Subtle ways technology has changed the world

[Little River Aral]

Ah another anecdote I forgot about:

During my time working at the small port, my colleague showed me the little station thingy where you take your boat to unload the dirty waters, because some pigs choose to unload them into the canal (which is already not the cleanest). I haven't found an English word for it but it's called station de dépotage. You have a tube that I imagine you put in some hole of your boat, and you have to pay for the unloading... THROUGH AN APP. No way to pay in cash or by card, nope, only through the app. Knowing that many of the boaters I've seen are above 50 and some are even in their 80s and may not be comfortable with tech, I find this particularly scummy. You literally are forced to own a smartphone even when you live on a goddamn boat. Hell some might've made this choice out of wanting a peaceful life!

 

[Some_porcupine]

THROUGH AN APP. No way to pay in cash or by card, nope, only through the app. Knowing that many of the boaters I've seen are above 50 and some are even in their 80s and may not be comfortable with tech, I find this particularly scummy. You literally are forced to own a smartphone even when you live on a goddamn boat. Hell some might've made this choice out of wanting a peaceful life!

make termi+nal o+n the molo. do you k+now how there is hbitfcoi+n i+n afcrifca egve+n w/o +notehbooks?
so, ma+yhbe like thbat - like fcluhbfcardx hbagve termi+nals i+n kaufclA+Ndx (fcufck Lidxl app)

 

[Pangolin]

Ah another anecdote I forgot about:

During my time working at the small port, my colleague showed me the little station thingy where you take your boat to unload the dirty waters, because some pigs choose to unload them into the canal (which is already not the cleanest). I haven't found an English word for it but it's called station de dépotage. You have a tube that I imagine you put in some hole of your boat, and you have to pay for the unloading... THROUGH AN APP. No way to pay in cash or by card, nope, only through the app. Knowing that many of the boaters I've seen are above 50 and some are even in their 80s and may not be comfortable with tech, I find this particularly scummy. You literally are forced to own a smartphone even when you live on a goddamn boat. Hell some might've made this choice out of wanting a peaceful life!

The saddest part is that likely the app doesn't do anything special other than your basic http requests and so it really didn't have to become an app and could've just become a website instead and then everyone can pay the depotage fees from basically any device.

I still remember when best practice was to use a website for your "app" so you didn't force your users to install things and make a block to adoption of your service. Only if you really needed native features did you really use an app and almost always nowadays with mobile-friendly websites you barely need an app unless they force you to have one. Example: I am taking the Pangolin-family to the fair so I wanted to buy early tickets to save money. Ticketmaster. Okay so let me print out....nope......okay let me view them on the website to print them...nope. Mobile only.

 

[Pangolin]

Man this shit sucks. I especially hate when people start talking about how much more "convenient" this makes stuff. As always "conviency" is not convenient, it's just people thinking their phones are better than real, physical paper. It's wild now, how people just take for granted holding a small portal to another realm in their pocket. If Case or Count Override or Hiro Protagonist would see this, they would crap themselves, but people just do the most menial stuff with it, nothing ever cool. But then again, if it's designed to make a profit, it will never do anything cool.

My steam deck is designed to make a profit and to do cool things with it. You can purchase a dock from a third party use it as a desktop, plug it basically into anything USB-C and USB-3. Bluetooth. Wifi. They let you run any amount of code you want since its your device. Nintendo switch games? That too. Want to open it up and mod it theres guides for it. Battery has died, replace that too.

I am convinced steam deck-like devices that can be docked to monitors and keyboards are the computing platform of the future. No more 30 pound boxes to take up desk real estate.

 

[GENOSAD]

it drives me up the wall when a restaurant doesn't even have a menu anymore, but rather just QR codes on the table.

This makes me glad to be going to uni in the middle of nowhere, as well as living in a somewhat conservative city when I'm off-campus. The college town itself doesn't really have that much money to go around when it comes to QR menus, and the political attitude of my hometown has led people to just not consider a switch to QR.

