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Common man never had a need for internet or global connectedness. DARPA wanted to push technology to gain upper hand in the world matters. Universities pushed t

by zkmon 1y ago

Common man never had a need for internet or global connectedness. DARPA wanted to push technology to gain upper hand in the world matters. Universities pushed technology to show progress and sell research. Businesses pushed technologies to have more sales. It was kind of acid rain that was caused by the establishments and sold as scented rain.

wartywhoa23 1y ago
This sentiment - along the lines of "the world became too dependent on the Internet", "Internet wasn't a good thing to begin with", "Internet is a threat to national security" etc - has been popping up on HN too often lately, emerged too abruptly and correlates with the recent initiatives to crack down on the Internet too well. If this is your own opinion and not a part of a psyop to condition people into embracing the death of the Internet as we know it, do you have any solution to propose?
- gchamonlive 1y ago
  You don't need to have a solution to explore a problem in my opinion. OP comment is problematic but for reasons other than not having a proposed solution.
gchamonlive 1y ago
> Common man never had a need for internet or global connectedness That's not how culture evolves. You don't necessarily need to have a problem so that a solution is developed. You can very well have a technology developed for other purposes, or just for exploration sake, and then as this tech exists uses for it start to pop post hoc. You therefore ignore the immense benefit of access to information that technology has, something that wasn't necessarily a problem for the common man but once its there, the popularization of the access to information, they adapt and grow dependent on it. Just like electricity.
- zkmon 1y ago
  >>immense benefits ?? People with dialup telephones never asked for a smartphone connected to internet. They were just as happy back then or even more happy because phone didn't eat off their time or cause posture problems. Sure, shopping was slower without amazon website, but not less happy experience back then. Infact homes had less junk and people saved more money Messaging? sure it makes you spend time with 100 whatsapp groups, where 99% of the people don't know you personally. It helped companies to sell more of the junk more quickly. It created bloggers and content creators who lived in an imaginary world thinking that someone really consumes their content. It created karma beggers who begged globally for likes that are worth nothing. It created more concentration of wealth at some weird internet companies, which don't solve any of the world problems or basic needs of the people. And finally it created AI that pumps plastic sewage to fill the internet. There it is, your immensely useful internet. As if the plastic pollution was not enough in the real world, the internet will be filled with plastic content. What else did internet give that is immensely helpful?
  - wartywhoa23 1y ago
    You're blaming the hammer for people driving nails into other's heads instead of walls. A friend of mine, who had a similar opinion on technology, once watched a movie that seemed to reinforce it in his eyes, and tried to persuade me as if it was the ultimate proof that all technology is evil. The plot depicted a happy small tribe of indigenous people deep in the rainforest, who never ever saw any artifacts of civilization. They never knew war, homicide, or theft. Basically, they knew no evil. Then, one day, a plane flies over and someone frivolously tosses an emptied bottle of Coca-Cola out of the window (sic!). A member of the tribe finds it in the forest and brings back to the village. And, naturally, everyone else wants to get hold of the bottle, because it's so supernatural and attractive. But the guy decides he's the only owner, refuses and then of course kills those who try to get it by force, and all hell breaks loose in no time. "See", - concludes my friend triumphally, - "the technology brought evil into this innocent tribe!" "But don't you think that evil already lurked in those people to start with, if they were ready to kill each other for shiny things?" - I asked, quite baffled. "Oh, come on, so you're just supporting this shit!" was the answer...

by zkmon 1y ago

wartywhoa23 1y ago

This sentiment - along the lines of "the world became too dependent on the Internet", "Internet wasn't a good thing to begin with", "Internet is a threat to national security" etc - has been popping up on HN too often lately, emerged too abruptly and correlates with the recent initiatives to crack down on the Internet too well. If this is your own opinion and not a part of a psyop to condition people into embracing the death of the Internet as we know it, do you have any solution to propose?

gchamonlive 1y ago
You don't need to have a solution to explore a problem in my opinion. OP comment is problematic but for reasons other than not having a proposed solution.

gchamonlive 1y ago

> Common man never had a need for internet or global connectedness That's not how culture evolves. You don't necessarily need to have a problem so that a solution is developed. You can very well have a technology developed for other purposes, or just for exploration sake, and then as this tech exists uses for it start to pop post hoc. You therefore ignore the immense benefit of access to information that technology has, something that wasn't necessarily a problem for the common man but once its there, the popularization of the access to information, they adapt and grow dependent on it. Just like electricity.

zkmon 1y ago
>>immense benefits ?? People with dialup telephones never asked for a smartphone connected to internet. They were just as happy back then or even more happy because phone didn't eat off their time or cause posture problems. Sure, shopping was slower without amazon website, but not less happy experience back then. Infact homes had less junk and people saved more money Messaging? sure it makes you spend time with 100 whatsapp groups, where 99% of the people don't know you personally. It helped companies to sell more of the junk more quickly. It created bloggers and content creators who lived in an imaginary world thinking that someone really consumes their content. It created karma beggers who begged globally for likes that are worth nothing. It created more concentration of wealth at some weird internet companies, which don't solve any of the world problems or basic needs of the people. And finally it created AI that pumps plastic sewage to fill the internet. There it is, your immensely useful internet. As if the plastic pollution was not enough in the real world, the internet will be filled with plastic content. What else did internet give that is immensely helpful?
- wartywhoa23 1y ago
  You're blaming the hammer for people driving nails into other's heads instead of walls. A friend of mine, who had a similar opinion on technology, once watched a movie that seemed to reinforce it in his eyes, and tried to persuade me as if it was the ultimate proof that all technology is evil. The plot depicted a happy small tribe of indigenous people deep in the rainforest, who never ever saw any artifacts of civilization. They never knew war, homicide, or theft. Basically, they knew no evil. Then, one day, a plane flies over and someone frivolously tosses an emptied bottle of Coca-Cola out of the window (sic!). A member of the tribe finds it in the forest and brings back to the village. And, naturally, everyone else wants to get hold of the bottle, because it's so supernatural and attractive. But the guy decides he's the only owner, refuses and then of course kills those who try to get it by force, and all hell breaks loose in no time. "See", - concludes my friend triumphally, - "the technology brought evil into this innocent tribe!" "But don't you think that evil already lurked in those people to start with, if they were ready to kill each other for shiny things?" - I asked, quite baffled. "Oh, come on, so you're just supporting this shit!" was the answer...