Right, but the slow creep of technology will entrench that system deeper and deeper into human behavior. It seems unlikely that people will resist it, because it will be easier to just go with the flow and follow the prompts you get from your Google chip.
Why fight it when your Google chip tells you that you have a 98% compatibility rating with the person sitting across from you (Google chip knows you both have the same sexual preference as well, no wasting time on flirting with a person who isn't into your gender)?
Google chip says "Chance of satisfying sexual encounter high, but there is a task available to your skill set that is currently paying 150%. Previous analysis of your satisfaction reports indicates that you feel greater reward from monetary compensation than sex."
Of course, choosing is annoying. Eventually Google chip just does these calculations in the background and chooses between the two possibilities for you.
When Google chip guides you to a fun hike in an area with a great weather forecast, is it because it has your best interest at heart, or because it detects a need to move humans to that geographical location for other purposes?
The North Korean comedy war feels like the culture has turned into a new epoch. I don't think the past has anything to say to us any more. Except for maybe Rollerball...
Right, but the slow creep of technology will entrench that system deeper and deeper into human behavior. It seems unlikely that people will resist it, because it will be easier to just go with the flow and follow the prompts you get from your Google chip.
I think we are talking about something other than capitalism now.
not just efficiency (in fact I'd argue that we could find almost countless examples of new technology actually making things less efficient for human life in some way), but consumer capitalism requires constant product-turnover and the constant increase in consumer desires. Because that is how you sell more shit--people have to want/need it, AND their old shit has to be deemed "obsolete," to force them to want/need the new shit even harder. Also, we all have to get boondoggled into believing that this knee-jerk, childish desire for the new thing is a natural truth--new just IS better, we all "know" this (i.e. have had this knowledge implanted in us by capitalist propaganda (advertisements, e.g.)). Once new just naturally, obviously IS the better thing, preferable to the old in every respect, then the constant product turnover and technological advance of late consumer capitalism has found its base logic and doesn't need to explain itself or justify itself anymore.
I'm not buying anything new until there are hologram phones. I want to call my mom and have a little Star Wars style hologram of my mom pop out of my phone. Really, what's the point of getting a new thing if it doesn't involve holograms? I upgraded to an iPhone 6 and it is way too big and doesn't do anything new really other than like tell me how much I walked. It's dumb. Come on capitalism, you are letting me down. Holograms.
but you have to upgrade because eventually your product stops working / is no longer supported by the company, so you can't update it, it stops letting you use maps, whatever.
they get you no matter what!! Increasingly it really does seem like there are only two options--just submit, and buy new products all the time, or live in the woods and make your own clothes, neither of which sounds great to me
wait what does apple pay have to do with iPhone 6? I also don't understand why anyone would want an iPhone 6 but I felt the same way about an iPad. "Oh, would you like a gigantic phone that you can't use as a phone? But the screen is big, so you can type actual emails and stuff on it....if you get an external keyboard.....okay this is straight-up just an awkward laptop lets get real"
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are the ones that can do Apple Pay, where you use the fingerprint reader to pay for stuff instead of swiping your credit card. Being close to payment process is probably a good strategic move?
Being scared or frustrated with change in tech, or anything really, does not always mean closed mindedness. Sometimes it is just honest assessment. Frustration can be a positive.
Those stupid sinks at the airport (and now in many other public spaces) where you have to wave your hand to make the water come out (try brushing your teeth in one of those, it's pretty annoying). And then wave your hand to make WAY TOO MUCH SOAP come out. And then wave your hand again to get a paper towel.
What's so hard about turning on a tap, pressing down a lever for soap, and unrolling a paper towel? I guess the concept is HYGIENE more than convenience, but I still hate it when a toilet flushes and I am still peeing in it, I don't like getting sprayed with of cold public toilet water on my butt...
Technology is always worth questioning, newer doesn't necessarily mean better, convenience doesn't mean you need it.
