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The Computer, the Consumer and Privacy (1984) (nytimes.com)
17 points by i2rohan2 on Sept 4, 2020 | hide | past | favorite | 4 comments



> With about $3.5 million worth of MacIntoshes sold just after the advertisement ran, Mr. Thomas judged the effort ''absolutely successful.'' ''We also set out to smash the old canard that the computer will enslave us,'' he said. ''We did not say the computer will set us free - I have no idea how it will work out. This was strictly a marketing position.''


To be honest, we still have no idea how it will work out.


But we do know that only free software can guarantee our freedom: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-even-more-impor...


  As technology grows in power, its ability either to disrupt or to heal increases. We can destroy the planet more easily than we can heal the harm we have done so far. To heal, we have to move to new technologies, new social patterns, new types of consumer products, new ways of generating and spending wealth. Such changes will inevitably occur, whether they are brought by healing forethought or mindless destruction. The future will not be a repetition of the past.

James Martin (1978) The wired society. p. 3




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