RS Wood
2017-10-30 19:54:48 UTC
Written in 2014, still valid. By the author of "technology is
heroin" (an agile/scrum guy).
http://www.whattofix.com/blog/archives/2014/05/we-didnt-mean-for-it-to-turn-out-like-this.php
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Looking at the net today, I can’t help but reflect on how it’s turning
out so differently than we imagined:
We wanted to exchange information, not play games.
We wanted expected open conversation and idea exchange, not constant
drama, anger, and angst.
We wanted insight into the world outside ourselves, not have the world
know everything there is to know about us.
We wanted freedom from oppressive governments, not the creation of a
new security state.
We expected the web to either be free or paid, not monetized based on
how long it could hold our attention.
Browsers were just one way of accessing the net. We expected there to
be lots more.
We expected technology to empower us as individuals, not create some
kind of hive supermind.
We expected human, face-to-face relationships to be augmented and
thrive based on new silicon helpers. We’re finding people staying
online and disconnected for most of their lives, texting somebody
sitting 10 feet away instead of attempting a conversation.
Man is a social animal evolved to operate semi-autonomously as
hunter-gatherers in small tribes. What we are creating is a
technological system that is adapting to, emphasizing, and taking
advantage all of the weaknesses of the species while not emphasizing
our strengths. Another way of saying this is: we’re not getting what we
expected, we’re getting what we wanted.
They say that kids growing up in a new system automatically think that
system is just the way things are supposed to be. It’s really important
to tell this to whoever will listen.
I was there with some of the first commercial users on the net. (Heck,
I was on before that, but as a college student I had no idea of what
the net was). I was there as developers and content creators started
piecing together the future. I was there when Google figured out the ad
model, when the average MMORPG gamer was spending 35-hours online each
week, when the NSA revelations came out, when Farmville took Facebook
by storm. I was there before that. I remember where we were headed.
It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.
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heroin" (an agile/scrum guy).
http://www.whattofix.com/blog/archives/2014/05/we-didnt-mean-for-it-to-turn-out-like-this.php
//--clip
Looking at the net today, I can’t help but reflect on how it’s turning
out so differently than we imagined:
We wanted to exchange information, not play games.
We wanted expected open conversation and idea exchange, not constant
drama, anger, and angst.
We wanted insight into the world outside ourselves, not have the world
know everything there is to know about us.
We wanted freedom from oppressive governments, not the creation of a
new security state.
We expected the web to either be free or paid, not monetized based on
how long it could hold our attention.
Browsers were just one way of accessing the net. We expected there to
be lots more.
We expected technology to empower us as individuals, not create some
kind of hive supermind.
We expected human, face-to-face relationships to be augmented and
thrive based on new silicon helpers. We’re finding people staying
online and disconnected for most of their lives, texting somebody
sitting 10 feet away instead of attempting a conversation.
Man is a social animal evolved to operate semi-autonomously as
hunter-gatherers in small tribes. What we are creating is a
technological system that is adapting to, emphasizing, and taking
advantage all of the weaknesses of the species while not emphasizing
our strengths. Another way of saying this is: we’re not getting what we
expected, we’re getting what we wanted.
They say that kids growing up in a new system automatically think that
system is just the way things are supposed to be. It’s really important
to tell this to whoever will listen.
I was there with some of the first commercial users on the net. (Heck,
I was on before that, but as a college student I had no idea of what
the net was). I was there as developers and content creators started
piecing together the future. I was there when Google figured out the ad
model, when the average MMORPG gamer was spending 35-hours online each
week, when the NSA revelations came out, when Farmville took Facebook
by storm. I was there before that. I remember where we were headed.
It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.
//--clip
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RS Wood <***@therandymon.com>
RS Wood <***@therandymon.com>