Comment by CPLX | Hacker News Reader

Comment by CPLX | Hacker News Reader

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I’m an old guy (older than you at least) who’s been working in and around tech since the 90s.

What’s happened is the utopian future turned into the dystopian present.

The technology created by Silicon Valley has profoundly harmed people and society in really visible ways.

That’s not all it’s done, it’s absolutely undeniable that it’s also been a driver of some extremely positive things.

But many people feel increasingly unable to live in this economy, take care of their children, find meaning, and achieve a state of balanced mental health. Many of these people place blame for at least some of this, correctly in my view, on the corrosive effects of the technology sector on the financial and labor markets as well as our personal day to day lives.

So much this. I joined the web in ’97 and back then we had this optimism that the Internet would make the world a better place because it would act as fertilizer for ideas and critical thinking. Some three decades later it’s obvious that this didn’t happen and I’d dare say that social media made the world a worse place. And it’s something that I’m thinking quite frequently the last years trying to figure out what went wrong or if we were just naïve.

How is this different from previous periods in which technology companies harmed people and society as well? (Think coal mines, cars, television, what have you).

I fail to see what is so special about our current day and age, apart from us living in it.

Nothing? Do you expect people to be coal mine optimistic too?

Relevant question for this thread is if let say those coal mines promoted Utopia.

> profoundly harmed people and society in really visible ways

such as?

Here's a nice article exploring some of the ways tech is visibly negative: https://blog.avas.space/tech-utopia-fantasy/

This article is so bias and slanted it can’t stand up straight.

There are so many examples. Widespread ubiquity of pornography and gambling. Proliferation of unstable “gig” work. Flows of large amounts of cash into politics.

There’s a lot more. Like I said there are good effects too but it’s disingenuous to claim there aren’t immediately obvious negative consequences.

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