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Technology starting to scare me?

MadYaker

Why are we so obsessed with technological progress? Does anyone ever feel like we are subconciously pushing towards some end? Does anyone else ever wonder if humanity's goal, our purpose, is to bring about a new type of life which will be the next form to dominate this planet? I worry sometimes about the extent to which technology will control our lives in the decades to come. The internet has really changed our world on a fundamental level in a very short space of time when you compare it to other human inventions. A lot of people are incredibly focused on developing new tech, making it smarter, making it learn faster, making it better at predicting. Google follow everything I do on the internet. Yesterday during my lunch I browsed Amazon on my tablet. Later that evening while at home on my desktop I noticed ads on facebook and elsewhere which were clearly related to what id been looking at on Amazon. It worries me sometimes when I thnk about the extent to which my life is monitored by machines. Even my car is connected to the internet now with google maps probably tracking me everywhere I go. It almost drives itself. I drove across Galway in rush hour traffic for an hour yesterday from work to my house without touching any peddles until I parked outside my house. Even 10 years ago things were vastly different. THe rate of progress seems to be increasing all the time. Am I the only one who is becoming scared of technology?

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Blazer

bluewolf wrote: »

No i'm holding out for replicators

earl grey tea, hot

Transporter for me.
Go on hols..beam me up Scotty.
Hit the beach and instead of returning to some ****ty hotel with crap wifi and crap stuffy beds "beam me home scotty".
Back to my cozy bed, fast internet, electric blanket etc until the following morning and then back to the beach and sun again.
Christ I can't wait.
Plus I can also get my breakfast beamed to my bedside. How frakkin cool will that be?

prinzeugen

Blazer wrote: »

Transporter for me.
Go on hols..beam me up Scotty.
Hit the beach and instead of returning to some ****ty hotel with crap wifi and crap stuffy beds "beam me home scotty".
Back to my cozy bed, fast internet, electric blanket etc until the following morning and then back to the beach and sun again.
Christ I can't wait.
Plus I can also get my breakfast beamed to my bedside. How frakkin cool will that be?

Timeshare with room service??

BeerWolf

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

What kind of car doesn't need you to touch the pedals?

One where I'm being chauffeured in, you Plebeian.

tritriagain

prinzeugen wrote: »

Latte in one hand, phone always in the other. Too lazy to put one down and reach into a pocket.

Go into any self-service line in any supermarket around lunch or 17:30 and witness it yourself. Its fecking hilarious watching it sometimes.

They cant work out that they need to put something down. Its like watching chimps.

Laughed my arse off at above. So true.work in retail and people paying with cards for very small amounts are a pain. Had one woman recently hand me 3 items while she was on the phone (rude for a start) . She than realised she was paying with her phone. Her head nearly exploded because she couldn't figure out what to do. I hope cash never dies. I would never go anywhere without a bit of cash.

Peatys

MadYaker wrote: »

Why are we so obsessed with technological progress? Does anyone ever feel like we are subconciously pushing towards some end? Does anyone else ever wonder if humanity's goal, our purpose, is to bring about a new type of life which will be the next form to dominate this planet? I worry sometimes about the extent to which technology will control our lives in the decades to come. The internet has really changed our world on a fundamental level in a very short space of time when you compare it to other human inventions. A lot of people are incredibly focused on developing new tech, making it smarter, making it learn faster, making it better at predicting. Google follow everything I do on the internet. Yesterday during my lunch I browsed Amazon on my tablet. Later that evening while at home on my desktop I noticed ads on facebook and elsewhere which were clearly related to what id been looking at on Amazon. It worries me sometimes when I thnk about the extent to which my life is monitored by machines. Even my car is connected to the internet now with google maps probably tracking me everywhere I go. It almost drives itself. I drove across Galway in rush hour traffic for an hour yesterday from work to my house without touching any peddles until I parked outside my house. Even 10 years ago things were vastly different. THe rate of progress seems to be increasing all the time. Am I the only one who is becoming scared of technology?

Leave the tablet during lunch.
Leave the desktop during the evening's.
Leave the phone at home.

