Recent comic: Cutting out the Middleman
I suspect that some readers might interpret this cartoon as a call for Luddism, but mostly it's a reflection of thoughts I've been having lately about out-of-control data harvesting and a growing surveillance state.
#tech #technology #privacy #data #comic #cartoon #surveillance #consumers #corporations
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Luddism rules as does this comic
Yas!!!!
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Heck, Iβm very close to saying Butlerian Jihad :-)
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Yep. needlessly inserting themselves so they can charge you and extract a profit.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social This! So much more of this!!
@jensorensen@mastodon.social The difference is us Luddites know how tech should be used. For the good of the many not the few!
@jensorensen@mastodon.social They are all vampirical business models
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Hits a nerve. I currently drive a 2008 car. I'd love to replace it, but I'll have to go into the dashboard and remove or disable the cell antenna there. Ugh.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social A big problem I have with the collection of data is, that they also make it hard or impossible for you to use them by your own as you like.
Sure the other big problem is that the data will be miss used from bad actors against you. But a lot of people are good in underestimating this risk. It's to abstract.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social more Luddism please! Nothing wrong with refusing to participate in harmful technology!
@jensorensen@mastodon.social I did interpret this as a call for Luddism and Iβm totally ready for that
@jensorensen@mastodon.social yes please.
My car is a well-maintained 2006 Camry, and I will drive it until the wheels fall off.
The way things are going, I genuinely expect some loom-smashing due to a lack of profits being shared with us working-class.
But also, I definitely want a reduction in shitty, unnecessary tech...
@jensorensen@mastodon.social With Stephen Colbert and major networks capitulating to fascism... going back to a pre-internet lifestyle may actually be the way out.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Honestly, I'm thinking of going back to all of that. Though I'd be using public transportation, mainly buses. Or trains.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social I bought a pre-computerised car in 2021 for exactly this reason. I've not quite got to the other stuff yet, but I can feel it coming.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social But.. But there are steps in between in "Electronic Communication" and "writing a letter like it's 1850.".
Print Media? From news happening to receiving a printed copy.. Just takes too long.
Nonono. Technology is awesome. Just learn how to use it - and what to use. Right tool for the right job. Not all tools at once!
And please, no drilling holes in heads to relief a headache...
@jensorensen@mastodon.social
The original Luddites were very technologically apt, maintaining and constructing their own looms. They engaged in the destruction of machines belonging to the industrialist willing to reduce pay and quality.
Amazing, love it.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social we need much more luddism these days. Cheers and thank you for this. I'm very worried about my next car in particular.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Sometimes the simple things work the best.
Overcomplexity leads to multiple failure points.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Old technology is generally more repairable, and tends to last longer. I have a plate warmer that dates from the 1950s (estimated, could be earlier) - simple plug, lead, and connection to a long resistance that just gets warm, so is unlikely to burn out, not even a switch or light, made mainly from metal, with some plastic (Bakelite?) ends. Nothing to go wrong means it will last as long as I need it.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social just careful plugging that sony walkman in any digital devices, never know what it will try to install
@jensorensen@mastodon.social
Sounds like my predilections--but don't think I'm a real "luddite" π
@benroyce@mastodon.social
@SherBeareth@mastodon.world
@MicheleV_AK@sfba.social
@bkahn@beige.party
HELLO!! I would love to hire someone to get my Rogue to stop stalking me! I can drive to you. Midwest.
I am too paranoid to be joking. And is it really paranoia if it's true?
#Job #TechJob
#Hiring
#ServiceRequested
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Nothing wrong with Luddism!
Read Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social
What's wrong with Luddism? Have you read the book "Breaking things at work"?
@jensorensen@mastodon.social seems like we enjoy more tech and tools in general when they serve humans and remain at human-level. Totally in for tech with just one objective, done great.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social I think for most people it's not realistic to cut out the middle man entirely but maybe it's a good start to reduce your presence. I've been on a years long journey to de-google my life. There's lots of videos and blogs out there but I recommend people start with customizing their privacy settings first. It's zero cost, monetary and functionality, and is instantly rewarding.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social This absolutely is a call for Luddism. But not the straw-Luddism of popular conception. The real philosophy of the Luddites.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Living that re-Internet life is, I'd wager, more environmentally friendly as well, provided one is doing it "instead of" rather than "in addition to."
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Luddism suffered muchly from the propaganda of capitalists methinks. Luddites were not so much opposed to modern technology as opposed to workers being replaced by machines with many put out of work. I think this interpretation is more in line with what you are saying with this comic. People being replaced by AI.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social in my case i do this, without giving up on the tech.
i take time to meticulously remove any of their system and add one i control.
Windows mac -> community linux with repository in my EU zone.
Push notification -> self hosted ntfy
Flathub.org -> my own flatpak repo that take app from their dev.
etc...
repeat until only very difficult thing remain google api, etc.
(i already check on how to make an app that intercept and replace those API by local or self hosted one).
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Is AI, a simulated tech bro?π€
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Aka why I'm going on holiday with a GBA and not a Switch.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social If it costs nothing, you are a commodity
We're actually going to be hosting a panel discussion on the problems that modern #technology both solves and creates.
We'll discuss questions surrounding personal #data collection policies and processes, the influence of smart tech, and the right to refuse their use.
It'll be in October in Jihlava, #CzechRepublic , but if you're unable to stop by we'll also publish the discussion online so you can still hear from our guest experts :)
https://www.inspirationforum.com/program/clever-things-that-save-time
@jensorensen@mastodon.social
Oh man I got in a big fight about this cartoon on lemmy because they were all like, βWell ackshully, thereβs still a middleman if you buy print media, stationery and flip phone,β and I was all like, βI donβt think they mean that kind of middleman; have you ever had a page in a paper book ask if you want an AI plot summary, or a ball point pen make you subscribe to ink to continue writing.β They still didnβt get it.
I guess every comic has to pass a literal correct test over there.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Printed news edited or generated with AI, because editor stuff already fired.
Paper mails scanned by robots, including AI, for sake of "state security".
pre-computerized cars are forbidden under sauce of "safety" and "stricter emissions standard".
cassette players are can be found only on flee markets and don't produced anymore.
Took look for button phones in a store I buy gadgets and did not seen a flip one there. Glad these button phones are still sold at 1 place at least...
@jensorensen@mastodon.social This is very Mastodon-y.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social This isn't Luddism, though. This is exactly how evolution of most technology progresses...
At this point, the old tech practitioners transition from being Luddites to Artists.
And this time, the evolution from step 1 to step 3 has happened over an incredibly short timescale...
@jensorensen@mastodon.social ah yes, print media, famously free of middlemen
@jensorensen@mastodon.social I'm also way more worried about what happens to the data than the often appealing quality of the 'help'.
"They're taking our jobs", is not the risk we should be worried about π
@jensorensen@mastodon.social That was me last Friday, re-installing my dvd player (stored in the basement til now) and making a vintage film evening without TechBros...πππΌAnd I have to say, it felt really good.
@jensorensen@mastodon.social Not Luddism, down to earthism - common senseism!
@jensorensen Focusing on being a little bit more Neo Luddite and cooperate with our peers That's the key, IMHO.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite
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