In my mind, I would separate technology from its application.
Advertising tech and AI coding tools are applications of technology stacks that could have been used to create what you and I might agree to be "better" tools. I don't need to tell you why ad tech got created instead of something that is a net societal benefit.
At the same time, I would say that, yes, those applications do indeed expand human capabilities. The important nuance here is whose capability, and to what end.
All I am saying is that opting out of this, in whatever form that takes, hands your agency over to those who would use it to enrich themselves at the cost of others. I sincerely feel that decades of this type of capitulation is exactly how we got to where we are today.
I absolutely understand this sentiment. I've been working in tech since the late 90s and I have had MORE than my share of let-me-off-this-ride moments.
But this post (and the many I see like it) feels like giving up. And now's not the time for empathetic people to give up.
Technology is how we expand human capability. We are well within our rights to pick and choose how we interact with that capability. But it's starting to terrify me how it seems that the worst people in the world are more than willing to wield this power, while good people opt out. Billionaires are doing a remarkable job at making their vision of the future seem inevitable. Don't fall for it.
If more people aren't willing to help us steer this capability towards a better future, then we all know how this ends.
In 2016, a recruiter sent me a cringey email that was meant to look like code, and I turned it into my only post to ever make the HN front page. A decade later, I asked Claude to use its vast skills to tell the same joke. And honestly, it turned out pretty well. So now it's a joke we...told together?
Dimensional Innovations | Senior Full Stack Developer | Kansas City / Remote | https://dimin.com
The Senior Full Stack Developer will architect, execute and maintain projects that blend digital and physical technologies (software and hardware). Specifically, this role will focus on the architecture, development, and maintenance of DI products. We build interactive life-size games, augmented reality photo ops, animated LED light fixtures, silhouette-tracking theaters and screens, virtual reality experiences, content management systems, control system interfaces, and so much more. We work with college and pro sports teams and stadiums, museums and children's hospitals, corporations and entertainment venues.