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They way I see it, computers are tools. They can just as easily be used for good as evil.
If people were going around smashing vehicles with hammers, we would (hopefully) work on better law enforcement than ban hammers. Same sort of thing with computers, we need standards and regulations.
I think the actual reality is that governments and justice systems were designed for a pen-and-paper era where letters were still delivered by horsedriven stagecoach.
I think that's the real task: designing a new type of democratic governance that can keep up with the speed of societal change and technological change.
"The gears of justice turn slowly" made sense in the stagecoach era, because life moved slowly. It does not make sense in an era where we can disseminate information worldwide instantly for pennies.
Q: "How have you dealt with this?"
A: Poorly.
Absolutely, was in the same boat as you.
Got burnt out with the corporate job but now I've moved to another discipline, I have my mojo back for messing with PCs.
The last few years I've delved into all the things I've wanted to but never took the time. I'm all in on Linux from mid-last year - which in itself has reinvigorated my curiosity for everything.
I've recently started leaning html to create a basic web page with the intention of joining the indie web, then when I tire off those, I'm keen to contribute to oss projects (support because I can't code)
It's not computing that is evil necessarily. It's the corporate privatization of compute that is going to be the issue in the coming years and decades. Like so many things in the modern world, they want you renting it, not owning it.
Keep working to own it yourself, and use it to help fight the battles that need to be fought.
Just all the evil that's making you feel that way it can't do the cool stuff it used to is no longer liberatory takes lots of work to stay safe in high school I was a shit head black hat I have to be way trickier and know more than I ever was or did then as a grey hat now to just search and write my smut anonymously its tedious and bad
Yeah I get it. I stopped posting on Reddit, and only will on the fediverse, but even that feels like a surveillance nightmare.
Honestly, these days I try and spend as much time just not on the computer, going outside, building physical stuff, and hanging with friends.
And I would say that, while still problematic, video games honestly feel like the least toxic part of computing these days. Buying a $60 game and playing the hell out of it with friends, (or a genuinely well written game like cyberpunk or control) is still rewarding and feels non toxic.
It feels like all the joy I used to feel from being [human] has been completely voided as [humanity] has become the modern vector for fascism and surveillance. I find myself recoiling from all [human] spaces, even [safe, supportive] ones that I'd loved and supported in the past.
I'm not trying to poke fun at you, but I found that we can really apply what you said there to a lot of other aspects of life and it wouldn't sound too crazy these days.
Tools are tools. The car brings you from point A to point B. That point B can be your home where you feel safe, or right into some person to hurt or even kill them. The kitchen knife lets you cut your veges, but you can also cut off someone else's finger. But do we say we should stop using these tools because of how badly other people are using them?
What you're tired of is people being irresponsible, people wanting to act with impunity, to gain dangerous powers, to threaten others, to satisfy only themselves, be it sadistic, sexual, egotistic, self-compensation, or whatever. The problem lies in certain groups of people, not the tool. Why are we fussing over the tool when it's the people that we need to deal with? Sure, we can argue that the tool makes doing the harm easier, and yes we should try to find ways to build better, safer tools, or control who gets to use the tools, but it never removes people's abilities to do harm through other means. Not having the Internet and technology just means that these harms are more localized and muted. A tree fell in the forest and no one was there to hear it, but it also means no one knows if someone's actually there and they're hurt because of it.
No you're absolutely correct. I've found it harder to have faith in other people as much as I did when I was a little younger, because of the state of the world and the lack of movement on the part of people around me. I think part of the struggle I'm having is that computers aren't a hobby one engages with in a vacuum. If someone was really into knitting and all of the sudden half the knitting community got into fascism for some reason, that person could reasonably go on knitting in the comfort of their own home without feeling like it is in any way contributing to or condoning those fascist knitters. But with computers, half the hobby is the joy of networking! Of these shared spaces created by tying computers together in new and interesting ways. Which unfortunately have now created a wicked gestalt surveillance apparatus. Hell is other people and their computers?
I get your sentiment, but I'll use your argument against you here: just as computing as a hobby doesn't exist in a vacuum, the enjoyment of any hobby doesn't exist in one either. I get it if you're feeling guilty by association — lots amongst us are likely feeling that way, and I started off thinking that way too, even if I, demonstrably, am not contributing to the enablement of that evil. The person knitting at home for leisure may get lumped with the fascist knitters. Their techniques at knitting up beautiful sweaters that they've shared is being used to make fascist uniforms, used as a symbol of repression. It's disappointing, but it should not be reason for us to give up on this space we've created and allow these forces of evil to take up the whole space and allow the hobby, the technique, the tool, to truly and fully become monopolized by these forces. That evil isn't going away by us staying quiet and just leaving the space; the tools are already there, and if we just passively shy away from pushing back, then the tools and narrative are theirs to control.
