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hollyhoppet wrote (edited )

I see it as a resource allocation problem that is caused by a motive for profit rather than a motive to make things that address needs of the people as a whole. A lot of software intended for really good and helpful purpose just gets completely ignored or is total garbage.

There are probably applications in computing for making our industries and infrastructure more efficient and safer that we can't even dream of. For example, I used to work for a company that built software used to simulate municipal water networks to do things such as track leaks, minimize water waste, and ensure efficient temperature management. The company was about 10 people large but the software serviced hundreds of cities, many in arid or desert regions of the world, where water conservation is paramount.

Unfortunately, the software was extremely buggy, as cities just don't have the money to compete with the amazons and googles of the world. Sometimes I wonder how amazing we could have made those tools if we had 25, or hell, 100 people.

No, I don't think we've taken computers too far. I think we've been coerced to attend to diversions that largely benefit those with access to the levers of power. I think in a liberated society we could take the wealth of talent and science we have and use it to solve actual problems.

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flabberghaster OP wrote (edited )

Yeah I agree with that. I think there's definitely good use cases for computers to help us solve important needs.

I also think there's just things we already know the solution to, but don't get enough investment interest. And under capitalism, nothing is invested in unless someone thinks it can make them money.

I was kind of just typing whatever was coming in to my head; it wasn't really as coherent as I'd like it to be.

I don't think computers are bad per se. It was more that I think too much human effort is being put in to unimportant things to make quick easy money, and currently the frontier of quick easy money is 'the computing space.'

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