If you need it for work, use it in work. The amount of people who say they can't be parted with their tech, when 99% is WhatsApp porn, Reddit meme's and boards nonsense.

Fighting Tao

OP, Hurt called it is on their aptly names album “Goodbye to the Machine”. In their song flowers they point out that we’re all going to die regardless of what **** everyone believes in.

Have a listen. Sometimes a depressing song can be heart warming.

Guy:Incognito

Blazer wrote: »

Transporter for me.9
Go on hols..beam me up Scotty.
Hit the beach and instead of returning to some ****ty hotel with crap wifi and crap stuffy beds "beam me home scotty".
Back to my cozy bed, fast internet, electric blanket etc until the following morning and then back to the beach and sun again.
Christ I can't wait.
Plus I can also get my breakfast beamed to my bedside. How frakkin cool will that be?

You reckon transporters will be available for your holiday before decent internet access abroad? All the while youre still the guy relying on an electric blanket to keep warm at night? Your timeline for progress is skewed somewhere

erica74

bluewolf wrote: »

No i'm holding out for replicators

earl grey tea, hot

I've always been interested in the raktajino myself:cool: it always sounded like a Klingon frappucino to me:pac:

[Deleted User]

erica74 wrote: »

I've always been interested in the raktajino myself:cool: it always sounded like a Klingon frappucino to me:pac:

with some wriggly gagh in it!
:pac:

OldMrBrennan83

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Google tracks activity by your phone via GPS and phone mast data, if you went in to a knocking shop at 4pm and so did another 40 people it would show activity in the knocking shop busy at 4pm.

That's the handiest feature they've had in years.

OldMrBrennan83

prinzeugen wrote: »

Most modern technology is there to solve a problem that does not exist.

Its there to aid people, in particular the younger generation, that are too stupid or too lazy to learn how to do basic ****.

Why do mobile payments exist? Because some people are too lazy to carry a card or cash or worse too lazy to reach in their pocket.

And it is slowly being forced on the rest of us. Soon all tv sets will have that Google assistant installed, listening to everything you say and do at home. The problem is once something is developed we are getting told we MUST use it. We don't have a choice.

Where do you think people keep their phones? That's one of the most stupid things I've read on here in a long time. If you're going to be a massive luddite then at least try to form something coherent.

sReq | uTeK

RaichuMGS wrote: »

the sooner cash is ceased to be used the better. I always hiss when I enter a shop that has no card machine or a ridiculous extra charge for “under X amount”. I’m also pretty sure I read somewhere that’s illegal.

yea and all we need is visa or mastercard to go down again so we can’t buy a single item for 12 hours.

Im a technologist, it’s what i do for a living, selling tech to large enterprises that fixes or streamlines a business objective. Believe me when i tell you we have nothing to worry about with regards to AI taking over he world.

AI exists to provide US with intelligence but also to take on the mundane and scientific computations that we simply can’t do as quick.

Similar to the agricultural revolution this will free humans up to move off assembly lines and the likes and innovate

Peatys

Patww79 wrote: »

Where do you think people keep their phones?.

Permanently welded to their hands.

OldMrBrennan83

Peatys wrote: »

Permanently welded to their hands.

No they don't.

dan1895

Can't remember where I read the following but I found the below to be interesting and it applies to all generations.

Any technology that exists when your born is seen as the norm. Lightbulbs, cars, planes, tv's etc.

Any tech invented/developed before you hit your late 20's is seen as groundbreaking, exciting, innovative, cutting edge,must have. Mobile phones, high speed internet, bluetooth, wifi.

Any tech developed after your late 20's is seen as unneccesary, dangerous, going to far, only going to be used for bad. Look at the cynicism surrounding the likes of self drive cars and Alexa.

Obviously doesnt apply to everyone or everything but do find myself questioning new technology and why would anyone bother with it.

Peatys

Patww79 wrote: »

ooooohhhhhhh no they don't.

Ooohhhhhhhhh yes they do!

OldMrBrennan83

Peatys wrote: »

Ooohhhhhhhhh yes they do!

