The US president is weaponising tech, but his tariffs and Brexit provide a surprising opportunity to gain back digital control of our lives, says science fiction author, activist and journalist Cory Doctorow
If we can convince the ignorant masses to stop buying based on consumerism and purchase based on well informed decisions instead then we would see a shift in enshittification or at least have alternatives. But that’s very unlikely since it’s easier to conform and fall in line and accept your fate.
It also expects that people are content to actually fix things, or sew tears in clothing, or whatever, and that often requires a little research and initiative in a world where it’s been made abundantly cheap and convenient to just replace almost everything.
I don’t think it’s necessarily ignorance so much as a combination of laziness and incredible convenience.
A few years ago I taught myself to fix my laptop screen via Youtube and saved myself a $400 repair, but most people would just chuck it and buy a new one.
The issue is not whether people are willing to do it, but whether they should be allowed to.
I can’t think of any situation where disallowing people from repairing their own property makes any sense. The only ones it makes sense to are the ones who profit from it.
I can’t think of any situation where disallowing people from repairing their own property makes any sense.
I can think of one, but the issue is largely a thing of the past: old CRT TV’s or monitors. If you attempt to repair one without knowing what you’re doing, you literally could get yourself killed.
That said, I still agree with you wholeheartedly. I’d much rather mandate dangerous to repair products be labeled as such, but the design and construction of consumer products should never prohibit the end user from being able to repair their own property.
We need to mandate interoperability and open protocols (as we did with all our other communication media prior) to avoid the siloing of users in captured commercial ecosystems.
If we can convince the ignorant masses to stop buying based on consumerism and purchase based on well informed decisions instead then we would see a shift in enshittification or at least have alternatives. But that’s very unlikely since it’s easier to conform and fall in line and accept your fate.
It also expects that people are content to actually fix things, or sew tears in clothing, or whatever, and that often requires a little research and initiative in a world where it’s been made abundantly cheap and convenient to just replace almost everything.
I don’t think it’s necessarily ignorance so much as a combination of laziness and incredible convenience.
A few years ago I taught myself to fix my laptop screen via Youtube and saved myself a $400 repair, but most people would just chuck it and buy a new one.
The issue is not whether people are willing to do it, but whether they should be allowed to.
I can’t think of any situation where disallowing people from repairing their own property makes any sense. The only ones it makes sense to are the ones who profit from it.
I can think of one, but the issue is largely a thing of the past: old CRT TV’s or monitors. If you attempt to repair one without knowing what you’re doing, you literally could get yourself killed.
That said, I still agree with you wholeheartedly. I’d much rather mandate dangerous to repair products be labeled as such, but the design and construction of consumer products should never prohibit the end user from being able to repair their own property.
We need to mandate interoperability and open protocols (as we did with all our other communication media prior) to avoid the siloing of users in captured commercial ecosystems.