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We’re techy enough nerds to know there’s another way to be free of billionaire influence while still keeping some resemblance of modern communication: self-hosting.
Good luck self hosting something to message your contacts.
E-mail is a thing.
Dude walked face first into that one.
All your friends are on a group chat and they will periodically mail you the updates. Sure, why not?
Ðe peer group really is a concern. And OSS kind of stinks for normies much of ðe time.
I got ðe family on Circles, and my SIL (ðe one with ðe toddler) loved it… until it lost all of her posts for ðe family, and ðen shut down.
All my friends chat over our self hosted matrix server. There is always a way.
Only if that email can pry my attention away from my email based multiplayer game of Civ 4.
And I self host mine!
So do I, but I wouldn’t recommend it for everybody. Hosting your email has sucked for decades. For a long time the issue was incoming spam. That never really went away, but now in addition to that you get a constant barrage of people trying to crack into your server. Plus, you get the fun of trying to convince the big email gatekeepers that you’re still legit. And for that one they change the rules constantly and on a whim.
My family and immediate friends are all on my Matrix server.
I have my own dedicated public server, so I can selfhost anything I want. And I do selfhost a lot.
I selfhost since so long that some of my domains could vote, but I still need some “mainstream” channels to be reached by several people.
If we can argue that close friends will put extra effort to contact you on whatever you use, it’s also true that your landlord, the plumber, the chick you picked up last night, won’t give a shit and simply consider you a lunatic 99% of times if you tell them to use anything non-mainstream.
Yeah, but Matrix has bridges for almost anything.
And people still use email.
Yeah, but Matrix has bridges for almost anything.
But then you are simply using Whatsapp with extra steps.
I don’t, but if the need arises, you can.
At least you don’t have to use their app on your device, and it just talkes on the server.
Good luck self hosting something to message
Dude, it’s pretty easy to set up matrix on a docker container
your contacts
Fuck you’re right
Why self-host messaging when there are so many good options?
You’re asking the wrong guy. I don’t think it makes sense either even if I’m a (moderate) self-hosting guy.
Because fuck centralized software.
And there aren’t many good option, there is only one, and Signal still required phone number for some reason on my phone so I could not give a fuck about it.
We don’t need to go back to handwritten mail, FOSS is the way to go.
Writing someone a letter is a very personal thing and you’re creating a memory. Something tangible, concrete, also weighs in on reality. Looking at a piece of paper with your handwrite makes you understand you’re commiting to something.
I’m a FOSS loon but the craze of making everything digital is absurd. I’ve listened to people criticizing others for using paper and a pencil to take down a memo, note or even journaling, when they can do it on their phone.
Is existing so dreadful nowadays? Does the notion of leaving proof of existence scares?
Its nothing to do with contempt for the media, or not wanting to leave evidence of my existence or anything like that, its just that I got shit to do.
Yeah, handwriting sucks. I used to type my homework in a mechanical typewriter, holy cow even that sucked. Going from that to an electrical typewriter that could hold a line in memory was amazing, but still nothing compared to a proper word processor. Wordstar in MS-DOS anyone?
I still like to sketch my ideas from time to time, but all my permanent notes are stored in Joplin, encrypted, in local backup, and synced to the cloud. I can’t afford to lose them, and I can’t afford to lug around with me a heavy suitcase of papers.
I’ve seen young people wishing for simpler times, kids using Polaroid cameras, hunting retro consoles that were already ancient when they were born, longing for music that was way before their time, etc. I get they’re disillusioned with the current state of things, but romanticizing the past is not a healthy way to cope with the horrible today.
I don’t doubt you have a busy life. And that is not the subject at hand here.
What should concern us, collectively, is that we are constantly being pushed the notion that we do not have enough time and that tech is always the solution, when it is not.
I’m going to take a risk and say you write faster than you type and reaching for a pencil is quicker than launching a program.