(On the topic of public restrooms, I do like Dyson Airblades)
I look at a screen so much of the day these days, it is embarrassing. But only when I am home. When I am out of the house I have no screen to look at...
I have to read a MAGAZINE or a BOOK or something. Or look out the window and think about life.
You guys, the other day I went to Bed, Bad and Beyond and almost passed out. Capitalism is smelly.
I'm obvs not against Iphones because I have one and use it delightedly, I just don't get what's exciting about the newest one. If I got one I would definitely bend it, just for fun. Maybe next year I'll get an Iphone 5 and that will be cool because the camera is nicer than on the 4!
I get frustrated with technology, but that is a failure on my part. I call it "tech rage".
I don't agree that an honest assessment of technology is compatible with fear and frustration. Fear about technology comes from a lack of understanding, where an "honest assessment" would be knowledge, which would create a better understanding. Frustration also (at least in my case) involves lack of knowledge. So the answer is to better understand technology and thus reduce/remove fear and frustration.
I think cats have been upgraded a lot since 8000 BC. Or at least bred for certain behaviors. Selective breeding as technology. Getting a cat fixed. Cat medicine to keep them alive. The ability to fix a broken cat... PROGRESS!
I understand what you are saying, and I think you will be right most of the time if you followed that reasoning. I just think you are treating it a little too much like an axiom, and the problems with almost all axioms is that the world is a statistically crazy place and absolute rules always ignore statistical minorities and unlikelihoods and there are totally things that should be feared even after they are understood. Fear and understanding are most certainly not mutually exclusive even if it works that way most of the time. I do think most of my own tech fears revolve more around what human beings will do with tech and less to do with the tech itself.
“The huge portion of our lives that we spend asleep, freed from a morass of simulated needs, subsists as one of the great human affronts to the voraciousness of contemporary capitalism. Sleep is an uncompromising interruption of the theft of time from us by capitalism. Most of the seemingly irreducible necessities of human life—hunger, thirst, sexual desire, and recently the need for friendship—have been remade into commodified or financialized forms. Sleep poses the idea of a human need and interval of time that cannot be colonized and harnessed to a massive engine of profitability, and thus remains an incongruous anomaly and site of crisis in the global present. In spite of all the scientific research in this area, it frustrates and confounds any strategies to exploit or reshape it. The stunning, inconceivable reality is that nothing of value can be extracted from it.”
also Fish yes to this especially "Fear and understanding are most certainly not mutually exclusive even if it works that way most of the time. I do think most of my own tech fears revolve more around what human beings will do with tech and less to do with the tech itself."
The idea that understanding something means you won't be afraid/frustrated by it is weird. What about war? What about rape?
The idea that technological progress simply "is," and must be accepted as natural and good, literally is just the logic of capitalism. I think we all owe it to ourselves and the world and the other people living on the world to try to push back against that logic whenever and however we can.
Understanding technology is more than just how it works and what the buttons do, but that is the first and biggest hurdle (and the one I struggle with). There will be another version of Final Cut Pro. There will be another version of Windows. The way you use the computer now will not be the same way the computer works later. That is the fear that causes frustration. Computer technology moves forward and will probably always move forward (I would be more worried if that wasn't the case). All your media will be useless. All your plugs will no longer connect to the "modern way". Basically everything you own that is related to technology is Future Useless. That is pretty frustrating. But so is the idea that everyone dies, and we've accepted that (except Kurzweil).
But I mean, I'm a capitalist... so maybe this isn't helpful.
Mike, you talk about "fear" a lot. I sort of see it a different way. Sure, I can be "afraid" of technology sometimes, but mostly that "fear" is based on noticing social patterns and "fearing" what freedom I am going to be expected to give up next. To come clean, I don't like how far we've gotten with our social media and technology addictions and so I am mega-hypersensitive about it.
