TomMahon

TomMahon

Author of Charged Bodies, People. Power and the Paradoxes that formed Silicon Valley

The digital revolution was never meant to go this way

In 1984, when I wrote CHARGED BODIES, my history of the creation of Silicon Valley, the Mac promised to be “the computer for the rest of us.”

Forty years on, in 2024, Apple brags it will crush human creativity — and spirit — to grow beyond its trillion-dollar valuation. As in the Apple one-minute ad for the new iPad Pro Plus

Apple makes it official on behalf of the entire tech industry that any work of human creativity not digitally generated has no value.

CHARGED BODIES recounts the first years of the digital revolution in Silicon Valley, when the goal was to increase human productivity, not reduce us and our descendants to data-point playthings in the hands of multi-billionaires.

For nearly twenty years we have allowed ourselves to be trapped in digital lobster traps. It was so easy to enter, but now almost impossible to escape.

Public attention must be paid NOW. We are running out of time to claim our humanity back from a small clique of multi-billionaires who hope that AI will soon make them multi-trillionaires. We will

To quote the guy who interrupted breakfast at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941: “This is not a goddam drill. We are under a goddam attack.”

(The 40th Anniversary edition of CHARGED BODIES points back to some of the original hopes at the beginning of the digital revolution. It is available now at Amazon.)


Most Liked

TomMahon

TomMahon

Author of Charged Bodies, People. Power and the Paradoxes that formed Silicon Valley

Ashton, You are right. This vapid fog of celebs, digital-illuminati and hangers-on has truly gone over the top with no end in sight. We have to stop watching because they won’t stop preening.

fullstackplus

fullstackplus

I agree that the ad is tasteless. But let’s look at this from a different perspective: does Apple actually come to your house and destroy your piano and your watercolors?

No. You can buy a different kind of tablet (Windows, Linux). Whatever tablet you buy. you can choose to use only the features that enhance your creativity, instead of discouraging it.

You can learn how to draw using pen & paper in your free time.

These are just tools, The decisions are ours on how to use them.

TomMahon

TomMahon

Author of Charged Bodies, People. Power and the Paradoxes that formed Silicon Valley

You are right, creative people gonna be creative. But un-creative people are filling the pipelines with drek, making it harder for talent to be seen.

Where Next?

Popular Community topics Top

AstonJ
I’ve just discovered that @asgartech is a writer! And a pretty good one at that - according to his goodreads reviews - and that got me wo...
New
Rainer
We already have a Thread about new Hardware here: But what about all the other nerdy things? :wink: Did you get any new cool gadgets? ...
New
AstonJ
Whether related to dev/tech or not :upside_down_face:
New
Jsdr3398
Not sure why, does anyone else feel the same way? And could you maybe tell me why you feel Apple is evil and is scamming people off their...
New
CommunityNews
Like many of the virus’s hardest hit victims, the United States went into the COVID-19 pandemic wracked by preexisting conditions. A fray...
New
AstonJ
Are you reading any non-programming related books, if so what, and what did you think of them?
New
jaeyson
I’m wondering how you journal or keep track with your learning. I myself using diary (just timestamp and quick summary on what I did), bu...
New
First poster: bot
Abstract U.S. government concerns about great disparities in housing conditions are at least 100 years old. For the first 50 years of thi...
New
First poster: gflashner
Ben Affleck Says He’s Done With DC Films, No Matter Who’s in Charge. Ben Affleck had such a horrible time making Justice League, he bowe...
New
TomMahon
Dick Steinheimer, “Stein” as he refers to himself, shares a small office space near the Bayshore Freeway now. His aren’t the habits of to...
New

Other popular topics Top

AstonJ
A thread that every forum needs! Simply post a link to a track on YouTube (or SoundCloud or Vimeo amongst others!) on a separate line an...
New
AstonJ
We have a thread about the keyboards we have, but what about nice keyboards we come across that we want? If you have seen any that look n...
New
AstonJ
Inspired by this post from @Carter, which languages, frameworks or other tech or tools do you think is killing it right now? :upside_down...
New
dimitarvp
Small essay with thoughts on macOS vs. Linux: I know @Exadra37 is just waiting around the corner to scream at me “I TOLD YOU SO!!!” but I...
New
New
AstonJ
If you want a quick and easy way to block any website on your Mac using Little Snitch simply… File > New Rule: And select Deny, O...
New
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Author Spotlight: Peter Ullrich @PJUllrich Data is at the core of every business, but it is useless if nobody can access and analyze ...
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Get the comprehensive, insider information you need for Rails 8 with the new edition of this award-winning classic. Sam Ruby @rubys ...
New
Fl4m3Ph03n1x
Background Lately I am in a quest to find a good quality TTS ai generation tool to run locally in order to create audio for some videos I...
New