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I know this is likely to be an unpopular opinion here, but I'm not sure that websites ought to scale in the way we've been building them to. One of the biggest

I know this is likely to be an unpopular opinion here, but I'm not sure that websites ought to scale in the way we've been building them to. One of the biggest causes of frustration and concerns is that websites that are operated by only a handful of people are used by millions of people, with no serious way to seek relief if problems emerge. Think of how disastrous security oversights have been, from companies too small to adequately compensate those who have been wronged. Or think of how disastrous technical glitches or mistakes can be (such as deleted Google accounts or Facebook privacy setting glitches). Or think of how Uber seems to have rushed to reduced the human oversight of their autonomous cars before they were ready. We are giving far more responsibility and social power to companies than they are truly capable of handling. The power of computers to make transactions and interactions more efficient is great. But I'm not sure that efficiency needs to come at the limit of our technological capacity instead of at the limit of human attention.

icebraining 9y ago
The same could be said about governments.
- imustbeevil 9y ago
  Except the government employs 2.7+ million people. If Google ran the DMV there'd be no one working at the building, no support email, no customer service, and you'd have to get answers to questions from other pedestrians on unofficial forums.
  - ianai 9y ago
    You made a genuinely good comment. Sorry it got downvotes.
  - malvosenior 9y ago
    You choose a funny example. I can't imagine the hellish nightmare that would be trying to email the DMV for support. If Google ran the DMV we'd get our drivers licenses instantly delivered in digital form to our Android phones. We wouldn't have to stand in line or "take a number" and waste a day in a filthy office building packed to the brim with disgruntled bureaucrats.
    - atmosx 9y ago
      ...good luck finding a person to talk to, if your license was revoked for no apparent reason. Careful what you wish, might actually happen.
    - galdosdi 9y ago
      Actually, I emailed the NY DMV last year to complain about a paperwork snafu and to my shock, I got a reply within a day or two politely saying they had fixed it for me! Also, last week I went to renew my license. I was also updating my address and upgradig to class E. I went to NYC's special "License Express" DMV office. It was clean and nice with comfy chairs and everyone was polite and nice and I was out of there in under 30min despite having no appointment. I noticed several big signs, "if you have an appointment and have been here 15 or more minutes, please immediately ask to speak with a supervisor" Maybe your state just sucks? Anyway, I am sick of t shirt libertarians stereotyping all government as dogshit. Private and public sector both contain great and terrible customer service orgs
      - malvosenior 9y ago
        I'm willing to bet NYC has better DMVs than most places. This is not a typical experience. > Anyway, I am sick of t shirt libertarians stereotyping all government as dogshit. I'm just speaking from my own lived experiences with DMVs.
        falcolas 9y ago
        In-The-Sticks experience with the DMV shows the same experience, down to the signs asking you to speak to a supervisor. This tells me that perhaps your experience with DMVs is out of date. I do remember when the DMV was hours of waiting in uncomfortable plastic chairs, but that's no longer the case.
        malvosenior 9y ago
        It's possible. Last I went was a few years ago in California and it was really terrible (many hour wait, not clean...). Good to hear that's not the case everywhere though.
jowiar 9y ago
Jesse Kriss did an awesome talk along these lines a couple years ago that focused on “Human Scale Technology”: https://medium.com/@jkriss/human-scale-technology-75da763eb03 https://medium.com/@jkriss/human-scale-technology-75da763eb0...
- veridies 9y ago
  That's awesome; thank you for sharing that with me.
- tuneablesquid 9y ago
  Ironically on medium.com and not his own blog...
ianai 9y ago
You’re hinting at a deep problem with our current economic system. It really does produce monopolies or oligopolies with far too much concentration. History documents this functionality: the Trust Busting of the late 1800s was a reaction to clearly concentrated markets, for instance. The solution is clearly to produce more things closer to the demand source. But I don’t see many examples of that. As a crude suggestion, maybe carbon adjusted energy costs would incentive local production with shipped-in raw materials.
- watwut 9y ago
  Large factor is that few companise being able to give away product for free kills competition. Gmail being free (and good) and without ads made competition of many smaller companies impossible. Few companies being able to operate products at loss for years makes competition impossible for smaller players.
  - ianai 9y ago
    It was ever decreasing prices that got Alcoa into lots of scrutiny from regulators in the late 1800s. It’s taken as a tactic to push competition out of the market.
  - jakeogh 9y ago
    Google is dying. They bubbled themselves. Trading "free" for market share only works for a finite time. See FB. Their pivot to skynet will only accelerate it. If google wants to survive, they better shape up and put their awesome software contributions front and center, remove the broken pillars, and stop trying to weaponize their 3 letter control grid. Everyone knows they are social engineering the search results, all the way down to their stupid doodles. It's an open joke.
    - galdosdi 9y ago
      You are aware that Google has revenue, right?
      - 9y ago
asah 9y ago
This is a very interesting comment and has many implications. Thanks.

