That sounds super uncomfortable, the emergency braking is quite brutal…

Yep, I want to be a contrarian, that why I brought politics in a discussion about tech. Oh, wait…

None of those things are about capitalsm, so still irrelevant.

And I know what the article is about, I just think it’s bullshit first and the most minor of minor problems second.

Tech is a huge net positive and even when it’s annoying it’s a fucking trivial thing to work around.

I have never lived in the US, my man. I am not a programmer, either. So 0 for 2.

Keep up the good work, you convinced me with your Lols. Consumer definitely decide the price of stocks. And the color of the sky. You got it, champ. Typed on an electronic device. Sent over the internet. I love the hypocrisy ;)

What’s sad about a lunch pause? Do I need to keep working 8 hours straight?

Or about a car braking automatically? I has saved me twice in four years, I was looking to see if someone was coming from one direction while the guy in front of me braked suddenly. Car stopped before I rear ended the other guy.

I must be missing something…

You attack capitalism in an article about tech, so let’s ask how is that your takeaway, then I’ll answer.

Consumers don’t buy stock, and deifnieltely not enough to influence trillion dollar company valuation, let’s begin with that.

I never said they go for “the cheapest option, period”. They are willing to spend extra if they get perceived, or real, value, like aestelhetics (your example) , social status (cars for instance) or functionality (iPhone).

I’m very far from libertarian, so let’s abstain about speculating about each other’s beliefs and let’s talk about ideas.

Majaority of people in the world do NOT live in smaller communities, first, and tech only increases choices, second, so even if the first was true it’s still an argument in favor of tech. I can get the new York times (or the helsingin sanomat) in the smallest village of Germany, again thanks to technology.

I don’t understand the question…

Again, tech doesn’t FORCE anything, people choose to fuck customers (and workers) and sometimes happen to use tech as an excuse. You don’t need any tech to raise prices or lower wages, and those are some of the biggest problem we have. Whether I use an app or coins to pay for my parking is not the issue.

In a world with lobbyists, monopolies, big corporations donating billions to politicians, a QR code is nowhere near the top of the problem list.

And consumers are quite rational, the go consistently for the cheapest option that fulfills their need. You see it in online services, electronics, flights, etc.

The solution is… more monopolies? Please enlighten me.

I agree, and good for you for leaving the restaurant. You could open a competing restaurant that doesn’t use apps and let people vote with their wallets. It’s not the nature of technology, its the decision of some people who are bad at knowing their customers. I don’t “have to” wash my clothes in the washing machine, but you bet I won’t even think about doing it manually. Forcing the use of an app is like only offering a vegan selection. If your customer didn’t ask for it you are going to have a bad time. If you are the only place in town is a monopoly problem, and a different discussion.

Having to use an app to order food might be slightly annoying, but it beats working 12h a day in the field to feed my familiy. It’s the firstest of first world problems.

Prime video I don’t know so well, but YouTube was free without ads in the beginning, for something that is incredibly expensive to run. They had to introduce any monetization or shut down the service. They went with ads because 99% of users prefer that to payment. Later they gave the option to pay to remove the ads, only as an extra, because very few people are ready to do that.

There are some ad-free video platforms out there but they have a tiny fraction of the user base of YouTube. Most people couldn’t even name one, let alone considering using it, when YouTube is “free”.

I disagree about such a generalization.

There are very few instances where people decide to be dumb and use technology for it but in general my life is much better thanks to technology.

My job exists due to technology, the Internet allows me to work from home, a washing machine washes my clothes, I can order food in the middle of a meeting and have it delivered on my lunch pause, I can speak to my family half a world away everyday, with video, for free, I can have the answer to any question in seconds from my a tiny device in my pocket, my car brakes automatically if I’m distracted (and heats up before I sit down in the morning)… you get the deal.

I feel the same. Find it annoying when in the US the waitress introduces herself, asks where I’m form, etc. Do you work for a diner or the CIA? Just bring me a steak with fries, medium rare, please and thank you.

Paying 80 for a product that is worth 100 and have ads is standard practice nowadays, to the point that not doing this puts you in competitive disadvantage. You are than asked to pay the remaining 20 or put up with ads.

You see this in every lemmy discussion about smart TVs. People complain that TVs have ads and there’s always someone that suggest getting a “dumb” TV but complain that they are more expensive. It’s almost like ads subsidize the purchase price or something…

And if you wear a mask it even free!

People weren’t willing to pay with money. Usually every tech product with ads has an “insert coin to remove” option. If you don’t insert coin, advertisers will.

I have a Ricoh that doesn’t give me any problems, works out of the box with Linux pcl6 drivers. Bought a third party toner cartridge like 8 years ago, still using it today. It’s an old model, but worth checking newer ones.

Ask Richard Stallman ;)