Science and technology under capitalism is a regressive force for violent control.
I'm Tired of Pretending Tech is Making the World Better
Submitted 1 year ago by juergen@feddit.org to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.joanwestenberg.com/im-tired-of-pretending-tech-is-making-the-world-better/
Comments
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
randyyy@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Ah look, it’s in Antwerp. Wolstraat to be exact.i used to work in front of that place.
Bloomcole@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Weird seeing an Australian using a picture from a place in Belgium
rektdeckard@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Author is one step away from the realization that Capitalism is the culprit, and technology is just the vector.
oatscoop@midwest.social 1 year ago
Technology has never been the problem: there’s nothing wrong with genetic engineering, AI, etc. The can (and have) been used for good.
The problem has always been the “greed is good” sociopaths using it for evil.
Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
So many are…
ABetterTomorrow@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Consumer technology I can see being very toxic and also toxic for the environment because people don’t know how to recycle or purchase correctly. Commercial tech like IoT is going to help save the planet and support the majority with them knowing.
surph_ninja@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Tech isn’t the problem. It’s the people in charge of it. It’s the capitalism/neo-feudalism controlling the politics.
SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today 1 year ago
Exactly. I would extend that and the article’s premise to say, tech isn’t innately good or bad, it is just a tool that can be applied in good or bad ways. For example at his cafe, a QR code ordering system could have been optional for those who prefer it, and could be easily implemented without collecting any personal data. And that could actually be a positive thing for those who want to reorder without getting up or who have social anxiety. But by forcing all customers into this confusing and privacy invading system, the tech becomes a bad thing.
The villain of that story is not tech. The villains are the online ordering company that decided to make a data grab, and the cafe owner who decided to buy tech so he wouldn’t have to pay servers.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
We’d all be better off if we learned to question tech as a gift and see it for its grift.
KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
technology has the potential to make life so much better, there are two problems.
Tech that makes life better, usually doesn’t create much value. Because it’s either, already been created, and if it has, it’s probably enshittified by now.
Go use open source FOSS tech, it’s great. Contribute to the improvement of society by not using terrible technology and begin using good technology, it’s free!
Empricorn@feddit.nl 1 year ago
Open-source technology absolutely is making the world better.
sudneo@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Open source analytics tools are still pushing for ad-driven business models that make the world (and the content) worse. Open source LLMs still waste computational power and pollute. And the list continues. Some open source technologies serve a good goal, some contribute to make the world as bad as some non-OSS.
InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 1 year ago
People forget that technology is agnostic to morals and ideals. Which is a big part of why I support FOSS. It is tech with goals that do aim for accessibility and making the world better. I am not a huge donator as I don’t make much money, nor can I code well, but I donate and contribute where I can.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 year ago
I had an Amazon bot lie to me. I told it some item didn’t show up and I wanted a replacement. It said it would send one and it would show up in my orders. It never did. So I requested a refund later. So tedious.
Bloomcole@lemmy.world 1 year ago
If you use and consequently support scummy Amazon you fully deserve it.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 year ago
Oh I’m so sorry someone asked for an enamel pin from Amazon. Maybe next time someone asks me for a gift from somewhere I’ll subject them to a purity test.
comfydecal@infosec.pub 1 year ago
You see, it actually did still save you time from finding a local shop that sells it and interacting with your neighbor
Dumbkid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Yeah my neighbors suck
ricecooker@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I think this headline is slightly misleading. Here are some better ones:
- Reclaiming Humanity in the Age of Overbearing Technology
- When Convenient Tech Becomes a Burden: A Call for Human-Centric Design
- How Modern Tech Erodes Human Interaction
ToiletFlushShowerScream@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Wait. Is this satire? Like these suggested versions have been generated by running through a LLM AI?
qarbone@lemmy.world 1 year ago
This is weird take on an op-ed. OP didn’t alter the title. The onl ways I can conceive of a headline being “misleading” is when it declares a falsity (this doesn’t; it’s an opinion) or doesn’t match the content of the titled text (this doesn’t; it matches the text).
scarabic@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Some parts of life have gotten massively easier. The other day I called my pharmacy to delay my next prescription refill because I still have pills. I was able to do this entirely through voice interaction with an automated system. Huzzah. I get texts when my scrips are about to be filled or ready, and reminders if I don’t pick them up for a while. I can also see this info on demand in an app if I want. What’s not to like?
