Hi @Em0nM4stodon,
very much I demand #Tools for #Conviviality as described by Ivan #Illich https://archive.org/details/illich-conviviality

@Em0nM4stodon

Orphan crushing machine helps humans!

@Em0nM4stodon Me too :)

https://small-tech.org/about#small-technology

@Em0nM4stodon I'd settle for tech that functions consistently. Seriously, have you guys ever *perfected* anything in your entire fucking lives?
"Just a few more tweeks and..."
"Are you still working on that? Don't bother. We're moving on to the next shiney new glitchy gimmick."

@Em0nM4stodon That means avoiding big tech as every corporation aims to exploit humans - especially US based corporations.

@Em0nM4stodon Hear, hear. I'm making a component to make it easier to do cool shit with static site generators¹. The only way I've been able to work on it is by riding on savings.

I could go after VC funding. The instant I did, the goal would no longer be to make something for people. It would be to make something that makes money.

There's such a push for that that it took me a while to realize it doesn't have to be about the money. Of course, that's only true if you've got enough that you can devote time to a project that doesn't bring in cash. It's never been more clear to me how much the system is stacked against making tech that helps folks without poisoning it with profit/loss statements.

I'm an optimist, though. Over time, enough folks will make enough stuff that puts people first that we can chip away at the exploitation.

¹ my hypothesis is that if we can improve the tools for making websites more folks will make them. and, the more folks making things in general, the more empathy they'll have.

@Em0nM4stodon

How about tech that helps humans exploit humans to become billionaire humans?

@Em0nM4stodon and that’s possible only with free (as in freedom) software and hardware. But it’s so hard to convince people to switch to GIMP instead of pirating/leasing Photoshop, needless to mention changes that require even more commitment… :(

@Em0nM4stodon sometimes the best way to help them is to hinder them

@Em0nM4stodon not the tech exploits humans, it's the corruption, broken democracy and criminals in power.

@Em0nM4stodon
what we get is tech that helps tech bros

@Em0nM4stodon This right here.

@Em0nM4stodon

Where will you go to find that?

@Em0nM4stodon exploiting other people is what the people who could afford the newest tech always did. Imagine if iron plows and the people who wield them had been more valued than swords.

@Em0nM4stodon I try to teach my kids this idea. It goes beyond tech, too, though the "hacker mentality" goes a long way toward it.

My teenage daughter carries a pocket knife a lot of the time, which I've encouraged her to do. For one, hey we're Southerners, we carry pocket knives 😂 But also I read years ago about how having a knife makes you aware of ways you can adapt the environment around you to solve problems. Got a thread sticking out of your shirt? Cut it off, problem solved.

I'm from a family of carpenters, and it's the same idea. House isn't how you want it? Change it. Gate isn't latching right? You can fix it.

I'm a programmer, and I don't care if they are programmers, but again the idea of using things you can change or adapt is important to me, and I try to pass that along.

Unfortunately most tech is exploitative, at least popular tech. But there's also some cool stuff other there (hello, Fediverse!!).

We can still build cool shit, I guess is my point.

@Em0nM4stodon I hate that I watch Star Trek now and cringe at communicators that always know where you are and constantly scan your vitals. We could have had tech that was *for* us instead of *for* the company that's renting it to us. That was the dream.

@Em0nM4stodon I find it so sad that people have forgotten that this is what such tech was always meant to be — how it used to be. It gave us nice things, neat things. Now it spies on us and sends pictures of us in the bathroom to the CEO. I just can't, for the life of me, understand why people accepted all the things that lead up to this, but it actually blows my mind that people (as a whole) won't put their collective foot down right now with things already this bad.