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Products I Wish Existed

blog.eladgil.com

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Re: Products I Wish Existed

#121

Post by bjelkeman-again »

umvi wrote: post #110
blackbrokkoli wrote: post #100

> 4. ADT 2.0: Digital neighborhood watch. That this is not only a market, but a "wish" which seems to get traction even here on HN confirms to me that the old joke "1984 is not a manual" is more relevant than ever, and scarily not only in regards to the usual suspects, corporate and nation states, but people themselves. Can anyone explain to me why anyone would advocate a profit-driven, systematic eradication of soul…

1984 is only a manual if the state or federal government implements it. If an HOA implements it, I don't see how that is 1984. If I turn my house into my own surveillance state, that's not 1984 either, that's me automating tedious things like looking out the window for suspicious characters or events.

> only if government implements it

I suspect that if a non-government implementation becomes widespread the authorities will require access. A bit like grabbing the feeds from Facebook etc.

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#122

Post by jedberg »

scarface74 wrote: post #7
tinus_hn wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It already exists in apps for nosey neighbors like Nextdoor

Aka: “I see a suspicious looking Black Guy in our suburban neighborhood. It looks like he is breaking into a house by using a remote to open a garage door and driving in.”

Yeah, my Next-door has a lot of that. They aren't that obvious though. I like to call them out.

"I saw a suspicious man walking down the street!"

"What made him suspicious?"

"He just doesn't look like he belongs here."

"Why?"

"He's black"

"Being black isn't suspicious"

I then I get an email from Next-door about my comments being reported!

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#123

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

umvi wrote: post #110
blackbrokkoli wrote: post #100

> 4. ADT 2.0: Digital neighborhood watch. That this is not only a market, but a "wish" which seems to get traction even here on HN confirms to me that the old joke "1984 is not a manual" is more relevant than ever, and scarily not only in regards to the usual suspects, corporate and nation states, but people themselves. Can anyone explain to me why anyone would advocate a profit-driven, systematic eradication of soul…

1984 is only a manual if the state or federal government implements it. If an HOA implements it, I don't see how that is 1984. If I turn my house into my own surveillance state, that's not 1984 either, that's me automating tedious things like looking out the window for suspicious characters or events.

There's good odds that the HOA won't home-grow this - I'm sure that if this product did exist, it'd either come from or end up being scooped up by one of the usual suspects of the information gathering and advertising age. I don't think that corporations helpfully defining what sort of crime was committed for the local HOA is any less dystopian, it just makes it potentially more subtle.

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#124

Post by mjpuser »

Lucadg wrote: post #115

> What would be a network which allowed for more thoughtful discourse We used to have this and it was called forum (phpbb and such). They have been oblitared and we moved to Facebook apparently leaving our brains behind. In reality we are victims of armies of psychologists optimizing for engagement. I have the feeling forums will come back though.

I would say reddit is a forum, and you can have good discourse on there, but can also have straight comfort internet trash. Basically I think its more nuanced than just having a forum...

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#125

Post by zone411 »

blackbrokkoli wrote: post #100

> 4. ADT 2.0: Digital neighborhood watch. That this is not only a market, but a "wish" which seems to get traction even here on HN confirms to me that the old joke "1984 is not a manual" is more relevant than ever, and scarily not only in regards to the usual suspects, corporate and nation states, but people themselves. Can anyone explain to me why anyone would advocate a profit-driven, systematic eradication of soul…

Ask that to one of the ~6 million victims of burglaries per year (2.5 mil burglaries/year). How are those black swan events? How are they low impact?

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#126

Post by slg »

umvi wrote: post #110
blackbrokkoli wrote: post #100

> 4. ADT 2.0: Digital neighborhood watch. That this is not only a market, but a "wish" which seems to get traction even here on HN confirms to me that the old joke "1984 is not a manual" is more relevant than ever, and scarily not only in regards to the usual suspects, corporate and nation states, but people themselves. Can anyone explain to me why anyone would advocate a profit-driven, systematic eradication of soul…

1984 is only a manual if the state or federal government implements it. If an HOA implements it, I don't see how that is 1984. If I turn my house into my own surveillance state, that's not 1984 either, that's me automating tedious things like looking out the window for suspicious characters or events.

