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posted by martyb on Monday May 29 2017, @03:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-all-gone-to-bits dept.

From the RooshV Forum:

I constantly get the vibe from people that they think our technology is skyrocketing, that we're living in a new tech age, "where was all this ten years ago?!" etc.

But I disagree with this assessment of our technology. It has made steady improvements in one specific space: software and electronic hardware. That is all. On top of that, the improvements on the hardware have not even been ground breaking. GPS is a ground-breaking invention. Smaller screens are not: they are just an incremental improvement.

Smartphones are merely the result of incremental improvements in the size and quality of electronic components. The only breakthroughs involved are ages old. The invention of the transistor, the laser, etc. The existence of google, facebook, uber, and so on, are merely inevitable "new applications" stemming from these improvements. They are not breakthroughs, they are merely improvements and combinations upon the telephone, the directory, and the taxi.

In my opinion, technology as a whole is borderline stagnant.

A list of why technology is still shit:

The posting goes on to list examples of incremental, rather than breakthrough, changes in the areas of:

  • Electronics & Machines
  • Energy
  • Medicine
  • Clothes
  • Food
  • Finance

Have we really stagnated? Have we already found all of the "low-hanging fruit", so new breakthroughs are harder to find? Maybe there is greater emphasis on changes that are immediately able to be commercialized and less emphasis on basic research?

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 29 2017, @05:22AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 29 2017, @05:22AM (#517024)

    Social media and the smartphone are more about marketing than technology.

    We've had social media for at least ~30 years. The difference is that now companies have realized consumers are idiots when it comes to protecting their personal information and so this exploitation has created a sort of modern day gold rush as companies compete to mine the most data from ignorant, though complicit, users. Back in the day companies were held back more by ethics. Quoting [businessinsider.com] Mark Zuckerberg:

    "Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard, just ask. I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS"
    "What how'd you manage that?"
    "People just submitted it. I don't know why. They "trust me." Dumb fucks."

    The only revolution came in companies realizing how easy it was to monetize people and thus using effective marketing to start herding the Eternal September [wikipedia.org] crowd into these outlets. And it's hardly anything worth praising. It's mostly people ring fencing themselves off into echo chambers, desperately image crafting to try to make their lives seem less pathetic (though nobody cares as they're too busy doing the same things themselves), and then vulturous marketers swarming about the whole charade milking everybody for all their worth.

    ...is it any wonder I'm posting on a more niche text-only message board with curated shares under an anonymous account?

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  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday May 29 2017, @09:22AM

    by kaszz (4211) on Monday May 29 2017, @09:22AM (#517080) Journal

    "People just submitted it. I don't know why. They "trust me." Dumb fucks."

    Which just goes to show what kind of person Zuck is and how people act. Deplorable at both ends. Now that the corporation forces themselves onto others they will get the backlash from people that can see through the bullshit.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 29 2017, @12:12PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 29 2017, @12:12PM (#517105)

    That's deep man. Have an upvote.