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One of the things I've started to wrap my head around lately is the essential inhumanity of technology. It's a near-daily occurrence of mine to having to deal w

One of the things I've started to wrap my head around lately is the essential inhumanity of technology. It's a near-daily occurrence of mine to having to deal with something that's just plain dumb, and just have no way at all to fix it. I can't make the system better, I can't make any kind of suggestion to anyone so that my situation won't come up again. There's nothing to do but to just accept it, put whatever workarounds I can come up with in place, hope I can remember what I did before the next time it comes up, and move on. It regularly moves me to anger, with nowhere to put it. It's not fair to unload it on your coworkers or your manager. So I'll vent a little bit, still trying to find the best way to do this, and just hope I'm not a raging alcoholic by the time I'm 40. But I'm a skilled tech worker whose getting paid very well in order to deal with these things. If they're not just douchebags, I would guess that most people who get unreasonably angry at OSS maintainers are not getting paid very well to deal and are likely the target for generated externalities. They need a focus, someone to hold responsible. But tech is inhuman and so there is no one to hold accountable. And if ever there was someone to hold accountable, by God get rid of that chink in the armor! The OSS maintainer thus becomes that chink. I sometimes wonder if the brave new world that the West is building is not the great horn of plenty that we all believe it to be, but rather a monster that consumes the best parts of us and spits the rest out, too cruel to just put its victims out of their misery. Then I remember that inhuman bureaucracy is nothing new, and pour another glass.

