💾 Archived View for jsreed5.org › log › 2021 › 202107 › 20210701-my-beef-with-modern-technology.gmi captured on 2023-12-28 at 15:53:12. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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I mentioned in one of my weekly thought posts that I oppose technology that I cannot control. I want to expand on those thoughts a little bit.
I quite love technology and have for most of my life. I like tinkering with electronics, building computers, installing and tearing apart OSes, learning about protocols and file formats, trying my hand at programming, and reading about how embedded firmwares work. I find it fascinating what humans have been able to figure out how to do, using what boils down to transitors, lights and binary codes.
The power of these tools can be intimidating. Every week I see an article on a tech blog about how some e-commerce site can us big data to predict what you're going to buy, social media can guess you sexual orientation, or video hosting sites can determine your voting habits. But the algorithms exist, the tools exist, and the world now needs to figure out how to deal with that fact.
My objections with newer technologies lie in the lack of control the end user has over them. If I buy an iPhone, I cannot run my own software on it. Even if I buy an Android or Ubuntu Touch phone, the modem and baseband inside the transmitter use a binary blob and I cannot control what they do. Windows 10 prevents me from running programs without a signed certificate, and if it determines a file I have might be undesirable, it deletes it without asking or even informing me. New motherboards require Secure Boot--there goes any hope of supporting legacy OSes like Windows XP. Even modern automobiles are filled with computers that perform all sorts of functions I don't like but can't disable.
I want to have control over my systems. That's why I finally made the full switch to Linux as my primary desktop OS after support for Windows 7 ended. My decision to purchase the F(x)tec Pro1 X was partly motivated by my desire to have a smartphone I could root and fully control. I run custom firmwares on every device I can,to allow me to control more of its functions than I would normally be able to. And when all else fails, I'm always in full control of a pen and a sheet of paper.
I understands ome of the reasons commonly given to put restrictions in place. If someone were to have full control over something like a telephone modem, it could be used for nefarious purposes, such as fraud or spam. Microsoft does want to protect consumers from running software that could compromise or destroy their personal data. Similarly, Amazon does want to create a better shopping experience for their users by helping them more quickly find products they might be searching for.
What often happens, however, is that once the technological ability to restrict and conform is created, it gets used for unhelpful or even malevolent purposes. This is a very common problem in the video game industry today. Nowadays companies can begin to enforce always-online requirements and hide content behind subscription paywalls. As a result, companies like EA and Capcom are now notorious for forcing consumers to play many times more money in microtransactions than they would if they simply bought the game outright.
We see similar effects in technology in all industries. Microsoft encourages people to only use their app store to get programs, where they often charge for tools that can be (legally) freely downloaded online. Identical apps that are released for both iOS and Android are known to be much more expensive in Apple's app store, partly because apps cannot be sourced from anywhere else. And automobile manufacturers program their software to be artificially incompatible with third-party components,forcing the consumer to by more-expensive official parts.
Beyond the manipulative aspect of these practices, I don't always agree with the idea that people's choices should be restricted for their own safety. Computers are big, complex machines, and it takes a certain degree of skill to learn how to use them effectively. The same goes for automobiles, air conditioners, lawn mowers, RC aircraft, and any other machine one could think of. I feel it should be incumbent upon the user to understand how to use a tool they want to use.
No matter the safety rails put into place, if a person does not fundamentally understand what they're trying to do, they will eventually mess up and be unable to recover. That should be emphasized as much as possible when exposing people to new technology. Ultimately they are responsible for their ability to use a device effectively.
We already understand this concept when it comes to operating (though not necessarily repairing) an automobile. Cars are dangerous if not used properly; therefore most countries have adopted the idea that people must be able to demonstrate a level of competence in operating a vehicle before being allowed to drive one. With how connected the modern world is, and in the wake of devastating cyberattacks like WannaCry and NotPetya, the argument could be made that being unable to operate a computer with a certain level of competency can be just as dangerous. Are measures being taken to ensure people can operate a computer effectively before being legally allowed to own one?
Of course I would not want to live in a world like that. I don't like the idea of anyone telling me I must or mustn't do something, regardless of if I feel that I have the ability to do it safely. I would not be in support of such a move. But we do live in a world where being tech-illiterate can and does have awful side effects.
My advice, then, would be to become less reliant on any technology one does not fully understand and cannot fully control. We all need to be mindful of what effects our use of technology can have on ourselves, our businesses, our communities, and our world. Those effects are very difficult to gauge when we do not fully control or understand what our devices do. We cannot be sure of our privacy, we cannot guarantee that other services will remain robust and useful, we cannot contain the reach of our words and actions, and we cannot make a conscious choice to use them for the betterment of others and the world. We can only use them as well as we can understand, and their effects are simply dictated to us by those who have the real control. We should not encourage that kind of behavior.
I have no further plans to buy into new technology that exhibits any "black box" behavior. I have computers that I have already configured to do the tasks I want to do, and I'm going to stick with those. In the meantime, if I lose the ability to go on social media or play the latest video games, I'll go outside instead. Vitamin D is good for me anyway.
And of course, I'll still have Gemini to satisfy my content browsing desires. Gemini is a technology I fully endorse.
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[Last updated: 2021-10-28]