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I think our idea of what progress is needs to change. In my mind, the following are not progress: facial recognition, smart diapers, and surveillance devices.

I think our idea of what progress is needs to change. In my mind, the following are not progress: facial recognition, smart diapers, and surveillance devices. And handheld devices like iphones are a very minor progress. the problem with these things is they don't really enable anything new. So what if the diaper tells you that it's full, I could've done that just by sniffing it: bluetoothing it is NOT progress. Facial recognition on my door: now I don't need to pull out a key, big deal. Iphones: wow, now I can get a map on my phone. I used to just print them out and that worked fine, I could still get to my destination. admittedly having on the phone makes getting there a little easier - this is minor progress - saves me maybe a few minutes at most. Here are examples real progress: (these are all examples that save thousands of hours of labor, not just a few minutes) - being able to get to work faster or more cost effectively - lowering the cost of housing and bringing housing prices down. - technology to allow remote work (as if you were there in person) - lowering the cost of medical insurance and medical costs in general. - lowering the cost of education (this can be easily done if we get rid of the monopoly of the current institutions -> there are a ton of online schools and programs that would happily teach people at a much lower cost, if not free.)

Kalium 7y ago
It's perhaps possible that what tools enable isn't always obvious. Mobile phones mean mobile connectivity and computing. That means mobile monitoring of medical conditions becomes possible, making it possible to dramatically better assess and treat in a more timely fashion an array of conditions. That's very often a wonderful way to bring down prices, as preventing medical crises is much cheaper than handling them.
lotsofpulp 7y ago
Execution matters, and handheld devices like iPhones have great eased execution. It's ludicrous to claim the ease of video calling and using the internet via sandboxed apps is not significant. There are huge efficiency gains made when a person can purchase their own travel, get medical help via their handheld device, ability to consume media without needing set top boxes and televisions, etc.
- thorwasdfasdf 7y ago
  It's a second rate device. handheld devices are things you use when you don't have a computer with you or aren't able to use it. Most things you can do on a mobile device, you can do on a computer much more quickly and with quicker more accurate typing, better UI, more screens, etc. when you're stuck on a train, standing and not able to use a computer, do mobile devices become useful.
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    The data says it’s not considered a second rate device for the millions of people opting to use them over desktops or laptops.

Kalium 7y ago

It's perhaps possible that what tools enable isn't always obvious. Mobile phones mean mobile connectivity and computing. That means mobile monitoring of medical conditions becomes possible, making it possible to dramatically better assess and treat in a more timely fashion an array of conditions. That's very often a wonderful way to bring down prices, as preventing medical crises is much cheaper than handling them.

lotsofpulp 7y ago

Execution matters, and handheld devices like iPhones have great eased execution. It's ludicrous to claim the ease of video calling and using the internet via sandboxed apps is not significant. There are huge efficiency gains made when a person can purchase their own travel, get medical help via their handheld device, ability to consume media without needing set top boxes and televisions, etc.

thorwasdfasdf 7y ago
It's a second rate device. handheld devices are things you use when you don't have a computer with you or aren't able to use it. Most things you can do on a mobile device, you can do on a computer much more quickly and with quicker more accurate typing, better UI, more screens, etc. when you're stuck on a train, standing and not able to use a computer, do mobile devices become useful.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  The data says it’s not considered a second rate device for the millions of people opting to use them over desktops or laptops.