Leenaars discusses the early days of the internet, how much optimism there was.
And how much, in retrospect, na茂vit茅 in choosing partnerships -- both with what became Big Tech and with governments
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Exhibit 1: Github (= Microsoft)
WIth a repo on there, even if you don't share you code with anyone, you still share it with Github/MSFT, which in turn shares it with the US government
"We've been played", says Leenaars
Are these big tech companies your friends? Will they take care of you?
So many of these companies offer convenience. But at what cost?
You become dependent.
There's abuse
There's a big opportunity at this moment. Society is in panic mode, because it's become too dependent
And society is looking at tech workers for a solution
It's Stockholm syndrome, Leenaars says.
Mentions the example of the Dutch government - ministry of Finance making a big project out of moving to Microsoft, even though this creates:
- More dependence on US-based tools
- Productivity loss
But don't fall into the trap of jumping into European-based big tech!
That'd be the same predators, just based in a different location
Instead, what this moment needs is social initiative, not more 馃 says Leenaars
Dependency on short-form content & LLMs is hampering childrens' brain development, suggests Leenaars
It's a form of dementia, but worse, because they're not even developing a fully functioning brains
(disclaimer: i don't know the exact studies on this, just reporting the talk)
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