I'm starting to think the Root Cause is simply ignorance. I don't mean that to be as harsh as it sounds. It's simply that not only the core tech changes rapidly, but now the whole web-app ecology has caught people by surprise.
I know this via two recent family events. One was that we found a web site that simply did not run with Snow Leopard. Obsolescence and upgrade is a sneaky way to push folks into unfamiliar territory, and much more likely to make mistakes. This is especially true with Apple's "Back To The Mac" approach which tries to converge the iPhone/Pad/Pod/TV world with the more standard desktop. And behind this BTTM is much more use of the "cloud", and more exposure. The second was a lament by a family member that they couldn't do things as easily as they once could. And this is a person who put together a Linux system a in the '90s! The problem here was similar. Way too many accounts, logins, passwords .. and lack of password standards .. along with the evolution away from the computer to the cloud .. and with so many devices to keep coordinated. Although similar to the first obsolescence, I think the second is more subtle. Do you remember migrating from your first computer to a second? Surprised all your email disappeared? And all the subtle configurations that had to also be migrated? Then the shock when you had both a desktop and a laptop and the email got split between the two until you grok'd IMAP and/or gmail/yahoo/ms .. all of whom "took care of you" but to whom you gave huge access to your information? Remember changing ISPs in the early days and having to tell everyone you have a new email address? .. and you then figured out you needed your own DNS? It goes on. The fact is that we need to license use of the web just as we do driving or amateur radio. Yup. An internet merit badge! I'm quite serious .. we somehow have migrated slowly but surely into the hands of a not very nice future via the lack of reasonable internet education. And every computer with poor security hygiene is a threat to me, not just the computer's owner. -- Owen On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 10:21 AM, Steve Smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote: > Glen - > >> Technology encourages the concentration of control in the same way that >>>>> it encourages the concentration of wealth. >>>>> >>>> I agree that this *can* happen and often *does* happen. I'd be >>> interested in a broader discussion of the mechanisms. The "simple" >>> answers seem obvious to me, but I suspect there are more subtle/complex >>> ones? >>> >> Well, I don't know how subtle it is. But it seems to me that the trend >> of "steadily giving up our privacy via technology" isn't at all a >> conscious act. People simply didn't/don't think very hard about what >> they're giving up when they, e.g., upload pictures of their food or >> retweet tweets from @anonymous (or whoever). I often argue that more >> ubiquitous technology like mortgage loans systemically centralize power >> into the hands of the people who understand how mortgages work. Even >> the people growing in power (loan officers, real estate agents, etc.) >> usually don't realize that the technology is what gives them their >> power, much less that the power is being concentrated into them. >> > A penetrating analysis as always... I *do* agree intuitively with this, > but I'm still noodling on just what the mechanisms are. My own "glib" > answer would be something about a ratchet mechanism... that the technology > has a tendency to make sure that "those who understand it systematically" > tend to "always" benefit from it while those who don't understand it or > understand it casually tend to lose over the long run. Advantages gained > by the system tend to "hold" shile advantages gained by the individual tend > to be isolated and transitory? One way of explaining it might be a little > like the "house advantage" in casinos and the additional "hidden" advantage > of deep pockets? Even in a "fair' game of chance, the random walk of the > individuals pile of chips will eventually walk them into bankruptcy while > the casino can't be bankrupted (without orders of magnitude longer walks)? > > >> Another point is highlighted by the article Owen posted. The mere >> concept that Google, Apple, or Microsoft might be _defending_ us vassals >> from the government by publishing the government requests for data is >> laughable ... to me. But I am often wrong. And I know lots of people >> who are implicitly pro-corporation. They're loyalty runs very deep to >> some corporations or their "faces" in the sense of a brand. "Great >> taste! No! Less filling!" comes to mind. Or the provincial loyalty to >> Ford vs. Chevy or Coke vs. Pepsi. The process grows more complex with >> "green" or non-GMO food labeling, or charity-based corporations like >> neuman's own or ben & jerry's and ideology-proximal corporations like >> credo or progressive insurance. This "corporations vs. the government" >> vibe is great for stoking those old brand loyalties. But all it really >> does (I think) is concentrate power into the hands of the corporations. >> And since there's only the thinnest veil between corporations and >> government, it brings us closer to fascism. >> > I think (also) of this game as some combination of being shaken down by > two bullies who pretend not to know or like eachother and a "good cop/bad > cop" game. > >> >> Yes, I just asserted that if you claim to like Miller better than >> Budweiser, or vice versa, then you support a fascist government. ;-) I >> have to go to great extents to keep my non-sequitur master >> certification. The only way out is to claim both are garbage beer and >> head over to 2nd Street for some real beer. >> > Done! > >> >> >> > > ==============================**============================== > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe > http://redfish.com/mailman/**listinfo/friam_redfish.com<http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com> >
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