Certainly not. Computers are still magic, but much of that magic is now controlled and being restricted by someone other than you.
Today most people's only computer is a cell phone, which is heavily locked down and designed for media consumption and to collect and give away every scrap of their personal/private data. Most people's desktop computers aren't much better. They are continuously used by others against the interests of the people who paid for them, sometimes explicitly keeping them from doing things they want or limiting what they can install.
People are increasingly ignorant of how computers work in ways that were never possible when you had to understand them to use them. SoCs mean that users, and even the operating system they use, aren't fully aware of what the devices are doing.
People have lost control of the computers they paid for and their own data. They now have to beg a small number of companies for anything they want (including their own data on the cloud). We're heading toward a future where you'll need a submit to a retinal scan just to view a website.
Computing today is more adversarial, restricted, opaque, centralized, controlled, and monitored than it has been in a very long time. "My computer talks to me" is not making up for that.
What you're saying might be true, but it's also a choice to delegate responsibility to someone other than yourself. I'm not saying that the adversarial state of computing is ok, just that most people don't care, or don't like the alternatives.
Even as someone concerned with the issues you mention, the shift happening now feels pretty magical to me. I can only imagine how non-technical people must feel.
People definitely care about things that a more open platform brings you, but today's open platforms have really bad downsides. The thing is, those downsides are artificial. They were manufactured by the corporations that prefer to be in control of our devices. It's not the natural state of things.
I often get asked by friends and family "can I get rid of annoyance X" or "can I have feature Y" on their Android phones, usually because they see that I've done it on my phone [0]. The answer is always "yes, I can set that up for you, but this will take an hour, I need to wipe all your data and a bunch of your apps will stop working".
There is no reason it should be like that. That was a choice by the manufacturers. They developed these DRM features and actively market them to developers - to the point where I can't submit an update to my little bus app without getting a prompt to add SafetyNet to it. They even somehow concinced pentesters to put "no cert pinning, root check and remote attestation" into their reports, so bank and government apps are the worst offenders.
It's not like people decided they prefer closed to open. They prefer working to non-working. And open platforms were broken intentionally by the developers of the closed ones.
It's like saying Americans all love their cars and simply decided not to use public transport. No, their public transport was crippled to the point of uselessness and their neighbourhoods were built in a way that makes public transport unfeasible. Cars work for them and trains don't. This was not their choice and it's painfully obvious when you see them go literally anywhere else on the planet and be amazed at how great trains are.
[0] Things like: global adblock, removing bloatware, floating windows or splitsceen, miracast, slide for brightness/volume, modded apps, lockscreen gestures, app instances, working shared clipboard, NFC UID emulation, automatic tethering, audio EQ...
Sure people will care about things on paper or in conversation, but my point is that most don't care enough to do anything about it.
> There is no reason it should be like that
Most businesses exist primarily to make money, so they have all the reasons for their bad designs and behavior.
> They prefer working to non-working
Of course, but TANSTAAFL. We keep rewarding the providers with our money and data, so the beatings will continue if you want to keep up with the Joneses.
I hear the point you're making with the comparison to transportation, but you can't just build a road or a railway, while you can absolutely build software.
Sure it's technically always a choice, but because society exists, some options are dramatically more plausible than others.
For example, say phones become more and more locked down and invasive. Technically you can choose not to have a phone, but how are you meant to function in today's society without a phone? Basically everything of importance assumes you have a phone. Technically you could make your own phone, I guess, but that's very difficult.
I don't think you can reasonably make the argument that because technically everyone can make their own choices, we should be ok with whatever status quo in society.
I know, the expectation of phones and "just install our app" sucks, but it's easier than the alternatives for most people.
I don't think we should be ok with the status quo, and I think complaining about issues can be a catalyst for change, but rather than just complain about the state of affairs, I'm pointing out that alternatives exist, so it's on us to enact change.
TBH, I'm pessimistic about my words making a difference, but I want to promote independent/DIY mindset anyway. It's ironic that the frontier LLMs are proprietary platforms, yet they're enabling more independence to their users. Regardless, if everything goes to shit, we can still opt out and go back to the previous generation's lifestyle. No mobile phones and moving at the speed of snail mail doesn't sound all that bad, though I'd sure miss Google Maps.
