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Computers are an inherently oppressive technology (2022)

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Re: Computers are an inherently oppressive technology (2022)

#41

Post by ssss11 »

vouaobrasil wrote: post #14
ssss11 wrote: post #9

It’s just a tool. Like any other, it works for its master. A hammer can be used for good or bad. A knife, a brick, a gun and so on. The problem is humans. We need people who refuse to govern using oppression. Corporate leaders who refuse to prioritise profit over human rights. And developers who have a moral compass of what should and should not be built. But why would this technology be any different to prior new te…

There is no such thing as a 'just a tool', because we have fundamnetal and basal instincts that cannot be stopped when we operate in a large group. Tools always interact with these basal instincts in predictable ways that cannot be stopped within our modern technological society that has an incredible amount of inertia. To say that anyhting is 'just a tool' is exceptionally naive and only works in small group setting…

That’s why I wrote “But why would this technology be any different to prior new technologies…”

We don’t have the environment to change it

Re: Computers are an inherently oppressive technology (2022)

#42

Post by tweedledot »

haltist wrote: post #38
tweedledot wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds very similar to the existing road infrastructure.

The tubes prevent accidents, that is the main innovation.

You’re still going to hold up other people if you stop to chat or stick your arms out of the tube.

Re: Computers are an inherently oppressive technology (2022)

#43

Post by mynameisnoone »

Runaway sophomoric anthropomorphism, paranoia, and reductionism. It would be clearer to identify the legal, moral, and ethical responsibilities of those who are responsible than to blame technology. The technology is amoral, but its operator are not. Abdication of ascribing blame by diffusion of responsibility is the greater "evil".

Re: Computers are an inherently oppressive technology (2022)

#44

Post by haltist »

tweedledot wrote: post #42
haltist wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tubes prevent accidents, that is the main innovation.

You’re still going to hold up other people if you stop to chat or stick your arms out of the tube.

The AGI takes care of that as well. The tubes are reconfigurable so you can't be where you're not supposed to be according to the AGI's plan. Even if you're chatting the tube will suck you up and transfer you to the required destination.

Re: Computers are an inherently oppressive technology (2022)

#45

Post by paulolc »

fargle wrote: post #32
paulolc wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's not. People are great. The problem is that we are not OK. When can't help ourselves, much less others. A lot of us are sick and don't have help. We are silently succumbing to the suffering of an increasingly dehumanizing environment. Machines should be beside us, to help. Not between us and stop us from fully interact with each other.

> The problem is that we are not OK. When can't help ourselves, much less others. A lot of us are sick and don't have help. We are silently succumbing to the suffering of an increasingly dehumanizing environment ok, maybe? i don't think that's unanimously true > Machines should be beside us, to help. Not between us and stop us from fully interact with each other. and who puts them there and uses them as such? who com…

> ok, maybe? i don't think that's unanimously true

I get your point. Some people seem to be thriving. Yes, but those don't suck. The ones that are thriving and do suck are, in the end, succumbing to the increasingly dehumanizing environment.

> and who puts them there and uses them as such? > who comes up with things like DRM'd juice packets?

We do. People do. Yes. Those people suck. They are not ok and are clearly succumbing to the increasingly dehumanizing environment.

> people anthropomorphize machines:

Oh yes they do. Excelent point! In the end, it's all people. I totally agree. We cannot let responsibility die as an orphan. Those people suck, but ... well, you know, they "suckumb" ;).

> machines, computers included, are simply powerful levers. they amplify forces applied - good or evil or dehumanizing - by their users. nothing more. > not all people are good, and when those people use powerful machines to amplify their intentions, it can have enormous negative effects.

Yes. Without any doubt. We need to counteract that. Let's work together. We can!

"It is inevitable that we face problems, but no particular problem is inevitable." - David Deutsch - The Beginning of the Infinity.

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