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Globally, since the advent of widespread computer use, human life has improved by orders of magnitude along every metric we have: poverty, hunger, disease, lite

Globally, since the advent of widespread computer use, human life has improved by orders of magnitude along every metric we have: poverty, hunger, disease, literacy, child mortality, life expectancy, homicide rates, etc., etc., etc.: https://ourworldindata.org https://ourworldindata.org Respectfully, you are the one making an extraordinary claim in need of evidentiary support.

phs318u 1y ago
I’d love to see a chain of cause and effect that links any of those outcomes to widespread computer use and advancements in computing.
- throwpoaster 1y ago
  Go nuts. I am not making this claim.
imiric 1y ago
> Globally, since the advent of widespread computer use, human life has improved by orders of magnitude along every metric we have: poverty, hunger, disease, literacy, child mortality, life expectancy, homicide rates, etc. Most of those trends were in motion well before widespread computer use, e.g. [1]. I'm sure that computers were a factor in improving the rate of literacy, education, perhaps even poverty, but they played a much smaller role in improving hunger, disease, child mortality, life expectancy, let alone homicide rates(!). Most of those are attributable to improvements in economic programs, sociopolitical stability, etc. I.e. the global progress humanity has experienced for centuries. Which, unfortunately, has been slowing down or regressing in the past few decades precisely _because_ of technology. You can see this in literacy, for example[2]. Yes, the rate increases post-1950, but it had been increasing for many decades before. There is a large uptick between 1950 and 1980, well before computers were in widespread use. So, sure, we can say that computers played a role, but the world was already improving without them. > Respectfully, you are the one making an extraordinary claim in need of evidentiary support. Extraordinary claim? Everything I said can be verified by a cursory web search (assuming you can navigate around disinformation), or by personal experience, since I'm sure most of us have directly experienced some form of it. I don't think it's interesting to rehash verifiable claims, but I am interested in discussing the positive effects of technology. You mentioned some, but when factoring in everything else I mentioned in my previous post, I still don't see how these make technology a net positive. To be clear: technology in general has revolutionized many fields, such as agriculture and medicine, which has greatly contributed to improving the well-being of billions of people. But that's not the kind of technology I'm talking about here. I'm specifically referring to modern computing since roughly the 1970s. The kind of technology within the context of companies like Commodore. [1]: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4838a2.htm https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4838a2.htm [2]: https://ourworldindata.org/literacy https://ourworldindata.org/literacy
jama211 1y ago
Well said.

phs318u 1y ago

I’d love to see a chain of cause and effect that links any of those outcomes to widespread computer use and advancements in computing.

throwpoaster 1y ago
Go nuts. I am not making this claim.

imiric 1y ago

> Globally, since the advent of widespread computer use, human life has improved by orders of magnitude along every metric we have: poverty, hunger, disease, literacy, child mortality, life expectancy, homicide rates, etc. Most of those trends were in motion well before widespread computer use, e.g. [1]. I'm sure that computers were a factor in improving the rate of literacy, education, perhaps even poverty, but they played a much smaller role in improving hunger, disease, child mortality, life expectancy, let alone homicide rates(!). Most of those are attributable to improvements in economic programs, sociopolitical stability, etc. I.e. the global progress humanity has experienced for centuries. Which, unfortunately, has been slowing down or regressing in the past few decades precisely _because_ of technology. You can see this in literacy, for example[2]. Yes, the rate increases post-1950, but it had been increasing for many decades before. There is a large uptick between 1950 and 1980, well before computers were in widespread use. So, sure, we can say that computers played a role, but the world was already improving without them. > Respectfully, you are the one making an extraordinary claim in need of evidentiary support. Extraordinary claim? Everything I said can be verified by a cursory web search (assuming you can navigate around disinformation), or by personal experience, since I'm sure most of us have directly experienced some form of it. I don't think it's interesting to rehash verifiable claims, but I am interested in discussing the positive effects of technology. You mentioned some, but when factoring in everything else I mentioned in my previous post, I still don't see how these make technology a net positive. To be clear: technology in general has revolutionized many fields, such as agriculture and medicine, which has greatly contributed to improving the well-being of billions of people. But that's not the kind of technology I'm talking about here. I'm specifically referring to modern computing since roughly the 1970s. The kind of technology within the context of companies like Commodore. [1]: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4838a2.htm https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4838a2.htm [2]: https://ourworldindata.org/literacy https://ourworldindata.org/literacy

jama211 1y ago

Well said.