Whom do you trust?

I became somewhat disillusioned with the tech industry. I conceive technology as a tool to support us, humans. Whether that is by giving us a tool to write down our notes, or a framework to create a website like this one in which I’m writing. But when embedded in capitalism, which is what the tech industry is, it can become the least human thing. And this has become more evident to me, specially with the recent events in the US. It’s all about extracting as much monetary value as possible from people. We are seen as exploitable resources.

The most obvious example of this, which I’m extremely annoyed by, is the dopamine addiction that social networks have created. It’s a silent pandemic. When are we going to stop that? Another one is the ad industry. I was watching yesterday a movie in one of those streaming platforms, where I have a subscription, and despite paying for it, I was bombarded with ads. Then there’s this whole AI hype. I get it, LLMs are useful for summarizing, but the environmental cost for society is something we can’t ignore. Or most recently, local apps, like note-taking tools, that suddenly become subscription-based, or use proprietary formats to lock you in.

It doesn’t need to be like that, but those patterns are becoming more common. I strongly believe we can reverse that trend. For a long time I thought open-source was the answer, but after seeing what Wordpress is turning into, I’m not so sure anymore. Governance and openness are two different things. I use Obsidian to write my notes, which is a closed-source tool. I get why they develop it that way (learned through Tuist). If you make a pure client-side tool open source there’s no way you can monetize it to make its development financially sustainable. But what I like about them is that by design and embracement of standards, they give you the freedom to leave. And that’s the thing, you can really build a business around a technology, and respect the people’s freedom and rights at the same time.

So, whom do you trust? It’s hard to say. It’s not an easy question because you don’t have all the information. But before betting on a particular technology, I do a bit of research to understand the design principles (e.g. standards over proprietary technology), their openness, their governance model and funding structure (this is the most difficult to find). And then based on that I make a decision. I sometimes wish governments did that for you. I can do that because I have the priviledge to have learned about these things due to my close relationship with the tech industry. But if you don’t, you should know you might end up mentally sick if you use Instagram and TikTok without limits, in the same one you are reminded that alcohol and tobacco are harmful. But as I said earlier, if anything, with Trump’s presidency, this is becoming even more unregeulated.

I’ll do what I can in my circles and with Marek through our work on Tuist. We don’t need to be like everyone else and jump on the bandwagon. We can build human and long-lasting technology, and not put people in the position of exploitation.