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Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

nytimes.com

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Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#291

Post by rr808 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #154
Barrin92 wrote: post #122

Because new technology is as Thiel often quips limited to the world of bits rather than the world of atoms. Paul Krugman once asked, if you go into an average house right now and you take out all the screens, could you tell that you're not in the 80s? Gordon in the Rise and Fall of American Growth gives a similar example, what if you went into a time capsule between say 1890 and 1950 compared to 1960 and 2010? In one…

> if you go into an average house right now and you take out all the screens, could you tell that you're not in the 80s? Yes. Even the cheapest house built to code will be noticeably better than one from 1980s. The quality of materials, technology of materials, wiring, plumbing, flooring, insulation, etc will all be better. > The difference between a car right now and a car 30 years ago is that you can now play angry…

> Even the cheapest house built to code will be noticeably better than one from 1980s. The quality of materials, technology of materials, wiring, plumbing, flooring, insulation, etc will all be better.

This is definitely not true. Old houses have solid lumber, new ones are lightweight softwoods. Copper pipes replaced with plastic. Maybe Marble kitchens are nicer? More energy efficient is likely. Certainly 30 something families can't afford big suburban houses like their parents/grandparents.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#292

Post by [deleted] »

wruza wrote: post #267
rowanG077 wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what you mean by async programming. If you literally mean async and await as available in Haskell, Rust, C#, JS, Python etc. Then no that's definitely not the same thing as windows 3.1's cooperative multitasking.

Assuming that we know how promises and syscall-triggered context switches work, what’s the important difference?

[deleted]

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#293

Post by bluGill »

dmitriy_ko wrote: post #238
analog31 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My house was built in the early 60s, has hardwood flooring throughout, copper plumbing, the wiring is all in hard conduit, the 2x4's are actually a bit thicker than today's, and of a higher grade. The original windows are still functioning, though not as efficient as modern ones. The appliances are modern because they've all been replaced. Today's house in the same region uses lower grade lumber, carpeted floors, Rom…

Modern houses have PEX plumbing. It has some advantages over copper, e.g. it won't burst if it freezes. But the main advantage -- it's less labor to install.

PEX doesn't corrode like copper will. Depending on your local water this may not be an issue you notice, but one house I had it was an issue.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#294

Post by malloryerik »

lazide wrote: post #281
malloryerik wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you missed a turn, god help you. People had lots and lots of paper maps. Every gas station had a rack of them. You'd probably have had a good spiral-bound one of your entire region in your car. Wrong turn? Just check the map and save God's help for later.

Eh, everyone I knew got lost and then tried to figure out where on the paper map they were while trying to not get into an accident. GPS, you just wait a second for it to update and you barely miss a beat.

Yeah, sounds true enough.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#295

Post by bitwize »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #290
oldsecondhand wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Before the internet we referred to TV as "the opiate of the masses" No, that's religion.

That was only before TV. The expression originally referred to religion, but later referred to television. For example, see the citation provided to the July 15, 1957 issue of Time magazine.

Out in the more capitalism-loving parts of the country, it was just called the idiot box, the boob tube, etc.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#296

Post by bluGill »

lr4444lr wrote: post #204
acjacobson wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mostly agree, though I think there are differences you'd notice rather quickly (but nothing as big as moving from 1890 to 1950) If you removed all the screens you'd probably first notice what's missing as opposed to what's different. In many of today's homes you wouldn't see things like tape / record players, stereos, VCRs, telephones, books, maps, yellow pages, rolodexes, calendars - all of these having a digital…

Much of that is consumption, though. I don't want to knock consumption, but it's not productivity.

Consumption is directly related to production. If I was willing to live on the minimum I could have retired after only a couple years. People retire at 65 now like before, but with a lot more stuff their additional productivity gave them.

People seem to like it, so the argument that they shouldn't have so much junk is a bit flat.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#297

Post by unchocked »

nwienert wrote: post #271
chrisco255 wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GPS is nice and all, but I would not say we move vastly differently compared to 30 years ago or even 70 years ago (basically, since interstate highways were developed). And electric motors are just a horizontal change in technology. They may have better acceleration than ICEs, but we're still going to be fundamentally traveling the same way. Only if and when self-driving becomes a thing, or personal drone transport v…

I upgraded from a 95 4Runner to a 22 Outlander and it’s like a spaceship on wheels in comparison. Literally every piece of the car is in a different class and the tech is insane that just didn’t exist then, I mean it basically drives itself. It’s dramatically safer, more efficient, comfier, faster, quieter. I no longer hate long drives, they’re quite nice. The speakers are amazing and the road noise is basically gone…

A 95 4Runner restored to like new condition would be an excellent ride today, Gad mileage notwithstanding.

Run out vs. new is a straw man w/r/t/ old tech vs new.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#298

Post by damontal »

rablackburn wrote: post #186
analog31 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My house was built in the early 60s, has hardwood flooring throughout, copper plumbing, the wiring is all in hard conduit, the 2x4's are actually a bit thicker than today's, and of a higher grade. The original windows are still functioning, though not as efficient as modern ones. The appliances are modern because they've all been replaced. Today's house in the same region uses lower grade lumber, carpeted floors, Rom…

The hardwood floors sound nice, but as far as I’m aware plastic plumbing is much more preferable over copper. Need to fix a leak in a copper pipe? Get ready to weld and bend pipes. Need to fix a plastic pipe? Unscrew that section, and screw in a new one. No drama.

You can use sharkbite for easy fixes on copper.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#299

Post by mr_tristan »

I suspect the hyperactive hivemind culture that's been one result of new technology. Sure, there's a lot more passive consumption going on, but really, what I see is a non-stop communication stream where nobody really gets to that moment to really let the mind rest and get properly bored to put together the bigger ideas.

When I try to isolate, even for a couple of hours, I get criticized by coworkers or my spouse about not responding quickly. So I end up spending my time mostly communicating or trying to get back on track. It's rather sad.

Ideally AI could offload these constant distractions, so unnecessary communications just don't need everyone's immediate response. But, well, I'll believe it when I see it

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