icebraining 9y ago

The same could be said about governments.

imustbeevil 9y ago
Except the government employs 2.7+ million people. If Google ran the DMV there'd be no one working at the building, no support email, no customer service, and you'd have to get answers to questions from other pedestrians on unofficial forums.
- ianai 9y ago
  You made a genuinely good comment. Sorry it got downvotes.
- malvosenior 9y ago
  You choose a funny example. I can't imagine the hellish nightmare that would be trying to email the DMV for support. If Google ran the DMV we'd get our drivers licenses instantly delivered in digital form to our Android phones. We wouldn't have to stand in line or "take a number" and waste a day in a filthy office building packed to the brim with disgruntled bureaucrats.
  - atmosx 9y ago
    ...good luck finding a person to talk to, if your license was revoked for no apparent reason. Careful what you wish, might actually happen.
  - galdosdi 9y ago
    Actually, I emailed the NY DMV last year to complain about a paperwork snafu and to my shock, I got a reply within a day or two politely saying they had fixed it for me! Also, last week I went to renew my license. I was also updating my address and upgradig to class E. I went to NYC's special "License Express" DMV office. It was clean and nice with comfy chairs and everyone was polite and nice and I was out of there in under 30min despite having no appointment. I noticed several big signs, "if you have an appointment and have been here 15 or more minutes, please immediately ask to speak with a supervisor" Maybe your state just sucks? Anyway, I am sick of t shirt libertarians stereotyping all government as dogshit. Private and public sector both contain great and terrible customer service orgs
    - malvosenior 9y ago
      I'm willing to bet NYC has better DMVs than most places. This is not a typical experience. > Anyway, I am sick of t shirt libertarians stereotyping all government as dogshit. I'm just speaking from my own lived experiences with DMVs.
      - falcolas 9y ago
        In-The-Sticks experience with the DMV shows the same experience, down to the signs asking you to speak to a supervisor. This tells me that perhaps your experience with DMVs is out of date. I do remember when the DMV was hours of waiting in uncomfortable plastic chairs, but that's no longer the case.
        malvosenior 9y ago
        It's possible. Last I went was a few years ago in California and it was really terrible (many hour wait, not clean...). Good to hear that's not the case everywhere though.

jowiar 9y ago

Jesse Kriss did an awesome talk along these lines a couple years ago that focused on “Human Scale Technology”: https://medium.com/@jkriss/human-scale-technology-75da763eb03 https://medium.com/@jkriss/human-scale-technology-75da763eb0...

veridies 9y ago
That's awesome; thank you for sharing that with me.
tuneablesquid 9y ago
Ironically on medium.com and not his own blog...

ianai 9y ago

You’re hinting at a deep problem with our current economic system. It really does produce monopolies or oligopolies with far too much concentration. History documents this functionality: the Trust Busting of the late 1800s was a reaction to clearly concentrated markets, for instance. The solution is clearly to produce more things closer to the demand source. But I don’t see many examples of that. As a crude suggestion, maybe carbon adjusted energy costs would incentive local production with shipped-in raw materials.

watwut 9y ago
Large factor is that few companise being able to give away product for free kills competition. Gmail being free (and good) and without ads made competition of many smaller companies impossible. Few companies being able to operate products at loss for years makes competition impossible for smaller players.
- ianai 9y ago
  It was ever decreasing prices that got Alcoa into lots of scrutiny from regulators in the late 1800s. It’s taken as a tactic to push competition out of the market.
- jakeogh 9y ago
  Google is dying. They bubbled themselves. Trading "free" for market share only works for a finite time. See FB. Their pivot to skynet will only accelerate it. If google wants to survive, they better shape up and put their awesome software contributions front and center, remove the broken pillars, and stop trying to weaponize their 3 letter control grid. Everyone knows they are social engineering the search results, all the way down to their stupid doodles. It's an open joke.
  - galdosdi 9y ago
    You are aware that Google has revenue, right?
    - 9y ago

asah 9y ago

This is a very interesting comment and has many implications. Thanks.