If the past 30 years of tech didn't exist, what would you rebuild first?

[Dani]

Let's go down a philosophical rabbit hole. It's the year 2025, but technology hasn't advanced over the past 30 years. We're still getting America Online CDs in the mail, and Bill Gates' dream of a Windows PC in every home in America is slowly but surely becoming a reality.

Now imagine you have the knowledge you have today. What would be the first thing you'd try to rebuild from scratch? What matters most when everything else is gone?

On the other hand, what tech shouldn't be rebuilt because it caused more harm in the world than good?

[Dani]

OK, so I'm realizing I should probably go first. My first instinct is to say I'd recreate DaniWeb, because 30 years ago is just a few years before I started developing a strong interest in web development, starting with HTML and the cgi-bin :) I believe I registered daniweb.com in 1998.

However, I'm going to go big on this one and say fiber and cable run directly into homes, mobile phones, wifi everywhere, streaming services, and electric cars.

[Salem]

On the other hand, what tech shouldn't be rebuilt because it caused more harm in the world than good?

The entire landscape of "social media" platforms.

Where the biggest idiots with the loudest voices get promoted by stupid money-driven algorithms for clicks.

[Dani]

Oh, I’m quite the opposite! I think that social media, with all its bad, also has given sooooo many people from all walks of life a platform, has introduced people to other cultures they would otherwise never be exposed to, and has unified the world in a way that otherwise would never exist. Because of social media, we get access to local and global news stories, as they’re unfolding, right from the source, instead of relying on TV news anchormen and newspapers giving a watered down view hours or days later. Plus, I have something to entertain me as I’m winding down in bed at night.

[Salem]

has introduced people to other cultures they would otherwise never be exposed to, and has unified the world in a way that otherwise would never exist.

But it's always through someone else's lens.

Which today is rife with manipulation.

Some small fraction is genuinely informative. The vast majority of it is designed to yank whatever chains you hold onto.

[Reverend Jim]

But it's always through someone else's lens.

All information about the world that is not first hand is through someone else's lens.

[trcooke]

I would create a system of resource referencing that would eliminate the prolific duplication of data that consumes non trivial proportions of all our data centers. The end result being that we need far fewer data centers and thus reduce the damage they cause to the planet and its environment. Something like the thing Joe Armstrong describes in this, one of my favourite, conference talks "The mess we're in" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKXe3HUG2l4 The whole video is well worth watching but the bit specifically relating to what I'm talking about here is "The Entropy Reverser" at 31:55.

[Dani]

But it's always through someone else's lens.

All information about the world that is not first hand is through someone else's lens.

Precisely. Would you prefer to remain living in an echo chamber, only ever exposed to your region's own culture and politics?