After 10 years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered • Hacker News Board

Re: After 10 years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered

#241

Post by mywittyname » Wed, Jun 10, 2020, 5:17 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #125

V-2 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has it really changed that much in 10 years, or is part of it just the sense of alienation everyone experiences getting out of jail after a long time? I mean, 10 years ago people lamented over the exact same thing; and before that, and before the before. I can't prove it of course, but I'd bet you might feel that "human interaction" is not quite what you remember it to be if you had only just spent 10 years behind th…

>has it really changed that much in 10 years Yes (although I'd probably put the real dividing line at more like 12 years). Facebook wasn't available outside of certain institutions until 2006, the same year Twitter dates to. The iPhone was first introduced in 2007 and arguably didn't really take off until the 3GS in 2009. So, yes, the internet was well-established by the 2000s. But today's always connected world of s…

I'd argue it hasn't changed much for technology people. I had an iPhone in 10 and used it constantly for the same thing I do today: news, web browsing when away, and chatting with friends. My google history confirms this. I still use the same gmail address, reddit, social media, Steam, bank, etc accounts.

I think the biggest difference for me is that I use spotify now for music, rather than downloading it. And streaming video is now legit, so there's less need for torrents and newsgroups.

Re: After 10 years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered

#242

Post by cc-d » Wed, Jun 10, 2020, 5:21 PM UTC

hblnt wrote: post #19

nix23 wrote: post #8

Its terrible how the American system thinks about prison's. Imagine he could do/learn something good in those 10 years, when he was locked away to protect the public (and that really should be the only point for prisons (protect the public))

For me, the really baffling thing was the fact how restricted access the prisoners have to information. The fact that prisoners cannot have access to the internet is, to some extent, understandable by me. Filtering an inherently bi-directional communication perfectly, to make sure no information gets out is difficult. But nonetheless, internet is not the only source of information in the world. The fact that people,…

>If you find your resolution in the fact that you spent your time useful by learning, and when you reemerge and reintegrate yourself into society, you will have a chance to be better before, why restricting it?

The restriction of information is an intentional cruelty. Another tool which is utilized to punish the evil criminal (especially the nonviolent drug offenders).

The entire american "justice" system is founded upon the premises of punishment (you deserve to suffer for breaking the law), profit (13th amendment allowing prisoners to be used as literal slaves, the billion $ market created for 'prison service providers'), and political disenfranchisement (cant allow people who have been exposed to this utterly abhorrent system to exercise their right to vote, as that could be dangerous to the system).

Rehabilitation? That's simply not what the system is designed to achieve. The goal is profit, suffering, and political disenfranchisement.

Re: After 10 years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered

#243

Post by oneforty4 » Wed, Jun 10, 2020, 5:22 PM UTC

namelosw wrote: post #116

> For me, I stepped out into an uncertain future. I don’t really see meaningful human interaction anymore. People may think it's because he's been disconnected for so long. But I have the exact same feeling, and think about this problem every day. I'm a software engineer, and doing everything okay in the modern world. But I mostly use smartphones as a phone like in the last century unless I have to, I don't use most…

I feel the same way. I think just a lot of people in the tech industry have a starry-eyed view of technology. Don't get me wrong, technology has done positive things and obviously affords us many conveniences. But there is a negative side as well.

Its funny to me that people don't think technologies like social media and smartphones have changed how people socialize when that's the very purpose of them.

There's something that's definitely changed although I can't quite articulate it. I'm a millennial but I find it easier to talk to people many decades older than me, they seem more attentive. I try to socialize with my colleagues who are my age or younger but they struggle when I ask things like "Hey, how are you?" One of them finally said to me: "I still don't know how to answer that question."

Re: After 10 years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered

#244

Post by abnry » Wed, Jun 10, 2020, 5:27 PM UTC

nix23 wrote: post #89

JackFr wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and that really should be the only point for prisons (protect the public) That's not true. Our prisons should protect the public, rehabilitate prisoners in so far as they can, and, to an appropriate extent, punish. Some people are skittish about the idea of punsihment. But it's abhorrent to our sense of justice that one suffer no consequences after committing a crime. Now in general I think our prisons and sentenci…

>rehabilitate prisoners Yes that's what i mean with do/learn, give them the tools so they can live a good and legal life after prison. >to an appropriate extent, punish I think that's already included in the package..when they take away your freedom.

