The old school name for this is "tragedy of the commons" and it's not just a tech thing.
Eco Cycles or How I Feel About Technology
51–60 of 61 posts
Re: Eco Cycles or How I Feel About Technology
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The challenge is the system of incentives around the technology The solution is simple: Outlaw advertising. It should have been done decades ago, considering the negative externalities it puts on society (in terms of visual pollution, and harmful incentives it creates). There is no real reason for it existing. The original argument was that it provides customers with information based on which to make purchasing dec…
> There is no real reason for it existing Except the fundamental human right to be able to say what you want, when you want, how you want, even (especially?) for commercial purposes.
There is no fundamental human right to walk down the street at 2am with a megaphone and scream "BUY MY USED CARS" into people's open bedroom windows while they're asleep. That counters "where you want, how you want, when you want". "Especially" for commercial purposes is even more objectionable - as if anyone should get more rights if they are trying to extract money from people than if they aren't?
Re: Eco Cycles or How I Feel About Technology
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
> An invention comes as the solution to a problem. What is the problem that the invention of email solved? And what problems did the invention of email create? Inventions do not solve problems. An invention is a mental fabrication, nothing more.
It solved piles of papers and faxes for inter-office memoranda. It solved a 2-week delay for communications with customers (everything from “your order has been placed” to “you still owe us money” to “here’s our christmas catalog”). Email solved the problem of the physical post being (comparatively) expensive and slow.
All of thosethings were not problems at the time, they’re only problems in retrospect.
Re: Eco Cycles or How I Feel About Technology
#54I disagree with his take on traffic jams though. Public transportation, bikes, and well designed cities really do solve traffic
None of those are as good as being able to drive a car around somewhere which is traffic free and has ample parking. Of course, it's inherently not possible for that experience to be open to everyone.
Re: Eco Cycles or How I Feel About Technology
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
My experience is that if people are in an environment where helping others is socially encouraged rather than punished, most people want to help even strangers providing no benefit to themselves other than the healthy little dopamine hit. There's exceptions of course, but not enough to actually cause a problem. Unfortunately I find there's a lot of social pressure (at least in the US) telling people that if they help…
>My experience is that if people are in an environment where helping others is socially encouraged rather than punished, most people want to help even strangers providing no benefit to themselves other than the healthy little dopamine hit. There's exceptions of course, but not enough to actually cause a problem. What they stand to gain in that situation is good standing in their peer group which is a personal gain. I…
If I do something good because it makes me feel good, is that a selfish action or is it feedback from my 'innate human tendency'?
We are social creatures. Seeing our social group benefit is a hardwired desire, and it makes us feel good. Being recognized as a valuable member of the group also feels good, and double-dipping on the dopamine hit is what motivates people towards contributing.
Re: Eco Cycles or How I Feel About Technology
#56The old school name for this is "tragedy of the commons" and it's not just a tech thing.
No. Tragedy of the Commons is a bogus thought experiment where the contradictions of mixing private property with the commons was blamed on The Commons.
Re: Eco Cycles or How I Feel About Technology
#57I disagree with his take on traffic jams though. Public transportation, bikes, and well designed cities really do solve traffic
None of those are as good as being able to drive a car around somewhere which is traffic free and has ample parking. Of course, it's inherently not possible for that experience to be open to everyone.
True, though when I had a buddy (a poor man’s Vespa) it was close enough to that to feel like a cheat code.
Re: Eco Cycles or How I Feel About Technology
#58Why is the iPad so addictive that children have to be kept away from it? Because every single person designing apps and websites is incentivised to try and win 100% of your attention. Reed Hoffmann put it nicely — "We're competing with sleep, on the margin." The default apps, browser excluded, are pretty harmless - their incentive is to create a device you decide to welcome into your home. I don't see children spendi…
> The challenge is to think of another model for creating apps and content — one that retains most of the innovation without the harm This is impossible! You missed the whole point of the article! Like sugar is addictive because it is extracted from the fruit that carries all the nutrients, the apps are addictive because they are extracted from the challenge of imagination and boredom. The last line of that essay: "Y…
You read what you wanted from the article. Think about what the article is saying. A technologist saying that the technology that they ostensibly co-created is so toxic that it has to be opted out of, the whole game and all. That is rank shirking of responsibility, a self-centered and anti-social non-remedy.
Re: Eco Cycles or How I Feel About Technology
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't say we "like" to do it, but in a certain sense it's an existential necessity to do so.
Disagree: the DiSC personality assessment codifies dominance as a key motivator of behavior. As much as I think the DiSC assessment is just business horoscopes, I still see canonizing dominance as a response to a real impulse, along with a way to easily sell decision makers on the fact that they are, in fact, just wired differently from all those other people below them.
Now that is an acronym I haven’t seen in decades, is it still a thing?
Re: Eco Cycles or How I Feel About Technology
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disagree: the DiSC personality assessment codifies dominance as a key motivator of behavior. As much as I think the DiSC assessment is just business horoscopes, I still see canonizing dominance as a response to a real impulse, along with a way to easily sell decision makers on the fact that they are, in fact, just wired differently from all those other people below them.
Now that is an acronym I haven’t seen in decades, is it still a thing?
Yup. There's probably an infinite appetite for business horoscopes that tell people what they want to hear. Just have to dress it up with a veneer of authority.