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For me it was when tech no longer served me and my interests. Anything tech does for me these days is usually just a means to get me to use it so that someone e

For me it was when tech no longer served me and my interests. Anything tech does for me these days is usually just a means to get me to use it so that someone else can collect data, push ads, or control me. There's rarely a product or service that doesn't have some hidden cost or give someone else power over you. Cars have internet, but track your location, can listen in on your conversations, and optional features or the engine itself can be remotely disabled. Phones are powerful computers in our pockets, but are mainly intended for media consumption and data collection. They are also heavily locked down and controlled. Updates are automatically pushed to our devices and software with no notification of what's been changed and no way to decline anti-features and user hostile changes. I still have some hope for the future of tech, but we need to find a way to get tech to work for us again instead of also being used against us. So far things look like they're going to get much worse before they get better. More spying, more restrictions, more consolidation, fewer choices for consumers, less ownership, fewer customization options, less access and less accountability for companies when data gets leaked or people get hurt.

ianai 5y ago
Agree. Luckily there are projects to FOSS the newer stuff. Like pinephone, framework laptop, and actually getting Linux to run on cell phones. To me, at least, that kicks up the old tech interest “feels.” I have always wondered at the difference between how computers used to be all about computation and now most CPUs average like 1-3% utilization or something. If it’s pegged it’s often something nefarious, even. Definitely feels like tech went from a cool way to do new things to a curated garden with hidden mics and surveillance. Not totally on point but I still would like a computer display headset with a couple transparent screens built in. Seems totally do-able with modern tech but nobody’s doing it. Edit and of course there’s all the bad faith to propagandist uses of tech discussion still ongoing https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30997666 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30997666 Edit-typo
jart 5y ago
Does anyone remember what it was like growing up in the 90's when people would pay $100/month for television that was 33% ads? Life was miserable before most of us had Internet access. I think there's simply no comparison. Also does anyone remember what it was like back then trying to sell software? I remember back in 2003 whenever I wrote a piece of software, for every guy who paid me $20 via paypal for it, there'd be ten guys on cracker forums geeking out trying to unravel my protection schemes like a puzzle to be solved. I'm honestly shocked tech has an economy at all considering our industry gives everything away for free. Think about how much leverage industries like health care hold over people's lives, cause bankruptcies, and then compare that to tech products collecting usage analytics. Once again, there's simply on comparison. The tech industry is absolutely the most benevolent force for good these last few decades. And for what it's worth, there's always FOSS which is not only free but maximally respects your privacy even more. Support the people building it. These are all choices we simply didn't have in the past.
- bluefirebrand 5y ago
  > The tech industry is absolutely the most benevolent force for good these last few decades I'm not sure I agree with that. You might be right, but it is definitely souring as companies get better at turning out daily lives into a consumerist panopticon. It feels like every single piece of tech I might want to buy and bring into my house nowadays wants to spy on me. Or rather is spying on me. A basic tv that I only ever use to play games on, wants to show me advertising. It wants to spy on the games I play and the shows I stream and show me ads. How sick is that? That's certainly not a benevolent good, by any measure. Maybe we're at a crossroads where we could choose to be better, or choose to make more money. I think we passed the crossroad a while back and we're at least partway down the ugly path of tech. Maybe it's not too late to turn back.
- thr0wawayf00 5y ago
  > The tech industry is absolutely the most benevolent force for good these last few decades. It's hard to agree with that statement knowing that Facebook allowed genocidal rage to fester on its platform, ultimately facilitating the Rohingya genocide[0]. The tech industry may be the most force for good in your life today, but when you take a step back to read about hardware manufacturing in China, state/privately-sponsored social media psyops, the industry's pushback against pro-consumer policy like right-to-repair, etc., etc., it's really hard to take a statement like that seriously. 0: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebook-genocide.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebo...
  - gdfgjhs 5y ago
    While I would love to work for Meta due to engineering challenges & caliber of their engineers but sometimes I wonder if I would be able to sleep at night. Makes me wonder if those engineers who worked for Nazis through IBM felt any remorse later, or if they were able to compartmentalize their work from their personal lives.
- kderbyma 5y ago
  convenience is not all there is to satisfaction....I feel that you are comparing convenience vs satisfaction. people are not satisfied. they are convenienced.
hnaccount141 5y ago
Yeah this is the big thing for me. Technology continues to excite me as the tools to create continue to become better and more accessible, both in software (for music/photography/CAD/etc) as well as in hardware (3D printers/CNC/microcontrollers/SBCs). It's easier than ever to get started making things, and we're seeing a really inspiring explosion of creativity as a result. The tech industry on the other hand, is increasingly a source of disillusionment. Over the last few years we've seen so many of the exciting companies that emerged in the early 2000s drop the facade of user-centricity and switch from providing value to extracting value at the expense of users. It's gotten to the point where I feel deeply uncomfortable depending on closed source software (and SaaS in general) for anything important, as it feels like it's only a matter of time until the users get screwed over.

