It's probably alarmist, but this has me thinking: What if governments and bastard oligarchs actually manage to reverse the personal computing revolution of the last 50 years?
-
It's probably alarmist, but this has me thinking: What if governments and bastard oligarchs actually manage to reverse the personal computing revolution of the last 50 years? Nothing in tech is inevitable, not even individual practical access to hardware.
On one hand, I'm kinda looking forward to when bubbles burst and used hardware shows up cheap as liquidated surplus. On the other hand, I've got doomsday thinking like "how hard would it be to manufacture a DIY 6502 or Z80 in my garage?"

-
It's probably alarmist, but this has me thinking: What if governments and bastard oligarchs actually manage to reverse the personal computing revolution of the last 50 years? Nothing in tech is inevitable, not even individual practical access to hardware.
@lmorchard I’m mixed - would this also be the end of profit-motivated planned-obsolescence?
-
@lmorchard I’m mixed - would this also be the end of profit-motivated planned-obsolescence?
@dandean I mean, I'd guess it's just replaced directly with profit-motivated planned subscription rate increases

-
On one hand, I'm kinda looking forward to when bubbles burst and used hardware shows up cheap as liquidated surplus. On the other hand, I've got doomsday thinking like "how hard would it be to manufacture a DIY 6502 or Z80 in my garage?"

I know just little enough about the production of ICs to think that building a DIY microprocessor would be akin to when that kid David Hahn tried building a nuclear reactor in his garage in the 90s. But then again, maybe that's what *they* want me to think

-
I know just little enough about the production of ICs to think that building a DIY microprocessor would be akin to when that kid David Hahn tried building a nuclear reactor in his garage in the 90s. But then again, maybe that's what *they* want me to think

Yeah, so anyway, I never throw a computer away, so I'll just be over here muttering "my precious" as the world goes to heck
-
Yeah, so anyway, I never throw a computer away, so I'll just be over here muttering "my precious" as the world goes to heck
@lmorchard you’ll need a vacuum chamber and a homemade photolithography rig, for starters, but maybe one day there’s a sicko near everybody
democratize sicko silicon
-
@lmorchard you’ll need a vacuum chamber and a homemade photolithography rig, for starters, but maybe one day there’s a sicko near everybody
democratize sicko silicon
@maddiefuzz @lmorchard FWIW they're already working on trying to make 3D printers illegal (because you could maybe print parts of guns with them).
-
It's probably alarmist, but this has me thinking: What if governments and bastard oligarchs actually manage to reverse the personal computing revolution of the last 50 years? Nothing in tech is inevitable, not even individual practical access to hardware.
@lmorchard i'm not convinced they can. not for lack of trying, but because they, uh, have built it all on a foundation of having practical access to hardware. the sudden unavailability of personal computing hardware doesn't leave us having to use non-personal computing, it leaves us all up shit creek without a paddle as nearly everything electronic is no longer obtainable
the shitstorm is going to get mighty fun as point-of-sale terminals start being hard to get -
It's probably alarmist, but this has me thinking: What if governments and bastard oligarchs actually manage to reverse the personal computing revolution of the last 50 years? Nothing in tech is inevitable, not even individual practical access to hardware.
@lmorchard @davew It’s not alarmist, it’s something they’ve mentioned in leaked emails, etc… and it’s what is actually happening directly due to their actions regardless of what they say.
-
It's probably alarmist, but this has me thinking: What if governments and bastard oligarchs actually manage to reverse the personal computing revolution of the last 50 years? Nothing in tech is inevitable, not even individual practical access to hardware.
@lmorchard Already accomplished. Cloud computing and web based applications are the mainframe all over again. The priesthood never died, just worked and waited to reemerge.
-
It's probably alarmist, but this has me thinking: What if governments and bastard oligarchs actually manage to reverse the personal computing revolution of the last 50 years? Nothing in tech is inevitable, not even individual practical access to hardware.
@lmorchard you know, the last machine I had that I really liked was a beautiful DEC tank of a Pentium. Just imagine how much better computers could be if software and OSs for the workaday stiff had to run on constrained resources that can now be cheaply produced.
—
Sent from my iPad -
It's probably alarmist, but this has me thinking: What if governments and bastard oligarchs actually manage to reverse the personal computing revolution of the last 50 years? Nothing in tech is inevitable, not even individual practical access to hardware.
Oh, they’re absolutely are. Just look at all the laws that are being passed now and some states. I think it’s Colorado. I just read who wants to put identification personal identification into the OS.
-
It's probably alarmist, but this has me thinking: What if governments and bastard oligarchs actually manage to reverse the personal computing revolution of the last 50 years? Nothing in tech is inevitable, not even individual practical access to hardware.
@lmorchard they are trying unfortunately
-
R ActivityRelay shared this topic