How one writer's trip to the annual tech conference CES left him with a sinking feeling about the future.
From the (middle of the) story: The reason CES was so packed with random “AI”-branded products was that sticking those two letters to a new company is seen as something of a talisman, a ritual to bring back the (VC) rainy season.
We’re hitting walls when it comes to increases in computing power. We’ve made transistors nearly as small as they can get, so all we can do now is parallelize the processing (multi-core, etc.). But even then, computing power has reached such a point that most people don’t even notice the difference from one generation of hardware to the next. I have a MacbookPro from 2015 that still runs like a champ. I’m sure I’m going to start hitting walls when it comes to what hardware macOS will support, but the hardware itself is perfectly fine. So unless you’re into specific niches (gaming, video production, 3D modeling, high-end workstation needs, etc.), incremental shifts these days are literally nothing to get excited about.
Operating systems barely change between major upgrades. Beside the horrendous change of the System Settings pane in macOS to look like it’s iOS and iPadOS counterparts, you’d be hard pressed to see much of a difference in macOS from the last 4-5 versions.
The web has coalesced into a handful of walled gardens, AI generated content, SEO-driven content, algorithmically driven content, with every website looking just like every other one, every post looking like every other, and big UX shifts just for the sake of a version number change.
And the tech industry has become so toxic, predatory, and socially harmful that it’s really hard to feel exciting by anything anymore. More landfill fodder from companies that are actively destroying democracy? The latest AI product to use as an excuse to layoff massive numbers of people and wreck entire industries for a garbage product, just to pad the bottom line? Fuck all of that.
The paradigm shifts we’re seeing now aren’t technological, capitalists are just using technology as an excuse to wreak havoc on society. It’s fucking bleak
Worth noting this is all a byproduct of capitalism as it exists today. Not nearly enough competition or regulation means every major change these days is really just “How can we put more ads in people’s devices? How can we instill FOMO? How can we charge more money for less service?”
Look at how bad mainstream UX/UI has become, even on the biggest platforms with the most industry experience. Windows 11 is a fucking joke and everyone is certain the next one will be worse. We know Microsoft can design a good UI, but they choose not to because they don’t care about the consumer except as it pertains to getting clicks and ad revenue. They shove Edge back in your taskbar after every update, they make finding your own shit on your computer impossible so you’ll use Cortana. Who asked for icons to be centered by default? Who asked for them to fuck around with the start menu for at least the fifth time in two decades? Nobody. But everything they do is for the benefit of the shareholders.
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I think this is the thing right here.
We’re hitting walls when it comes to increases in computing power. We’ve made transistors nearly as small as they can get, so all we can do now is parallelize the processing (multi-core, etc.). But even then, computing power has reached such a point that most people don’t even notice the difference from one generation of hardware to the next. I have a MacbookPro from 2015 that still runs like a champ. I’m sure I’m going to start hitting walls when it comes to what hardware macOS will support, but the hardware itself is perfectly fine. So unless you’re into specific niches (gaming, video production, 3D modeling, high-end workstation needs, etc.), incremental shifts these days are literally nothing to get excited about.
Operating systems barely change between major upgrades. Beside the horrendous change of the System Settings pane in macOS to look like it’s iOS and iPadOS counterparts, you’d be hard pressed to see much of a difference in macOS from the last 4-5 versions.
The web has coalesced into a handful of walled gardens, AI generated content, SEO-driven content, algorithmically driven content, with every website looking just like every other one, every post looking like every other, and big UX shifts just for the sake of a version number change.
And the tech industry has become so toxic, predatory, and socially harmful that it’s really hard to feel exciting by anything anymore. More landfill fodder from companies that are actively destroying democracy? The latest AI product to use as an excuse to layoff massive numbers of people and wreck entire industries for a garbage product, just to pad the bottom line? Fuck all of that.
The paradigm shifts we’re seeing now aren’t technological, capitalists are just using technology as an excuse to wreak havoc on society. It’s fucking bleak
Reaching you from a 2011(12?) MacBook.
Worth noting this is all a byproduct of capitalism as it exists today. Not nearly enough competition or regulation means every major change these days is really just “How can we put more ads in people’s devices? How can we instill FOMO? How can we charge more money for less service?”
Look at how bad mainstream UX/UI has become, even on the biggest platforms with the most industry experience. Windows 11 is a fucking joke and everyone is certain the next one will be worse. We know Microsoft can design a good UI, but they choose not to because they don’t care about the consumer except as it pertains to getting clicks and ad revenue. They shove Edge back in your taskbar after every update, they make finding your own shit on your computer impossible so you’ll use Cortana. Who asked for icons to be centered by default? Who asked for them to fuck around with the start menu for at least the fifth time in two decades? Nobody. But everything they do is for the benefit of the shareholders.