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Ask HN: What Is Tech For?

6 points by adamsea 6y ago

What is tech for?

ineedausername 6y ago
For making money
ironmagma 6y ago
Everyone will answer differently, but for me, tech is about making life better for the next generation. Maybe that means longer lives or better education, or even perhaps more efficient use of time. This worldview does, for better or worse, mean that some tech is not “good tech” or is more useless than other technology, such as social media apps.
- adamsea 6y ago
  I'm with you. Ultimately it's not about the program, it's about the user. Or as Tron put it, "I fight for the user" :).
gitgud 6y ago
Technology is machinery (sometimes virtual) which makes a task easier than the alternative. It's used for whatever the owner decides it to be: It can be used for improving life e.g.; Electricity, Engines, Mechanisation of Agriculture, The Internet, Sanitation. It can also be used for controlling life e.g.; Propaganda, Mechanisation of War, Internet Addiction. "If you can't control the technology, then it's controlling you" - Open Source Enthusiast
Jack000 6y ago
If tech can be generalized to "tool", tech is the defining feature of humanity. Language, fire, society and even art can all fall under this umbrella. In many ways, humans exist for tech rather than the opposite. "Tech" in the abstract exists in the collective minds of humanity, and will endure as long as humanity endures, even when individuals perish. When an individual contributes to tech it is passed down through the ages, a small form of immortality.
- adamsea 6y ago
  Is tech like that virus that lives in cat poop, then, that infects the brains of mice and alters their behavior so the mice actually put the survival of the virus before their own? Because tech is also wonderful but clearly humanity struggles with limits, and seems sometimes to build tech even when its detrimental to humanity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis > Infection with T. gondii has been shown to alter the behavior of mice and rats in ways thought to increase the rodents' chances of being preyed upon by cats.[
  - Jack000 6y ago
    Yes certainly, memetic information is similar to a virus (eg. religion). There exists technology whose sole purpose is to kill or torture, it's all part of the human story for better or worse.

6 points by adamsea 6y ago

What is tech for?

ineedausername 6y ago

For making money

ironmagma 6y ago

Everyone will answer differently, but for me, tech is about making life better for the next generation. Maybe that means longer lives or better education, or even perhaps more efficient use of time. This worldview does, for better or worse, mean that some tech is not “good tech” or is more useless than other technology, such as social media apps.

adamsea 6y ago
I'm with you. Ultimately it's not about the program, it's about the user. Or as Tron put it, "I fight for the user" :).

gitgud 6y ago

Technology is machinery (sometimes virtual) which makes a task easier than the alternative. It's used for whatever the owner decides it to be: It can be used for improving life e.g.; Electricity, Engines, Mechanisation of Agriculture, The Internet, Sanitation. It can also be used for controlling life e.g.; Propaganda, Mechanisation of War, Internet Addiction. "If you can't control the technology, then it's controlling you" - Open Source Enthusiast

Jack000 6y ago

If tech can be generalized to "tool", tech is the defining feature of humanity. Language, fire, society and even art can all fall under this umbrella. In many ways, humans exist for tech rather than the opposite. "Tech" in the abstract exists in the collective minds of humanity, and will endure as long as humanity endures, even when individuals perish. When an individual contributes to tech it is passed down through the ages, a small form of immortality.

adamsea 6y ago
Is tech like that virus that lives in cat poop, then, that infects the brains of mice and alters their behavior so the mice actually put the survival of the virus before their own? Because tech is also wonderful but clearly humanity struggles with limits, and seems sometimes to build tech even when its detrimental to humanity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis > Infection with T. gondii has been shown to alter the behavior of mice and rats in ways thought to increase the rodents' chances of being preyed upon by cats.[
- Jack000 6y ago
  Yes certainly, memetic information is similar to a virus (eg. religion). There exists technology whose sole purpose is to kill or torture, it's all part of the human story for better or worse.