3 ms·

Some number less than their active user count? Ask a leading question; get a flippant answer. I’d find the cries for empathy to the poor affected users more c

Some number less than their active user count? Ask a leading question; get a flippant answer. I’d find the cries for empathy to the poor affected users more compelling if it weren’t for the fact that anyone of working age can remember a time when these technologies didn’t exist. If it’s a tragedy that you didn’t have access to a novel technology for six hours, then I’d question the health of your relationship to it, and the wisdom of any economic choices you’ve made which depend upon it.

chimpansteve 5y ago
I can remember a time when the internet wasn't widely available, and I'm not that old. Are you saying that everyone should just go back to how things were done in 1990, and the only impact would be the fault of the people using it?
- periphrasis 5y ago
  I’m saying that anyone that thinks that progress is a given and that we are inherently better off for having the social web may not be giving sufficient considerations to the trade offs we have incurred. On the other hand I’m typing in anger, so I might just be an asshole.
pedrogrande 5y ago
Wow! Snarky much? Do you have any experience living in a country outside a "first world" country? Do you have any understanding how these "novel" technologies can be the backbone of people's business, livelihoods or even emergency services? Sounds like you are in a comfortable bubble.
- periphrasis 5y ago
  No I do not. And I’m sorry that the incumbent monopolist in third world countries is such a shit show that anyone has to suffer for their incompetence. Doesn’t change the reality that Facebook is the only game in town in the developing world because they worked very hard to make it that way. Tell you what: I’ll be more empathetic to victims of the great Facebook outage of 2021 if you can be more empathetic to the mother I lost to covid after refusing to get vaccinated on account of memes she saw on Facebook. Deal?
DantesKite 5y ago
It was a serious question. I didn't realize so many people relied on WhatsApp for communication outside the US. I also find your argument specious, because you can continue that train of logic with any modern technology. I don't think communication is comparable to food and water, but I wouldn't say it's a negligible impact on a person, especially since we don't know the circumstances of what happened during those six hours and how many services rely on it outside of Western nations. And by the looks of it, a few million people rely on it. Facebook going down is a minor inconvenience. Facebook Chat and WhatsApp going down are a bit more serious.
- periphrasis 5y ago
  Indeed. What are the trade offs of technology? Is it actually making our lives better? Are our lives richer for having brought Mark Zuckerberg into them? Perhaps if we had thought to ask those questions ahead of time we wouldn’t be living through a fourth corona virus wave fueled by antivax misinformation, and perhaps people wouldn’t be feeling deep personal injury at being unable to talk to someone for six hours.

chimpansteve 5y ago

I can remember a time when the internet wasn't widely available, and I'm not that old. Are you saying that everyone should just go back to how things were done in 1990, and the only impact would be the fault of the people using it?

periphrasis 5y ago
I’m saying that anyone that thinks that progress is a given and that we are inherently better off for having the social web may not be giving sufficient considerations to the trade offs we have incurred. On the other hand I’m typing in anger, so I might just be an asshole.

pedrogrande 5y ago

Wow! Snarky much? Do you have any experience living in a country outside a "first world" country? Do you have any understanding how these "novel" technologies can be the backbone of people's business, livelihoods or even emergency services? Sounds like you are in a comfortable bubble.

periphrasis 5y ago
No I do not. And I’m sorry that the incumbent monopolist in third world countries is such a shit show that anyone has to suffer for their incompetence. Doesn’t change the reality that Facebook is the only game in town in the developing world because they worked very hard to make it that way. Tell you what: I’ll be more empathetic to victims of the great Facebook outage of 2021 if you can be more empathetic to the mother I lost to covid after refusing to get vaccinated on account of memes she saw on Facebook. Deal?

DantesKite 5y ago

It was a serious question. I didn't realize so many people relied on WhatsApp for communication outside the US. I also find your argument specious, because you can continue that train of logic with any modern technology. I don't think communication is comparable to food and water, but I wouldn't say it's a negligible impact on a person, especially since we don't know the circumstances of what happened during those six hours and how many services rely on it outside of Western nations. And by the looks of it, a few million people rely on it. Facebook going down is a minor inconvenience. Facebook Chat and WhatsApp going down are a bit more serious.

periphrasis 5y ago
Indeed. What are the trade offs of technology? Is it actually making our lives better? Are our lives richer for having brought Mark Zuckerberg into them? Perhaps if we had thought to ask those questions ahead of time we wouldn’t be living through a fourth corona virus wave fueled by antivax misinformation, and perhaps people wouldn’t be feeling deep personal injury at being unable to talk to someone for six hours.