I most certainly don’t write faster than I type, and sending an email or a chat message certainly doesn’t take longer than finding something to write with and something to write on. There is a big factor of habit and lifestyle - I don’t usually write stuff down, so I don’t have prepared/assigned tools for that, but I use my computer a lot, so I do have software installed and tools/commands memorised.
And, frankly, out of many possible options, plain text is something computers are really good at - there’s basically no risk of running out of space, it’s indexable and searchable, it’s editable, and it’s very universal.
Things do get a bit more complex when you include formatting, and a lot more complicated when you start adding annotations or illustrations, or even just more freeform writing styles, but there’s still a major factor of habit - I don’t know what my note taking would look like if I had a habit of pen and paper, but I know I’m very comfortable with using tech for that, and it works great for me!
I’m going to take a risk and say you write faster than you type and reaching for a pencil is quicker than launching a program.
Maybe for you, but opening KWrite takes only 5-6 key presses and I type much faster than I write
Not to mention the fact theyd be expecting me to write well enough to be able to reread it later. Even if I wrote it at half my typing speed I still would not be able to make that shit out.
And not just you, short hand used to be ubiquitous before the computer, now it’s all but extinct.
I’m going to take a risk and say you write faster than you type
I have a very hard time believing this. From some quick googling, it seems that experienced writers can do 40 wpm, which is really slow in comparison to an (even an inexperienced) typer. Also, typing has no risk of being unreadable, unlike writing (e.g. doctor’s written notes).
and reaching for a pencil is quicker than launching a program.
Maybe if your computer is really slow.
If you have bad calligraphy, practice. Won’t hurt you.
Typing works perfectly fine for me in the vast majority of cases.
An inexperienced typer might be slower than 40 wpm. I’ve seen people type maybe 10 words per minute using only index fingers and looking for every letter. An inexperienced touch typer is maybe 40-60 wpm range though.
I do up to around 140 wpm which many people think is lightning fast but then there’s people who can do 250 and I can’t even comprehend being that fast. Goddamn Sean Wrona.
Just to give some perspective.
Yeah you said that, until a doctor hand you a handwritten letter.
Weren’t those a thing to admire? Chicken scratches on the ground could be more readable.
A guy I worked with, not even super closely, left me a handwritten card when he moved on saying it was a pleasure working with me. I did not expect it and almost certainly didn’t deserve it but I still have that card somewhere.
That was nice.
There is something to be said in writing a handwritten letter for someone special once in a while. But I’m so glad that I can just pick up a phone and call my brother who lives in another state and chat with him (no long distance charges). If it’s something better said in writing there’s email and texts.
There’s also the aspect of text’s that are more personal that no one really talks about. You can just check in on a friend to see how they are doing without really having any other reason to contact them. I know I appreciate it when that happens to me.
I guess you could write someone a letter asking how they are doing, but if the answer is ‘not good’, by the time you receive the reply days have passed and you probably missed the opportunity to be there for them when they needed it.
This isn’t even considering the environmental benefits of not having to A) produce paper, pens, envelopes, stamps and B) physically deliver the letters.
There’s a lot of things about modern tech that you could criticize, but I don’t think more/better options for communication is one of them honestly.
That last panel hit me like a truck because… yeah, that’s what people think happens when they do their little personal choice things to pretend they matter.
They really buy like a paper book once and go “ah, yes, Bezos is fuming right now” while he makes another billion.
We have lost all sense of how to influence society and all ability to gauge scale. For all the folksy traditionalism in this (which includes driving a gas guzzler from the 70s, apparently?) the Internet has created this entirely disproportionate sense of our footprint on the world and this strip is as much a result of the hyperconnected dystopia as everything it’s complaining about.
In my experience this is extra bad for Americans who, frankly, didn’t need that much of a push to go from their individualist, self-centered perception of society to this vision of sitting on a couch listening to a walkman as activism.
We have lost all sense of how to influence the world and all ability to gauge scale.
