HN Explorer

Can you all feel the crash coming?

9 points by frendiversity ↗ HN
Facebook is The New Myspace. Google is The New Microsoft. The web is getting scammier and spammier. It's too cluttered, too saturated. It feels lonely.

It's over, guys. Not FUD. Just a feeling. Who else feels it?

13 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 45.9 ms ] thread
dragonbonheur
The web and tech should be what you make of them. Don't let multi-billion companies define what you do or enjoy, that's all.
dragonbonheur
I should also note that's what program or be programmed is all about.
laveur
I agree with the comment below mine. I talk with people frequently online, but I also use the tool as a way to research and see whats going on. I also get out and do stuff frequently. I use FB, Twitter to share my thoughts and interest and stay in touch. I don't post anything that is to extremely personal. It really is what you want it to be.
pretoriusB
>It really is what you want it to be.

If you were an isolated island maybe. But things seldom work this way.

Sure, you can do whatever you like, but when the prevalent behaviour is against yours, your behaviour will have certain consequences.

If the huge masses use FB/Twitter etc differently, then you are a pariah (even if it's only in one sphere in your life).

If they allow or enable with their voting for privacy laws to change, then you are targeted.

If more and more corporations insist on checking your online profile before hiring, and are allowed to do so, then you are suspect if you don't post enough, or post even lightly controversial things (e.g your use of "medical marijuana").

What we do and what we can do is shaped by what all the other people do. That's how it is living in a society.

dragonbonheur
Or we could learn electronics, programming and make our own future. We can. It's really program or be programmed. That's what hackers do.
matmann2001
Some see a crash; others see innovation and revolution.
pretoriusB
Yes, and because there is an objective reality underneath and not a fantasy land, one or the other should be right.

Care picking sides?

Mz
Change is inevitable. Disaster is not. Everyone has some degree of choice in how they meet those changes. One man's crash is another's opportunity. Both "sides" can be true, for different people at the same time.
pretoriusB
At the individual level maybe.

(Maybe as a European) I prefer to think at the societal level.

Not wanting to ivoke Godwin's law, but when Nazism came to power it too was a disaster for millions and an opportunity for few (e.g party leaders, lackeys, arms industries, etc).

All the same, I would still call it solely a disaster.

Same with the '29 and the "Great Depression". Some people probably made a lot of money off of it, but at the large scale, it was a tragedy and a disaster.

kintamanimatt
MySpace was the new Friendster which was the new Six Degrees which was the new ...

The internet is faster moving than meatspace. All brands have a lifespan, it's just that online brands tend to burn brighter and live shorter lives. We see meatspace brands being replaced by newer brands too. Who remembers Olivetti and their typewriters being superseded by some new hotness?

Oh and let me introduce you to sales letter websites that promise the earth, which have practically remained unchanged in form or function in the 14 years I've been online!

It's not over. It's like the milk in your fridge: needs to be replaced often to stay fresh.

kapnobatairza
I flagged this post because for one, it isn't tagged with the appropriate AskHN, and for two, it really isn't a useful way to open the discussion you want to have.

Suggestion for a way to re-introduce this thread: "AskHN: What is the outlook for startup financing?".

This way, you aren't staging the question (Asking is a crash is coming vs Asking if you think there is no crash coming biases the respondent towards a specific camp). Also, you are inviting more thoughtful, evidence-based discussion rather than one based on "feeling".

On top of that, I would introduce your question with more thoughtful analysis than naming a few spaces where large companies heavily overlap and "feelings".

frendiversity
I'm talking very specifically about a feeling. Sometimes you can tell when things are going to die, just a thought stream buried in the subconscious.

I didn't want to have a discussion. I just wanted to put it out there. It just feels like the novelty has worn off, and everyone is going to realize they are wearing tracking devices instead of believing we are in a magical techno-future now.

GiraffeNecktie
"I didn't want to have a discussion. I just wanted to put it out there. "

WTF?