1984: Thread

[grarpamp]

WEF - You Will Own Nothing, and You WILL NOT Be Happy...

Gizmodo, Slate, and Facebook endorse your disownership and subjugation...

https://gizmodo.com/in-2030-you-wont-own-any-gadgets-1847176540
https://slate.com/technology/2016/10/will-technology-make-ownership-obsolete-a-future-tense-event-recap.html
https://www.facebook.com/worldeconomicforum/videos/10153920524981479/

"By 2030, technology will have advanced to the point that even the
idea of owning objects might be obsolete," argues a thought-provoking
new piece by Gizmodo's consumer tech reporter: Back in 2016, the World
Economic Forum released a Facebook video with eight predictions it had
for the world in 2030. "You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy," it
says. "Whatever you want, you'll rent. And it'll be delivered by
drone...."

In some ways, not owning things is easier. You have fewer commitments,
less responsibility, and the freedom to bail whenever you want. There
are upsides to owning less. There's also a big problem... The reality
is when you buy a device that requires proprietary software to run,
you don't own it. The money you hand over is an entry fee, nothing
more. When everything is a lease, you also agree to a life defined by
someone else's terms... When hardware is merely a vessel for software
and not a useful thing on its own, you don't really get to decide
anything. A company will decide when to stop pushing vital updates. It
might also decide what you do with the product after it's "dead...."
The power has shifted so that companies set the parameters, and
consumers have to make do with picking the lesser of several evils...

You can trace much of this back to Section 1201 of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which basically makes it illegal to
circumvent "digital locks" that protect a company's proprietary
software... One day in the future, if you buy a physical house, you
will likely have to rent the software that operates it. You won't
really have a say in the updates that get pushed out, or the features
that get taken away. You'll have less of a say in when you renovate or
upgrade, even if you want to continue using the house as is. You might
not even have the right to do DIY repairs yourself. Just because
you've bought a smart washing machine, doesn't mean you'll be allowed
to repair it yourself if it breaks — or if you'll be allowed to pick
which repair shop can fix it for you. You only have to look as far as
John Deere, Apple, and General Motors. Each one of these companies has
argued that people who bought their products weren't allowed to repair
them unless they were from a pre-approved shop.

The scary thing is that only sounds terrible if you have the mental
energy to care about principles.

Making decisions all the time is difficult, and it's easier when
someone else limits the options you can choose from. It's not hard to
turn a blind eye to a problem if, for the most part, your life is made
a little simpler. Isn't that what every tech company says it's trying
to do? Make your life a little simpler? Life is hard enough already,
and living in a home that maintains itself so long as you hand over
control — well, by 2030, who's to say that's not what we'll all want?