Absolutely correct!
I believe in “voting with your wallet” and I do little sacrifices to respect my ideas, but I’m conscious that I’m just one step above people clicking on petitions online in terms of impact.
I think the point is that we’re deluded to think that voting with our wallets does anything. You still work. You still buy. You still support the system. The one step you’re taking only gets you partway from the couch to the refrigerator. It doesn’t get you out the door and into a protest that would actually make a difference.
You still work. You still buy. You still support the system.
Of course, because I’m no more 16 arguing that a revolution is the solution.
Indeed, you are thoroughly pacified. Your objections and moral outage quelled and your sense of significance sustained by the illusion that simply buying from a different conglomerate will have any impact.
Any suggestion that your impotent protest is inadequate must surely come from a childish fool.
Ping me when you changed the world with whatever you are actually doing behind that keyboard 👋
Masturbating, I’m masturbating. And so are you when you think that voting with your wallet does anything.
Masturbating, I’m masturbating.
Wow! Do it in public fully naked with the reasons of the protest tattooed on your body. You may hit the news and reach lots of people!
I must be imagining all the Governors in the northern states begging us Canadians to start visiting again. Voting with you wallet does work if enough people get on board.
It’s so hard for people to agree that we should be doing something. Instead you argue that you are not going to do anything just out of spite all because OP personally may not be doing anything but their words are a bit preachy. If OP was a hypocrite but they still said the right thing why would you deliberately disagree? What would motivate you to act?
we should be doing something
Ok, let’s dive into it. What does “doing something” exactly mean? I’ve been into this since before I could vote, so I saw quite through it.
“Doing something” means a lot of different things for different people. Signing a petition, going to a march, writing on a wall, you name it. For some people “doing something” means sitting all day discussing about socialism and revolution in a living room. For others it is more biking together with Critical Mass against oil on weekends. There are those seeking small daily actions like recycling, and then there are the activist jumping on a boat with Greenpeace to save the whales, and the terrorists doing anything from damaging something to placing a bomb.
What does it mean for you “doing something”? Once you determine that, determine how much of that something would be adopted by the general population and what level of change could that reasonably achieve. I’ll anticipate the result of you exercise: the bigger is your something and the smaller will be the adoption, but the product in terms of impact will be always “very small”.
Take Occupy Wall Street to make an example. I loved the whole thing, I love the work of David Graeber, and it was a massive success, but what did they achieve in practice? The expression 99% entered in the general culture and there may be a bit more awareness of the problem of billionaires, but looking at cold metrics it was like a big storm, then the sun came back and a few days later the last puddle evaporated.
you argue that you are not going to do anything just out of spite all because OP personally may not be doing anything but their words are a bit preachy
Who said I’m not doing anything? OP said “You still work. You still buy. You still support the system.” to which I replied that I’m no more a naive 16 years old who shouts fuck the system and dreams to live off-the-grid avoiding the rat-race… and then goes back home to have dinner with mum.
If you are an adult and you want to go for it, be my guest! You may become Greta-Thunberg-famous, and people will follow you on social media. You will convince some people that, I don’t know, we should buy durable and reparable things to save the planet and fight consumerism. You will have an impact, albeit very small, and that will be a massive achievement if you dedicate your whole life to that.
Just, please, stop with idiotic replies accusing people to be enslaved in the system because it’s an insult to anyone who is currently looking for a solution for cancer, saving lives as a firefighter, building houses where people will live, growing crops, and even keeping up internet so people can praise the revolution against the machine from their bedrooms.
this is it. guilliotines exist. is organizing against corporations, or actually understanding the tech we use so hopeless for regular people that they feel have to maintain 1980s shit just to be rid of it?
Also, it’s getting harder and harder to live without modern devices.
Try living in the modern world without a cell phone. It’s hard to do almost anything without one. If you get a flip phone that can handle text messages you can get a bit further, but it’s a matter of time before that’s not enough.
