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I grew up reading about the opposite - not quite a utopia maybe, but a future in which technology was on net beneficial and worked for individual people. "Comp

I grew up reading about the opposite - not quite a utopia maybe, but a future in which technology was on net beneficial and worked for individual people. "Computer, call Joe Smith's robot butler and see if he's free for dinner" and the like. I think we were close. We got general purpose computers and we had a robust open source movement. It's not like anyone's stopping us at gunpoint from getting there. But something about the incentives got misaligned, and we missed a turn and are now getting further and further away. We have 10 devs building Bejeweled clones, 100 working on engagement algos, and 1,000 working on adtech for every 1 working on self-hosted stuff. At this point it seems like it's not going to happen. Best we'll get is "Joe Smith's robot butler responded to say that the Sizzlin' Fajita Platter is only $19.99 all this month at Outback Steakhouse, mens' grooming poducts are on sale today only at Manscape dot com, and also no he isn't free. Would you like to suggest a different day or hear more about the fajitas?"

aquaduck 4y ago
> I think we were close. We got general purpose computers and we had a robust open source movement. Why do you say we "had" a robust open source movement? As far as I can see, FOSS is as strong as it's ever been. The Linux desktop experience is nicer than it's ever been before. If you're adventurous, you can even run mainline Linux on your phone nowadays. Sure, the incentives suck. Ad-tech and other garbage makes much more money, and all that junk has grown proportionately with its profitability. But FOSS hasn't gone anywhere.
- ineptech 4y ago
  Fair point; it hasn't gone anywhere, I guess it just feels outgunned because the closed source movement has grown so unbelievably huge. Also, it seems like a healthy chunk of the "FOSS movement" nowadays is just corporations paying people to work on software that happens to serve their interests, which is neat but not really in contradiction to the overall dystopian trend.

aquaduck 4y ago

> I think we were close. We got general purpose computers and we had a robust open source movement. Why do you say we "had" a robust open source movement? As far as I can see, FOSS is as strong as it's ever been. The Linux desktop experience is nicer than it's ever been before. If you're adventurous, you can even run mainline Linux on your phone nowadays. Sure, the incentives suck. Ad-tech and other garbage makes much more money, and all that junk has grown proportionately with its profitability. But FOSS hasn't gone anywhere.

ineptech 4y ago
Fair point; it hasn't gone anywhere, I guess it just feels outgunned because the closed source movement has grown so unbelievably huge. Also, it seems like a healthy chunk of the "FOSS movement" nowadays is just corporations paying people to work on software that happens to serve their interests, which is neat but not really in contradiction to the overall dystopian trend.