molteanu 8y ago
Now I'm curious about what you have read lately. The Technological Society by Ellul was a good start for me. Yes, there's a lot of wishful thinking and religious zeal out there, helped by the modern "we can f* up your brain and you won't even notice it" techniques. It seems to me you can spend your whole life developing some free software which gets used, among other things, to create tons of money for other people. Makes you wonder (at least it makes me wonder), if this whole thing is not meant or at least supported by the good guys and girls who know how to make a buck and can convince even your granny to learn html because knowing how-to-web it's the new literacy while the purpose might be no other than "not even third-world countries want to work at boring websites, so we have no one to do the dirty work now. How can we convince some poor souls to do it, and freely too." I'm really interested if you have something in the department. A nice article, a good book, something that can be used to wake one from it's slumber.
- vinceguidry 8y ago
  The Bible. Wish I could offer something more accessible. But a better read on the nature of hells, belief, faith, false gods, and how to find a true path to salvation can't be found. Haven't picked mine up in awhile. Should probably fix that. I spend my time these days writing rather than reading. Chasing my own muse. Quora is my usual outlet, though I'll occasionally feel compelled to comment on HN.
  - paulryanrogers 8y ago
    Having wasted a significant portion of my youth on said book I would not recommend it. The whole thing boils down to devoting yourself to a (IMO) demanding, bigoted, homophobic, and imaginary being. Whatever crumbs of truth (treat others like you want to be treated, life is short, etc.) included are better expressed elsewhere and without all the baggage.
    - vinceguidry 8y ago
      That's why I said I wish I had something more accessible. Unless you already have the penchant for belief the Bible is just going to feel that way. It's an ancient text written for ancient peoples. You need a map to the Bible in order to really understand it. I like YouTube videos, and the best ones I've seen on this topic are the ones by the Bible Project. https://www.youtube.com/user/jointhebibleproject https://www.youtube.com/user/jointhebibleproject And they only feel like crumbs because we've spent the last 2000 years building a society based on those ideas. But they were new and shiny at one point in time. Just like tech is new and shiny now.
    - treetis 8y ago
      Using those words, it sounds like you're angry at God.
    - smoyer 8y ago
      But the greatest commandment is this ... love one another.
peterkelly 8y ago
This reminds me of the author of libcurl saying that he gets a ton of emails from people asking about their cars infotainment system, because when they try to find an email address to contact for support, the closest thing they can find is his address in the libcurl license text: https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/11/14/i-have-toyota-corola/ https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/11/14/i-have-toyota-corola/
- vinceguidry 8y ago
  Yeah, I remember that. This sort of thing seems to hit senior citizens harder because of their general unfamiliarity with technology. So they use the toolset they're familiar with, to find somebody to get on the phone to make them deal with the problem. I'm tempted to take vicious glee in the notion that this is the comeuppance Baby Boomers are getting for selling future generations down the river to fund their own retirements. If they could have just shared the post-war wealth equally their children wouldn't have needed to destroy the world that made it.
klenwell 8y ago
Your comment brings to mind a passage I highlighted years ago in Robert Sapolsky's Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: Stress-induced displacement of aggression: the practice works wonders at minimizing the stressfulness of a stressor. It’s a real primate specialty as well. A male baboon loses a fight. Frustrated, he spins around and attacks a subordinate male who was minding his own business. An extremely high percentage of primate aggression represents frustration displaced onto innocent bystanders. Extended quote here (not my blog): https://transferringstuff.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/disturbing-mechanism-for-stress-release/ https://transferringstuff.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/disturbin... I think you're right and what's tough is that the impulse to unload on someone seems to be hard-wired and even salutary. I have to catch myself from doing it and even then I'm sure I'm a regular source of microaggressions. I think to a certain extent bureaucracy, humane bureaucracy, can be a corrective to the bite-your-subordinate instinct. But I agree there's nothing so effective at generating find-me-an-innocent-bystander-to-swipe-at fury as mindless ineffective bureaucracy where the architects of it are hidden and unaccountable. And, as you point out with technology, it's very easy to slip into regarding that third-party service your company signed up for or the open-source library you downloaded after glancing at the README -- when it doesn't work as expected or you promised yourself it would -- in just those terms. Maybe someone could start a Punching-Bag-as-a-Service platform to collect and safely dispose of all this displaced aggression. Is there a good online screaming pillow where I could direct myself and others in these moment of impotent rage?
- vinceguidry 8y ago
  At my last workplace, I used to deal with it by simply getting up and taking a walk. A total context change is probably the best way to cope. Take a good half hour and get some physical activity. Ping pong was helpful too when I had access to a table. A service is unlikely to work because anger requires immediate release when triggered otherwise it's repressed. Repressed anger builds up and makes the next outburst worse. I believe that the "lives of quiet desperation" described refer to anger that's continually repressed with no outlet. There's a seeming epidemic of burnout in tech that I think is driven by this dynamic. I've seen people start jobs and almost immediately start exhibiting symptoms of burnout. The inhumanity of tech builds up and every little thing builds up. I don't get burned out. I think this is because I'm skilled at managing my emotions. But as I get older my tolerance for repressing anger to release it in a controlled explosion later when nobody is watching grows less and less. And my jobs get more and more visible. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to stay in this career.

molteanu 8y ago

Now I'm curious about what you have read lately. The Technological Society by Ellul was a good start for me. Yes, there's a lot of wishful thinking and religious zeal out there, helped by the modern "we can f* up your brain and you won't even notice it" techniques. It seems to me you can spend your whole life developing some free software which gets used, among other things, to create tons of money for other people. Makes you wonder (at least it makes me wonder), if this whole thing is not meant or at least supported by the good guys and girls who know how to make a buck and can convince even your granny to learn html because knowing how-to-web it's the new literacy while the purpose might be no other than "not even third-world countries want to work at boring websites, so we have no one to do the dirty work now. How can we convince some poor souls to do it, and freely too." I'm really interested if you have something in the department. A nice article, a good book, something that can be used to wake one from it's slumber.

