Given that all modern tech companies seem to be working to make life worse for end-users, or working to support companies that do this (or going in debt creating a product with the end goal of getting bought out by said companies), is getting a job in tech still morally acceptable? Is working in tech a net negative to society in 2026?
Every company uses tech. They have an IT department to support the business. They have internal apps / tools. For example, I work at an airline and build cloud-based apps to help them track maintenance records and lookup engine / airplane manuals. There's a ton of process involved.Now, if you're talking about a "pure tech" company like google, those have been building a surveillance state and have been funded by the CIA since inception. The "do no evil" has ALWAYS been evil.Your question about 'is tech a net negative to society' is better addressed by reading the unabomber manifesto.
>>107775888>Given that all modern tech companies seem to be working to make life worse for end-usersLiterally how? There have never been more users than today. Tech will continue to grow because tech delivers the services and solutions people want. Nobody would use it otherwise. I think you're just feeling socially isolated and alienated in general, so you view our leading social institutions such as the tech sector with hostility. Try looking inward and finding ways you can reconnect with society and your fellow man. Start a hobby, go for daily walks, look into activity clubs. There's no reason to feel this way.
>>107776391If the industry is producing what users want, why are they increasingly moving towards planned/forced obsolescence? Why are people insisting on sticking to Windows 10 even after Microsoft's decisions made it a security risk to use? Do people prefer their smartphones without headphone plug, replaceable battery and SD card slot now that there is no flagship alternative? Do people enjoy getting spied on by their TVs and getting ads on their fridge? Is the increasing move towards selling user data as revenue model because users like being sold as cattle?
>>107776055People seriously have no idea internal codebases in non-tech orgs even exist.
>>107776892>someone has laptop hooked showing the webcam>their naked kid walks past>samsnug takes screenshot>distributes cp
>>107776903Doesn't most of that get outsourced nowadays?
>>107775888i agree with the sentiment of that image, the rich california kids who suffer the most under the unethical capitalist system seeing they post images like this along with trying to pursue the difficult career of making photoshop-airbrush phonk hiphop net-art on ig should instead be put to work in factories manufacturing concrete panels while living in worker dormitories together with their cultured working class coworkers, to meet one of the many 5 year plans of providing universal basic housing for all folkz (also the homelessness and vagrancy should eradicated via lawful violence)
>>107776892>why are they increasingly moving towards planned/forced obsolescence?It's not increasing. Old solutions have always needed to depreciate so that new solutions could take their place. Otherwise everyone would still be on their Windows XP eMachines and we'd have already been hopelessly outcompeted by China. >Why are people insisting on sticking to Windows 10 even after Microsoft's decisions made it a security risk to use?Every Windows before 10 had end an of service timeframe, it's not some new thing. >Do people prefer their smartphones without headphone plug, replaceable battery and SD card slot now that there is no flagship alternative?Obviously. Most smartphone users are just regular people, including kids, women, and seniors. They don't want to tinker with their phones or have a bunch of accessories. You're describing a specialty device that is not feasible to market as a flagship product. >Do people enjoy getting spied on by their TVs and getting ads on their fridge?Most people don't use models of TVs or fridges that do that. You're now grasping for extreme examples to support your point. > Is the increasing move towards selling user data as revenue model because users like being sold as cattle?Selling your user data does not literally sell your physical person as cattle. You wouldn't resort to actual fiction to support any of your other beliefs, so I assume you're soft-launching a goalpost move concession. FYI user data drives modern tech. That's why it has value and can be sold. Without application of user data, none of the services you use would function. Youtube wouldn't be able to recommend you videos based on what people like you like to watch, Google Maps couldn't tell you the best directions that account for traffic conditions and construction. The real life examples are endless - collection and application of user data in tech is a good thing.
