all 10 comments

[–]happysmash27 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I hate all these "smart" things that are locked down with bloated, separate GUIs instead of simple dumb drivers controlled by the computer. In fact, even my relatively dumb 2006 monitors annoy me with this, having button-controlled GUI widgets. Why can't desktop display interfaces work like those on laptops, where the system can natively control things like the backlight?

[–]magnora7 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yes it is similar to cars now that have all these complex engine covers to deter people from working on their own vehicles. I think things should be designed to be easily serviceable, but apparently this isn't as profitable.

Black-boxing things in a way that they're inaccessible for service creates "secret knowledge" that can be leveraged for profit by the repair industries, or by the company selling you a new model because it costs more to repair the old one than buy a new one. Companies know this and use it to the max.

In a true fair market, these bad business practices would eventually put them out of business. But in this modern world of shifting technology, monopolies, and how easy it is for a company to pull a scam and merely re-brand with a new name... this type of obfuscation is apparently highly profitable since it seems almost every big company is doing it.

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Have blind faith in SCIENCE !

A paragraph I wrote for Wikipedia...

" Open science uses the scientific method as a process of open discovery of shared verifiable knowledge, whereas proprietary science is privately developed by corporations and organizations yet their "scientific" processes and research are not publicly shared (or are obscured behind paywalls or published in expensive private journals), therefore unverifiable as legitimate forcing the public to have "faith" in their privatized science and "trust" that rigorous studies have been and are conducted, proper precautions taken, adequate warnings given, and that the results are beneficial to individuals, society, and the environment - as well as serving their private shareholders. Further, we are supposed to "believe" all of the profit driven marketing, media hype, and propaganda, not to mention the political lobbyists (a soft term for legalized bribery), and trust we are getting the best technology, drugs, medical care, and environmental stewardship while corporate monopolies safely and honestly earn their profits in a world where corporate corruption and status quo war profiteering are business as usual. This obscured or blind faith in corporate science is called Scientism. "

Applications: food, big pharma, medicine, technology, products, government, climate...

[–]JasonCarswell 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Open source A.I. alt to Alexa, etc.

https://infogalactic.com/info/Mycroft_(software)

[–]magnora7 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Yeah I figured as much, since literally like 90% of TVs became smart TVs overnight. Same as those amazon echo listening devices. There's a reason the're so cheap and ubiquitous. Same with the Nest thermostats. I don't know why in the fuck a thermostat needs an internet connection.

[–]useless_aether[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

so you can heat up your home just before you arrive, or for managing it for others, like airbnb, there is a potential to save energy

[–]magnora7 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

so you can heat up your home just before you arrive

My thermostat is 20 years old and has a "time of day schedule" to do this.

Airbnb makes sense though, although the people could just turn it up themselves when they arrive, and that's a pretty limited use-case. A normal person doesn't need remote control of their home thermostat imo, especially when it comes at the cost of probably being spied on all day

[–]FormosaOolong 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes, but this can be done with a programmable non-"smart" thermostat.

[–]happysmash27 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah :) , I prefer a simple dumb thermostat with a local network connection that is managed by my own computer with my own, self-compiled, open source software.

I like dumb, simple things that do simple, dumb tasks that can be integrated into a larger system, in accordance with the UNIX philosophy. I wish more things were advertised as this, because I have spent many hours looking for computer peripherals without fancy, bloated annoying, Windows-only configurator tools. For things that use GUIs, it would be nice if these things had preferences widgets instead of massive separate programs that don't integrate with the rest of the system at all.

This gives me yet another business idea, since somehow the free market almost never gives me what I want, at least without lots of resistance…

Edit: Added emoticon at beginning so that my initial tone wouldn't be interpreted as too critical.

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Sex doll consumer: "I prefer dumb blondes to smart brunettes who will spy on me and eventually get me locked up by my own government for free speech or something."