ianai 5y ago

Agree. Luckily there are projects to FOSS the newer stuff. Like pinephone, framework laptop, and actually getting Linux to run on cell phones. To me, at least, that kicks up the old tech interest “feels.” I have always wondered at the difference between how computers used to be all about computation and now most CPUs average like 1-3% utilization or something. If it’s pegged it’s often something nefarious, even. Definitely feels like tech went from a cool way to do new things to a curated garden with hidden mics and surveillance. Not totally on point but I still would like a computer display headset with a couple transparent screens built in. Seems totally do-able with modern tech but nobody’s doing it. Edit and of course there’s all the bad faith to propagandist uses of tech discussion still ongoing https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30997666 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30997666 Edit-typo

jart 5y ago

Does anyone remember what it was like growing up in the 90's when people would pay $100/month for television that was 33% ads? Life was miserable before most of us had Internet access. I think there's simply no comparison. Also does anyone remember what it was like back then trying to sell software? I remember back in 2003 whenever I wrote a piece of software, for every guy who paid me $20 via paypal for it, there'd be ten guys on cracker forums geeking out trying to unravel my protection schemes like a puzzle to be solved. I'm honestly shocked tech has an economy at all considering our industry gives everything away for free. Think about how much leverage industries like health care hold over people's lives, cause bankruptcies, and then compare that to tech products collecting usage analytics. Once again, there's simply on comparison. The tech industry is absolutely the most benevolent force for good these last few decades. And for what it's worth, there's always FOSS which is not only free but maximally respects your privacy even more. Support the people building it. These are all choices we simply didn't have in the past.

bluefirebrand 5y ago
> The tech industry is absolutely the most benevolent force for good these last few decades I'm not sure I agree with that. You might be right, but it is definitely souring as companies get better at turning out daily lives into a consumerist panopticon. It feels like every single piece of tech I might want to buy and bring into my house nowadays wants to spy on me. Or rather is spying on me. A basic tv that I only ever use to play games on, wants to show me advertising. It wants to spy on the games I play and the shows I stream and show me ads. How sick is that? That's certainly not a benevolent good, by any measure. Maybe we're at a crossroads where we could choose to be better, or choose to make more money. I think we passed the crossroad a while back and we're at least partway down the ugly path of tech. Maybe it's not too late to turn back.
thr0wawayf00 5y ago
> The tech industry is absolutely the most benevolent force for good these last few decades. It's hard to agree with that statement knowing that Facebook allowed genocidal rage to fester on its platform, ultimately facilitating the Rohingya genocide[0]. The tech industry may be the most force for good in your life today, but when you take a step back to read about hardware manufacturing in China, state/privately-sponsored social media psyops, the industry's pushback against pro-consumer policy like right-to-repair, etc., etc., it's really hard to take a statement like that seriously. 0: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebook-genocide.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebo...
- gdfgjhs 5y ago
  While I would love to work for Meta due to engineering challenges & caliber of their engineers but sometimes I wonder if I would be able to sleep at night. Makes me wonder if those engineers who worked for Nazis through IBM felt any remorse later, or if they were able to compartmentalize their work from their personal lives.
kderbyma 5y ago
convenience is not all there is to satisfaction....I feel that you are comparing convenience vs satisfaction. people are not satisfied. they are convenienced.

hnaccount141 5y ago

Yeah this is the big thing for me. Technology continues to excite me as the tools to create continue to become better and more accessible, both in software (for music/photography/CAD/etc) as well as in hardware (3D printers/CNC/microcontrollers/SBCs). It's easier than ever to get started making things, and we're seeing a really inspiring explosion of creativity as a result. The tech industry on the other hand, is increasingly a source of disillusionment. Over the last few years we've seen so many of the exciting companies that emerged in the early 2000s drop the facade of user-centricity and switch from providing value to extracting value at the expense of users. It's gotten to the point where I feel deeply uncomfortable depending on closed source software (and SaaS in general) for anything important, as it feels like it's only a matter of time until the users get screwed over.