And sure, you can listen to cassettes on a walkman. And maybe you saved some tapes from 40 years ago, and maybe they still work. But, how do you get more music? Sure, you can probably find a place to order tapes online. But, then they want to verify your account and that means texting a verification code to your phone and…
As for print media. Sure, you can still buy paper books. But, if you want a real newspaper, good luck. There are a few that are still around, AFAIK you can still get the NY Times in print. But, I really doubt you still even have a local newspaper, let alone a newspaper that prints on paper.
All but one of the major papers where I’m from have a print version. I imagine that changes in different countries.
But… yeah, point taken. Over here you can’t even not have a Whatsapp account. Some businesses and transactions just… assume you do and default to it for communication.
An interesting wrinkle is that some of that legacy media is part of this loop, too. You can, in fact, buy new tape players and tapes and you can put new music into them. It’s all just very expensive trendy, hipstery small run collector stuff that costs a lot of money and sells to privileged people with a nostalgic desire for posturing. Which does put a lot of where this message ends up in context, I suppose.
That’s exactly what is so nice about FOSS based systems. You can use technology but without the tech bros and the corporate enshittification.
or, you know, you can have best of both worlds with open technologies. tech that you own and control.
i wonder whether we will have to seize the means of computer chip production as well …
Of course we would.
I am and probably always will be a tech enthusiast, but as time goes on I find myself more and more looking for old technology to avoid planned obsolescence, anti-repair bs, telemetry & tracking, lack of consideration for quality of life…
This is not how things were supposed to be. But this is how things will be if we don’t do something about oligarchs and certain CEOs.
Technology can develop in various directions. This is exactly what it looks like when technology is developed for consumerism. Buy more now, it doesn’t need to last, stimulate the economy. Rent what you can, everything else as a service.
It is really weird, isn’t it. I’ve always been a major enthusiast for Tech. Always wanted to get in on VR when it was first evolving, as I could see how else could use VR. I bought oneof the first iPods cause I messed with one and realized it was a game changer for what we had at that time. Now, I find myself cautioning people on the use of AI and home automation. I feel like I’m turning into a Luddite.
Don’t be ashamed of being a Luddite. The Luddites were actually fighting for a righteous cause.
Too true, just didn’t think I’d be following their lead…
I always say, it peaked about 2010, maybe earlier. Then innovation stopped, and surveillance REALLY took off. All they have left now is your data, and ads, because the iPhone was the last actually innovative useful device.
Its not worth innovating in late stage capitalism when you can make everything a subscription and gouge your customers for life while making your product worse and worse.
Cutting out the middle man does not involve technologically regressing.
Cutting out the middle man means stepping up and learning how the tech you use in your daily lives actually works. The only reason some tech bro can step in and ruin your life is if you let them keep you ignorant through convenience.
You want to cut out the middle man? Use, and support, open source. Fight to make everything that requires a server, be a server that you own in your own home (or is federated and in your local community). Use, and support, repairable technology… And actually repair your technology!
Cutting out the middle man does not involve technologically regressing.
But then how can you performatively sit in Starbucks with a mechanical typewriter and then post it on social media so everyone knows how progressive and anti-establishment you are???
does not involve technologically regressing.
The fallacy that technological progress is inherently good is simply flawed. You could say “instead of relying on Spotify, and instead of “technologically regressing”, learn open source alternatives and host your own Jellyfin server!”
But what was wrong with “technologically regressing” exactly? A MP3, CD or even tape recording player will: always work, sound great, require zero user friction, never receive updates or security flaws, not depend on a convoluted self hosted setup.
Do you want to listen to music or impress Lemmy? There’s absolutely no argument to be made that requires accepting all tech simply because it’s tech.
It’s also a fallacy that technology always progresses. If technology from 25 years ago serves you better than technology from today, it’s the superior technology.
Exactly.
