Re:The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology
by exporectomy on Thursday February 25, 2021 @05:41AM
(#26261630)
Lots of technologies start out appealing to technologists until they mature enough to reach mainstream adoption. It's not disturbing, it's a sign that they were successful! Cars did the same, and aeroplanes, and electricity. I'm happy the internet is now as common and easy to use as electricity. Geeks can move on to the next interesting immature technology. Perhaps cryptocurrency or machine learning or whatever. The world is full of exciting things.
Re:The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology
by Robotbeat on Thursday February 25, 2021 @06:29AM
(#26261834)
Cryptocurrency has now pretty solidly transitioned from hobbyist/enthusiast to monetization through centralization. Which is a little ironic but that’s how it goes.
Re:The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology
by exporectomy on Monday March 01, 2021 @08:43AM
(#26302663)
Well, yes. I'm showing my age a bit. Don't have my finger on the pulse of what the actual current tinkerer-stage technologies are.
Re:The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology
by watwut on Thursday February 25, 2021 @05:07AM
(#26261423)
> Computers are an idealised example of an organised system which is assembled/operated by solving puzzles. Some people enjoy solving those kinds of puzzles. Most people don't. The first kind of person doesn't really understand the second kind of person - and vice versa.
Plenty of puzzle lovers don't care about computers at all. Plenty of good programmers and tinkerers don't care about puzzles of different kind.
Re:The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology
by lotsofpulp on Thursday February 25, 2021 @04:33AM
(#26261215)
> Something interesting and disturbing has been happening over the last twenty years. The Internet stopped being a technological puzzle and became a social and political puzzle.
The “internet” as a thing is still capable of the same things it was 20 years ago. The proportion of people using the internet who care more about the social and political puzzle rather than the technological is what dramatically increased.
Computers are an idealised example of an organised system which is assembled/operated by solving puzzles. Some people enjoy solving those kinds of puzzles. Most people don't. The first kind of person doesn't really understand the second kind of person - and vice versa.
Something interesting and disturbing has been happening over the last twenty years. The Internet stopped being a technological puzzle and became a social and political puzzle.
This kind of "cultural engineering" - where the currency is attention, influence, patronage, and sometimes actual spending, not puzzle prowess - appeals to a completely different kind of person. And these people have been driving the development of the Internet for a while now.
People who like solving computer puzzles have been completely blindsided by this and continue to act as if technology is still somehow primary - when it isn't, and hasn't been for a while.