I'm about as cynical as they come, but it has to be said that something like 99.9999% of all fundamental technologies are completely public at this point. Humans in the ancient past were unlikely to be that dramatically different in terms of present humans in terms of intellectual ability, but were held back by a lack of knowledge.
For instance, we still use steel - and for 99% of humanity's existence nobody knew how to make it. It turns out it's really easy, and it's just one amongst countless other techs along a similar lines. A human who spent a year dedicating himself to consuming freely accessible information, who was then warped back into the past, could send humanity forward by tens of thousands of years - all by himself.
We're all free to use these technologies in any way we see fit, but somehow we've created this weird society where we have all the potential in the world, but instead we spend inordinate amounts of time doing pointless things like shit posting on the internet and mostly being upset about what we can't do and/or have, even though even if we had access to such in all probability we'd again take it for granted and find something else to complain about.
This isn't really a condemnation of humanity. Probably this sort of eternal discontent we have is precisely what drove us to discover all of these great things. Like I mean who in their right mind would have left the basic oasis of Africa to go freeze their ass off and struggle just to live in the inhospitable areas up north? There's something wrong with that guy, and that guy is all of us, for the most part.
Wow! That's a great many indeed. Can you just name 1 though? Just 1?
Let's start with fire, certainly making and controlling fire is a skill that uses knowledge, a "technology". Go from there, try to find one technology that did not find itself in the service of power, for consolidating resources, etc..
Don't get me wrong, I think might, both intellectual and physical, should serve the purposes of benevolence and valour. I'm not complaining, I'm taking note of reality.
There's a big difference as something being used as a "front" for the consolidation of resources and power, and something being used as a tool in pursuit of such. Any highly useful technology will obviously be able to be used in a wide array of things, including undesirable.
I was going to say, "furry porn," but then I realized that you're essentially just looking at the modern version of a pagan animal worship cult (of personality?) with some of those artists. You'd be surprised what gooners would do to appease their favorite werewolf coitus provider.
...PBS? Sesame Street has only ever been a boon to the common kid.
>A human who spent a year dedicating himself to consuming freely accessible information, who was then warped back into the past, could send humanity forward by tens of thousands of years - all by himself.
Only recently in my life have I developed an appreciation for fiction, because it contains deep insights into human behavior. I often fantasize about traveling back to the past, and explaining to folks that we've been to the moon, explored the planets, etc. It's a fun thought exercize, but I think the "reality" of such an experience would be more like this:
>Like I mean who in their right mind would have left the basic oasis of Africa to go freeze their ass off and struggle just to live in the inhospitable areas up north?
I don't know that this is the correct characterization of how out-of-Africa migrations progressed. Youth (and people with the influence to shield themselves from danger) are expeditious, families and societies head where living looks to be easier and away from where living looks to be hard, whatever the pressure may be.
I read a description of this somewhere. Just moving a few km per generation, while being able to maintain direct links to your previous home, would push humans to the extents of the globe over tens of thousands of years.
I quite like the inhospitable areas up north but they required the invention of a kind of tech in the form of warm clothing and housing. At the current rate of progress we'll have well insulated houses in England quite soon. Re:
>this weird society where ... we spend inordinate amounts of time ... shit posting
human life is a strange business that has come about as a fleeting side effect of eons of DNA reproduction. I think things could maybe be improved there.
Not to come down on either side, but I am begging commenters to refrain from using a Eurocentric lens when discussing a technology that wasn't even invented in Europe.
I don't know the history. That would be the source of my discontent. Every time things like this come up, the hyperfocus on Western experience erases whatever insight could have been gained by looking at the topic in its totality. My guess is that whatever dynamic the history of the printing press in the East might have lent to this conversation wasn't even considered until I brought it up. That was my contribution.
You should look in a mirror (and proofread). Everything you're accusing me of applies to you. It's an overwrought reaction which indicates that I hit a nerve. You'd better soothe that ego bruise with a bit of curiosity, than with the tantrum you've been throwing.
