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I think car mechanics are also upset that years of driving cars have taught people so little on how a car works. For many people turning off Facebook and Amazon

I think car mechanics are also upset that years of driving cars have taught people so little on how a car works. For many people turning off Facebook and Amazon is turning off the Internet because its the only sites they visit.

black_puppydog 6y ago
I think equating "only using F, A, and G" with "don't know how cars work" is plain wrong in this metaphor. Not knowing how cars work would equate more to "don't know what a router/switch does" which is... fine I guess, for most users who just plug a plastic box into an outlet. Only using the 2 or 3 major websites, in car speak, would likely more look like "only know the road to the mall, the job, and the daycare and doesn't even realize there are other places one might conceivably go" which is... not fine in my book, and yes, I'm frustrated about that.
- jacobwilliamroy 6y ago
  Dropping the metaphor. People don't use their network equipment to its full potential, because they think the web == internet. So they have all this crazy equipment with functions they never even imagined, and only use it to browse a few websites. So I actually think the issue is even worse than what you describe and I'm frustrated about it too.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - xnyan 6y ago
    >People don't use their network equipment to its full potential, because they think the web == internet I see that a lot of my fellow nerds have this feeling and I'm honestly, non-trolly curious about why this is. People have wants and needs (get email from boss, watch video, lookup a recipe) and they learn how to do that specific task. Most people don't know what the internet is, or what a even what computer is beyond a simple mental model that allows them to do what they think they want to do. For most things, this is exactly how you I and everyone else lives their lives too. Like everyone else I'm sure there are systems that you use on a daily basis which you don't understand beyond the specific steps that you need to know in order to accomplish your task. I don't have anything beyond the most basic pharmacological understanding of how the prescription drugs I take work, and I probably never will yet I depend on them daily. Most people will never understand most things. I see that as utterly normal.
    - nefitty 6y ago
      To me, the unusual part is that there are people who live with and use systems on a daily basis without ever becoming curious about them. I mean, hours and hours of every day, dependent on the internet and people never stop and ask, “What is this thing? How does it work?” In that vein, I was pretty impressed the other day by the Wikipedia article on traffic lights.
  - Larrikin 6y ago
    What kind of functionality are you referring to? Ad blocking at the network level? Local network of files? Wouldn't mind a weekend project for something cool.
    - jacobwilliamroy 6y ago
      Yes all of those things. One thing about this network illiteracy that I actually like, is that I can go on craigslist and pick up some pretty kickass hardware for 10-20$, because no one knows what it is, its true power, what its worth.
      - Larrikin 6y ago
        I was hoping for more examples than the two I just thought of off the top of my head.
        jacobwilliamroy 6y ago
        Try load balancing your internet traffic over an array of directional wifi antennas, all connected to different, legally accessible, networks.
        nix23 6y ago
        https://freifunk.net/en/ https://freifunk.net/en/ It's actually a cool project, but never got really big.
iso1210 6y ago
> I think car mechanics are also upset that years of driving cars have taught people so little on how a car works To an extent I'm sure that dealing with customers that don't know their engine needs oil is tiring On the other hand dealing with customers that don't know their engine needs oil is lucrative
stereolambda 6y ago
It's not a bad metaphor to consider, but computer networks are tools of open-ended interaction with wider society, entering contracts, getting (and nowadays often giving up) information. So the public being clueless about the Internet is more like being clueless about basic law and finance, or in more extreme cases something like telling apart the fiction and non-fiction programs on TV. On the other hand, you should be fine thinking of your car as just a means of transportation.

black_puppydog 6y ago

I think equating "only using F, A, and G" with "don't know how cars work" is plain wrong in this metaphor. Not knowing how cars work would equate more to "don't know what a router/switch does" which is... fine I guess, for most users who just plug a plastic box into an outlet. Only using the 2 or 3 major websites, in car speak, would likely more look like "only know the road to the mall, the job, and the daycare and doesn't even realize there are other places one might conceivably go" which is... not fine in my book, and yes, I'm frustrated about that.

jacobwilliamroy 6y ago
Dropping the metaphor. People don't use their network equipment to its full potential, because they think the web == internet. So they have all this crazy equipment with functions they never even imagined, and only use it to browse a few websites. So I actually think the issue is even worse than what you describe and I'm frustrated about it too.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- xnyan 6y ago
  >People don't use their network equipment to its full potential, because they think the web == internet I see that a lot of my fellow nerds have this feeling and I'm honestly, non-trolly curious about why this is. People have wants and needs (get email from boss, watch video, lookup a recipe) and they learn how to do that specific task. Most people don't know what the internet is, or what a even what computer is beyond a simple mental model that allows them to do what they think they want to do. For most things, this is exactly how you I and everyone else lives their lives too. Like everyone else I'm sure there are systems that you use on a daily basis which you don't understand beyond the specific steps that you need to know in order to accomplish your task. I don't have anything beyond the most basic pharmacological understanding of how the prescription drugs I take work, and I probably never will yet I depend on them daily. Most people will never understand most things. I see that as utterly normal.
  - nefitty 6y ago
    To me, the unusual part is that there are people who live with and use systems on a daily basis without ever becoming curious about them. I mean, hours and hours of every day, dependent on the internet and people never stop and ask, “What is this thing? How does it work?” In that vein, I was pretty impressed the other day by the Wikipedia article on traffic lights.
- Larrikin 6y ago
  What kind of functionality are you referring to? Ad blocking at the network level? Local network of files? Wouldn't mind a weekend project for something cool.
  - jacobwilliamroy 6y ago
    Yes all of those things. One thing about this network illiteracy that I actually like, is that I can go on craigslist and pick up some pretty kickass hardware for 10-20$, because no one knows what it is, its true power, what its worth.
    - Larrikin 6y ago
      I was hoping for more examples than the two I just thought of off the top of my head.
      - jacobwilliamroy 6y ago
        Try load balancing your internet traffic over an array of directional wifi antennas, all connected to different, legally accessible, networks.
      - nix23 6y ago
        https://freifunk.net/en/ https://freifunk.net/en/ It's actually a cool project, but never got really big.

iso1210 6y ago

> I think car mechanics are also upset that years of driving cars have taught people so little on how a car works To an extent I'm sure that dealing with customers that don't know their engine needs oil is tiring On the other hand dealing with customers that don't know their engine needs oil is lucrative

stereolambda 6y ago

It's not a bad metaphor to consider, but computer networks are tools of open-ended interaction with wider society, entering contracts, getting (and nowadays often giving up) information. So the public being clueless about the Internet is more like being clueless about basic law and finance, or in more extreme cases something like telling apart the fiction and non-fiction programs on TV. On the other hand, you should be fine thinking of your car as just a means of transportation.