My entire medical group runs on an app now. I can make appointments with my doctor, see the documentation from prior visits, pay bills, see test results…
Oh but boo hoo this author had to download an app to order a drink. First world problems…
Xed@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Technology absolutely helps advance science and helps the disabled, It’s greedy fucks that destroyed good tech
comfydecal@infosec.pub 1 year ago
Yeah I think blanket statements either way are misguided. Some tech does help the disabled, other tech makes their lives much more difficult. It’s like any other tool, when it’s used at scale by something aiming for optimizing profit it will have terrible side effects
KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
sure, some tech makes life more difficult, but it’d be weird to require it’s use, so you’re either going to go through a bad government structure (different problem) or choose to use bad products for some reason.
I guess the secret third answer is working somewhere that requires you to use shitty tech, but like, same problem as no 1.
I find the bigger problem to be implementation and support, shit like QR codes and phone based payment taking over things like paper, and card based payment, that’s objectively worse. Though both QR codes and phone based payment are in isolation, explicitly good and beneficial things.
FIbynight@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I saw the writing on the wall when we started getting itunes updates that no one wanted.
x4740N@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I prefer the saying “technology is a tool and a tool can be used for good or evil” or something like that
You can use a hammer to hammer nails or to injure someone
Technology can make the world better if its in the right hands for example open source hardware & software
comfydecal@infosec.pub 1 year ago
Agreed, but things act differently at scale and it’s not like there’s 10 billion+ hammers being used at the same time, almost all of the time, for years on end
beans1013@lemm.ee 1 year ago
“La science sans conscience n’est que ruine de l’âme”
AWittyUsername@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You could say the same thing about splitting the atom.
Shou@lemmy.world 1 year ago
That’s also technology. Used for good and evil.
lightnsfw@reddthat.com 1 year ago
Anytime I have to replace a device I find it incredibly frustrating. It certainly seems like technology is regressing. I’ve had the same phone since 2016 because nothing I’ve looked at has enough of it has to replace it and doesn’t offer anything better to make up for those deficiencies. My mouse recently developed an issue that had me looking at potential replacements and again almost nothing currently available matches it or was even close. I found two that were potentially not a downgrade and one of those had awful reviews. Instead I’m just buying the part to fix it and hopefully I’ll be able to keep limping it along for the foreseeable future. Same goes for my car. Nothing new that I’ve seen appeals to me. They’re all loaded down with infotainment bullshit that’s just a pain in the ass to deal with. Those were just 3 off the top of my head. At least with software you can usually find something open source that does what you want, but if it has to be manufactured by someone else you can forget about it.
Toribor@corndog.social 1 year ago
My mouse recently developed an issue that had me looking at potential replacements and again almost nothing currently available matches it or was even close.
I used the exact same Logitech MX518 mouse from ~2009 until ~2020. Then I went through one every 9 months or so until they succumbed to same problems with the scrollwheel failing until I finally had to stop buying their crap.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
On my small fleet of Logi M570 trackball mice, I occasionally have to crack them open and tweezer out the wreath of hair that has built up in the mouse wheel which obscures the sensor. It’ll be a mix of mine and my cats hair.
lightnsfw@reddthat.com 1 year ago
Yea, this one is actually a Logitch 602 I’ve had for years, and it’s my 3rd one after two warranty replacements so the build quality has always been questionable but I love the button layout on this mouse and the software is usually pretty good at doing what I want so I’m dreading having to replace it. There was apparently another similar one that came out a couple years ago but they don’t make them anymore and from what I was reading the quality was garbage too. I still have the one from the second time I replaced it through the warranty so I’m going to replace the problematic switches on it and see how that goes.
Halosheep@lemm.ee 1 year ago
First world problems: the article.
CriticalMiss@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I kinda agree with the article, I genuinely think humanity peaked with the computer of the PS2 era. Or maybe it had something to do with the patriot act. Just feels like after that things had gotten worse substantially
Litebit@lemmy.world 1 year ago
That is what naked apes they said about clothes
frezik@midwest.social 1 year ago
Imagine VR so real that someone severely allergic to cats can know what it’s like to give one scritches and feel it purr. Imagine someone who is paraplegic knowing what it’s like to swim or climb a mountain. Now imagine how much money Mark Zuckerberg will make when it’s $22.95/month with ads and requires you to put in your Social Security Number.
OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I understand the complaint, but the big picture of tech has a ton of upside.
Tech itself is not the issue. How it’s applied is the issue.
Once tech takes hold, there is massive pressure to monetize the asset.
That’s where this complaint lives. Amazing advance becomes ubiquitous, then two things inevitably occur. Companies are formed that apply the technology on unnecessary and unpopular ways (parking app is a perfect example) or the pressure to make more more MORE MONEY triggers the enshittification spiral, where “wow, you can print wirelessly now!?” becomes “my printer won’t take any cartridges but brand name, and I have to watch an unskippable 30-second ad every time I print now??!!!”
It follows that as tech saturates our lives, the inevitability of enshittification will also saturate our lives.
The year is 2044, you don’t feel old but the ticker is starting to skip several beats a day. Your doctor is forced to use the product at his disposal to help you, which is the PaceXMaker produced by the Tesla-Cola conglomerate. The device is a true miracle of modern science. The size of a fingernail, it pulses electricity into your heart in carefully measured bursts to support proper function of all valves, and ensures that any plaque is dissolved harmlessly away. Your iEye tracks the device status, and alerts you when it starts to run low on fuel, a proprietary enzyme designed by Tesla-Cola. When the iEye app notifies you that the enzyme is running low, simply crack open an ice cold, refreshing can of Tesla Cola Zero to refuel your device for another two hours. Need to sleep? We got you. Hook up the Tesla Cola Zero-Venous BeautyRest to your ArmDock (patent pending) for up to five hours of relaxing enzyme replenishment. You can remove the arm dock after you confirm six ad-watch minute credits on your iEye.
Tesla-Cola: We Got You
FIbynight@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I would say Tech with a capital T includes not just physical or cloud tech, but the whole process, down to shitty Product Owners and business teams, delivery crap features to customers.
andros_rex@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Transmetropolitan had in-dream advertising. I think you got it from breathing in some sort of gas when walking around in public.
The most unrealistic thing about the Transmetropolitan series was the fact that Spider was able to make a living as a journalist.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Tech itself is not the issue. How it’s applied is the issue.
At this point, I would argue that technology is the issue. Or, at least, the current iteration of it.
Internal Combustion Engines, always-on internet connections, and digital financial systems are generating real physical hazards that stretch beyond their benefits. This isn’t just an issue of use. There is no “proper” method of employing - for instance - cryptocurrency or single-use plastics or a statewide surveillance network that doesn’t result in a degradation of quality of life for the population at large. To take a more dramatic angle, there’s no safe application of a nuclear bomb.
When the iEye app notifies you that the enzyme is running low, simply crack open an ice cold, refreshing can of Tesla Cola Zero to refuel your device for another two hours. Need to sleep? We got you.
Except this isn’t a technological innovation, its a Science Fantasy. iEye isn’t a real thing. Tesla Cola Zero isn’t a real thing. Not needing sleep isn’t a real thing. You’re not a cyborg and you will never be a cyborg.
But the science fantasy is still having its own cost. People are making real material nationally-transformative (or de-transformative) decisions based on the fantastic promises we’ve been sold about Tomorrow. We’re underdeveloping our mass transit infrastructure and relying entirely too much on unregulated air travel to speed up travel. At the same time, we’re clinging to old bunker-fuel laden container ships and decimating the aquatic ecology, because we refuse to adapt proven nuclear powered shipping that’s over 60 years old at this point. We’re investing more and more and more money in digital surveillance and personal tracking. We’re off-loading our ability to collect and process information to unreliable digital tools (LLMs being only the latest in overhyped AI as a replacement for professionalized human labor). And then we’re trying to justify the bad decisions we make as a result by claiming secret wisdom inherent in machines.
We’re eating our seed corn after being told technologists will eliminate our need to eat ever again.
This is a direct result of technological developments we have made (or promised to make and failed to deliver) over the last twenty years. Revolutions in racial profiling, viral marketing, planned obsolescence, military expansionism, and genocide have not improved our quality of life in any material sense.
The cow has not benefited from industrial agriculture. And the prole has not benefited from de-skilling of labor.
Hominine@lemmy.world 1 year ago
…always with the verification cans.
reksas@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
tech is not the problem, corporations are.
