This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Tech took the world down a dark path. It's time to regain the light and positivity again. We sure as hell need it.
The opposition is to big tech in service of repressive oligarchy.
Yeah. No one is arguing against tools that'd give us more free time, that'd help cure diseases, and make the world a better place. What we're getting is mass-surveillance, economic instability, larger social rifts, and environmental destruction.
No one who hasn't been deceived by fascist capitalist propaganda will be for these things.
There seem to be only three things that data centers are going to be used for: Crypto Mining, Mass Surveillance, and Data Collection, none of which helps the average citizen, most of it hurts us badly, yet we have to pay for it all.
What's not to love?
Denial? Why am I still poor then? Why everything is still all about 5-6 companies?
I cant tolerate these “hope” delusional articles based on 10 person surveys.
Tech ran out of new ideas over a decade ago. They’ve enshittified everything. The people are tired of it.
I had an old colleague who was an engineer for Emerson Electric for most of his career. Emerson started as an electric motor manufacturer and eventually got into making just about EVERYTHING. I have a house from the 70's that originally had fans, garbage disposals, heaters, light switches etc. All made by Emerson. Even different branded appliances using Emerson components.
One time I asked my former colleague what Emerson still makes. He just smirked and said, "Money." I knew what he meant. I work in manufacturing and as far as I can see, innovation is dead. Because the goal is no longer to design a solution to a problem and (hopefully) profit from it. The goal is to profit. Period. As quickly and cheaply as possible.
So now, all the old people who knew how to design things are gone. And young people are not going into electronics or mechanical engineering because no one is hiring. And who really wants to spend their whole career having to answer to people who don't care about building cool shit.
Tech has a similar problem.
People are hiring .. just you need to be Chinese and in China ..
Lots of companies are still hiring engineers and can't find enough of them, even in the US (and so many in the EU)
Totally agree with the rest of the sentiment
The “backlash” is half hearted and also sensationalised a little in the media.
People have not come together to meaningfully boycott these platforms. Boycott is the language these capitalists understand.
I do not understand why people still use meta platforms, for example. We could level these companies quickly. The excuse that “everyone else I know is there” is wilful paralysis: waiting for someone else to go first. And that’s why these tech oligarchs are confident. They’re probably right to be.
For the most part, there's nothing to boycott yet. Showing up to council meetings by the dozens, imploring them to say No to the data centers they've already been bribed to accept, is the same action, done preemptively. Boycotts come later, when the data centers are actually open.
I'm aware that some are already operational, but they are a fraction of what these predators want to build.
Right now, the move is to let them know that we don't want this, and there will be consequences for supporting data centers. Then vote them out in the next election, and make it very vocal why.
And in small towns and counties, where the council members also operate businesses, those businesses need to be boycotted. You don't get to inflict existential damage on this town and it's citizens, without feeling retribution for it. I hope your bribe was fat enough to sustain you after your business crashes, because that's the choice you made.
I quit all Meta products 3 years ago. Apart from Marketplace every now and then, I don't miss anything from their plarform, anything at all. I have also quit Google completely (even google play which I replaced with Aurora and F-Droid.). That has been OK as well (I moved most of my common apps to their web based equivalent). Every time i have a chance to mention it to folks around, without being the wise ass out there, I do it. People are just ignorant about the alternatives, this message comes across slowly, one chap at a time..
Dudes relapsing on marketplace
Don't hate. It's the only real location for Buy Nothing groups too.
That's unfortunate
The same reason smokers don’t boycott big tobacco.
This. It's cigarettes, but worse.
It's no coincidence that capitalism comes along with an emphasis on individualism and "expressing yourself" through consumption. It's designed to train people out of collective thinking (class consciousness) and collective action, and it has been very effective.
They think it will blow over because so many consumers have short memories when it comes to bad press.
The problem is, the press keeps on coming and so people keep being reminded they're up to no good. Keeping AI in the news cycle isn't helping them win over people who are increasingly dissatisfied with it.
Yes. I think they just need to get their data centres built. Once they’re in position there will be less to report on, unless the people find a way to make the already existing centres newsworthy. That’s harder.
Tech these days delivers products designed to collect data. They design products that force the consumer to navigate through a bunch of hurdles so more data gets collected.
The benefits of AI, Flock and meta glasses outweighs the price to the consumer. AI is fundamentally flawed at its core.
Do you mean the detriments of AI, Flock, and Meta glasses outweigh the price to the consumer?
Not per se but yes. You're thinking too big.
Negative feedback might slow down adaptation but that's about all that's going to happen.
Mark Zuckerberg had to testify in front of congress for the first time about privacy issues back in 2018. That's almost a decade ago. Look at them now.
Ticktock, Facebook and Google are all still around and thriving. ChatGPT is the #1 free app in the App Store. Google Chrome is the number one web browser. Genuine question, what tech been stopped because of the detriments?
Testifying in front of Congress doesn't mean anything. That's just a dog & pony show meant to placate the rubes. NOTHING ever happens as a result.
Look at Tickemaster/ Live Nation. They e had to explain themselves a number of times to Congress over the last 30 years, and they've only gotten bigger and more predatory. It finally took all those politicians trying to get Taylor Swift tickets for their screeching daughters that made them angry enough to finally do something about it. They are finally having a trial about it, but it's still unclear if they'll feel any consequences or make any changes.
