4 ms·

That argument is getting old. Yes, you could do those things, but can you do that for billions of people? Going back to the "you don't own your computer"-post f

That argument is getting old. Yes, you could do those things, but can you do that for billions of people? Going back to the "you don't own your computer"-post from yesterday (or the day before?): it's not simply a matter of 'the big bar corp did it', users that do not or cannot understand technology to a degree that they can also control it generally don't have this choice at all. And for people that do have that choice, you also have to choose the ecosystem (be it social or technical). Plenty of people seem to stay on facebook for the same reason. It's not because it's good, it's because that's where the critical mass is.

dheera 6y ago
Yes, you can. At some point regulation does need to step in and keep corporations in check. You probably buy food from a restaurant or food ingredients from a grocery store. You don't have to buy food -- you can grow it or hunt it yourself. But there are laws around food labels for a reason.
- oneplane 6y ago
  You can from a physical point of view, but that's not what I was talking about; I was talking about ownership, and how you can't really talk about owning something if you don't know what it _is_ what you think you might want to own. No amount of regulation will fix that. At the same time you do of course need to have a select group of people that are specialised to deal with this 'for the many', which is where you get government and regulation. But that's just an parallel path to a solution, not something that will 'repair' the lack of understanding from the users. That's not to say that it used to be better or something; when you needed to know how electronics work to be able to buy, install, operate and maintain a basic radio it wasn't very widely usable. (but at least the users knew enough to 'own' their stuff)

4 ms·

That argument is getting old. Yes, you could do those things, but can you do that for billions of people? Going back to the "you don't own your computer"-post f

by oneplane 6y ago

dheera 6y ago
Yes, you can. At some point regulation does need to step in and keep corporations in check. You probably buy food from a restaurant or food ingredients from a grocery store. You don't have to buy food -- you can grow it or hunt it yourself. But there are laws around food labels for a reason.
- oneplane 6y ago
  You can from a physical point of view, but that's not what I was talking about; I was talking about ownership, and how you can't really talk about owning something if you don't know what it _is_ what you think you might want to own. No amount of regulation will fix that. At the same time you do of course need to have a select group of people that are specialised to deal with this 'for the many', which is where you get government and regulation. But that's just an parallel path to a solution, not something that will 'repair' the lack of understanding from the users. That's not to say that it used to be better or something; when you needed to know how electronics work to be able to buy, install, operate and maintain a basic radio it wasn't very widely usable. (but at least the users knew enough to 'own' their stuff)