Well if you're just going to make stuff up. Anyway yeah, we won't agree and each of us thinks the other is taking out of their hole, so what's the point. Just don't add things to my posts when you quote then in future thanks.

Tom Dunne

I was driving home from work the other day when my phone rang. Four screens were telling me my wife was calling - the dashboard beside the speedometer, the centre console, my watch and the phone itself.

It was at that point I realised things have gone too far.

Wibbs

prinzeugen wrote: »

Most modern technology is there to solve a problem that does not exist.

Somewhat. It's there "for our convenience", a term when spouted by any corporation or agency should make one think beyond clicking OK. It is there to feed the consumerist monster in the most efficient way possible. Cashless payments are easier, less obvious, therefore people tend to spend more. All the "personal assistant" apps and the like are there to track you so they can push more of the same tat at you. Cashless payments do that extremely well. the consumerist monster knows what you buy, how often and where. But it is convenient...

This monster is getting worse by the year and we're happily walking into it. That's were Orwell got it wrong in his novel 1984. He naturally assumed it would be some grey top down imposition. The recent thread on the threat to wild animals and the environment is a threat that we should be concerned about. Yet at the same time we're consuming more and more with each passing year. On another thread a couple of posters blamed our grandparents generation for this kinda thing, yet as a demographic they were demonstrably "greener" than the most fervent knit your own muesli sandals "green" hippie of today, with their annual phone "upgrade", their "green" hybrid/battery car on PCP to be "upgraded" every three years for a new one, wearing clothes shipped from some third world nation, thrown out on the regular rather than repaired, while eating their fancy vegan, gluten free salad with ingredients flown in refrigerated freshness from the four corners of the globe. Consider this current furore about plastics in our environment: Nearly half of all plastics have been produced since the year 2000 and nearly half of it is packaging, used once and thrown away.

The problem is once something is developed we are getting told we MUST use it. We don't have a choice.

Maybe down the line, but we currently do have a choice. You don't have to have a "smart" phone. You could get an old stylee type phone, with buttons and batteries that last the week between charges. Even if you have a smart phone, switch off location services on everything but say GPS apps if you want to get directions and only engaged when the app is active. Use cash as much as possible. Don't use google products, whose entire business model is to track you and your "needs". Use something like Dudkduckgo for searching the interwebs. Setting up your own personal email service costs about 50 quid a year. Use a VPN. Even something as simple as swapping out your interwebs provider's DNS servers for those from Cloudflare. Keep social media use to a minimum. Any commercial service that wants your seed breed and generation, just spoof your age, gender etc. Avoid "loyalty" cards. That sort of thing.

Peatys

Patww79 wrote: »

Well if you're just going to make stuff up. Anyway yeah, we won't agree and each of us thinks the other is taking out of their hole, so what's the point. Just don't add things to my posts when you quote then in future thanks.

Thought we were doing panto

Wibbs

Tom Dunne wrote: »

I was driving home from work the other day when my phone rang. Four screens were telling me my wife was calling - the dashboard beside the speedometer, the centre console, my watch and the phone itself.

It was at that point I realised things have gone too far.

Nothing for it T, but to get rid of the wife.

El_Duderino 09

dan1895 wrote: »

Can't remember where I read the following but I found the below to be interesting and it applies to all generations.

Any technology that exists when your born is seen as the norm. Lightbulbs, cars, planes, tv's etc.

Any tech invented/developed before you hit your late 20's is seen as groundbreaking, exciting, innovative, cutting edge,must have. Mobile phones, high speed internet, bluetooth, wifi.

Any tech developed after your late 20's is seen as unneccesary, dangerous, going to far, only going to be used for bad. Look at the cynicism surrounding the likes of self drive cars and Alexa.

Obviously doesnt apply to everyone or everything but do find myself questioning new technology and why would anyone bother with it.

Exactly this.

Do the technology skeptics wash their clothes by hand, walk or use horse and cart? Complain about young people using their phone to pay for things, but do you go to the bank to withdraw cash or do you use your card to withdraw from an ATM?

