Author Topic: This is why I never gush over technology, IOT, and other technofantasies.  (Read 2749 times)

Offline Arcadian_Dreamer

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Quote
AWS: Amazon web outage breaks vacuums and doorbells!

An outage with Amazon's web infrastructure left smart-home enthusiasts unable to use basic household items. A widespread US outage late on Wednesday disrupted many of those services. Robot vacuums and smart doorbells suddenly stopped working in people's homes...
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 :D :D

The concept of smart homes is silly. So many ways things could go wrong.

I have always preferred analogue over digital, manual transmission over automatic, old school building materials over fancy glass and steel modernist crap, I prefer retro design over modern design, I prefer cash to credit cards/digital payments, brick and mortar shopping over online shopping, physical books over kindle, natural materials over synthetic materials, unrefined over processed, homely over glitzy, organic over GMO, small scale over large/industrial scale, local over international, slow food over fast food, human scaled cities over giant metropolises, acquiring a skill over buying a gadget, human contact over social media, I'm sentimental and romantic.

Nyie je?

Are you a modernist or traditionalist?

Sleep is good, death is better; but of course, The best would be never to have been born at all.

Offline Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants

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Re: This is why I never gush over technology, IOT, and other technofantasies.
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2020, 06:59:52 AM »
Then maybe you should be living in a cave :D

I kind of appreciate tools for what they are for.  When a technology is superfluous, it will die a natural death.  IoT like any technological app is no exception.  Some aspects of it look pretty solid, others more like fads. 

My rule of thumb of a good technology is when you have trouble trying to remember how you used to do without it.  Just because the technology introduces new dimensions and risks does not make it a bad thing.  Cavemen never had to worry about car accidents or plane crashes, but I doubt you would be sold on that lifestyle because of those risks.
"I freed a thousand slaves.  I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves."

Harriet Tubman

Offline Arcadian_Dreamer

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Re: This is why I never gush over technology, IOT, and other technofantasies.
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2020, 08:36:23 AM »
Then maybe you should be living in a cave :D. 

I kind of appreciate tools for what they are for.  When a technology is superfluous, it will die a natural death.  IoT like any technological app is no exception.  Some aspects of it look pretty solid, others more like fads. 

My rule of thumb of a good technology is when you have trouble trying to remember how you used to do without it. Just because the technology introduces new dimensions and risks does not make it a bad thing.  Cavemen never had to worry about car accidents or plane crashes, but I doubt you would be sold on that lifestyle because of those risks.

I have contemplated living in a cave like some old testament prophet. Certainly in my bucket list of things to do. My soul is drawn to wild places, I like solitude.

If it is in the interests of the powers that be, technology will be forced down our throats whether we like it or not, they will build cities to cater exclusively to automobiles for example. Where I live, I can't even take a walk outside because they are no damned sidewalks, how is that for social engineering. IoT is being pushed like crack, so is 5G, so is automation, so is planned obsolescence, consumers have no say.

The rule of thumb for good technology is whether it creates creates dependency or not, I can fix a bicycle, the parts are cheap, by contrast cars are expensive, tie you down to global supply chains, are harder to fix, meaning you are dependent on someone else, takes up a bigger chunk of your income, extend this to all big tech.
Sleep is good, death is better; but of course, The best would be never to have been born at all.

Online RV Pundit

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Re: This is why I never gush over technology, IOT, and other technofantasies.
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2020, 08:59:31 AM »
I also prefer simpler life without a lot of tech gimzo. Most of the tech is junk - an overkill - but I appreciate tech that seamless fit into our lives - and make it appear like we couldn't do without it - like mobile phones - etc. Smart systems should seamlessly integrate with caveman life - like natures does - so definitely IOT is way to go - if it makes life easier and as "natural" as possible that you don't even need to know they exist - except when they breakdown.

Any tech that comes with a long manual for me is a failure. The bes tech should be so subtle, so intuitive, so natural, and should not change the way we live.