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Early Facebook and Google Employees Form a Center for Humane Technology

nytimes.com

131–140 of 191 posts

Re: Early Facebook and Google Employees Form a Center for Humane Technology

#131
So, it sounds to me like "Tech is eating our world. Let's create some more tech to counteract that!"

Um, maybe we should fix healthcare and affordable housing and institute maternity leave and other policies so parents can spend time with their kids instead of having the iPad babysit them?

I know. Radical thought that maybe something other than more tech is the solution to our tech problem. Like... less tech.

But someone had to toss out the stupidly obvious answer.

Re: Early Facebook and Google Employees Form a Center for Humane Technology

#132
post #8

Facebook and other social media platforms might be heading for the type of reckoning the fast food industry had in the late 90s and early 2000s. http://marko.la/facebook-is-mcdonalds/

I wonder how much the push back against McDonald's is class based. It's not healthy, but the same can be said for a lot of the food we eat. A lot of fast casual burgers, which seem to hold a higher position in the public perception, have more calories. Of course, overall health is more complicated than just calories, but it's worth pointing out since that's one of the main complaints against McDonald's (including in…

> It's not healthy

I get a quarter pounder, a side salad, and cup of water. It's a decent, healthy meal.

Re: Early Facebook and Google Employees Form a Center for Humane Technology

#133

So, it sounds to me like "Tech is eating our world. Let's create some more tech to counteract that!" Um, maybe we should fix healthcare and affordable housing and institute maternity leave and other policies so parents can spend time with their kids instead of having the iPad babysit them? I know. Radical thought that maybe something other than more tech is the solution to our tech problem. Like... less tech. But som…

That's loss of productivity.

Re: Early Facebook and Google Employees Form a Center for Humane Technology

#134

So, it sounds to me like "Tech is eating our world. Let's create some more tech to counteract that!" Um, maybe we should fix healthcare and affordable housing and institute maternity leave and other policies so parents can spend time with their kids instead of having the iPad babysit them? I know. Radical thought that maybe something other than more tech is the solution to our tech problem. Like... less tech. But som…

That's loss of productivity.

[deleted]

Re: Early Facebook and Google Employees Form a Center for Humane Technology

#135
post #5

Their hearts are probably in the right place, but I wonder if there's a more effective strategy than what they're suggesting; trying to teach teens about the dangers of tech via ads. That hasn't been a very effective strategy historically. If anything, it feels like it just produces the opposite desired effect.

[deleted]

Re: Early Facebook and Google Employees Form a Center for Humane Technology

#136
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No amount of warnings or education is going to solve the problem The most effective solutions (the closest we've got to "solving the problem") to habitual cigarette smoking so far seem to be regulation; increasing prices, making things socially arduous. > The answer to out-dated bad technology is next-generation good technology. The problem is not technology, and neither is the solution. There's nothing that techno…

If the problem isn't modern technology such as Facebook and smartphones, then why didn't we have this problem in the past? And if it is modern technology, then why couldn't it be the solution? As one example, why can't we create a social network that's designed to help users mitigate the negative aspects of using it?

What about Facebook is modern technology?

Re: Early Facebook and Google Employees Form a Center for Humane Technology

#137
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, I didn't think you were curt. This was my solution for a while. Problem is when I read I hate to stop mid sentence or paragraph. While if on FB, or HN I can close without a care. I may need to take up less serious reading material I guess, hah. I will probably go back to this, though. Any books you can recommend that helps fill those few minutes of void?

Aphorisms are good for that! I don't have a phone, but e.g. I've been reading The Art of Worldly Wisdom (17th C Spanish book) as a toilet book for a year or more, it's wonderful. I have a tiny book version, maybe 6x4x1cm. It's all in little sections of a half-dozen lines, great for reading 20 seconds or a couple of minutes at a time. An e-version would be great too I guess. So much wisdom in that book. Also other aph…

Thanks. I just got the art of worldly wisdom. Had $2 of Amazon digital credits to spend and the Kindle version is $2 :)

Re: Early Facebook and Google Employees Form a Center for Humane Technology

#138
post #63
post #28

With smartphones being ubiquitous, and we all have a few minutes here and there to spare...we just need to come up with a better and productive way to kill those time where you are idle. Any suggestions? Right now I'm waiting on my wife to get ready before we head out and spending it here on HN, but still, it's not productive.

Except this "productivity" you speak of is not productive. So it's a false dichotomy between feeling like you are doing something and not "doing something". It's like buying a gym membership and saying you're fit now.

I guess I should rephrase what I tried to say. If I have 2 minutes to kill, what is better than browsing Facebook or Hacker News.

Re: Early Facebook and Google Employees Form a Center for Humane Technology

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect Google could get a lot of people to pay for a "Google Prime" subscription if they had to.

Sub to what? Their search engine? I’d rather use DDG most days without Google trying to charge me. To something like YouTube? How is YouTube Red going?

When I heard about YouTube Red I honestly believed YouTube had bought Redtube

Re: Early Facebook and Google Employees Form a Center for Humane Technology

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is wrong with being idle? Why has everything have to be productive?

This. I think we should appreciate some idle time occasionally. But my brain is currently wired for maximizing time on computer, doing programming or relwted tasks.

Idle time is good. I have close to a one hour commute, each way. Just me in my car. I dont rush or drive aggressively so my mind can be relaxed. My mind can wander, be idle. Most of the time the radio is not on, or just serves as background noise. Interesting to find the replies in this thread that assumes I'm always trying to do something, when already 2 hours a day I am not.
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