I love technology, as a kid, now as an adult. I wanted to discover things and create new stuff. It is the reason that I went into chemistry for my undergrad. Followed various discoveries and new creations closely for a long time.
Science fiction has alway been a happy place for me, imaginings of the amazing worlds that we could build. Some cautionary tales, some uplifting. Always thought provoking.
Something has happened to our technology though, at least in the mainstream and it no longer feels like that. No more hope, no more aspiration, the effort to build a new future to make life better for everyone. It is now all manipulation, extraction, subjugation. And it does not show any signs of getting better. Not from the top down anyway.
Our worldwide digital infrastructure is owned by a handfull of companies, under essentially no regulation. The get to dictate so much of what we do on the web and with tech in general. The gadgets, the tools.
As a small aside I do currently work at one as can be found elsewhere on the website. I am looking for something different. I have been struggling morally with working for a company that I think the world would be better off without. Trying to transition without a period of unemployment ideally.
I think those of us working in the tech space have the most responsibility to do something about this. The companies won't. We need to make new protocols, new software, new tools that are easy for anyone regardless of their level of tech literacy to use. The advantage the platforms have is obviously their monopoly, but they got that way through ease of use.
People need to own their own data, presence on the web, digital services. Be able to move between hosts as they see fit if one does not meet their needs. Starting to put together a list of services that I think one would need to cover the vast majority of web interactions. Maybe the next project will be to try and build something to make some of those easier to self host.
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