With that said, I did go to a Taco Bell last month, and... yeah. Fuck. I could order without getting the app, but the way they've set it up makes it a goddamn nightmare if you don't have it downloaded or if you haven't already ordered in advance (who the fuck plans out a meal at Taco Bell to the point where they order ahead of time?). When I paid in cash, they had a freakout because there wasn't enough in the register to give me the right amount of change. Fortunately it was only a 10-cent difference, but fuck, apparently this is already a post-cash world where we pay through traced digital credits.
Recently my cash payments have been met with wavering hands that aren't entirely sure what to do when physical money is given to them. It's nothing obvious, just a quick flick of the hand as it fights against muscle memory, but as someone who tends to pay more attention to body language than faces, it's definitely a sign that we're not going back at this point.

 

[mesaprotector]

If you're always connected to the internet via phone, you're already a cyborg whether you realize it or not, 'cause a part of your mind is always "living" on the internet. If you walk around without a phone and just use the internet in set locations (home, public library, etc.), that has a different vibe. Cyberspace becomes part of the locations you connect to it at - instead of part of you. Tl;dr: watch Lain lmao

I leave home without a phone very often, often hiking, or just wandering out in new neighborhoods. I can't really understand the anxiety, same as I can't understand people going "hey is it weird if I go to a restaurant by myself?" Dude just go! My sense of direction is excellent and my few friends are very used to me taking half a day to get back to them, so there's no reason to fear. The only time I totally need my phone with me is when I'm meeting somebody or have a document saved on it.

 

[Pangolin]

I bet you Agorans never even considered the process of creating an envelope to mail.

With modern technology: do 6 steps just to load in the envelope and make sure you loaded it correctly, enter your address and the return address into word because libreOffice is tarded and has failed me multiple times to make a good envelope.

With Typewriter:
Load it in, write the address.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xauV_sFDRZ8


Then all you have left is just to write the letter which is often straightforward as well. Load paper. Write.

 

[Fairykang]

I bet you Agorans never even considered the process of creating an envelope to mail.

I still handwrite the address like a troglodyte.

One thing I've noticed is public transportation. Even 5 or so years ago, copies of bus routes were readily available. Now the systems to provide them are poorly maintained because they just expect you to download the app or use google maps.

 

[mesaprotector]

One thing I've noticed is public transportation. Even 5 or so years ago, copies of bus routes were readily available. Now the systems to provide them are poorly maintained because they just expect you to download the app or use google maps.

Oh man, I miss paper maps for everything. So great to unfold them in your hands and just have the whole city/park in front of your eyes. I haven't been back to the US in a few years, but I'm gonna shed a tear if the regional park system near my hometown doesn't still have those little paper trail maps at each entrance.

That said where I am right now an app isn't available either. If you want to know which # bus goes to the stadium you just gotta ask people. It has its own magic but it sure scares away tourists

 

[Pangolin]

I still handwrite the address like a troglodyte.

One thing I've noticed is public transportation. Even 5 or so years ago, copies of bus routes were readily available. Now the systems to provide them are poorly maintained because they just expect you to download the app or use google maps.

yeah but navigation using GPS on your smartphone and google maps is miles better than anything a lousy map would do. You have the most efficient route planned out for you on any transportation you can get on local streets. Just follow the dots.

 

[GENOSAD]

yeah but navigation using GPS on your smartphone and google maps is miles better than anything a lousy map would do. You have the most efficient route planned out for you on any transportation you can get on local streets. Just follow the dots.

I really hope you're joking, because this is the same shit people say when they talk about personalized ads. "Yeah, I know that Amazon has practically put spyware on my computer to log everything I look at online, but at least it leads to the convenience of buying paper plates along with my tablecloth!"

 

[Pangolin]

I really hope you're joking, because this is the same shit people say when they talk about personalized ads. "Yeah, I know that Amazon has practically put spyware on my computer to log everything I look at online, but at least it leads to the convenience of buying paper plates along with my tablecloth!"