The problem is that in a capitalist society, the surveillance options that provide the best combination of price and feature set are likely going to come from a company that has other revenue streams such as connecting all those cameras together and monetizing the entire customer network. Enter Ring.

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#127

Post by reaperducer »

skosch wrote: post #114
blackbrokkoli wrote: post #100

> 4. ADT 2.0: Digital neighborhood watch. That this is not only a market, but a "wish" which seems to get traction even here on HN confirms to me that the old joke "1984 is not a manual" is more relevant than ever, and scarily not only in regards to the usual suspects, corporate and nation states, but people themselves. Can anyone explain to me why anyone would advocate a profit-driven, systematic eradication of soul…

I'm with you, but then again I currently live in a nice neighbourhood where something like "serial packet thiefs" are considered a "low-impact black-swan event", as you say. Not everyone is so lucky, and I'd wager that many folks would be happy to "automatically purge nuisances" if all it costs them is some sidewalk privacy. I would certainly make that trade-off if I lived in a dodgier environment.

I'd rather people actually got involved in their neighborhoods and formed or joined a real Neighborhood Watch group, rather than letting some AI handle it badly, or outsource it to some faceless company.

At least if your neighbors screw it up, there is an avenue of redress. Plus, outside of TV shows, few bad things come from neighbors getting involved in their neighborhood.

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#128

Post by scarejunba »

blackbrokkoli wrote: post #100

> 4. ADT 2.0: Digital neighborhood watch. That this is not only a market, but a "wish" which seems to get traction even here on HN confirms to me that the old joke "1984 is not a manual" is more relevant than ever, and scarily not only in regards to the usual suspects, corporate and nation states, but people themselves. Can anyone explain to me why anyone would advocate a profit-driven, systematic eradication of soul…

Because the normal result of this for people isn't that they have to go perform two minutes hate or praise Big Brother; it's that their packages don't get stolen. And the downside? Nothing. In fact, the expression of "I could be watched at any time but no one will" is a greater expression of trust.

People live their lives very differently from the universe you're talking about. They enforce things through trust networks. My friends and I have Find my Friends access to each other. That's right. If I wanted I could sit there and spy on one of them. But she knows I won't. I know I won't. That's how a sense of trust works.

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#129

Post by amatecha »

blackbrokkoli wrote: post #100

> 4. ADT 2.0: Digital neighborhood watch. That this is not only a market, but a "wish" which seems to get traction even here on HN confirms to me that the old joke "1984 is not a manual" is more relevant than ever, and scarily not only in regards to the usual suspects, corporate and nation states, but people themselves. Can anyone explain to me why anyone would advocate a profit-driven, systematic eradication of soul…

Sadly, this seems to be literally already happening, right? Nest and Wyze home surveillance cams, etc... all cloud-based... :\

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#130

Post by acidburnNSA »

Daneel_ wrote: post #33
joncrane wrote: post #21

While only a footnote, I like the nod to nuclear energy. I remember in the 1950s, there was a Popular Mechanics cover touting nuclear as a coming technology to power homes and even cars. Imagine the next Tesla-like company offering to install a small nuclear reactor in houses. Like solar, you can sell electricity back to the grid, charge your electric car with it, literally use it to heat your water.... Also might be…

Yes, absolutely. Today’s modern reactors are night and day compared to Chernobyl/Fukushima era reactors - they’re not even comparable. They’re fail-safe rather than fail-deadly, and are much more compact and efficient, with better controls and containment. The size of the reaction chamber is basically that of a household washing machine. I’d gladly live next door to a modern plant.

Current reactors are extremely safe compared to fossil if you look at the stats. 3 orders of magnitude safer in a deaths/TWh basis. The new designs (which are actually all revivals of 1960 designs) may be safer and cheaper but we have yet to prove that.

I'm in the middle of writing an elaborate history of the quest for economical nuclear power to help with this discussion.

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