I’m all for dreaming of and working in on technology that actually improves people’s lives, and I also think we do a lot of that already (besides the obvious ex

I’m all for dreaming of and working in on technology that actually improves people’s lives, and I also think we do a lot of that already (besides the obvious examples of all the medical technology that, along with the test of modern medical practice, made death while giving birth a rare tragedy instead of a common one, just think of music recording software, really, just imagine if Hendrix had access to a cd-quality porta studio on his pocket!), but let’s not forget the past was far from perfect, and had its own dystopias, far worse than getting tracked to be shown ads. Specifically, we’re discussing a text from 1945, by this time the Hollerith tracking system had been used for years to manage concentration camps. The system was used on all aspects of camp management, including who was murdered, and when a prisioner was available for a specific work. That’s as bad of a technological dystopia as I can think of and it hasn’t been modern for about 70 years already… So tl;dr: in agreement with you about trying to make good things, but let’s not fall for the rose-colored trap when remembering the past.