4 ms·

This is a strange prediction to make on hacker news. Most of the people here are constantly learning and adapting to new technology.

KerrAvon 4y ago
You must not have experience with elderly relatives on the edge of Alzheimers or other forms of dementia. It happens; it happens to the best of us.
- binarymax 4y ago
  I do. But having a debilitating disease is a different story and beyond the persons control. Given a choice, I and many others here will continue to learn and adapt.
  - _carbyau_ 4y ago
    Eh. GP:> The subset that will keep up will be even smaller than today The subset might include you, or a majority of HN people even. Just a smaller % of population than currently. Regards your > Given a choice If you have family with such issues, you know it wasn't a choice. Getting older means facing mental plasticity slowdown. You can work to be fit on that front sure, but it is an issue that we will all face and not everyone will choose as you do. I am not sure I agree with GP's assertion that technology will be inherently harder to deal with though.
    - eternalban 4y ago
      The subject at hand affects the entirety of society, not just hn members. Even today surely you must have very intelligent and capable friends or people you know that are preoccupied with their own domain and it is an unreasonable position to expect them to keep up with software and hardware and cellular/networking and be able to ascertain with high confidence that X is a safe and secure choice. This issue can not be decided based on what is appropriate for a niche segment of society. We have a variety of options to serve the general society -- state/control, state/licensing, state/regulation, private/corporate, public/ngo, public/community, personal/ai, personal/expertise. These are not mutually exclusive options and we should discuss the possible configurations, optimal for general societal welfare, rather than denying that the problem exists.
- eternalban 4y ago
  There is certainly that, but in fairness GP is correct that I am saying that at some point tech is going to outstrip even the best of us (maybe it's just the dumb me projecting). One possibility that comes to mind is that we could possibly rely on trustworthy AI to help us understand the implications of using X in full. So if not walled gardens maybe private landscape architects or AI gardeners. But one of the two will be required for digital life.

KerrAvon 4y ago

You must not have experience with elderly relatives on the edge of Alzheimers or other forms of dementia. It happens; it happens to the best of us.

binarymax 4y ago
I do. But having a debilitating disease is a different story and beyond the persons control. Given a choice, I and many others here will continue to learn and adapt.
- _carbyau_ 4y ago
  Eh. GP:> The subset that will keep up will be even smaller than today The subset might include you, or a majority of HN people even. Just a smaller % of population than currently. Regards your > Given a choice If you have family with such issues, you know it wasn't a choice. Getting older means facing mental plasticity slowdown. You can work to be fit on that front sure, but it is an issue that we will all face and not everyone will choose as you do. I am not sure I agree with GP's assertion that technology will be inherently harder to deal with though.
  - eternalban 4y ago
    The subject at hand affects the entirety of society, not just hn members. Even today surely you must have very intelligent and capable friends or people you know that are preoccupied with their own domain and it is an unreasonable position to expect them to keep up with software and hardware and cellular/networking and be able to ascertain with high confidence that X is a safe and secure choice. This issue can not be decided based on what is appropriate for a niche segment of society. We have a variety of options to serve the general society -- state/control, state/licensing, state/regulation, private/corporate, public/ngo, public/community, personal/ai, personal/expertise. These are not mutually exclusive options and we should discuss the possible configurations, optimal for general societal welfare, rather than denying that the problem exists.
eternalban 4y ago
There is certainly that, but in fairness GP is correct that I am saying that at some point tech is going to outstrip even the best of us (maybe it's just the dumb me projecting). One possibility that comes to mind is that we could possibly rely on trustworthy AI to help us understand the implications of using X in full. So if not walled gardens maybe private landscape architects or AI gardeners. But one of the two will be required for digital life.