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You're dead on, I think. There's a few things to consider: 1) There's a general anti-tech sentiment that is a huge defining part of our zeitgeist. It's only a
by martythemaniak 7y ago
You're dead on, I think. There's a few things to consider:
1) There's a general anti-tech sentiment that is a huge defining part of our zeitgeist. It's only a few years old and I'm already tired of it and articles like this one contribute to the fatigue.
2) The NYT is leaning very hard into this fad for a variety of reasons - good for their bottom line, good for their self-image, etc. There was a very funny one a few weeks ago where the NYT "took down" Google's terrible ToS - until someone (in the comments) pointed out the NYT one was even worse. If you're shouting and pointing at someone else, people won't have time to look at you.
3) Lately, I keep being reminded of the Selfish Gene, which has a few chapters devoted to Evolutionary Stable Strategies. In essence, Tech has gotten so big that being a "tech critic" has become a lucrative (high reward/low cost) position to take, like being a cheater in a monogamous population. Any environment can support a certain percentage of such defectors, though if there are suddenly too many, it stops being lucrative and a new stable equilibrium will be reached. I highly recommend it, it has really helped me make sense of these rapid shifts.
- GoodJokes 7y agoThere is a general anti-tech sentiment because tech sucks! Before claims of unfounded bias I think one has to convince us that it_doesnt_suck since all evidence points to it sucking.
- blub 7y agoWhen one thinks about the security breaches, manipulation to share more data or buy more IAPs, addiction-inducing designs, attack tools used against activists and dissidents and the general lack of respect towards people, tech is quite an abusive industry. The biggest and richest tech companies all abuse the privacy of their so-called customers. The customers don't really own or control the devices they buy any more, nor do they control the software. The companies decide at their discretion which version is used and if someone is allowed to use a piece of software. Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook could instantly cut anyone from their online lives and they are able to disable physical devices and locally downloaded applications.
- whalabi 7y agoYou might ask why there is an anti-tech sentiment. Most of the big tech companies are ruthless monopolies which are exploiting people with deeply addictive apps, hoovering up every tiny detail of their lives, and selling it to advertisers while also frequently losing that information to hackers, and being used by autocratic foreign governments to swing elections to candidates that suit their purposes. So it's right that there's an anti-tech sentiment, and it's right that privacy concerns are reported on.