I think there is another kind of technology-related fear that is ridiculous. It is the fear of not being constantly, conveniently updated. The fear in the hearts of the people around me who think I am irresponsible because I don't know how to drive a car, or am living dangerously because I don't have a cellphone. It is the fear felt by neighbors who call the cops when they see a nine-year old kid walking to soccer practice alone. Or the fear of not being able to know where your teenager is and what they are doing 100% of the time because you see predators and debauchery everywhere.
I think that for so long children had secret worlds of their own which adults had no access to, and teenagers did a lot of things their parents didn't know about. There are definitely positive aspects to being able to monitor the activities of the people you love, but expecting it all the time and the loss of independence that comes with it is tragic.
Which brings me back to boomers, and Capitalism being a system which "babies" its citizens for way too long. All of us are lucky because we got to grow up with SPACE and INDEPENDENCE but now all the kids are being watched, many of them from the moment they are born (Facebook and mommy blogs). And the power and control and money hardly ever gets passed down, because the choices are now made for you in infancy.
While you can choose to keep your landline, you can't choose to keep your iPhone 3G, or your Windows 95. With new technology, one can't be "content" or "satisfied". Things become obsolete so you have to keep upgrading, throwing the old version away, contributing to the pile of garbage sitting somewhere in a foreign land, mercury poisoning that land.
I know I sound a little bit nutty, it's just that I see so much bullshit in the world and feel outraged pretty much all of the time. I don't believe in Capitalism, I believe it has failed us all. I believe in a certain level of "contentment" and "satisfaction" and being able to recognize when you have enough. I think the capitalist way is to keep running after success, even when you've already achieved what you were meant to achieve. It crushes the hopes, dreams, and opportunities of other people around you.
Also, the idea that we should just not be scared and wrap our minds around new technological upgrades is ridiculous to me. It should be the other way around, technology should be there to simplify our lives and serve us.
Comments
Why fight it when your Google chip tells you that you have a 98% compatibility rating with the person sitting across from you (Google chip knows you both have the same sexual preference as well, no wasting time on flirting with a person who isn't into your gender)?
Google chip says "Chance of satisfying sexual encounter high, but there is a task available to your skill set that is currently paying 150%. Previous analysis of your satisfaction reports indicates that you feel greater reward from monetary compensation than sex."
Of course, choosing is annoying. Eventually Google chip just does these calculations in the background and chooses between the two possibilities for you.
SOUNDS FUN.
what are you gonna do
am considering ditching my iPhone for some other sort of phone, due to all the human atrocities overseas and what-not
any advice
another day another dollar; another dollar another damn day--where does it all end?--david rees
http://www.cnet.com/news/are-any-smartphones-not-made-in-china/
http://www.coverjunkie.com/magazines/139
They even have animated covers! Bloomberg Businessweek kinda crushing it.
what's the deal. How do you get a phone, etc.
I think we are talking about something other than capitalism now.
the advance of technology and capitalism are inextricable from one another
i'm drunk
they get you no matter what!! Increasingly it really does seem like there are only two options--just submit, and buy new products all the time, or live in the woods and make your own clothes, neither of which sounds great to me
I also don't understand why anyone would want an iPhone 6
but I felt the same way about an iPad. "Oh, would you like a gigantic phone that you can't use as a phone? But the screen is big, so you can type actual emails and stuff on it....if you get an external keyboard.....okay this is straight-up just an awkward laptop lets get real"
now i have one
we're all gonna die
No technology is forever. You have to embrace the change or you'll find yourself frustrated.
Cats, for example! No upgrades since ~8000 BC.
paper
things made of wood
hammer/nail
putting a piece of chewed gum on the end of a stick to fish a quarter out of the sewer
Those stupid sinks at the airport (and now in many other public spaces) where you have to wave your hand to make the water come out (try brushing your teeth in one of those, it's pretty annoying). And then wave your hand to make WAY TOO MUCH SOAP come out. And then wave your hand again to get a paper towel.
