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The Slow Death of the Power User

fireborn.mataroa.blog

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Re: The Slow Death of the Power User

#71

Post by akramachamarei »

maest wrote: post #32
poisonborz wrote: post #4

I agree with the article fully, but: > These are the same people who would lose their minds if their city government told them they could only buy food from vendors the city had approved, licensed, and taxed But it is exactly like this in the developed world, and not many would buy food from a trunk of a roadside car.

An important difference is that governments are elected, but private companies (in some cases monopolies) are not

Another importance difference is that you can pick the companies you use, even if you're a minority in your electoral district. (Except monopolies, of course).

Re: The Slow Death of the Power User

#72

Post by tjhorner »

tjhorner wrote: post #16
Collectivism wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...but you can. And, open your facebook Marketplace (I know, I know) and just type any food you like. You can buy it there, made by people like you. Risky, maybe, but you can. That's the point.

It obviously depends on local laws, but it's very commonly illegal to sell prepared food without a license/permit. You might not get caught selling food on FB Marketplace, but that doesn't make it any less allowed. I agree with the author regarding Apple's walled-garden app distribution, but the analogy just doesn't work here.

(Oops: *any more allowed)

Re: The Slow Death of the Power User

#73

Post by imiric »

its_ethan wrote: post #62
imiric wrote: post #18

> All of this was sold as a feature. “It just works.” Safety. Privacy. User experience. What it actually was, was control — Apple’s control over what you could do with hardware you supposedly bought. Can't both of these be true? Apple, Microsoft, and the evil tech companies us nerds love to vilify actually brought computing to the masses. In the early 1980s only tech geeks and corporations used computers—the Apple Ma…

> It's all relative. Except "AI". That is more of a disabler than an enabler Feels like there's some irony here given the rest of your comment. "It's always been this way and probably always will be... except for this time it's different." I'm not trying to say you're wrong, just a funny thing I noticed that reminded me of an Arrested Development scene.

A technology that aims to replace all cognitive work done by humans seems fundamentally different than all past technology. Whether or not it will actually succeed at that is another topic, but we're not even ready for the effects of the things it can do today. If you don't see how all of this makes it a net negative for humanity, I don't know what to tell you.

Re: The Slow Death of the Power User

#75

Post by johnnyanmac »

xyzzy123 wrote: post #17

Most people, when they turn the tap on, they don't know where the water comes from. Try asking someone "What is the physical principle that makes the water come out of the tap? How do they make it come out?" you might be surprised how many people don't know and most importantly don't care . The water comes out. The water has always come out, every time, so it's not really a thing worth investigating. Like the sunrise…

> and most importantly don't care

That's the depressing part in modern (western) society. The lack of curiosity is one thing, but it seems to spread to a overall lack of care for anything these days. First it's lack of knowledge, then it's lack of care for fellow beings, then it's lack of care for the broken windows everywhere. Community breaks down in real time with the reaction of a shrug.

>If a person doesn't know (except in the vaguest terms) where their water comes from, where their poo goes when they flush, where their food comes from (the supermarket!), or the energy that heats their home... what do they really know?

What are our schools teaching us? I don't expect perfect domain knowledge, but I learned the bare basic supply chains in middle and high school. Food comes from trucks distributing from a factory that gets ingredients from farms and other types of food procurement. Water comes from pipes connected to the house connected to a grid filtered through government purification systems that is retrieved through ravines and dams (and then the water cycle comes in).

Not knowing that much just feels odd.

Re: The Slow Death of the Power User

#77

Post by davidguetta »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #75
xyzzy123 wrote: post #17

Most people, when they turn the tap on, they don't know where the water comes from. Try asking someone "What is the physical principle that makes the water come out of the tap? How do they make it come out?" you might be surprised how many people don't know and most importantly don't care . The water comes out. The water has always come out, every time, so it's not really a thing worth investigating. Like the sunrise…

> and most importantly don't care That's the depressing part in modern (western) society. The lack of curiosity is one thing, but it seems to spread to a overall lack of care for anything these days. First it's lack of knowledge, then it's lack of care for fellow beings, then it's lack of care for the broken windows everywhere. Community breaks down in real time with the reaction of a shrug. >If a person doesn't know…

