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Comment by mlom | Hacker News Reader

i have a similar story about a 486 from the 90s. i have a lot of skills now and can do things many other people cannot, include make a lot of money if i want. but look around you, and ask, how does your personal wealth in this industry, which people are now forced to participate in to access basic life needs like food and transportation and social services, represent "progress" for anyone but you? are our operating systems secure? do they respect our privacy? or are we being spied on and stolen from by an increasingly ubiquitous industry with no conscience or self awareness?

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> access basic life needs like food and transportation and social services

You are so very right. Do we even realize that smart cell phones have become a required utility? So 25 years ago I would have had a $50 phone bill instead of a $500 phone bill for phones that are required for me to do anything with my government, like renew a driver's license.

Many made fun of "Obama phones," but I think I understand the point of them. I'm not a fan of these phones (and technology in general) leaving people behind because they cannot pay for it.

> or are we being spied on and stolen from by an increasingly ubiquitous industry with no conscience or self awareness

In the name of "security." Yes, we are being spied on and treated as human batteries, just like in the Matrix.

no, people still act like mobile phones are luxury items. they're not. they're cheap, but rent isn't. it's very easy to be homeless and have a phone. all it means is that you can complain and be literally dying on the street but someone on some social media app will say it can't be that bad, you're on the internet :p a lot of "nerd" culture is still living in a world more than ten years gone, a world of precocious suburban kids on their desktop computers… it's not like that now…

(haha wow, speaking of which, hn edits emoji out of posts on this site, amazing)

> or are we being spied on and stolen from by an increasingly ubiquitous industry with no conscience or self awareness?

It sounds like you're equating "tech industry" with Big Tech¹, but the tech industry is not an evil monolith. Even Alphabet is not an evil monolith, Apple is a radically different beast than Meta, etc.

If you've decided that working in tech is default evil, you could choose a political path focused on breaking up and regulating Big Tech. But there are also plenty of good people leveraging tech for good, too.

¹a.k.a. "MANAMANA": Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Nvidia, and Adobe

greed is evil, and i see you all every day getting paid to fuck up our world. i see you online and i see you in person when you try to spend your money on me and services i provide. you have not succeeded in distinguishing yourself, you are all members of a technocratic class enriching itself at the expense of our environmental resources.

  how does your personal wealth in this industry

The Living Computer Museum in Seattle is closing down. Paul Allen's estate, who gave so much money and built several Seattle organizations, seems to be focusing money elsewhere.

Like Bill Gates philanthropy, I assume they believe focusing resources towards vaccines and other general population philanthropic investments is more important.

The Living Computer Museum was unique. I remember especially they had a room set up like an old 80s living room with an Atari VCS 2600, and a window looking outside. It wasn't important in the sense of "progress", but it provided a shared historical perspective.

I hope whatever takes its place is cool.

I'm tired of moving.

What?!

The Living Computer Museum is unique in that they maintain running instances of the computers in their collection.

For instance, the only running CDC 6600 series (a 6500, I think).

What's more, they offer free remote logins on at least some of their computers.

If they were to shut down, we'd be in danger of losing a significant chunk of tech history.

Why is it closing down? I see it has been closed due to covid, but most places are now open with a few minor restrictions.

bill gates promoted one of the most brutal and polluting industries in the world, a complete environmental disaster rooted in slavery, with the phrase "a PC on every desk". he created a horrible and bloated ecosystem that has plagued our lives and he has just attempted to do the same with an insane biosecurity apparatus. i never want to hear any of these people's opinions on vaccines or anything like this again. they are dangerous worthless frauds. philanthropy is just what gates turned to after he got chased out of his own business for sexual harassment.

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