Technological progress isn’t inherently anything. It’s just technological progress; an inevitability. Fighting against it is like fighting the laws of the universe, if not outright stupidly phobic.
What defines the “goodness” of technology is how people choose to use it.
Everything more said is just pointless philosophical fluff.
Technological progress isn’t inherently anything
Exactly. So arguing that “you shouldn’t technologically regress” is meaningless.
Fighting against it is like fighting the laws of the universe
Not only is this not applicable to the argument at hand, given there’s no law of nature that makes a CD player implode just because Spotify exists, but this statement is so bizarrely wrong it’s almost hard to take the rest of the discussion seriously.
Exactly. So arguing that “you shouldn’t technologically regress” is meaningless.
Did you lose track of your own argument?
You assumed that I meant technological progress is inherently good. I said technological progress isn’t good or bad, just inevitable. That does not mean that technological regression isn’t inherently bad.
And yes, the CD player did implode, figuratively, because Spotify exists. :)
Oh look. Lol Amish 2.0
Calling somebody using a retro MP3 player “Amish 2.0” is as moronic as calling you a tech bro neuralink implanted Musk boy just because you’re defending technological progress. Both would be equally ridiculous statements, but the difference is, you actually wrote the moronic comment.
These technology phobes are the next generation who will be scammed out of their pension fund, inheritance or investments just like current boomers who refused to advance along with the world, and they deserve to be hacked, scammed, robbed because they refuse to keep learning.
Learn or get left behind.
There’s absolutely no argument to be made that requires accepting all tech simply because it’s tech.
False dichotomy and a stupid comic strip making a stupid point all the way down.
If we cared about this issue we would be pushing for the installation of representatives who want to ban planned obsolescence and systems that require you to have the newest, most expensive vehicles, appliances and gadgets. Our current entire government is subservient to and employed by companies that make billions on this manufactured consent to always “needing” to spend our labor on useless junk.
To say nothing of the inherent, massive problem that we made it legal to buy and own politicians.
Yeah no. You just didn’t understand the comic and made a stupid point. It happens.
Okay, ya’ll kids keep arguing about “devices” while millions of people are forced to buy the newest phones so they can get their email and attend job interviews, while mountains of money get poured into politicians who are affording their fifth homes because Samsung pays them in wheelbarrows of cash to keep consumer protection agencies neutered or destroyed.
They are too lazy for that.
pre-computerised car
No one want to fiddle with carburetor anymore thank you very much.
And tbh, 2010-2015 is comfortable enough and less bullshit.
I think that’s more aimed at Internet connected vehicles than those with an ECU.
Speak for yourself, there’s nothing wrong with my carburettor!
My distributor on the other hand is a pain in the ass. Electronic ignition has its upsides…
I wouldn’t say no one. Carbs are just fine, and were insanely good before they were killed off. With our research now, We could have AMAZING carbs. And guess what, you can fix them yourself!
Myself and many others need nothing more than roll down windows, am radio, and a seat belt. Too many lazy people today want to drive a damn land yacht with 56 screens in it. yells at cloud
I get that, but honestly i’m getting tired of having to adjust the distributor timing and fiddle with the air-fuel ratio to get it just “right”, else the car would either underpowered, use a lot more fuel, or emission is gonna be off the chart. If you work on your own car then it would be all right, it’s a nightmare for people who fix it for a living. But i do get that, when it works, it works really nice.
Yeah I prefer basic efi except when the factory in Taiwan stops making the plastic sensor you need, youre screwed. Thats pretty much all car parts now
I think my current issue with carburetor is exactly that, i can’t take it apart because everything seized, i can’t get a used one because it’s rare, and i can’t get a new one because all on the market is kinda crap. I guess that’s basically how most reliable thing get phased out.
Is this supposed to be satire? How is print media owned by massive conglomerates, flip phones with no OSS firmware, handwritten letters delivered by a literal middleman, avoiding the middlemen??