The thing is you truly have a finite amount of fucks, also called time, to give in a day. Most people are too busy surviving or getting over some random heartbreak or issue at work to care about, or fighting for status.

but you are right that curiosity should be promoted more in school

Re: The Slow Death of the Power User

#78

Post by pibaker »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #75
xyzzy123 wrote: post #17

Most people, when they turn the tap on, they don't know where the water comes from. Try asking someone "What is the physical principle that makes the water come out of the tap? How do they make it come out?" you might be surprised how many people don't know and most importantly don't care . The water comes out. The water has always come out, every time, so it's not really a thing worth investigating. Like the sunrise…

> and most importantly don't care That's the depressing part in modern (western) society. The lack of curiosity is one thing, but it seems to spread to a overall lack of care for anything these days. First it's lack of knowledge, then it's lack of care for fellow beings, then it's lack of care for the broken windows everywhere. Community breaks down in real time with the reaction of a shrug. >If a person doesn't know…

> That's the depressing part in modern (western) society

Do you think the average medieval farmer was questioning how everything around him worked while he worked day and night trying not to starve? Do you think today the average Japanese person knows more about water supply than the average American? This is such a weirdly romantic view about the past that I don't know where to even start.

> Food comes from trucks distributing from a factory that gets ingredients from farms and other types of food procurement.

This is like saying the internet is when two computer send 1s and 0s over copper wire. A technically correct description that lacks so much detail that it is practically useless.

Re: The Slow Death of the Power User

#79

Post by pibaker »

tjhorner wrote: post #27
xyzzy123 wrote: post #17

Most people, when they turn the tap on, they don't know where the water comes from. Try asking someone "What is the physical principle that makes the water come out of the tap? How do they make it come out?" you might be surprised how many people don't know and most importantly don't care . The water comes out. The water has always come out, every time, so it's not really a thing worth investigating. Like the sunrise…

The post raises several points that I wholeheartedly agree with, but the framing is poor and honestly kind of elitist (or just short-sighted). Maybe to the point that I think much of it might just be bait, lol. For example: > Ask a twenty-two-year-old to connect to a remote server via SSH. Ask them to explain what DNS is at a conceptual level. Ask them to tell you the difference between their router’s public IP and t…

Even site administrators didn't need SSH in 2006. "Panels" were already a thing back then.

The author has a rather distorted view of how things actually were in 2006.

Re: The Slow Death of the Power User

#80

Post by johnnyanmac »

pibaker wrote: post #78
johnnyanmac wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and most importantly don't care That's the depressing part in modern (western) society. The lack of curiosity is one thing, but it seems to spread to a overall lack of care for anything these days. First it's lack of knowledge, then it's lack of care for fellow beings, then it's lack of care for the broken windows everywhere. Community breaks down in real time with the reaction of a shrug. >If a person doesn't know…

> That's the depressing part in modern (western) society Do you think the average medieval farmer was questioning how everything around him worked while he worked day and night trying not to starve? Do you think today the average Japanese person knows more about water supply than the average American? This is such a weirdly romantic view about the past that I don't know where to even start. > Food comes from trucks d…

>Do you think the average medieval farmer was questioning how everything around him worked while he worked day and night trying not to starve?

I think the average medieval farmer understood how to harvest food and draw water, yes. This isn't as esoteric as using SSH in 2026. Knowing where your necessary resources come from should be basic knowledge.

For a more modern context of why: I hope people don't simply rant about "why are groceries expensive" and simply believe that a single politician is the reason and that an upcoming politician will magically lower prices. A medieval farmer would not see their crops having low yields and ponder why there's less food.

>This is like saying the internet is when two computer send 1s and 0s over copper wire.

If they aren't specialized in computers, it'd be a start. Things are abstracted, so I'm expecting less knowledge of bits and assembly and more about landlines and isps.

In short, if you use and pay for something everyday, you should understand who to hold accountable when it breaks, or suddenly gets more expensive. Knowing that one breadcrumb can start the trail for further thinking.

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