine" wtf.