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I feel many of us in the IT world have stood along side this descent in real time, because technology has been an enabler (far from being an equaliser). We were

I feel many of us in the IT world have stood along side this descent in real time, because technology has been an enabler (far from being an equaliser). We were mostly mute because of money and traction.

huijzer 2y ago
Will Durant and his wife have spent multiple decades writing history books. One of their observations was that technology creates inequality, see the book Lessons of History. Having said that, I still think technology has been a net positive. Just imagine living in 1900. It would take months to go from Europe to the US. Medicine was able to cure almost nothing. What we consider simple diseases now would be deadly back then. And you can forget about watching or listening your favorite musicians online. Also, imagine driving with a modern car into a 1900s village. People would be in shock.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  > I still think technology has been a net positive. I stopped thinking this a decade or so ago. I now think that technology has become a net negative. Yes, it brings huge benefits as you note. The problem as I see it is that it now brings even larger drawbacks as well.
  - huijzer 2y ago
    You rather live in 1900? Or pay $100k for 8 kW of solar panels (1974 price) instead of $2k? Or pay orders of magnitude more money for slow computers?
    - sifar 2y ago
      How about we re-frame it as would you rather have one person or a group of people to destroy a city or the entire planet and intelligent life on it? Would you rather be able to enslave a particular region or the entire world ? You see, we are trading improvements in some aspects to that of another. The thing is you cannot separate the benefits these technological advancements bring with the problems they create. The rate of technological change is much more rapid than our ability as a society to adapt to it. This is one of the source of friction as the negative effect become real only later. There is no physical law that says technology has to improve - it is our quest, or drive to seek it, we choose it, every time. And I say this as someone who is part of this.
jajko 2y ago
Look how elon was worshipped here, long after his mental issues, massive ego and racist south African nepo kid upbringing started coming out with force. I find it very shortsighted to substract features from personalities of successful visible people that one likes and (selectively) ignore the rest. Why the heck, adult people don't like absolute truths and don't understand those are inseparable parts of a single whole? elon is a fascist pos, gates is probably a pedophile/hebephile (epstein) pos, so is clinton and orange man, all good epstein's friends. Jobs was a horrible person. Yes they did or are doing some good, but above is still valid. And so on and on.
- OgsyedIE 2y ago
  Elon's track record with effective management in the first decade of SpaceX was genuinely impressive and led to bullish misunderstandings about the rest of his career (and is still impressive today even after accounting for every other part of his character and contemporary drug use). The guy running the country today doesn't have the impulse control or intellectual curiosity to accomplish the stuff he used to accomplish. The best generic explanation I've read on this phenomenon is the article "Shallow Feedback Hollows You Out" by Midjourney's Ivan Vendrov: https://nothinghuman.substack.com/p/shallow-feedback-hollows-you-out https://nothinghuman.substack.com/p/shallow-feedback-hollows...
  - acdha 2y ago
    I also wonder how much of that was his working relationship with Shotwell. Nationally it looks like he doesn’t have anyone he trusts who can tell him when he’s making a mistake or redirect him towards a more useful use of his time. I’d believe that much of the credit for SpaceX is really a team of people he met early enough that there’s no way to replicate that relationship. It’s a different context but I’m reminded of how George Lucas’ work got a lot worse after his divorce from Marcia Lucas, who was not only a very talented film editor in her own right but also apparently unique for having the ability to get him to actually listen to constructive criticism.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]

huijzer 2y ago

Will Durant and his wife have spent multiple decades writing history books. One of their observations was that technology creates inequality, see the book Lessons of History. Having said that, I still think technology has been a net positive. Just imagine living in 1900. It would take months to go from Europe to the US. Medicine was able to cure almost nothing. What we consider simple diseases now would be deadly back then. And you can forget about watching or listening your favorite musicians online. Also, imagine driving with a modern car into a 1900s village. People would be in shock.

JohnFen 2y ago
> I still think technology has been a net positive. I stopped thinking this a decade or so ago. I now think that technology has become a net negative. Yes, it brings huge benefits as you note. The problem as I see it is that it now brings even larger drawbacks as well.
- huijzer 2y ago
  You rather live in 1900? Or pay $100k for 8 kW of solar panels (1974 price) instead of $2k? Or pay orders of magnitude more money for slow computers?
  - sifar 2y ago
    How about we re-frame it as would you rather have one person or a group of people to destroy a city or the entire planet and intelligent life on it? Would you rather be able to enslave a particular region or the entire world ? You see, we are trading improvements in some aspects to that of another. The thing is you cannot separate the benefits these technological advancements bring with the problems they create. The rate of technological change is much more rapid than our ability as a society to adapt to it. This is one of the source of friction as the negative effect become real only later. There is no physical law that says technology has to improve - it is our quest, or drive to seek it, we choose it, every time. And I say this as someone who is part of this.

jajko 2y ago

Look how elon was worshipped here, long after his mental issues, massive ego and racist south African nepo kid upbringing started coming out with force. I find it very shortsighted to substract features from personalities of successful visible people that one likes and (selectively) ignore the rest. Why the heck, adult people don't like absolute truths and don't understand those are inseparable parts of a single whole? elon is a fascist pos, gates is probably a pedophile/hebephile (epstein) pos, so is clinton and orange man, all good epstein's friends. Jobs was a horrible person. Yes they did or are doing some good, but above is still valid. And so on and on.

OgsyedIE 2y ago
Elon's track record with effective management in the first decade of SpaceX was genuinely impressive and led to bullish misunderstandings about the rest of his career (and is still impressive today even after accounting for every other part of his character and contemporary drug use). The guy running the country today doesn't have the impulse control or intellectual curiosity to accomplish the stuff he used to accomplish. The best generic explanation I've read on this phenomenon is the article "Shallow Feedback Hollows You Out" by Midjourney's Ivan Vendrov: https://nothinghuman.substack.com/p/shallow-feedback-hollows-you-out https://nothinghuman.substack.com/p/shallow-feedback-hollows...
- acdha 2y ago
  I also wonder how much of that was his working relationship with Shotwell. Nationally it looks like he doesn’t have anyone he trusts who can tell him when he’s making a mistake or redirect him towards a more useful use of his time. I’d believe that much of the credit for SpaceX is really a team of people he met early enough that there’s no way to replicate that relationship. It’s a different context but I’m reminded of how George Lucas’ work got a lot worse after his divorce from Marcia Lucas, who was not only a very talented film editor in her own right but also apparently unique for having the ability to get him to actually listen to constructive criticism.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]