Re:'e/acc' – Silicon Valley's favorite obscure theory about ...
by tech_ken on Monday December 18, 2023 @12:12PM
(#38685258)
> If you're using past technologies to predict the role of future ones, your thesis has to justify or at least account for the negative consequences as well.
Perfect, I literally could not have said this better myself.
Re:'e/acc' – Silicon Valley's favorite obscure theory about ...
by nradov on Tuesday December 19, 2023 @11:36AM
(#38697786)
Cruise missiles were already in widespread use prior to GNSS guidance becoming practical. Inertial navigation and terrain contour matching worked pretty well, although GPS has certainly made strike planning easier.
There were more frequent genocides before the Internet than after. It was standard practice for conflicts in the ancient world: burn the cities, execute all the men, and take the women and children as slaves.
You might have a valid point about technology in general, but I don't think your specific examples support that point.
If you're going to talk accurately and honestly about how technology changes the world, you need to be specific about which technologies you're referencing. We have a sort of informally agreed upon shorthand that when we discuss technology we are only talking about "the good ones."
They're saying (I think) that we need to be more rigorous than that. You can't say GPS has made the world better while ignoring cruise missiles. You can't say wikipedia makes the world better while ignoring the role of the internet in the rohingya genocides etc.
If you're using past technologies to predict the role of future ones, your thesis has to justify or at least account for the negative consequences as well.