Hacker News Reader

Comment by baby | Hacker News Reader

It must not be fun to see every new technological improvement as a horrific thing

It isn't. I miss when I didn't have to examine every new device to see what data about me it's going to Hoover up to some mothership to see how it can manipulate me to do things against my interest.

But to the extent you're pitching it as some sort of reactionary lashing out against the bright glorious shining future... sorry. It's not me. It's tech. There has been a real change in the tech space. I used to just be able to take nearly for granted that tech is going to benefit me. Now I can't.

I phrased it as I did on purpose; to do things against my interest. If you are not actively guarding yourself against that, you're a victim of it, probably a great deal more than you realize. To ignore that aspect of tech is sheer foolishness and getting more dangerous by the year.

> But to the extent you're pitching it as some sort of reactionary lashing out against the bright glorious shining future... sorry. It's not me. It's tech. There has been a real change in the tech space. I used to just be able to take nearly for granted that tech is going to benefit me. Now I can't.

Tech was a lot more fun when the builders were amoral ("I'm just gonna build this, and if somebody misuses it, that's not my problem") rather than straight up immoral, but here we are.

> If you are not actively guarding yourself against that, you're a victim of it, probably a great deal more than you realize

Just check the website in their profile. Cryptocurrency, hell they had a role in Libra (fb coin that got shut down by the SEC i believe). Not a victim but a perpetrator.

I don't know if you mean that to counter my point, but I see it as support. Although crypto isn't really what I'm talking about on the new threat front, it's mostly made of old scams that have existed for a long time.

It was intended to bolster your point.

To put this in perspective I am currently locked out of one of my online bank accounts because I refuse to let them share the data with Facebook. It is setup so you must first agree, and then “withdraw consent”.

The poor bank reps haven’t got a clue what to do, mainly because absolutely no one else has ever refused before. The vast majority of people in the modern world have no grasp of what is going on, and will not until it is too late.

It's not that people can't see the potential, but the more likely of where this particular vendor will take things. Not being able to see the true intent behind marketing would be a horrific thing to me.

Frankly, it sucks. I had so much fun with new tech when I was younger. But many companies, and FB in particular, have managed to crush my expectations time and time again.

This is Facebook/Meta we are talking about though. Not every new advancement, but it is entirely fair to treat them with a whole lot of skepticism.

Fun, no. Accurate, mostly.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com