>>107779256>It's not increasing.It absolutely is. Devices used to work for way longer before breaking. Now just being flimsy isn't enough, and Win11 refuses to even install unless your PC is new enough, even though it runs perfectly fine on older machines.>Every Windows before 10 had end an of service timeframe, it's not some new thing.And most people switched before that even became relevant, because up until (and including) Windows 7 every version had its own advantages you wanted to upgrade for. The Win10 transition had some resistance because Win10 had as many new anti-features as it had new features, and the Win11 transition is failing because Win11 is just Win10 but worse.>They don't want to tinker with their phones or have a bunch of accessories.Yes, because nobody except nerds uses headphones/earphones, and reduced repairability is what customers want. Consumers decided when in the store they compared two models and said "nah, I'll take the more expensive one because it doesn't have a headphone jack, headphone jacks are for nerds". I bet consumers also chose for soldered ram, and prices keep going up because consumers decided they aren't paying enough for their goods!>Most people don't use models of TVs or fridges that do that.Because it's a new 'feature' only on the latest models. It's a matter of time until you have no other choice, similar to how nearly all free phone apps track your location data to resell to whoever wants to buy. Consumers also wanted this (despite being mostly unaware of it happening)!
>>107779472you know what they say
>>107775888There's no morally acceptable job.
>>107780663Then how is someone supposed to put food on the table in a morally acceptable way?
>>107775888Yup its digital opiates at this point 1847/59 style. Silicon valley not even hiding its military relationships at this pointMaybe its worth getting a part time job and building not for profit freedom tech, than at least your hands are clean and your conscious clear that you tried to help
>>107780743With image related i turned what you were deceived into believing, that a pine forest is bereft of abundant food supplies, into a garden of eden.You are now free of the grocery chains
>>107781034>Maybe its worth getting a part time job and building not for profit freedom tech,And on the flipside not like they will let it gain scale and serve as anything but a limited hangout to catch the runners and guide them back into the botswarm gulagLots of dead and imprisioned cypherpunksTheir bloodlines hopefully will be spared the slavery that awaits them in what they're building
>>107781058So how am I going to have a roof over my head? They'll just bulldoze anything I'd try to build in the forest. In fact, considering the laws where I live, I'd probably get arrested even trying to eat from nature.
>>107781332I think you misjudging just how much empty space you got to work with
>>107781332the pic is probably meant as a joke, but that is objective what police are, the most powerful gang by its' very definition
>>107781896I'm not in Canada. The country I live in has a population density of over 500 people per square kilometer.
>>107782591Just a quick plane ride away then right?
>>107775888There is no ethical consumption or production under capitalism. If your skills are solely in tech, and if working it tech is what you need to do to survive, then do it. Unless you're in the small group of people who actually call the shots, you have very little individual responsibility for the stuff you build.That said if you want to actually work to change the system, then using your free time to learn about the critiques of capital and organize is where you start. You'll find that modern tech companies, or really any company, are doing far worse things than enshittifying their products.
>>107775888I came to a similar conclusion and finally burned out and quit my job last year because I couldn't take it anymore. I came to despise my employer, my coworkers, and most of the tools we had to use (MS software, CI/CD pipelines, etc.). I was hoping to detox and naturally heal from the burnout since then, but my hatred has only gotten more intense as more awful software (and the culture behind it) gets injected into my day-to-day life in inescapable ways, like banking/insurance/medical/transport/automotive. It's exhausting and I wish I could take meds and become more capable of just accepting this horrid hellscape that ran my life's greatest interest into the ground, but I've been on dozens with no results other than crippling side effects and am now resorting to literal (es)ketamine, which is also proving fruitless. I still have no idea what other field I could pivot my career to that wouldn't be intolerably infested by bloated minimalist webshit, AI overuse, culture of mediocrity, etc. I used to revel in tinkering to find innovative solutions to niche problems. Now I feel like I'm just mitigating how intrinsically lazy or malicious everything has become, and it's an unwinnable battle.>>107781034Digital opiates is a great term; I'm going to steal it.
>>107776927It's okay if (((they))) do it.
