6 ms·

Big tech is a race to the bottom in general.

dest 8y ago
I think such statement is hazardous. What if you need to build maps for all the world? What if you want to go to Mars? What if you want to build a payment system? Small actors could not do that.
- jstewartmobile 8y ago
  Many of us were just fine before google maps and paypal. Many of us are just fine right here on Earth. None of us will be fine when Google/Apple/Facebook levels of up-to-the-minute personal information are in the hands of a bad turn of government--think Chinese "social credit" system. Stazi with AI. We are rolling the dice toward a level of social control unparalleled in human history, and we are doing this for marginal gains to a standard-of-living which is already quite high. And it only takes one catastrophe to get that bad turn of government--even in a "democracy." It only took a few bombs for us to throw the Japanese into camps when that was clearly unconstitutional.
- germinalphrase 8y ago
  Why do we need to go to Mars? Edit: I realize it’s an unpopular question here, but other than it being cool - why do we need a Mars colony?
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    Quaid told us to.
  - adrianN 8y ago
    Why do we need anything?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - BLKNSLVR 8y ago
    Off-site backup
    - gotocake 8y ago
      That’s not an argument for Mars, it’s an argument for living somewhere other than just Earth. A distant, low-g, airless, wasteland seems like an odd choice for that. If we’re going to have to terraform, at least Venus has an atmosphere and some tectonic activity, and even space stations or asteroids would be more feasible than Mars. So why Mars?
      - BLKNSLVR 8y ago
        Because I'm nearly through the second book of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy...
- adrianN 8y ago
  Traditionally governments used to be responsible for such projects.
  - amelius 8y ago
    Exactly. We still need companies, but just to provide the hardware. Let governments develop the software, and keep companies away from our data. This is how it worked in the early days of the internet, when DARPA and universities developed the internet protocols, and used commercially available hardware to run their software.
    - ConceptJunkie 8y ago
      "Let governments develop the software, and keep companies away from our data." Except that government is really just another company, much bigger and often less accountable, plus it can make its own rules. There is nothing fundamentally different between a government and a powerful company. They both suffer from the same problems, and succumb to the same evils. If this weren't the case, then we wouldn't need unions for government workers. Governments also don't have competition driving them to increase efficiency or improve their service to "customers". If the government were in charge, the Internet would probably still look BBS's from the early 80s. There is definitely a role for government to help create and agree on International standards, and to create regulations to protect people, but pretending that handing this stuff over to them would not be a total train wreck in one way or another is naive, in my opinion.
      - amelius 8y ago
        > If the government were in charge, the Internet would probably still look BBS's from the early 80s. Did you read my second paragraph/line? The government built the internet as it exists now (minus the corporate junk).
ConceptJunkie 8y ago
Big everything is a race to the bottom. The trick is to find your niche.
sctb 8y ago
Please don't tease us! Some actual information would be nice.
- jstewartmobile 8y ago
  I figured most people could come up with their own examples easily enough. Take social media. I know so many people in business and media who did perfectly fine before it. Now that it's table stakes, we all have to waste time on it. Great for Twitter and FB, but just a cost for the rest of us. Or youtube and the porn sites. If they infringe, what are you going to do about it? They take it down, someone else re-uploads--a full-time job to keep it off, and they're purely on the honor system when it comes to royalties. It's not like you can sic your auditors on Google's server room. Or ed-tech. So many school districts spending millions on VMs and tablets for every child, yet the academic performance is as mediocre as ever. And it's like people have no concept of just how dangerous information is--like cracking the enigma machine in WWII. Google is probably sitting on enough info to ruin most of our politicians. What if they were inclined to action?
ghtrytttttnsa 8y ago
NSA and goolag agents will find and punish you for speaking the truth which nobody wants to hear.

dest 8y ago

I think such statement is hazardous. What if you need to build maps for all the world? What if you want to go to Mars? What if you want to build a payment system? Small actors could not do that.

jstewartmobile 8y ago
Many of us were just fine before google maps and paypal. Many of us are just fine right here on Earth. None of us will be fine when Google/Apple/Facebook levels of up-to-the-minute personal information are in the hands of a bad turn of government--think Chinese "social credit" system. Stazi with AI. We are rolling the dice toward a level of social control unparalleled in human history, and we are doing this for marginal gains to a standard-of-living which is already quite high. And it only takes one catastrophe to get that bad turn of government--even in a "democracy." It only took a few bombs for us to throw the Japanese into camps when that was clearly unconstitutional.
germinalphrase 8y ago
Why do we need to go to Mars? Edit: I realize it’s an unpopular question here, but other than it being cool - why do we need a Mars colony?
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  Quaid told us to.
- adrianN 8y ago
  Why do we need anything?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- BLKNSLVR 8y ago
  Off-site backup
  - gotocake 8y ago
    That’s not an argument for Mars, it’s an argument for living somewhere other than just Earth. A distant, low-g, airless, wasteland seems like an odd choice for that. If we’re going to have to terraform, at least Venus has an atmosphere and some tectonic activity, and even space stations or asteroids would be more feasible than Mars. So why Mars?
    - BLKNSLVR 8y ago
      Because I'm nearly through the second book of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy...
adrianN 8y ago
Traditionally governments used to be responsible for such projects.
- amelius 8y ago
  Exactly. We still need companies, but just to provide the hardware. Let governments develop the software, and keep companies away from our data. This is how it worked in the early days of the internet, when DARPA and universities developed the internet protocols, and used commercially available hardware to run their software.
  - ConceptJunkie 8y ago
    "Let governments develop the software, and keep companies away from our data." Except that government is really just another company, much bigger and often less accountable, plus it can make its own rules. There is nothing fundamentally different between a government and a powerful company. They both suffer from the same problems, and succumb to the same evils. If this weren't the case, then we wouldn't need unions for government workers. Governments also don't have competition driving them to increase efficiency or improve their service to "customers". If the government were in charge, the Internet would probably still look BBS's from the early 80s. There is definitely a role for government to help create and agree on International standards, and to create regulations to protect people, but pretending that handing this stuff over to them would not be a total train wreck in one way or another is naive, in my opinion.
    - amelius 8y ago
      > If the government were in charge, the Internet would probably still look BBS's from the early 80s. Did you read my second paragraph/line? The government built the internet as it exists now (minus the corporate junk).

ConceptJunkie 8y ago

Big everything is a race to the bottom. The trick is to find your niche.

sctb 8y ago

Please don't tease us! Some actual information would be nice.

jstewartmobile 8y ago
I figured most people could come up with their own examples easily enough. Take social media. I know so many people in business and media who did perfectly fine before it. Now that it's table stakes, we all have to waste time on it. Great for Twitter and FB, but just a cost for the rest of us. Or youtube and the porn sites. If they infringe, what are you going to do about it? They take it down, someone else re-uploads--a full-time job to keep it off, and they're purely on the honor system when it comes to royalties. It's not like you can sic your auditors on Google's server room. Or ed-tech. So many school districts spending millions on VMs and tablets for every child, yet the academic performance is as mediocre as ever. And it's like people have no concept of just how dangerous information is--like cracking the enigma machine in WWII. Google is probably sitting on enough info to ruin most of our politicians. What if they were inclined to action?

ghtrytttttnsa 8y ago

NSA and goolag agents will find and punish you for speaking the truth which nobody wants to hear.