You are likely already carrying the device, so whether you care about your privacy is obviously a moot point. You really want to pull out a map while you're doing 80mph on the highway? I think a fair middle ground is a separate GPS device. Only GPS none of the privacy implications.

 

[Some_porcupine]

You are likely already carrying the device, so whether you care about your privacy is obviously a moot point. You really want to pull out a map while you're doing 80mph on the highway? I think a fair middle ground is a separate GPS device. Only GPS none of the privacy implications.

having , yes, pager with gps (and tiny map) would be nice tho
small, versatile, practical
~ ah, to live in 1979 animated Gadgetverse...

 

[Pangolin]

having , yes, pager with gps (and tiny map) would be nice tho
small, versatile, practical
~ ah, to live in 1979 animated Gadgetverse...

yeah it would be optimal to have some sort of communication device that doesn't run off the pozzed cell towers with maps, gps. Maybe even point to point communication via a laser or directional radio.

And it should also take advantage of the mesh net.

 

[bnuungus]

yeah but navigation using GPS on your smartphone and google maps is miles better than anything a lousy map would do. You have the most efficient route planned out for you on any transportation you can get on local streets. Just follow the dots.

So there was one time that my family went on vacation to south carolina and google told us to go one way but when we looked at our physical atlas (yes, you can still buy them and they are very fun to look through) and we saw that there was this state road in Ohio that we could use to cut off a corner of interstate. The two interstates made the corner of a square and the state road made a diagonal. Not knowing if the state road would be a fast one, we took a risk and decided to follow the atlas and cut off the corner. Simply doing this shaved nearly an entire hour off of our trip. Even today, literally right now I googled my route home from work and google recommended a route to me that's slower than what I take because it prioritizes interstates and is hesitant to direct me down a dirt road. Even if you're headed straight for a massive traffic jam that will slow you down by 20 mins, google will do it's upmost to try to keep you on the interstate for some reason instead of directing you through a town off of an exit to bypass the traffic jam. Having map knowledge will always be superior to what an app tells you to do

 

[brentw]

So there was one time that my family went on vacation to south carolina and google told us to go one way but when we looked at our physical atlas (yes, you can still buy them and they are very fun to look through) and we saw that there was this state road in Ohio that we could use to cut off a corner of interstate. The two interstates made the corner of a square and the state road made a diagonal. Not knowing if the state road would be a fast one, we took a risk and decided to follow the atlas and cut off the corner. Simply doing this shaved nearly an entire hour off of our trip. Even today, literally right now I googled my route home from work and google recommended a route to me that's slower than what I take because it prioritizes interstates and is hesitant to direct me down a dirt road. Even if you're headed straight for a massive traffic jam that will slow you down by 20 mins, google will do it's upmost to try to keep you on the interstate for some reason instead of directing you through a town off of an exit to bypass the traffic jam. Having map knowledge will always be superior to what an app tells you to do

I don't know if they still have it, but there used to be options in google maps like "avoid highways".

 

[bnuungus]

I don't know if they still have it, but there used to be options in google maps like "avoid highways".

They still do but most of the time the best route is a mix of highways and local roads and google doesn't do that well

 

[Fairykang]

Even today, literally right now I googled my route home from work and google recommended a route to me that's slower than what I take because it prioritizes interstates and is hesitant to direct me down a dirt road.

At least its not telling you to drive over a collapsed bridge in the middle of the night.

Google sued over fatal Google Maps error after man drove off broken bridge

Google allegedly gave drivers bridge route for years despite correction requests.

arstechnica.com

On that note, atrophying navigational abilities due to over-reliance on google maps and the like would be another subtle change due to technology. I know a guy who can't even point out his location on a map because he just uses his gps to pick it out for him.

 

[bnuungus]

At least its not telling you to drive over a collapsed bridge in the middle of the night.

no but it did tell me to drive past a locked gate and through a river when i was in tahiti

 

[bnuungus]

oh and also it telling me to drive through a military base every time I need to go to this one GM plant