Its not a boolean choice. How often, and how you use a phone matters as well. While I am no stranger to screen time, my phone sees very limited and specialized use. I look at the weather, I talk to my car, I text when I am away from my desks. I am not using my phone now.
"Basically everything of importance assumes you have a phone" -- this is far from the truth in my world. It seems that how one uses a modern smartphone shapes one's world view of what's valued and what's possible.
When I visit my parents, I often fly to the major airport a hundred miles or so from them and take a bus from the airport to their town. There used to be a desk in the bus station attached to the airport where you could buy tickets, ask the clerk when the next bus to your destination was, etc. A few years ago they got rid of the desk and have a sign with a QR code to download an app that gives schedules and let's you buy tickets. There is no other way to ride the buses now. This is just one example of how there's an assumption of "everyone has a smart phone" these days.
Most people's only computer??? MOST people in the 80's had never, personally, touched a computer other than maybe an ATM machine. The fact that most people today don't care about a personal computing device in terms of what it does or how it does it isn't really a surprise.
Most people don't care how the toaster or microwave work, only that they do. Same for the show me movies boxes in the living rooms. And, really, most people shouldn't have to care.
This isn't to dismiss privacy concerns or even right to own/repair... let alone "free" internet. It's just that most people shouldn't have to care about most things.
Typical HN comment. They’re so in the weeds of edge case 1% concerns they can’t see the golden age around them.
Most people living through golden ages might not know it. Many workers in Industrial Revolution saw a decline in relative wages. Many in the Roman Empire were enslaved or impoverished. That doesn’t mean history doesn’t see these as golden ages, where golden age is defined loosely as a broad period of enhanced prosperity and productivity for a group of people.
For all its downsides, pointed out amply above, the golden age of computing started 100 years ago and hasn’t ceased yet.
> Many workers in Industrial Revolution saw a decline in relative wages.
Yeah! Why weren't all those children with mangled limbs more optimistic about the future? Why weren't they singing the praises of the golden age around them? Do you think it would have resulted in a golden age for anyone except a very small few if the people hadn't spoken out against the abuses of the greedy industrialists and robber barons and united against them?
If you can't see what's wrong with what's happening in front of you today and you can't see ahead to what's coming at you in the future you're going to be cut very badly by those "edge cases". Instead of blinding ourselves to them, I'd recommend getting into those weeds now so that we can start pulling them up by their roots.
The question should be "golden age FOR WHOM?" because the traditional meaning of that phrase implies a society-wide raising of the quality of life. It remains to be seen whether the advent of AI signifies an across-the-board improvement or a furthering of the polarization between the haves and have nots.
"the golden age of computing started 100 years ago"
Only 14% of Americans described themselves as "very happy" in recent studies, a sharp decline from 31% in 2018.
woohoo we did it, our neighbors are being sent to prison camps who work with the "golden age" bringers. Go team. Nice "golden age" you got there, peasant.
So what your saying is lots of people being unemployed and dying from lack of resources is merely a "downside" and we should all just support your mediocre idea of what a "golden age" is?
Certainly not. Computers are still magic, but much of that magic is now controlled and being restricted by someone other than you.
Today most people's only computer is a cell phone, which is heavily locked down and designed for media consumption and to collect and give away every scrap of their personal/private data. Most people's desktop computers aren't much better. They are continuously used by others against the interests of the people who paid for them, sometimes explicitly keeping them from doing things they want or limiting what they can install.
People are increasingly ignorant of how computers work in ways that were never possible when you had to understand them to use them. SoCs mean that users, and even the operating system they use, aren't fully aware of what the devices are doing.
People have lost control of the computers they paid for and their own data. They now have to beg a small number of companies for anything they want (including their own data on the cloud). We're heading toward a future where you'll need a submit to a retinal scan just to view a website.
Computing today is more adversarial, restricted, opaque, centralized, controlled, and monitored than it has been in a very long time. "My computer talks to me" is not making up for that.