To understand how unhinged our society is one only needs to understand how we constantly improve our technology, but don't use it to improve us as a society.
this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2024
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Primitive metallurgy was used to create weapons for millennia before it became commonly used for cookware. Technology has always been primarily used as vector for human beings to control and dominate one another, rather than to assist/improve society.
Didn't say we used to be better. We've always been a shitshow.
Agreed. It just seems more absurd now because of the contrast between our advanced technology and our primitive sociopolitical structures.
Oh man, this is a thing I wish more people understood. The day of the first real human flight and the day a human being walked on ground that wasn't earth only have about a 66 year gap. A lot of old folks who watched the moon landing saw the invention and proliferation of the airplane in their lifetime.
However, the engrams and algorithms that make up the human mind have been in constant development for tens of thousands of years. Far, far longer if you want to count previous versions that led up to what we're packing. A popular trope in some older fiction was to displace prehistoric critters into the modern world and detail the chaos. But that's us. We're it. We're the cavemen in a world of microscopic circuit boards.
Our achievements have far outpaced our ability to constrain them. Like, when we discovered radiation, we started putting that shit in everything. Fucking toothpaste. And sure, we learn, we improve, we adapt. Humans are exceptionally good at that. But it just seems to me as it has seemed to far bigger minds than my own that we're still banging rocks together and fighting over resources, it's just now the rocks have a faint glow and the resources are measured in GDP
To be fair, that was back when wildlife was much more of a threat. And probably also a lot more risk of criminals or other bandits. Making a weapon to protect your tribe is not really in the same ball park as this.
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Pretty ironic for this article to have a paywall.
Do you want ads or do you want to pay for quality media?
I want to read articles of interest to me easily. Subscriptions to print /text media sources often don't work out on a value analysis though. The best way to consume media is through specialty sources now. I want the Atlantic for tech articles, another source for fashion, another for sports, and an occasional glance at NYT or the post for key articles. I don't want to lock myself into a source for subscription. My intrest in this article is worth about 6 seconds of my time to access, about three or four non obnoxious ads, or about 7 cents as an instantaneous micropayment. Exceed any of those limits and I walk away never to return to it. I'm guessing a lot of readers fall somewhere in that range of tolerance. Until micropayments are a thing I think text media like this actually still make sense for ad. Support really. Will block it as much as I can, and I won't tolerate anything too obnoxious, but the model more or less makes sense. Fuck the paywall - Im surprised that model is sustainable, i walk away instantly with that.
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Is it any wonder why we pirate and adblock. Im not going to embrace hostility, im going to fight fire with fire. Every time.
Don't forget open source software.
Open Source Software is definitely pretty 🔥 if you ask me!
Even the article itself is hostile as i cant read it because it’s paywalled
Reminds me of those gas stations that play commercials at the pumps. More and more of them are disabling the mute buttons. I only stop at stations with the TV-free pumps now.
There are fuel pumps that show ads? Where do you live? That's crazy to me
American thing
Not in my town, but they're not hard to find literally anywhere in the US
I just want to emphasize how loud these can be for the unfamiliar as well. Like blaring into your ear while you pump. Also, some of the really loud ones are not synced pump to pump so you'll get this shouting weird echo while at the pump. I think Tesla probably gave the gas stations a grant to put these things in. It seriously has contributed toward my motivation to go go electric for next car.
I wouldn't have believed that if you hadn't expanded upon it a little. Right out of a dystopian movie
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I think it’s an US thing. Have yet to encounter something like that in Europe.
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"People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.
You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.
Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.
You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs."
– Banksy
I have yet to encounter one that lets me mute it…
Push the second button down on the right 3 times
Or up down up down left right A, B works sometimes.
that's the code for free gas
Just spam all the buttons as fast as possible. I usually can seem to softlock the display but the transaction old school display still works properly.
hahahaha enshittification working against itself ! the future really is poorly performing code sitting on top of antisocial designs. What a timeline
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One of these days I'm going to find out where they hide those speakers and when I do I'm bringing an icepick to the pump.
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I'm glad that The Atlantic is covering this issue. Nothing groundbreaking here for anyone who follows these issues, but the Atlantic's audience overlaps a lot with actual policymakers and their staffs. The tech companies don't want to be regulated by the government, so coverage by these types of publications may be a good starting point for reform (whether voluntary or regulated).
The end is here. You will love not owning your TV and it's sending ads directly into your brain.
Your phone will make calls without you and your PC will do the work for you so can watch more ads.
Ahhhhhhhh WTF! I was only half joking.
Our records indicate you haven't received your Neuralink implant yet. Please report to the Elon Musk Centre for Compulsory Happiness next Thursday at ten. Failure to comply will result in your arrest.
You have 20 seconds to comply
The real question is whether or not you can still buy a dumb TV in 2024.
I'm one of the crazy people who spent 4 grand on a 85 inch dumb display meant for stores to use as digital signage. Honestly a great decision. It's no home theater display but damn if it isn't just as good as any smart tv I've seen. I just have it hooked to a raspberry pi running librelec.
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Rooting an Android TV gets you there, plus you get a TV that you actually own. It's super niche and difficult to do, though. Hard to find info on which TVs can be rooted.
Is any of that information centralised anywhere? I still have and love my old dumb TV, but I want to be prepared for when I am inevitably dragged in to the "smart" era.
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I use video projectors. Many of them, typically the better ones do not have any built-in smarts requiring an Internet connection.
In general, smart devices are a major security risk, and need to be firewalled off.
There really needs to be laws requiring any smart device to have, like, 20 years of security patches, customer support and liability if anything goes wrong. If they want to place a device, that they insist needs internet access, in my home, they need to, at the very least, pay their way.
You can, but now it's called "a big monitor and your own server with a personal media library".
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