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Tangentially related: How can we steer technology towards empowering individuals instead of exploiting them? Thirty years ago, I was optimistic that personal d

by Terr_ 2y ago

Tangentially related: How can we steer technology towards empowering individuals instead of exploiting them? Thirty years ago, I was optimistic that personal devices and software were a kind of capital, like power-tools, which was spreading out to allow people to better themselves and their lives... But nowadays it feels more like nets being cast by some (decidedly un-biblical) fishers of men, where it's all about ensnaring customers and holding their data and social-webs hostage, sometimes even fostering gambling addictions. So while I do want to see some (near-)monopolies disrupted, it won't be a panacea: We'll still have important systemic problems to face, such as the terrible DMCA, clickwrap contracts of adhesion, issues around "right to repair", and how advertising/spyware as a revenue stream slowly corrupts everything it touches.

throwaway13337 2y ago
This is the most important thing. Tools should be in control of their owners. If not, the owner becomes the tool of those that control them. Old computing had a very philosophical bend this way - the open source movement was about empowering individuals. I don't think that's coming back - at least not in a non-cynical version. A new thought has to exist. Old tech companies had a business model of selling a product to a customer. The change occurred with advertising. It's now the core business of the biggest tech companies. With that, the perspective of how to be successful as a tech company changed. Manipulating the customer through marketing, suggesting, and nudging is now the model. When manipulation is your business model, you're no longer improving the world. How do we get back to aligning companies with their customers? It's not fate that manipulation dominates. It's just one business model. And probably not the greatest one.
- fsflover 2y ago
  > Tools should be in control of their owners. If not, the owner becomes the tool of those that control them. This is literally the reason why Stallman created FSF and promoted free software: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html Devices running free software obey the users, not the corporation.
feedforward 2y ago
Read about commodity fetishism, relations of production, alienation etc.
matheusmoreira 2y ago
> How can we steer technology towards empowering individuals instead of exploiting them? We figure out every single objective that industry lobbyists ever achieved, and we do the opposite. In my opinion the biggest issue right now is the insanity of intellectual property. They use it to kill competition and stop others from breaking their business models. We should be able to reverse engineer an app and build a free software replacement that talks to their servers but right now that's a crime.

by Terr_ 2y ago

throwaway13337 2y ago

This is the most important thing. Tools should be in control of their owners. If not, the owner becomes the tool of those that control them. Old computing had a very philosophical bend this way - the open source movement was about empowering individuals. I don't think that's coming back - at least not in a non-cynical version. A new thought has to exist. Old tech companies had a business model of selling a product to a customer. The change occurred with advertising. It's now the core business of the biggest tech companies. With that, the perspective of how to be successful as a tech company changed. Manipulating the customer through marketing, suggesting, and nudging is now the model. When manipulation is your business model, you're no longer improving the world. How do we get back to aligning companies with their customers? It's not fate that manipulation dominates. It's just one business model. And probably not the greatest one.

fsflover 2y ago
> Tools should be in control of their owners. If not, the owner becomes the tool of those that control them. This is literally the reason why Stallman created FSF and promoted free software: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html Devices running free software obey the users, not the corporation.

feedforward 2y ago

Read about commodity fetishism, relations of production, alienation etc.

matheusmoreira 2y ago

> How can we steer technology towards empowering individuals instead of exploiting them? We figure out every single objective that industry lobbyists ever achieved, and we do the opposite. In my opinion the biggest issue right now is the insanity of intellectual property. They use it to kill competition and stop others from breaking their business models. We should be able to reverse engineer an app and build a free software replacement that talks to their servers but right now that's a crime.