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diff --git a/content/weblog/2023-01-31_overcomplicated/index.md b/content/weblog/2023-01-31_overcomplicated/index.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1b5d639 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/weblog/2023-01-31_overcomplicated/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,167 @@ ++++ +title = "Overcomplicated" +date = 2023-01-31T22:18:53 ++++ + +We take it as a fact that life is simpler for man these days than it was even a +couple hundred years ago, let alone a thousand years ago. We hear it all the +time. If we take a closer look to even what has been happening in the last 20 to +30 years, it might turn out that life might not be getting simpler anymore. + +<!-- more --> + +If we are talking about surviving, then yes, most certainly it has become quite +simple for people to live to see another day and to avoid many of the natural +causes of death, even those as simple as starvation and disease. That is, if we +talk about the developed world from the point of view from which I'll be +writing, since even in most of the not so developed parts of the world the +advances of the developed nations have been seeping through. + +Mostly of course, life expectancy wasn't that great before not because people +didn't live until old age, but rather because not many children survived into +adulthood, or even birth, for that matter. The point, however, is not that, but +the fact that for one to be able to just survive and live to see another day — +to not die of starvation or disease, or be killed by wild animals — is pretty +easy nowadays. + +That said, surviving for a man isn't really the goal, but rather the means. Man +is more complex than a simple animal, he seeks to find meaning in life, +accomplish great achievements, produce great things and maybe leave something to +be remembered for, at least by the people closest to him. + +So for man to be happy he needs to constantly go through some effort to achieve +something worth of that effort. It is by this process that men acquire the +feeling of accomplishment. What changes for each person is what is worth +achieving. But if something doesn't require much effort then one doesn't feel as +if they've really achieved it. + +On the other hand, if something is difficult but is deemed as not being worth +one's attention or unnecessary, we try to avoid it. If it cannot be avoided it +causes one to feel annoyed, stressed, etc. + +There are, of course, some factors that cannot be avoided, that are part of the +physical limitations of life itself. They can be quite unpleasant, but by +consciously or unconsciously being aware that they absolutely can't be helped +one doesn't feel as bothered by them as by those things that we know that are +artificially made difficult. + +Now, as I mentioned earlier, covering one's basic needs has really become so +much simpler that even though most of a man's life in the past was devoted to +them, nowadays has been relegated to basically just a small fraction of a +person's day. This is of course great, since it allows man to pursue greater +achievements that he may set his sight on. It also allows for debauchery and +degeneracy among those unfortunate people that have bought into the thought that +happiness and freedom mean indulging in hedonistic activities without +restrictions, but that is a topic for another day. + +Even though those basic tasks have been significantly easier, there are some +other aspects of life that are becoming more complex than necessary. + +Life shouldn't be simple. There should be hardships in life, but, as I +mentioned, they should be the kinds of hardships through which we accomplish +something great. Yet modern life is becoming more complex and difficult in +precisely the wrong ways. + +## 'tis actually a rant + +It has been a really long introduction for a very simple rant, but I wanted to +give some context first. + +There are some things that used to be much simpler that are now becoming more +complex and annoying without any benefit whatsoever. + +Probably not all of the examples that I'll list are actually that way in other +parts of the world (I live in Russia), but I get the feeling from what I see +online and talking to other people that it is not much different in most of the +developed (so-called developing countries included) world, and even though some +examples might be exclusively local phenomena most probably there are different +examples from other parts of the world that are at least in similar in nature. + +It's also not an exhaustive list, but you get the idea. + +* Electronic or electric crap where it doesn't make any sense. An example of + this is the electric seats that now come as standard in some cars. It's much + faster and easier to adjust it with ye olde mechanical levers, not to mention + that they are more durable than their electric counterparts. +* It's become nearly impossible to live without a cellphone. You need it for + your bank, many online services, and even some offline ones. Online services + shove it unto you in the form of totally insecure yet terribly cumbersome SMS + 