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I'm worried that in the future we will be forced to use smartphones just like in China (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by ULTIMATEDEAD@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.world

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In China, you can't exist without a smartphone, because for all existential things you have to do (paying bills, buying tickets etc.) , you are forced to use the almighty wechat app. Smartphones are a tool to manipulate and to spy on the population. It is a tool utilized by the ruling class, to control the masses. I hate the future and I hate "progress".

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[–] HidingCat@kbin.social 18 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm the opposite; coming from a more digital society my worry isn't that we'll all use smartphones, but that people don't have access to digital initiatives and will be left behind. I also am concerned with how some things don't have more regulatory oversight.

In short, smartphones good, unregulated big tech, bad. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[–] xionzui@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

The real issue is the concentration of power. WeChat is the gatekeeper and moderator of basically everything in China. They decide what apps and services are allowed to be successful. If they see something doing well, they have the data and the control to make a copy of it and replace the original with it. Sort of like Amazon does in the retail space.

[–] partizan@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Lets not forget another scenario, if there is some large scale issue - massive internet outage for whatever reason, you are done in cashless society... You cant buy basic stuff...

And such scenario is not out of a scifi, it happened in 1859 - Carrington event - a solar eruption so large, it completely crippled the whole telegraph system, which is much more resilient than our current electronic age... And its not a question if it happens again, but when...

But we dont even need to go that far, just look at Hawaii - large part of it is out of service due to current fires...

Thats why I would never abandon physical money completely...

[–] HidingCat@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So we stay stuck in the past because of the fear of a disaster, is that what you're saying? The communities here can be such a strange mix of ludditeness and technology purism.

[–] partizan@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

We can use new technologies, but we always should have a fallback option, in this case cash, otherwise quite bad things usually happen if the technology fails. Planes also have multiple backup systems, many even systems which can work during total electrical system failure. One would expect similar levels of redundancy in other crucial systems, but somehow this is not really the case.

[–] ULTIMATEDEAD@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago

unregulated big tech, bad.

Who should regulate big tech in the interest of the people? The corporatist state???