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How the Tech World Turned Evil

newrepublic.com

11–20 of 42 posts

Re: How the Tech World Turned Evil

#11

My uninformed opinion of it all is that certain companies have been blessed or anointed by the intelligence agencies for many decades and they've been acting on their behalf every since. Google, Apple, Amazon, Reddit, Microsoft, Elon's stuff, the Telcos and so on. Backdoors, direct access and so on. Same for all the major crypto on/off ramps.

Once you start to have a large influence on the world, people come knocking.

Re: How the Tech World Turned Evil

#12
post #10
post #8

Seems like they mostly stayed the same, just media perception changed once they realized it's more profitable to hate on tech, and safer than hating on established bad industries like Oil and Gas, malpractice in farming, corruption and fraud in politics, whatever is going on in the medical industry.

You really don't think the tech industry has changed?

Not as much as the article (and especially headline) suggest. It most certainly hasn't been frozen in time but I'd wager there are more people trying to use tech to make the world a better place now than ever before (though there has been a massive influx of people who make almost no attempt).

Re: How the Tech World Turned Evil

#13
post #9

They still are bringing power to the people. Including people like Musk on this list is frankly ridiculous. Sure the man has issues, but before his takeover of X, it was impossible to say anything online without threats of government intervention for 'wrongspeak'. Yes yes yes, I know there still are government threats for wrongspeak with the new administration, but luckily, no one is going to take down your post righ…

> it was impossible to say anything online without threats of government intervention for 'wrongspeak'

[citation fucking needed]

Re: How the Tech World Turned Evil

#14
Industrial empires naturally have this tendency, once their power level is putting them in the same playground as small states, they become different entities, fighting for their own survival.

The concentration of power of bureaucratic structures, no matter their nature, will always be in tension with individual freedom.

Re: How the Tech World Turned Evil

#15

My uninformed opinion of it all is that certain companies have been blessed or anointed by the intelligence agencies for many decades and they've been acting on their behalf every since. Google, Apple, Amazon, Reddit, Microsoft, Elon's stuff, the Telcos and so on. Backdoors, direct access and so on. Same for all the major crypto on/off ramps.

It's not uninformed, you're just working with what you've got. Snowden credibly condemned American tech businesses as being conjoined at the hip with the NSA, without exposing all of the blackmail material that the fed had on them. It's overwhelmingly likely that their relationship has only deepened, we've seen no evidence that FAANG is serious about detaching itself from US influence.

10 years ago you'd probably hear some spiel about Bitlocker being "safe enough", or the iPhone's many virtues as a private enclave. Fast-forward to today, and it's hard to see American tech as benign.

Re: How the Tech World Turned Evil

#16
post #9

They still are bringing power to the people. Including people like Musk on this list is frankly ridiculous. Sure the man has issues, but before his takeover of X, it was impossible to say anything online without threats of government intervention for 'wrongspeak'. Yes yes yes, I know there still are government threats for wrongspeak with the new administration, but luckily, no one is going to take down your post righ…

> it was impossible to say anything online without threats of government intervention for 'wrongspeak' [citation fucking needed]

Dubai has cracked down on anyone reporting damage in the city from the war with Iran. That incident about their "7 star" hotel being hit is being played as "minor damage". That the hotel has now closed for an 18-month renovation is just coincidental. Trump keeps trying to sue media organizations. He's trying to prosecute a member of the U.S. Senate for insisting that US troops obey US laws of war. China has severe Internet censorship, of course. So does Russia, although it's less well organized.

Re: How the Tech World Turned Evil

#18
post #10
post #8

Seems like they mostly stayed the same, just media perception changed once they realized it's more profitable to hate on tech, and safer than hating on established bad industries like Oil and Gas, malpractice in farming, corruption and fraud in politics, whatever is going on in the medical industry.

You really don't think the tech industry has changed?

If you look at an individual like Mark Zuckerberg, the media reputation went all the way from heroic savior, to fairly negative.

I'm sure they've changed as a person, given the amount of time that has passed, but I don't feel their behavior has changed that dramatically.

Re: How the Tech World Turned Evil

#20
If you are actually looking for an article on "How the Tech World Turned Evil", you are going to be sorely disappointed.

This article is, as you might expect, the usual cast of villains and the usual cast of saviors. The villains only act like villains, and the heroes only act like heroes. Never once are the heroes actions suspect, and never once are the villains actions sympathetic.

If you support the heroes of this article, and your dopamine lights up when your opinions are echoed in a publication, then you may love this article. Having said that, I am sure you have read this same article over and over again in many different forms, I certainly have.

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