It just feels like the sort of contrived seeming line you'd make someone say in a novel after the chapter that details the oppression of the people making the widgets, in order to set up the class conflict the book centers around.
And yeah, tech media at large does really just act like if these devices just appeared on shelves out of the æther and that explains a lot, I never thought about that.
I boredly clicked a MKBHD video a while back where he unboxes a sealed original iphone. I keep thinking about it, because he talks up how it was "never gazed upon nor touched by human hands".
What do you mean Marques, "no human" 🧐
Of course if he'd have thought about it for a second he'd have realized that it had been through dozens of hands and seen by hundreds of people. But he didn't, they just left it in. It's so mundane in it's detachment from reality and somehow that really tickles me.
Every time I hear the “novelty and creativity is rare” line I get so angry I have to stand up and pace to calm down
Language, art, and media are massively combinatorial. We’ve barely been able to scratch the surface of what’s possible because we’re locked in economic systems built on uniformity and in industries that always choose the broken and bland to boost short term profits
The absence of novelty is down to economics and your mindsets. The media themselves are as unexplored as the galaxy
@aud right??? like nobody's saying it's easy, but if it's an important problem, we have to start by assuming we're going to succeed. that reduces it to the task of figuring out HOW.
is this a large effect? well, it depends on the subject matter
is this the only thing that's needed to bring about change? almost never
is it a big deal that helps a lot? yes, definitely
the world is just a collection of people who talk to each other. we all, including ourselves, tend to default to mirroring the attitudes we see around us back at others unless we've specifically taken the time to self-reflect and choose otherwise.
therefore, the way we talk about problems affects the people around us, which affects the world.
please remember, always: the future is not written, and we all have the power to change it.
it is not inevitable that something will keep happening just because it has been happening.
when we talk about large-scale problems in public, it's probably a good idea to talk in ways that remind everyone of our own ability to choose, of the options we have, that express hope.
The way software development's shifted from people wanting to do it better to people wanting to get rich reminds me of how contemporary music schools shifted from people wanting to get better at making music to people wanting to get famous.
There's a real X Factor feel to the common discourse, with lots of folks obsessing over levels of commercial success they're never going to experience - too busy preparing for hypothetical stadium tours to learn scales.
Boost with CW, COVID, Please mask
politics in tech
Can't help but notice that conservative/fascist/etc. software developers seem to consistently be hyping up the same technologies and frameworks, and I'm not talking about the well-known hypes like "AI" or "cryptocurrency" here.
They're also disproportionately technologies that don't actually do anything new or better, but rather have shinier marketing than the thing they claim to 'replace'.
Part 4: The Way Out
Unacceptable performance is the consequence of a chain of failures to put the user first. Breaking the chain usually requires just one insistent advocate. Disasters like BenefitsCal are not inevitable. Responsibility is always an option, and it's generally easier and cheaper in the medium to long run.
Technical debt collector and general hype-hater. Early 30s, non-binary, ND, poly, relationship anarchist, generally queer.
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Sometimes horny on main (behind CW), very much into kink (bondage, freeuse, CNC, and other stuff), and believe it or not, very much a submissive bottom :p
My spoons are limited, so I may not always have the energy to respond to messages.
Strong views about abolishing oppression, hierarchy, agency, and self-governance - but I also trust people by default and give them room to grow, unless they give me reason not to. That all also applies to technology and how it's built.