What do you do when someone refuses to be rehabilitated? There is real evil in the world and people who are happy to break the rules of society again and again and again.

Re: After 10 years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered

#245

Post by stronglikedan » Wed, Jun 10, 2020, 5:31 PM UTC

9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #78

annoyingnoob wrote: post #56

I recently had someone in a restroom ask me how to flush the toilet. The toilets had IR sensors and flushed automatically. This person had been in prison for many years and had never seen that before. I think part of the social reform that people are protesting for recently needs to extend to people in prison. Our system does nothing to rehabilitate people or to prepare them to re-enter society. We need to treat pris…

FWIW, the rest of the world considers prison sentences in the US to be absurdly long. This guy apparently got 10 years for hacking; in much of Europe, you'd get less than that for murder.

> This guy apparently got 10 years for hacking; in much of Europe, you'd get less than that for murder.

Both of those things are problematic, IMHO.

As for US sentences being absurdly long, I attribute that to the privatized (profit-incentivized) prison system here. Abolishing that concept would be a good starting point, I think, because it would eliminate a very large chunk of the humanitarian problems in one fell swoop. Then we can work on the rest, starting with the perverse incentives of the legal system itself.

Re: After 10 years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered

#246

Post by chkaloon » Wed, Jun 10, 2020, 5:36 PM UTC

chkaloon wrote: post #168

I find it interesting that groups like Anonymous and Lulz Sec, whatever that is, aren't more active right now. Seems like there's lots of opportunity for causing mayhem at the moment. Maybe anti-cyber criminal work has gotten really good?

And before someone says "what about the bots!", the mayhem I'm talking about is leaked documents, emails, phone calls, etc.

Re: After 10 years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered

#247

Post by fencepost » Wed, Jun 10, 2020, 5:40 PM UTC

IHLayman wrote: post #161

fencepost wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever wondered what those black spots on city sidewalks are? That's gum. All of it is gum that's been spat out then walked on until it acquires a top embedded coating of city grime.

Are you seriously justifying a two year prison sentence for selling gum?

Not at all, but nor do I choose to live in Singapore.

Re: After 10 years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered

#248

Post by ed25519FUUU » Wed, Jun 10, 2020, 5:43 PM UTC

> That’s three showers a week. 23/5 confinement to an 8X10 cell without air conditioning, a fan, or adequate ventilation. That summer the temperature inside my cell reached 125 degrees Fahrenheit. With no evidence to support the inmates’ accusation, I was supposed to be released back into the general population. But to make a long story short, that didn’t happen.

One of the reasons I'm really glad we're starting to get serious about prison reform. Right now the conversation is intentionally narrowed to the historical treatment of Black Americans, but I don't see how the conversation doesn't lead to positive changes throughout the criminal justice system. A rising tide raises all boats.

Re: After 10 years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered

#249

Post by ghostpepper » Wed, Jun 10, 2020, 5:49 PM UTC

C1sc0cat wrote: post #202

koheripbal wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10 years of prison time for a single non-violent crime is extremely rare in America. What can happen in certain states, is that repeat offenders are hit with escalating prison terms each time they are convicted (the classic example are the three-strikes-your-out laws), whereby someone can be sentenced to a life term. In those cases, sentences don't translate to actual prison terms since non-violent offenders are rout…

They did admit to hack scada system in a "clinc" - a some what serious offence that can have lethal side effects.

I don't have a strong position on this but I am interested in some opinions on whether it makes more sense for the punishment to be commensurate with the actual effects or the potential effects?

eg. If you punch someone in an altercation, they might fall and hit their head and die - and people have been jailed for doing so - but if the same punch happens to not cause a fall, it will likely result in minimal bruising and perhaps a concussion that will heal in a few weeks.

Do these crimes deserve the same sentence or does outcome matter?

Re: After 10 years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered

#250

Post by scarface74 » Wed, Jun 10, 2020, 5:55 PM UTC

Grimm1 wrote: post #229

scarface74 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He hacked central control systems used by utility companies. This could have caused all sorts of disruptions including to traffic lights and hospitals. This was definitely not a "victimless crime".

"could have" but it didn't so it was victimless.

So it’s okay if someone shot someone and missed a vital organ where he could have killed someone but didn’t?