You've got it flipped. He was working from a false premise; his conclusions were a net negative to the conversation. I brought it back to zero by pointing out the flaw. And now you want to paint me as the bad guy, probably because I dashed the egotism at the core of his mistake, which you drew some amount of esteem from. The same deal as the people who persecuted Galileo for upending the geocentric model of the universe. Just because he couldn't extrapolate all of the ramifications of a heliocentric model doesn't mean he "wasn't contributing" by pointing out its significance.
But I suppose this analogy reveals that your tack is fundamentally European. So, at least you're consistent. What would be better is if you'd have some humility. Say it with me now: "We forgot to consider prior art because it originated from a part of the world that we tend to fail to acknowledge. This failure adulterated our analysis with an inferior premise. Thank you for pointing this out. We will now make a more appropriate analysis using research on the subject that was previously in our blindspot."
Pointing out a problem without providing a solution is still better than pretending that the problem doesn't exist and suffering the consequences of a flawed mental model.
Pointing out a problem is one thing, I don't think anyone here would object to that especially given normal nerd dynamics, but you did also beg everyone to refrain from speaking of things they're most likely to actually know anything about.
Insisting on Eurocentrism wrt an Asian invention leaves the impression that you don't actually know what you're talking about. It's essentially misinformation.
You know exactly why this in particular hits a nerve.
Low cost refrigeration allows remote places to stock life saving medicines. Also useful for storage of foods, but that's a secondary benefit although far more common
the wheel
bicycles
sewing machines
hand tools
musical instruments
open radio bands like CB and FRS
ham radio (licensing exists but not corporate control)
meshtastic
blacksmithing
glass blowing
garden tools
propane camp stoves
mechanical clocks and watches
open source software (the ecosystem overall, not specific projects)
email as a protocol
RSS
SMS as a protocol
USB storage devices
SIP based VOIP
mesh networking gear
3d printers in the hobby market
drones under 250g
amateur astronomy gear
microcontrollers like Arduino
LED strips and controllers
bicycles
composting tech
sourdough starter culture tech (yes really)
> The list of technologies that have not become a front for consolidation of resources and power _and which consumed capital investments equal to a significant portion of the entire market_ appears below
Online gambling, most of which is about good ol’ money laundering, and thepiratebay seems to not censor their ads at all, so you may get all kinds of scams and malware spread via ads.
I dunno, but torrenting sites gladly use networks that use malicious redirects, especially on mobile. I also saw ads specifically for gambling companies that were known bad actors, at least to me, given what people were behind them. Won't give you examples, it was years ago. It was like that, you go to a site to get your Linux ISOs, and it's plastered in certain company's ads. Wham, in a month you get investigative articles about that very company's owners and who they are tied to.
It's also of note that on Facebook I don't get many online casino ads, I get mostly reMarkable ads, there was one from Roli when they launched their new instrument, and others were mostly advertising stuff to me that I already bought elsewhere. I think it might be because I had banned the first dozen of such ads, and they stopped coming.
Same. Also I probably get more Russia-sponsored content from Meta than I can see on Rutracker. The internet, lead by big tech, has long passed the point where a banner advertising online gambling could be seen as something outrageous
if technology is defined as "creating efficiencies" they will by definition consolidate resources and power since the work done by many can now be done by few.
Great joke. Truly a free and untraceable currency the plebs are profiting off right now. I am mining some too! I just cashed out my 50 dollars profit and bought myself a meal at my local trader Joe's, next time when I'm there, I will probably pay with chainlink though.
The proportion if wealth consolidation that bitcoin poses if it can consume fiat currencies makes all other coercive powers in history look like they weren't even trying.
BTC itself can't do that: the transaction rate would be borderline even just for a low-ball estimate of all the once-a-month payments happening in just the city of Berlin.
The various proposals for layer-2 stuff makes it look like a bunch of banks using a funky currency without any of the controls that exist because weird currencies are bad for business, but AFAICT because of that, the BTC part itself works like interbank balancing transactions, and the BTC transaction rate isn't sufficient to cover once-a-day interbank balancing transactions.