>>107782967I know that in the broader picture most work is about keeping people pacified and under control while moving wealth from the masses which grow poorer to the elite which grows richer, and using the power and influence generated from that to also kneecap (upcoming) geopolitical rivals, including essentially continuing slavery out of sight for commoners. But that's not something I have any control over, and participating in society is inevitable.However, I do disagree with not being responsible for the things you create. Adolf Eichmann was also just doing his job, but I think there's a significant difference between working in Nazi Germany and actually managing the Holocaust logistics. Somebody else will be doing it if I don't, but they probably won't be doing it as well as I could. I don't want to actively contribute to evil.>>107783026I'm in a somewhat similar situation (though I stay away from drugs, even if they're government-approved to keep you a good worker drone), disillusioned with the only field I have experience in. I'm too clumsy for physical work and too socially retarded for any customer-facing job and have no idea what else I could do.
>>107783743>muh holocostno such thing>death camps>with pools, orchestras and tennis football fields>tons of people were born in emno need to go far to deboonk the whole thing
>>107775888just work for a small company desu
>>107783026Completely agree anon. Try taking up a hobby which takes a good amount of time to learn and isn't infested with enshittified tech slop. Getting away from all of this and focusing on something different will do far more for you than meds.
>>107779472>Devices used to work for way longer before breaking. What devices? I went through several mp3 players in the 00s because they just stopped working randomly. My PCs lasted a few years between the 00s and 10s since hardware failed or was outclassed by software/game demands within a few years whereas my 2020 build is still gonna be fine for years. >most people switched before that even became relevantNot me. I hated every new windows since XP and how they pestered and urged "upgrades" the same way every time. Maybe you're not old enough to remember.>Yes, because nobody except nerds uses headphones/earphonesPeople just use bluetooth or micro USB earphones. You're one of the very very few who want a modular device with multiple physical inputs. It's not a feasible mainstream product intended to be marketed to basically the whole of humanity > it's a new 'feature' How are ads or data collection on "smart" devices new? Samsung and LG have been the worst offenders for over a decade. Are you old enough to remember when they forced all their phones to have facebook, which could not be deleted and scraped the whole phone for data? You don't seem to have a good frame of reference. Maybe if you were arguing in comparison to the 90s you'd have a more solid point. But you're saying "smart" devices spying and advertising is as new as Windows 11, which it obviously isn't. There's a reason these devices are so cheap - they make their money back from you.
>>107783988It's been bad for a while, but broadly speaking he's right. The enshittification is completely out of control at this point.
>>107775888>Is working in tech a net negative to society in 2026?In the US, definitely. The population is being overworked, and doesn't receive public services in return. Silicon valley is a full part of the military industrial complex (nvidia and intel in particular are ditching regular consumers who now only make up a tenth of their revenue).People complain about £2000 GPUs, but that's not the biggest cost here at all, it's affecting every part of our lives, we're becoming part of a US corporation whether we want to or not.>>107783026>culture of mediocrityThis is a good post, but you work for other people because you are also mediocre.>my career>accepting this>I used to revel in tinkering to find innovative solutions to niche problems.Stop making money for other people. Start a company of your own. Or they're going to keep abusing you, like they abuse the traditional workers and what are becoming literal subhumans.And stop worshipping midwits like Ellison who shrug and be edgy and can't make anything for themselves, you have to take responsibility for your life. That is the only way to protect yourself against a society that is less interested in taking care of you.
>>107783866>Try taking up a hobby which takes a good amount of time to learn and isn't infested with enshittified tech slopYou're right. It's been hard since I grew up with some other (nerd) hobbies that didn't get tech-enshittified, but they did get simultaneously 100% culture-war-enshittified, so it's alien to me to now be exploring things like a casual sport or practicing music that thankfully still aren't overwhelmed by cult behavior or a malicious corporate entity running it.>>107784449IDK who Ellison is, since thankfully for all my vices following influencers/dogma isn't one of them. But I'll hold onto that advice of working for myself instead of an employer later once I've cultivated another skill capable of that or once my burnout improves enough that I can open an IDE without immediately thousand-yard-staring after one line of code.
>>107784449>Start a company of your own.>people because you are also mediocreis it really working for yourself if the only way to secure capital to compete over the narrow scope the VCs lay out after their meetings with the builderbergs and trilateral commissions. At some level you get more pay but you still have a boss, and more money more problems, you gotta be the driving force of the enshittification and the surveillance capitalism