I presume ATMs are perfectly reasonable technology because you were brought up with them and they are normal to you. But anything newer than that is scary and unnecessary.

Interesting that these threads inevitably turn to bashing young people. Even when it was the technology I knew it was the young people.

Twenty Grand

ATMs? Don't make me laugh. Only used by people too lazy to queue up in a bank!

Awful technology, you completely miss the social interaction with the 20 people you're queueing with for 30 minutes and the chats with the bank teller who couldn't give a flying f*ck about your stories.

Of course I walk everywhere too. Can't be dealing with cars. Only for lazy fat people who've never done a bit of exercise :rolleyes:

Wibbs

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Exactly this.

Do the technology skeptics wash their clothes by hand, walk or use horse and cart? Complain about young people using their phone to pay for things, but do you go to the bank to withdraw cash or do you use your card to withdraw from an ATM?

I presume ATMs are perfectly reasonable technology because you were brought up with them and they are normal to you. But anything newer than that is scary and unnecessary.

Interesting that these threads inevitably turn to bashing young people. Even when it was the technology I knew it was the young people.

"Bashing young people?".

For a start "young people" are generally not the biggest consumers. Not too many twenty year olds buying new Beemers on tick. I'd bet the demographics that are the least consumerist are the young and the old. The demographic keeping Chinese factories running 24/7 are more likely to be those between 30 and 60. Though overall we're demonstrably consuming far more than people of any age 30 years ago and certain technologies are driving this.

The philosophies behind the tech are very old school. Marketing on steroids essentially. Something that came out of the interwebs, almost by mistake. The internet came outa nowhere for most, but was pretty widespread pretty quickly and most of all it was free, so when companies wanted to make money from it, users didn't want to bite. Why pay for something on one site you can get for free on another? So turn the "customer" into the "product" and make money, vast amounts of money from that. As I said Google's entire business model. Facebook similarly. Much of social media in general. Conveniences like Alexa, Siri, cashless payments and the like are tools serving the same master(just as the introduction of the credit card a few decades ago drove a consumer and credit boom).

The level of commercial surveillance the average first world citizen is under would and should have us in fits of WTF?s if it were government agencies involved. Some of the more tinfoil hat persuasion freak out at the idea the CIA are monitoring phone and web traffic, yet most of the same people happily agree to let Google et al do the same, if not more as people willingly give as much info about themselves as possible. And that's wth today's tech. Imagine the level of data gathering in ten or twenty years time. The genie is already out of the bottle and won't be so easy to stuff it back into it.

Though IMHO it's the "young people" who are a little more suspicious of the whole thing. The middle aged tend to go along with it, largely thinking it's convenient future tech.

Atoms for Peace

Google are apparently moving into the old stasi HQ in Berlin, seems like a perfect fit.

Posted from my android phone!:(

Frunchy

Technological singularity could happen within our lifetimes. No one can predict what will happen then....

El_Duderino 09

Twenty Grand wrote: »

ATMs? Don't make me laugh. Only used by people too lazy to queue up in a bank!

Awful technology, you completely miss the social interaction with the 20 people you're queueing with for 30 minutes and the chats with the bank teller who couldn't give a flying f*ck about your stories.

Of course I walk everywhere too. Can't be dealing with cars. Only for lazy fat people who've never done a bit of exercise :rolleyes:

Fact. You use cash? Probably because you’re too lazy to carry around actual goods to barter.

And then there’s the fact that we’re being forced to use technology like optional extras such as intelligent cruise control. Lol

No only is that technology an optional extra, it’s also a tech you can simply choose not to use.

Canis Lupus

Patww79 wrote: »

Where do you think people keep their phones? That's one of the most stupid things I've read on here in a long time. If you're going to be a massive luddite then at least try to form something coherent.

It's on their wrist nowadays grandpa

lertsnim

Using Google Pay is laziness? Right then.

OldMrBrennan83

Canis Lupus wrote: »

It's on their wrist nowadays grandpa

Lazy! Pay for everything from a coin purse.