JanekFeb 19
tante

I am a luddite and to me there is a lot of joy in technology. In technology that we deploy for all our wellbeing. Solar panels and vaccines, high-speed rail and wikipedia.

But they joy stems from the feeling of being able to be part of humanity in an embedded, meaningful way. Not from buying shit.

Feb 19 at 4:01pmWeb
Show threadfedithomFeb 19
@tante this! That's me, and sooo few of my friends get it
Show threadFrisk Fyrste Tofty for HelvedeFeb 19

@tante My fondest experience in software was building (over ~9 years) an ERP system with the founding principle: "We want it to work for at least 30 years" which had a lot of knock-off effects. We were allowed to improve things that mattered more for maintenance than functionality.

The joy of being able to shift technology on the frontend with little effect to the backend, having response times in single digit ms and so on.

There was plenty to improve, still, but I had pride in my work.

Show threadtanteFeb 19
@tofticles that sounds really cool
Show threadRingo De SmetFeb 19
@tofticles @tante What software is that? If that is still for sale, it immediately tanks high on my list!
Show threadFrisk Fyrste Tofty for HelvedeFeb 20

@ringods

It is a generic ERP-application with an open API - it was bought by EG (sadly VC-backed specialist software house) - they use it as the basis for two or three areas (construction, hairdressers and maybe health care). I left them about two years after the take-over which happened 2017.

The base system is here: https://xena.biz .

@tante

EG Xena – digital bogføring

Det digitale bogføringssystem Xena fra EG, kan bruges af både små og større virksomheder til at holde styr på økonomi, ordrer og projekter.

Show threadPaddy DukeFeb 19

@tante 100%

I don’t think anyone really hates technology.

What almost everyone hates, but may struggle to identify or articulate, is the rapacious, capitalist, consumerist, colonialist, patriarchal hierarchy by which our technology is informed.

Show threadfellmoon 🏴Feb 20
@paddyduke @tante I would not say that I hate tech... I like well build things, which seem to be increasingly rare these days... What I hate is the implied force to deliver more and faster and ignore every possible side-effect, which is imho why most companies as systems of capitalism love it so much. The whole "more, more faster!!!"-mindset ia imho a deathcult and the assumption, that one in IT needs to appreciate this is something I really find infuriating.
Show threadSerghei PogorFeb 19
This is such a good distinction. Technology built to solve real problems vs technology built to extract value from people. The joy comes from the former and we used to have way more of it
Show threadCreamy Spinach JalapeñoFeb 19
I like this concept. Now I have to go look up what a Luddite is
Show threadJessamynFeb 19

@DrCampbell You will get some conflicting information depending on how the author of the piece feels about labor politics. I like this article from 2011 from Smithsonian Magazine.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-the-luddites-really-fought-against-264412/

What the Luddites Really Fought Against

The label now has many meanings, but when the group protested 200 years ago, technology wasn't really the enemy

Smithsonian Magazine
Show threadCreamy Spinach JalapeñoFeb 20
@jessamyn thank you
Show threadQybatFeb 20
@DrCampbell The Luddites got a bad reputation because almost everything history recorded about them was written by their enemies. Rich bastards stick together, and newspapers of the time published much mockery and condemnation of the Luddites, while their own writings were suppressed and destroyed. They were subject to an effective smear campaign that forever cemented their reputation as backwards and foolish.
Show threadQybatFeb 20

@DrCampbell But viewed from their perspective, their anger is understandable.

"I'm the new factory owner, and I just ruined your business. But here, you can work at my factory! With these tools you can make ten times as much. Oh, you won't be paid as much - it's my factory, so all the profits are mine. But you can still earn enough to rent a room for sixteen people to share if you just work, oh, fourteen hours a day, six and a half days a week. You can have half a day off on Sunday for church."

Show threadSolar🌄GardenFeb 19

@tante then there is also the tension between human technology and all other life forms, even if the *intention* of the creators of that technology is benign.

I'm enjoying more and more giving other lifeforms the benefit of the doubt and minimising the tech. Or using the tech to minimise the tech. Like outdoor illumination that responds (gracefully) to human needs, not blitzing night creatures all night. No not the floodlight that flashes 50 times every night when the cat walks past.

Show threadbearsongFeb 20

@tante

would you like to listen to a song for luddites?
https://ravenation.club/@bearsong/116104233823870563
? 🙂 ✊

Show threaddidn't i already open xcodeFeb 21
@tante I felt this way too, I just never realised I was a Luddite
Show threadtanteFeb 21
@joe_fishfish welcome to the club
Show threadpatterFeb 27
@tante yes! technology that's a physical thing not "computer"