They’re not defining “middleman” in the traditional sense of an intermediary in an economic exchange. The first panel introduces a new definition of the term as a tech bro attempting to insinuate himself into the process of communicating with others. The remedies offered would indeed seem to preclude this type of middleman from interfering with the process.
No they wouldn’t. All of those products involve middlemen servicing content.
Again. It’s not saying there’s nobody else involved in the chain. It’s saying tech bro enshitification doesn’t have a way in. That’s the only problem it’s claiming to solve.
For instance, you don’t open up a paper book and have an AI window pop up on the page and offer to generate a summary of the book. You don’t take an ordinary pen to a sheet of paper and after two paragraphs have the pen say, “Subscribe to ink services to continue writing, start your free trial today?”
guilliotines exist folks.
we dont actually need to subject ourselves to being luddites.
Luddites got a bad rap from capitalists. The Luddites were not anti-technology, they were against technology destroying people’s jobs. Their whole thing was destroying industrial machinery and sabotaging factories because they were replacing human labor without any alternative in place for the actual people. Hundreds of thousands of people were turned off the land, unemployed, and starving because of greedy capitalists trying to not pay for labor.
If the same people were around today, they’d be trying to blow up AI server farms.
good point
luddites.
Luddites, the followers of Ned Ludd? The guys who smashed machines and went to war against the factory owners who were defending their factories with soldiers and cannons?
They’re a lot more similar to the guys with guillotines than you seem to think.
Pre-computer cars sucked. Anyone that’s worked on mechanical fuel injection will tell you so.
Dude I would love a non computerized car with fuel injection. Of course I stay with an older car with computer. My tuck and wife car are sending shit to tech bros.
I.would be interested in starting a penpal club. That be something cool to bring back in vogue. Of course we could start forms that don’t do tracking or drown you in ads.
You could get one by installing an aftermarket ECU and a fuel injection system in a car from those eras. It’s probably harder than most people would be willing to do, but it’s definitely doable
Nah, mechanical injection diesel engines are awesome.
i think these a microprocessors though? no internet access for them.
I get the idea, but I am kinda stuck on the letter writing bit. They do know that the post getting delivered is kinda built on middlemen right?
Usually those middlemen don’t open up your mail, read what you wrote, then serve you ads based on that.
GPG.
Also, food delivery has always involved middlemen. Instead of food delivered through an app, it was food delivered after a phone call. But, it was a human middleman delivery driver doing the delivery.
Yeah middlemen have been a part of almost all commerce from the start, every store, every trade and most services are in some way middlemen. I think the comic’s message is good but is attributing the terrible actions of llm to middlemen in error.
I’ve been wanting to convert my life to “off grid tech”. I have a nest camera i bought in 2016. So it’s pre Google. Starting about 6 months ago, Google told me unless I allow them full 24/7 access to the cam then I can’t use it. A product i bought almost a decade ago is useless unless I let them spy on me. Fuck you Google.
So anyways, off grid tech. Home surveillance on my own local server protected with physical data and VPN. No more streaming, pirate everything with local server. No more Google or Amazon anything. Music? Mp3. Email? No Gmail, maybe Proton or something. I’ll do all banking through home desktop through VPN. Etc, etc.
I hope to have all these things achieved by 2030
For email, I recommend purelymail. It’s ran by one guy I believe, but it’s a solid cheap service. It’s also pretty easy to setup your own email domains. I’m probably just a nerd, but I love custom email domains.
I would strongly recommend you at least have your own domain if you intend on buying a service from one guy. Everyone can land under a bus one day.
that sure would be a BIG bus!! i didn’t know flashmobs went this far…
😑
just saying, but the email domain everyoneunderabus.com is still available…
help desk -> sysadmin -> CISO -> goat farmer
I think the issue people have with “tech” is that much of the software and devices sold take up too much space and do things people don’t want them to do, without offering choice, configurability, and options for full control
