

The tech utopia nobody wants: why the world nerds are creating will be awful - mergy
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/22/the-tech-utopia-nobody-wants-why-the-world-nerds-are-creating-will-be-awful

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kordless
> The backlash against this world is democracy manifesting itself; a tacit
> rejection of the ideological assumptions underpinning the personal tech
> revolution.

When was there a time humans didn't react negatively toward technology
advancements?

This article fails to deliver on the assertion in its title: "the world ...
will be awful". Someone thinking the future will be awful doesn't not mean the
future being awful when we arrive at it.

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mergy
When I read this, I immediately thought this is nothing new with early
adopters over the last couple of decades. People get into something new and
feel it will be the future. But, I think the sense of scope and vitriol has
changed with these sorts of early adopters. There is more of a pointed,
hostile vibe now to this. That is essentially what I took away from the piece.

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Shorel
For someone who follows a paleo/keto diet, soylent doesn't seem that healthy
to me.

In fact it's more of the same food that makes people obese, just without
chewing.

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cordite
Soylent has a specified volume of all the ingredients. It is meant to be
sufficient, whereas food stamps being applied to snack foods in large
quantities, because they are cheaper, is what contributes to obesity.

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kstenerud
Are food stamps being applied to snack foods in large quantities? What is the
percentage distribution of foods being bought with food stamps in terms of
their nutritional value?

And does government have the right to dictate what people poor enough to
require food stamps must eat?

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seizethecheese
Government doesn't have the right to tell people what to eat, but it does have
the right to decide what it pays for! As a taxpayer and someone who has been
on food stamps (briefly) I see no problem with this.

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erikcaso
Interesting point of view. Admittedly, there are meaningful sociological
questions about where tech is going to move society. It (tech) is moving
faster and faster and has generally unknown consequences to all of us - those
of us on the "inside" just as much as those on the "outside."

