3 ms·

To emphasize, I agree with you. I don't think "back in the good ol' days" that things were always benevolent, nor do I believe that today that things are always

To emphasize, I agree with you. I don't think "back in the good ol' days" that things were always benevolent, nor do I believe that today that things are always evil. But I do think it's a mistake to say this is just another step, or going from an "8 to a 9". I think this idea that so much of our technology is actively hostile is a part of the puzzle around why many people feel that our pace of real technological advancement and our ability to build big projects has slowed greatly (Patrick Collison has a great blog piece, https://patrickcollison.com/fast https://patrickcollison.com/fast) I feel part of this is a consequence of the fact that we've gotten so good at data analysis, when you look at 2 alternatives and one shows an immediate, clear payoff (but the downsides are long term and not all that clear), while the other shows a riskier, longer term payoff, we (collectively) nearly always go with the short term win. E.g we can see with A/B testing what keeps people the most "engaged", but we just kind of ignore that this "engagement" is with the lowest common denominator of content like rage-inducing tribalism.

tech_ken 3y ago
Interesting read, I've definitely heard similar things through various podcast-y outlets (I think there was a "The Weeds" episode about this phenomenon a few years back). I could see an argument that all the engineering talent getting sucked into working on stupid, anti-human projects is a big source of this slowdown. It does seem like over the last decade or so grad degree programs have transitioned from "here's the training you need to work on the cutting edge of your field" to "here's what you need to get picked up by the data science arm of an ad tech company". I will say that going from an 8 to a 9 may come with "phase change" type effects, and personally I believe this is more in line with what's going on. Consumer capitalism has sort of metastasized in the US, and is basically eating our ability to do anything but generate more widgets rather than actual value. Curious to see how/if we pull out of the doom loop

tech_ken 3y ago

Interesting read, I've definitely heard similar things through various podcast-y outlets (I think there was a "The Weeds" episode about this phenomenon a few years back). I could see an argument that all the engineering talent getting sucked into working on stupid, anti-human projects is a big source of this slowdown. It does seem like over the last decade or so grad degree programs have transitioned from "here's the training you need to work on the cutting edge of your field" to "here's what you need to get picked up by the data science arm of an ad tech company". I will say that going from an 8 to a 9 may come with "phase change" type effects, and personally I believe this is more in line with what's going on. Consumer capitalism has sort of metastasized in the US, and is basically eating our ability to do anything but generate more widgets rather than actual value. Curious to see how/if we pull out of the doom loop