<story><title>&apos;Our minds can be hijacked&apos;: tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>apatters</author><text>Well, it&amp;#x27;s not the smartphone that&amp;#x27;s the problem. The smartphone is just the delivery system.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s remarkable how well some of Richard Stallman&amp;#x27;s quotes have aged. &amp;quot;With software, either the users control the program, or the program controls the users...&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The idea of a program controlling its users must have seemed very esoteric when that quote was first penned in 1985, at a time when home PCs (let alone ones with GUIs) were exotic: the first Mac had launched only a year ago. By the time I first heard of Stallman&amp;#x27;s ideas in the &amp;#x27;90s, I was surrounded by PCs with GUIs, but still didn&amp;#x27;t get it.&lt;p&gt;Now here we are, 30 years later. The first thing most of us do when we wake up is roll over, grab our phone, and look at some software. The existential costs of the non-free software are so high that we read new stories about them in the media every week, and the tech revolution&amp;#x27;s architects are banning the products they built from their own homes.&lt;p&gt;For the less frequently cited ending to Stallman&amp;#x27;s quote is this: &amp;quot;...If the program controls the users, and the developer controls the program, then the program is an instrument of unjust power.&amp;quot;</text></item><item><author>hodgesrm</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t buy the idea that smartphones are extinguishing the life of the mind.&lt;p&gt;Sure, smartphones provide access to almost unlimited trash. But they also provide  access to Wikipedia, perhaps the most successful encyclopedia ever developed by humans.  They can show you newspapers from across the planet.  They let you read Latin histories of the Norman conquest of Southern Italy in the middle ages. [0] C&amp;#x27;mon folks, this is stuff you might otherwise seek for years in bookstores or never even hear of. Thanks to the Internet and powerful phones you can pop up the link below and read it in bed. The information is within reach of anyone with a decent cell phone.&lt;p&gt;The effects of the Internet on human society have been profound but the ultimate outcome is not foreordained. Humans have survived some pretty nasty stuff over the millennia and we&amp;#x27;ll no doubt get through this as well. It&amp;#x27;s time to stop the hand-wringing and focus on making the Internet help humans in the way many of its original founders conceived. [1]&lt;p&gt;[0] Gaufredus Malaterra, &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.thelatinlibrary.com&amp;#x2F;malaterra.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.thelatinlibrary.com&amp;#x2F;malaterra.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;webfoundation.org&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;recognise-the-internet-as-a-human-right-says-sir-tim-berners-lee-as-he-launches-annual-web-index&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;webfoundation.org&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;recognise-the-internet-as-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>musage</author><text>&amp;gt; The first thing most of us do when we wake up is roll over, grab our phone, and look at some software&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;The danger of computers becoming like humans is not as great as the danger of humans becoming like computers.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;-- Konrad Zuse&lt;p&gt;I recall Joseph Weizenbaum mentioning something like that in an interview before his death, too, about the difference between using technology to empower people, or to exploit them.&lt;p&gt;But hey, Wikipedia so what do they know... ask the mediocre for permission to learn from the great at your own peril, that&amp;#x27;s my motto.</text></comment>
<story><title>&apos;Our minds can be hijacked&apos;: tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>apatters</author><text>Well, it&amp;#x27;s not the smartphone that&amp;#x27;s the problem. The smartphone is just the delivery system.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s remarkable how well some of Richard Stallman&amp;#x27;s quotes have aged. &amp;quot;With software, either the users control the program, or the program controls the users...&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The idea of a program controlling its users must have seemed very esoteric when that quote was first penned in 1985, at a time when home PCs (let alone ones with GUIs) were exotic: the first Mac had launched only a year ago. By the time I first heard of Stallman&amp;#x27;s ideas in the &amp;#x27;90s, I was surrounded by PCs with GUIs, but still didn&amp;#x27;t get it.&lt;p&gt;Now here we are, 30 years later. The first thing most of us do when we wake up is roll over, grab our phone, and look at some software. The existential costs of the non-free software are so high that we read new stories about them in the media every week, and the tech revolution&amp;#x27;s architects are banning the products they built from their own homes.&lt;p&gt;For the less frequently cited ending to Stallman&amp;#x27;s quote is this: &amp;quot;...If the program controls the users, and the developer controls the program, then the program is an instrument of unjust power.&amp;quot;</text></item><item><author>hodgesrm</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t buy the idea that smartphones are extinguishing the life of the mind.&lt;p&gt;Sure, smartphones provide access to almost unlimited trash. But they also provide  access to Wikipedia, perhaps the most successful encyclopedia ever developed by humans.  They can show you newspapers from across the planet.  They let you read Latin histories of the Norman conquest of Southern Italy in the middle ages. [0] C&amp;#x27;mon folks, this is stuff you might otherwise seek for years in bookstores or never even hear of. Thanks to the Internet and powerful phones you can pop up the link below and read it in bed. The information is within reach of anyone with a decent cell phone.&lt;p&gt;The effects of the Internet on human society have been profound but the ultimate outcome is not foreordained. Humans have survived some pretty nasty stuff over the millennia and we&amp;#x27;ll no doubt get through this as well. It&amp;#x27;s time to stop the hand-wringing and focus on making the Internet help humans in the way many of its original founders conceived. [1]&lt;p&gt;[0] Gaufredus Malaterra, &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.thelatinlibrary.com&amp;#x2F;malaterra.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.thelatinlibrary.com&amp;#x2F;malaterra.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;webfoundation.org&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;recognise-the-internet-as-a-human-right-says-sir-tim-berners-lee-as-he-launches-annual-web-index&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;webfoundation.org&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;recognise-the-internet-as-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>andrei_says_</author><text>Thank you for this. Putting Stallman’s quote in context helps me see how forward his thinking is and how important the distribution of power and consent can be in software.&lt;p&gt;I see a parallel with food companies spending money on researching and marketing foods that are more addictive and more profitable.&lt;p&gt;Yes, people do “want” addictive foods, but that’s not the type of want we want empowered; rather it is a hook into addiction and transfer of power by inducing an addiction.</text></comment>