What's so hard about turning on a tap, pressing down a lever for soap, and unrolling a paper towel? I guess the concept is HYGIENE more than convenience, but I still hate it when a toilet flushes and I am still peeing in it, I don't like getting sprayed with of cold public toilet water on my butt...
Technology is always worth questioning, newer doesn't necessarily mean better, convenience doesn't mean you need it.
(On the topic of public restrooms, I do like Dyson Airblades)
I look at a screen so much of the day these days, it is embarrassing. But only when I am home. When I am out of the house I have no screen to look at...
I have to read a MAGAZINE or a BOOK or something. Or look out the window and think about life.
You guys, the other day I went to Bed, Bad and Beyond and almost passed out. Capitalism is smelly.
I don't agree that an honest assessment of technology is compatible with fear and frustration. Fear about technology comes from a lack of understanding, where an "honest assessment" would be knowledge, which would create a better understanding. Frustration also (at least in my case) involves lack of knowledge. So the answer is to better understand technology and thus reduce/remove fear and frustration.
I think cats have been upgraded a lot since 8000 BC. Or at least bred for certain behaviors. Selective breeding as technology. Getting a cat fixed. Cat medicine to keep them alive. The ability to fix a broken cat... PROGRESS!
https://kindle.amazon.com/work/24-late-capitalism-ends-sleep-ebook/B00CLVSWC4/B00G2DOB1S
also Fish yes to this especially "Fear and understanding are most certainly not mutually exclusive even if it works that way most of the time. I do think most of my own tech fears revolve more around what human beings will do with tech and less to do with the tech itself."
The idea that understanding something means you won't be afraid/frustrated by it is weird. What about war? What about rape?
The idea that technological progress simply "is," and must be accepted as natural and good, literally is just the logic of capitalism. I think we all owe it to ourselves and the world and the other people living on the world to try to push back against that logic whenever and however we can.
But I mean, I'm a capitalist... so maybe this isn't helpful.
I sort of see it a different way. Sure, I can be "afraid" of technology sometimes, but mostly that "fear" is based on noticing social patterns and "fearing" what freedom I am going to be expected to give up next. To come clean, I don't like how far we've gotten with our social media and technology addictions and so I am mega-hypersensitive about it.
I think there is another kind of technology-related fear that is ridiculous. It is the fear of not being constantly, conveniently updated. The fear in the hearts of the people around me who think I am irresponsible because I don't know how to drive a car, or am living dangerously because I don't have a cellphone. It is the fear felt by neighbors who call the cops when they see a nine-year old kid walking to soccer practice alone. Or the fear of not being able to know where your teenager is and what they are doing 100% of the time because you see predators and debauchery everywhere.
I think that for so long children had secret worlds of their own which adults had no access to, and teenagers did a lot of things their parents didn't know about. There are definitely positive aspects to being able to monitor the activities of the people you love, but expecting it all the time and the loss of independence that comes with it is tragic.
Which brings me back to boomers, and Capitalism being a system which "babies" its citizens for way too long. All of us are lucky because we got to grow up with SPACE and INDEPENDENCE but now all the kids are being watched, many of them from the moment they are born (Facebook and mommy blogs). And the power and control and money hardly ever gets passed down, because the choices are now made for you in infancy.
While you can choose to keep your landline, you can't choose to keep your iPhone 3G, or your Windows 95. With new technology, one can't be "content" or "satisfied". Things become obsolete so you have to keep upgrading, throwing the old version away, contributing to the pile of garbage sitting somewhere in a foreign land, mercury poisoning that land.
I know I sound a little bit nutty, it's just that I see so much bullshit in the world and feel outraged pretty much all of the time. I don't believe in Capitalism, I believe it has failed us all. I believe in a certain level of "contentment" and "satisfaction" and being able to recognize when you have enough. I think the capitalist way is to keep running after success, even when you've already achieved what you were meant to achieve. It crushes the hopes, dreams, and opportunities of other people around you.