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If such an event has ruined your life, I wager that you have bigger or more systemic problems going on than not being able to buy a stick of butter from Cooper'

If such an event has ruined your life, I wager that you have bigger or more systemic problems going on than not being able to buy a stick of butter from Cooper's Grocery on a particular day. The capacity of being flexible is valuable. Yes, having the world in your pocket is valuable when something jumps up and goes "boo". However, most people should not need to Google-search "what do I do after 'boo'?" every single time.

UncleMeat 6y ago
Ruined my life? Of course not. Annoyed me? Yes. Having a product that enables me to avoid that annoyance is nice.
- coldtea 6y ago
  Considered the opportunity cost? Or would any annoyance justify any solution, whatever the downsides?
  - UncleMeat 6y ago
    What opportunity cost? Why is it impossible for me to conclude that possessing a smartphone does not cause me any harm? There is a persistent rhetoric among online technologists that people are wrong for making different value judgements. Some people don't like that their phone stores a record of their movements. That's fine. But people who disagree can do so for reasons other than ignorance.
    - coldtea 6y ago
      >But people who disagree can do so for reasons other than ignorance. Yes, and here's the key: they might still be wrong. I'm not saying this is the case. I'm saying that this is a possibility. "I took an informed decision which is not due to ignorance" doesn't mean the decision can't still be wrong. Not to mention that most people just adopt shiny new stuff, hardly pausing to indeed make informed decisions...
      - UncleMeat 6y ago
        > Yes, and here's the key: they might still be wrong. I truly do not believe I am wrong for having a smartphone in my pocket when going to the store. I understand the structure and behavior of mobile apps and mobile operating systems far better than most. > Not to mention that most people just adopt shiny new stuff, hardly pausing to indeed make informed decisions... Now we are back at the ignorance claim! I've got a PhD in mobile security. I've been working in this space for more than a decade! I assure you I have done more than "hardly pausing". People claimed that bicycles would cause the destruction of society when they were introduced. Can't I just declare that all of the skeptics are ignorant luddites using the same arguments you are?
        coldtea 6y ago
        >Now we are back at the ignorance claim! I've got a PhD in mobile security. I've been working in this space for more than a decade! I assure you I have done more than "hardly pausing". That's technical knowledge though. But there's another thing when it comes to ignorance or not, that's not tied to "how they work". The understanding of their social/political/etc implications. Someone who even designs smartphones is not necessarily savvy to the latter. If anything, his whole career gives them an incentive not to be ("it's difficult to make somebody understand something whose career depends on not understanding it"). >People claimed that bicycles would cause the destruction of society when they were introduced. Well, they were not far off :-) Though that's more like a "people have been wrong about X in the past, so they can't be right about Y now".
        UncleMeat 6y ago
        Ok. Be specific then. Why should I leave my phone at home.

UncleMeat 6y ago

Ruined my life? Of course not. Annoyed me? Yes. Having a product that enables me to avoid that annoyance is nice.

coldtea 6y ago
Considered the opportunity cost? Or would any annoyance justify any solution, whatever the downsides?
- UncleMeat 6y ago
  What opportunity cost? Why is it impossible for me to conclude that possessing a smartphone does not cause me any harm? There is a persistent rhetoric among online technologists that people are wrong for making different value judgements. Some people don't like that their phone stores a record of their movements. That's fine. But people who disagree can do so for reasons other than ignorance.
  - coldtea 6y ago
    >But people who disagree can do so for reasons other than ignorance. Yes, and here's the key: they might still be wrong. I'm not saying this is the case. I'm saying that this is a possibility. "I took an informed decision which is not due to ignorance" doesn't mean the decision can't still be wrong. Not to mention that most people just adopt shiny new stuff, hardly pausing to indeed make informed decisions...
    - UncleMeat 6y ago
      > Yes, and here's the key: they might still be wrong. I truly do not believe I am wrong for having a smartphone in my pocket when going to the store. I understand the structure and behavior of mobile apps and mobile operating systems far better than most. > Not to mention that most people just adopt shiny new stuff, hardly pausing to indeed make informed decisions... Now we are back at the ignorance claim! I've got a PhD in mobile security. I've been working in this space for more than a decade! I assure you I have done more than "hardly pausing". People claimed that bicycles would cause the destruction of society when they were introduced. Can't I just declare that all of the skeptics are ignorant luddites using the same arguments you are?
      - coldtea 6y ago
        >Now we are back at the ignorance claim! I've got a PhD in mobile security. I've been working in this space for more than a decade! I assure you I have done more than "hardly pausing". That's technical knowledge though. But there's another thing when it comes to ignorance or not, that's not tied to "how they work". The understanding of their social/political/etc implications. Someone who even designs smartphones is not necessarily savvy to the latter. If anything, his whole career gives them an incentive not to be ("it's difficult to make somebody understand something whose career depends on not understanding it"). >People claimed that bicycles would cause the destruction of society when they were introduced. Well, they were not far off :-) Though that's more like a "people have been wrong about X in the past, so they can't be right about Y now".
        UncleMeat 6y ago
        Ok. Be specific then. Why should I leave my phone at home.