2FA; and now you can't even properly dine at some restaurants because to read + the menu you now have to scan a goddamned QR code. +* IoT in general, but especially in consumer and home appliances. There are some + appliances which are still easy to find in their "dumb" (or rather + non-retarded) versions, but there are others such as TVs which are almost + impossible to find without "smart" crap. I don't want my fridge to connect to + the internet, I just want it to keep my food cool so that it doesn't spoil. In + fact, I don't want anything other than my computer(s), my phone, my home + server and my router to connect to the internet. Now that I think about it, I + might even want for my phone to not be connected to the internet. +* (Online) accounts for everything. This has become so bad, that I have to split + it into subpoints. + - Computers - fortunately, when it comes to general computing devices I don't + use proprietary systems that impose this crap unto me. It still baffles me + the way in which using computers has become so much harder for users of such + consumer-oriented proprietary systems such as Windows. You have to have a M$ + account for that and for this, the default is now not a local account but + the M$ account when installing Winblows. I haven't used Windows in a long + time, but I wouldn't be surprised if now you couldn't even use the + non-professional version without first signing-into a M$ server. + - Appliances - I sometimes play friends in some bars in gaming consoles. I + remember when playing videogames from a console was as simple as putting the + media and powering it on. Now you are constantly pestered to log in, not to + mention that in most cases you also have to install the game or even + "first-day" updates. Here also comes to mind the case with most + "smart"-anything, such as TVs. + - Day-to-day life - this cancer of accounts has been seeping and spreading + into day-to-day real life as well, which is even worse. Now if you make the + mistake of actually giving your phone number for one those discount cards + you suddenly find yourself with an account (even though it might not be + obvious at first) and a lot of SMS spam. But worse of all, government + related accounts. It's okay when online government services are offered as + an **alternative**, but now there are certain things which can't be done at + all without having to register an account in their web services, which are + developed by incompetent government workers that haven't heard the word + security or privacy in their lives. +* You can't just go into a supermarket and just buy what you need like it used + to be, you are bombarded by discount offers, coupons and the like. Just when + you are about to pay you are asked if you have their discount or loyalty card + and god forbid you don't you are asked if you would like to get it. Every + single time. +* Advertisements everywhere. There's nothing inherently wrong with + advertisements in and of themselves, the problem is that they are now + everywhere. Websites, supermarkets, apps, home appliances, operating systems, + cars, your mail box, your email inbox, etc. they are all filled with + advertisements. It's become a circlejerk of everything trying to sell you + something. Want to open the car sharing app to rent a car? How about some + discount for coffee? Maybe if I wanted to drink some coffee I would have gone + to the store or café to buy some. + +These are just some of the examples of the way in which so-called "progress" is +actually making life worse instead of improving it. + +We are getting better at certain things, like more efficient engines and more +powerful computers, but the end experience in most products and services is +getting worse. + +The point of technology is to be used as a tool to give more freedom to people +and make life simpler. Instead of that, people are becoming less free by being +hyper-dependent on technology and complicating life all around. + +The worst part of all of this is that there is no reason why things should be +made this way. Not even profit, since even though that seems to be the goal most +of the time, it doesn't really contribute to making life better for their +customers so that they actually spend money on things they actually need or +want. It seems to be that the people that were inventing and making things some +30 years ago were actually interested in improving the experience of their +users, be it a simple TV or a car. Now it seems that it's just a matter of who +has the shiniest new features or whatever is being hyped now. + +I do have to wonder what all the developers and engineers that design such +systems are thinking. Maybe they are told by their management that it is what +needs to be done, but certainly they must have some agency to know better and do +better. Not doing anything is better than being complicit in building the +nightmare that is being built nowadays. + +I don't really think that the people that are complicit in this really think +that this makes their lives better. Even if it brings them money, now that money +can't be spent on anything that gives you exactly what you need. |