AlienContact2049@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Agree. It’s not the tech it’s how it’s used and how business owners drive the product development and timelines.
daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Yep, I also been growing older and I have nostalgia for old times. But I’m well aware that grass is only greener on my memory, as it has always been.
formulaBonk@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Yes and no. It’s objectively true that things like streaming services, food delivery, and online communications got worse not better over time. It’s not true for all things but there are definitely things that simply got worse for profit
daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
That’s not tech. That’s company policies.
Streaming services, as a tech has evolved and it’s a better technology that it was before. New encoding formats allow for transfer of more data over less bandwidth for instance.
Online communications, as in forums as such, as also evolved with new and better ways of posting, and better security (I remember when websites just stored your password in plain text).
What people complain about are mostly company policies, not technology.
Tja@programming.dev 1 year ago
I disagree about such a generalization.
There are very few instances where people decide to be dumb and use technology for it but in general my life is much better thanks to technology.
My job exists due to technology, the Internet allows me to work from home, a washing machine washes my clothes, I can order food in the middle of a meeting and have it delivered on my lunch pause, I can speak to my family half a world away everyday, with video, for free, I can have the answer to any question in seconds from my a tiny device in my pocket, my car brakes automatically if I’m distracted (and heats up before I sit down in the morning)… you get the deal.
satans_methpipe@lemmy.world 1 year ago
lunch pause
car brakes automatically if I’m distracted
These two lines paint a very sad picture.
SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I think you hit the head on the nail.
Tja@programming.dev 1 year ago
What’s sad about a lunch pause? Do I need to keep working 8 hours straight?
Or about a car braking automatically? I has saved me twice in four years, I was looking to see if someone was coming from one direction while the guy in front of me braked suddenly. Car stopped before I rear ended the other guy.
I must be missing something…
endeavor@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
I agree. Tech is like fire, handle it responsibly.
mPony@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I hear you, but the writer isn’t concerned with “can”: If you replaced “can have the answer to any question in seconds from my a tiny device in my pocket” with “must” then you can see their dissatisfaction.
if I went to a restaurant and was told that I had to install and use their app to order their food, I would fucking leave. If it was the only restaurant left in town then I’d have much less choice in the matter. The insidious nature of technology is that it changes “can” with “must”.
ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
if I went to a restaurant and was told that I had to install and use their app to order their food, I would fucking leave. If it was the only restaurant left in town then I’d have much less choice in the matter. The insidious nature of technology is that it changes “can” with “must”.
That’s not really the fault of technology though, that’s the fault of how companies are implementing technology through their policies and procedures.
Companies can have stupid, arbitrary rules and requirements and policies and do stupid or harmful actions regardless of technology or not.
Ledivin@lemmy.world 1 year ago
…but just like you chided the person you replied to, none of that is true or real. The restaurant that forces you to use their app doesn’t exist, and it’s not the only restaurant in town. None of that is even because of technology, it’s because of capitalism.
Tja@programming.dev 1 year ago
I agree, and good for you for leaving the restaurant. You could open a competing restaurant that doesn’t use apps and let people vote with their wallets. It’s not the nature of technology, its the decision of some people who are bad at knowing their customers. I don’t “have to” wash my clothes in the washing machine, but you bet I won’t even think about doing it manually. Forcing the use of an app is like only offering a vegan selection. If your customer didn’t ask for it you are going to have a bad time. If you are the only place in town is a monopoly problem, and a different discussion.
Having to use an app to order food might be slightly annoying, but it beats working 12h a day in the field to feed my familiy. It’s the firstest of first world problems.
MITM0@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Why don’t you live in a cave then & why are you even posting this ? Be the change you want to see bro/sis ?
Strider@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’m tired of pretending companies are making the world better.
See: The corporation The new corporation
Tehdastehdas@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I am once again linking the sick sad history of computer-aided collaboration:
NostraDavid@programming.dev 1 year ago
I dont know… This Linux thing is pretty great, IMO.
Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I feel like that’s the entire point of the article. These technological “solutions” are being forced on us more and more and they are often I’ll conceived. Like QR ordering only systems.
VeryVito@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
The problem is the tech is no longer addressing and solving existing problems. It is only being inserted into working systems to collect data and fees, breaking the processes.