And all this is why it's important for us to continue participating in the discourse, even if we don't actively push back against that force. We show that normality exists, that not all the people in the space is some dickhead.
At least that's what my optimistic side is telling me, and my pessimistic side wants to believe that we can actually do that so that I don't just fine up on humanity entirely.
Have you looked into tech not corrupted by big corporations? I found meshcore recently, no internet required to connect people, you can easily do something to make your local network more robust and it's so niche that I can't imagine any money moving into it to monetise it somehow.
I got into an outdoors hobby. Healthier for me anyway.
I do volunteer work, that is some humble support for the network and printers and the poor win11 users of a very decent charity organisation that works with kids and elderly people.
Brings me down to earth rather good, away from all my complicated self-hosting or AI or political problems.
I'm still all in. It's just getting harder to find good software. Most of it is older and starting to bit rot. My tolerance for digital BS is at an all-time low. Any sort of dark pattern from a website and I don't hesitate to nope out.
We need actual human programmed things as alternative to the AI wastelands, so please keep at it.
Every time something you like sells out to AI, make a clone of it or find an AI free clone version already made.
Technology is not inheritly evil, even stuff like cryptocurrency, NFTs, social media, LLMs, all of that has really interesting technology behind it, but has been used by people for nefarious means.
You can most certainly engage with technology without facilitating things like fascism and surveillance still, though arguably it is harder. But conversely, things like fediverse are happening where by their nature they are much harder to be taken over by corporate interests or fascism. It's an always changing landscape, and you're likely going to need to be a bit of a nomad until things get better. But I think they will get better.
It's kind of like dynamite
Thanks to Dynamite, we have the Nobel Prize. We've been able to achieve amazing works of construction and mining, and have generated probably a hundred trillion dollars in wealth thanks to the power of Dynamite.
But, people have been killed by dynamite. Dynamite has been used as a weapon. It has been the foundation of grenades and bombs and other methods of war, and probably millions of people have died thanks to dynamite, if not tens of millions.
As long as you're using the technology for constructive good purposes, then it is what it is.
Guns can be used to save lives. They can also be used to take lives. They can be used to protect people. They can be used to harm people. It's all in the wielder.
Stop using mainstream stuff play with Linux and raspberry pi (or other sbc) gear that the big companies haven't ruined yet
Yeah pretty sure that ship already sailed for Raspberry Pi. I still love em, but they've definitely burned a lot of bridges with the hobbyist community for the sake of sales to the business community.
Personally, I think local AI will make computing far greater than it ever was. You can use it to recreate niche software like Stars!, you can play tabletop D&D without having to deal with human issues like scheduling or infighting, you can have original software created to do whatever you need, you can have manga from the 80's fully colorized.
There are many possibilities, and it is one of the few things for me to look forward to as I get older. As someone without friends nor enough wealth to explore the world, a home AI server will be the closest that I can get to having genuine autonomy and happiness in my life.
I still think computing is really interesting. The problem is the same as it ever was; a tool being hijacked and used by the owner class to subjugate the workers.
I used to love tinkering with my pc and gaming, but moved away from both in the past few years. With gaming, it had been my primary hobby since I was very young, so I think I just got bored of it. As far as computing, not really sure why, but probably since I'm spending less time on my pc gaming, so I don't see a need to do too much with it nowadays. It's a fancy gaming rig that I mostly use to run a web browser, listen to music, and a little light gaming.
I got into plastic models a couple years ago, and that filled a void I didn't know existed until after I started. I've always liked working with my hands and grew up playing with building toys like Lego and K'nex, so this feels like a continuation of that. I also find it kind of amusing that a hobby that revolves around sitting at your desk alone has got me more social and out of the house than anything else has since I graduated college.
What do you mean "computing"?
Just like, anything involving any type of computer?
Not very well
Fortunately for me, using computers is not a source of income but a hobby, so I say this with an extremely privileged and ignorant point of view: I learn coding by reading books and experimenting. I learn Linux by reading the Arch and Gentoo wiki and experimenting. I have (thus?) no problem keeping away from the menace that is the addictive, toxic, detrimental internet culture of today and vibe coding and unattended OS installations and what have you. Does it give me a false sense of superiority? Yes. Does it also genuinely make me feel free and unburdened? Yes.
Fascism? I hate to break it to you, but nearly every form of government benefits from the surveillance capabilities of computers.
Fascism : a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition.
It just seems weird you're focusing on the obscure governments of places like North Korea. If you are a young adult, you're at the age where mental health issues would first occur.
I'm reading your replies here and your comment history, and it sounds like you are simply depressed and need to find a new outlet for your time.
Use computers for as much fun things that I can. So a lot of games, programming my own games, designing things. Stuff like that.
