This reminded me of a post-housing bubble NPR interview where the journalist was interviewing a few Wall Street suits at a local watering hole. In short, the journalist was aghast to find that these guys that had made a killing during the bubble weren't the least bit remorseful about what was happening to their fellow Americans across the country. Even more upsetting to the interviewer, the Wall Streeter's attributed their position to being smarter than the rest. I thought Idiocracy was an awful movie, mainly because it could have been 30 minutes long. But, I do find the notion of 'elitist guilt' fascinating, especially when it comes to commercialism. That's one interesting aspect that Idiocracy touches on (although my memory of the movie is pretty faded): you might only be 'giving the people what they want' or you might be 'socially engineering', and the difference depends on whether or not you are making money on it. Hell, that's why Capitalism is so noble and Communism is so perverse, right? :)
It touches on a darker issue with this whole "facebook phone" thing - namely, that 90% of the people with smartphones don't need smartphones. Ubiquitous computing is pretty awesome, but it won't be used by the majority of people capable of it. For most people, a phone is a Feely portal, giving you distraction everywhere you go. Which isn't to say we didn't have distraction everywhere we went before, just that now it's refined and honed and personalized. I've got an offline topo maps app on my phone, as well as a calibratable RTA. I'm using my pocket computer for the shit that matters to me. I think the elitist angle is where you presume that those who aren't using the technology the same way you are are somehow inferior - much of the population can't figure out a Tom Tom, let alone waypoints. Nobody makes you play the ponies. Granted, they spend a lot of effort making you think that it's imperative, and a lot more effort hiding the fact that the game is rigged and that the house always wins. But if you're going to invest your life's savings, know that a fool and his money are soon parted and that there's no one who cares so much about your retirement as you. Forget that at your peril. Dunno. Life has always been about the agile preying on the slow. It's only through the development of a social conscience that we mitigate the blowback somewhat. I'm not a caveat emptor kinda guy most of the time, but any scam on earth starts with the suggestion that the mark is somehow privileged above others and follows with an invitation to malfeasance.
I agree with that. Still, it's often amazing what people can do when they have the technology opened up to them and the motivation is there, and Facebook has a strong interest in limiting those possibilities. Personally, I'm not so much afraid of 80% of folks using this kind of phone, but I am afraid of the creep of legislation and industry practice that serves their experience at the expense of what mine could be. I don't care if Facebook or Google is the Internet to most, but I do care if it becomes the internet for me as a matter of standardization. Inconvenient possibilities are what we need. But, I think Facebook Home will be short-lived. It's very tough to keep giving kids what they want. IMHO this is a constant burden for anyone that studies history and has a conscience. I'd argue that the 'good guys' need to be able to play both sides, depending on the current state of things. Personally, I think a material definition of wealth has confused the shit out of things since the end of feudalism slapped a big question mark on every free man. If you haven't, I highly suggest reading Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. In addition to being a pretty good read, it lays out the idea for Whuffie, which is basically a sentiment-based karma type of economy. I'm aware it's not 100% Doctorow's idea, but he presents it in a way that IMO starts to make some sense in this day and age. If I could build anything right now, it would be Whuffie.For most people, a phone is a Feely portal, giving you distraction everywhere you go. Which isn't to say we didn't have distraction everywhere we went before, just that now it's refined and honed and personalized.
Dunno. Life has always been about the agile preying on the slow. It's only through the development of a social conscience that we mitigate the blowback somewhat. I'm not a caveat emptor kinda guy most of the time, but any scam on earth starts with the suggestion that the mark is somehow privileged above others and follows with an invitation to malfeasance.
I bought a Roomba from Cory Doctorow. I made him autograph it. I oughtta grab a picture. Once I realized that the reductio ad absurdum of the Republican Party was feudalism it all made more sense. The balance point between individualism and collectivism is one I suspect society will fight until the end of time; it will always be a battle between our baser natures and our social consciences.
I imagine Cory Doctorow looking at his Roomba with disgust. It's not so much that it consistently misses the hairballs around the barstools, but that a semi-sentient hockey puck has made him question the utility of his living space in a manner that was not of his choosing. Sure, but IMHO the resolution by which we can measure our material valuation is at least an order of magnitude higher than our ability to measure our social one. In fact, there's an industry that provides services that distort the latter by the former.The balance point between individualism and collectivism is one I suspect society will fight until the end of time; it will always be a battle between our baser natures and our social consciences.