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I don't think it's curiosity about computers - it's more general curiosity about how certain kinds of systems work. It isn't even about appliances and mass cons
by TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
I don't think it's curiosity about computers - it's more general curiosity about how certain kinds of systems work. It isn't even about appliances and mass consumption. That's a relevant view, but not a very revealing one.
Computers are an idealised example of an organised system which is assembled/operated by solving puzzles. Some people enjoy solving those kinds of puzzles. Most people don't. The first kind of person doesn't really understand the second kind of person - and vice versa.
Something interesting and disturbing has been happening over the last twenty years. The Internet stopped being a technological puzzle and became a social and political puzzle.
This kind of "cultural engineering" - where the currency is attention, influence, patronage, and sometimes actual spending, not puzzle prowess - appeals to a completely different kind of person. And these people have been driving the development of the Internet for a while now.
People who like solving computer puzzles have been completely blindsided by this and continue to act as if technology is still somehow primary - when it isn't, and hasn't been for a while.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago> Something interesting and disturbing has been happening over the last twenty years. The Internet stopped being a technological puzzle and became a social and political puzzle. The “internet” as a thing is still capable of the same things it was 20 years ago. The proportion of people using the internet who care more about the social and political puzzle rather than the technological is what dramatically increased.
- watwut 6y ago> Computers are an idealised example of an organised system which is assembled/operated by solving puzzles. Some people enjoy solving those kinds of puzzles. Most people don't. The first kind of person doesn't really understand the second kind of person - and vice versa. Plenty of puzzle lovers don't care about computers at all. Plenty of good programmers and tinkerers don't care about puzzles of different kind.
- exporectomy 6y agoLots of technologies start out appealing to technologists until they mature enough to reach mainstream adoption. It's not disturbing, it's a sign that they were successful! Cars did the same, and aeroplanes, and electricity. I'm happy the internet is now as common and easy to use as electricity. Geeks can move on to the next interesting immature technology. Perhaps cryptocurrency or machine learning or whatever. The world is full of exciting things.
- Robotbeat 6y agoCryptocurrency has now pretty solidly transitioned from hobbyist/enthusiast to monetization through centralization. Which is a little ironic but that’s how it goes.
- exporectomy 6y agoWell, yes. I'm showing my age a bit. Don't have my finger on the pulse of what the actual current tinkerer-stage technologies are.