this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2025
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[–] rektdeckard@lemmy.world 17 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Author is one step away from the realization that Capitalism is the culprit, and technology is just the vector.

[–] Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 5 hours ago

So many are...

[–] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 13 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

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 2 points 4 hours 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.

[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Weird seeing an Australian using a picture from a place in Belgium

[–] ABetterTomorrow@lemm.ee 4 points 6 hours 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.

We'd all be better off if we learned to question tech as a gift and see it for its grift.

[–] Empricorn@feddit.nl 27 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Open-source technology absolutely is making the world better.

[–] sudneo@lemm.ee 5 points 6 hours 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 15 points 17 hours 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.

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!

[–] Xed@lemm.ee 20 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Technology absolutely helps advance science and helps the disabled, It’s greedy fucks that destroyed good tech

[–] comfydecal@infosec.pub 5 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

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

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.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 11 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

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 points 4 hours ago

If you use and consequently support scummy Amazon you fully deserve it.

[–] comfydecal@infosec.pub 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

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 points 16 hours ago

Yeah my neighbors suck

[–] x4740N@lemm.ee 30 points 23 hours ago (4 children)

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 points 17 hours 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 2 points 20 hours ago

"La science sans conscience n'est que ruine de l'âme"

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[–] ricecooker@sh.itjust.works 6 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

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

Wait. Is this satire? Like these suggested versions have been generated by running through a LLM AI?

[–] qarbone@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

This is weird take on an op-ed. OP didn't alter the title. The only 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).

[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 42 points 1 day ago (4 children)

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

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[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 60 points 1 day ago (2 children)

tech is not the problem, corporations are.

[–] ubergeek@lemmy.today 18 points 1 day ago (4 children)

More specifically, it's capitalism that is the problem, not tech.

[–] samus12345@lemm.ee 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Tech enables capitalism to take the exploitation to new lows.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago

We don't blame the whip, we blame the slaver

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[–] AlienContact2049@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 day ago

Agree. It's not the tech it's how it's used and how business owners drive the product development and timelines.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 14 points 1 day ago (3 children)

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.

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[–] CriticalMiss@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day 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

[–] Tja@programming.dev 33 points 1 day ago (9 children)

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.

[–] mPony@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (24 children)

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".

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[–] FIbynight@lemm.ee 4 points 22 hours ago

I saw the writing on the wall when we started getting itunes updates that no one wanted.

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 35 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Tech =/= megacorps

That's like saying food doesn't make the world better where you mean food industry megacorps producing hunger & poverty.

[–] NostraDavid@programming.dev 26 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I dont know... This Linux thing is pretty great, IMO.

I get their point, but it feels like it's more about tech being abused by large corporations, trying to squeeze another cent out of you.

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