vinceguidry 8y ago
The Bible. Wish I could offer something more accessible. But a better read on the nature of hells, belief, faith, false gods, and how to find a true path to salvation can't be found. Haven't picked mine up in awhile. Should probably fix that. I spend my time these days writing rather than reading. Chasing my own muse. Quora is my usual outlet, though I'll occasionally feel compelled to comment on HN.
- paulryanrogers 8y ago
  Having wasted a significant portion of my youth on said book I would not recommend it. The whole thing boils down to devoting yourself to a (IMO) demanding, bigoted, homophobic, and imaginary being. Whatever crumbs of truth (treat others like you want to be treated, life is short, etc.) included are better expressed elsewhere and without all the baggage.
  - vinceguidry 8y ago
    That's why I said I wish I had something more accessible. Unless you already have the penchant for belief the Bible is just going to feel that way. It's an ancient text written for ancient peoples. You need a map to the Bible in order to really understand it. I like YouTube videos, and the best ones I've seen on this topic are the ones by the Bible Project. https://www.youtube.com/user/jointhebibleproject https://www.youtube.com/user/jointhebibleproject And they only feel like crumbs because we've spent the last 2000 years building a society based on those ideas. But they were new and shiny at one point in time. Just like tech is new and shiny now.
  - treetis 8y ago
    Using those words, it sounds like you're angry at God.
  - smoyer 8y ago
    But the greatest commandment is this ... love one another.

peterkelly 8y ago

This reminds me of the author of libcurl saying that he gets a ton of emails from people asking about their cars infotainment system, because when they try to find an email address to contact for support, the closest thing they can find is his address in the libcurl license text: https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/11/14/i-have-toyota-corola/ https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/11/14/i-have-toyota-corola/

vinceguidry 8y ago
Yeah, I remember that. This sort of thing seems to hit senior citizens harder because of their general unfamiliarity with technology. So they use the toolset they're familiar with, to find somebody to get on the phone to make them deal with the problem. I'm tempted to take vicious glee in the notion that this is the comeuppance Baby Boomers are getting for selling future generations down the river to fund their own retirements. If they could have just shared the post-war wealth equally their children wouldn't have needed to destroy the world that made it.

klenwell 8y ago

Your comment brings to mind a passage I highlighted years ago in Robert Sapolsky's Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: Stress-induced displacement of aggression: the practice works wonders at minimizing the stressfulness of a stressor. It’s a real primate specialty as well. A male baboon loses a fight. Frustrated, he spins around and attacks a subordinate male who was minding his own business. An extremely high percentage of primate aggression represents frustration displaced onto innocent bystanders. Extended quote here (not my blog): https://transferringstuff.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/disturbing-mechanism-for-stress-release/ https://transferringstuff.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/disturbin... I think you're right and what's tough is that the impulse to unload on someone seems to be hard-wired and even salutary. I have to catch myself from doing it and even then I'm sure I'm a regular source of microaggressions. I think to a certain extent bureaucracy, humane bureaucracy, can be a corrective to the bite-your-subordinate instinct. But I agree there's nothing so effective at generating find-me-an-innocent-bystander-to-swipe-at fury as mindless ineffective bureaucracy where the architects of it are hidden and unaccountable. And, as you point out with technology, it's very easy to slip into regarding that third-party service your company signed up for or the open-source library you downloaded after glancing at the README -- when it doesn't work as expected or you promised yourself it would -- in just those terms. Maybe someone could start a Punching-Bag-as-a-Service platform to collect and safely dispose of all this displaced aggression. Is there a good online screaming pillow where I could direct myself and others in these moment of impotent rage?

vinceguidry 8y ago
At my last workplace, I used to deal with it by simply getting up and taking a walk. A total context change is probably the best way to cope. Take a good half hour and get some physical activity. Ping pong was helpful too when I had access to a table. A service is unlikely to work because anger requires immediate release when triggered otherwise it's repressed. Repressed anger builds up and makes the next outburst worse. I believe that the "lives of quiet desperation" described refer to anger that's continually repressed with no outlet. There's a seeming epidemic of burnout in tech that I think is driven by this dynamic. I've seen people start jobs and almost immediately start exhibiting symptoms of burnout. The inhumanity of tech builds up and every little thing builds up. I don't get burned out. I think this is because I'm skilled at managing my emotions. But as I get older my tolerance for repressing anger to release it in a controlled explosion later when nobody is watching grows less and less. And my jobs get more and more visible. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to stay in this career.