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DRM Open Source

'By 2030, You Won't Own Any Gadgets' (gizmodo.com) 259

"By 2030, technology will have advanced to the point that even the idea of owning objects might be obsolete," argues a thought-provoking new piece by Gizmodo's consumer tech reporter: Back in 2016, the World Economic Forum released a Facebook video with eight predictions it had for the world in 2030. "You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy," it says. "Whatever you want, you'll rent. And it'll be delivered by drone...."

In some ways, not owning things is easier. You have fewer commitments, less responsibility, and the freedom to bail whenever you want. There are upsides to owning less. There's also a big problem... The reality is when you buy a device that requires proprietary software to run, you don't own it. The money you hand over is an entry fee, nothing more. When everything is a lease, you also agree to a life defined by someone else's terms... When hardware is merely a vessel for software and not a useful thing on its own, you don't really get to decide anything. A company will decide when to stop pushing vital updates. It might also decide what you do with the product after it's "dead...." The power has shifted so that companies set the parameters, and consumers have to make do with picking the lesser of several evils...

You can trace much of this back to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which basically makes it illegal to circumvent "digital locks" that protect a company's proprietary software... One day in the future, if you buy a physical house, you will likely have to rent the software that operates it. You won't really have a say in the updates that get pushed out, or the features that get taken away. You'll have less of a say in when you renovate or upgrade, even if you want to continue using the house as is. You might not even have the right to do DIY repairs yourself. Just because you've bought a smart washing machine, doesn't mean you'll be allowed to repair it yourself if it breaks — or if you'll be allowed to pick which repair shop can fix it for you. You only have to look as far as John Deere, Apple, and General Motors. Each one of these companies has argued that people who bought their products weren't allowed to repair them unless they were from a pre-approved shop.

The scary thing is that only sounds terrible if you have the mental energy to care about principles.

Making decisions all the time is difficult, and it's easier when someone else limits the options you can choose from. It's not hard to turn a blind eye to a problem if, for the most part, your life is made a little simpler. Isn't that what every tech company says it's trying to do? Make your life a little simpler? Life is hard enough already, and living in a home that maintains itself so long as you hand over control — well, by 2030, who's to say that's not what we'll all want?

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'By 2030, You Won't Own Any Gadgets'

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  • Fuck. That. Shit. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Entrope ( 68843 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @05:40PM (#61570387) Homepage

    I run Linux at home so that I can control what my computer does. I use a Pixel so that I only have one megacorp's layer of privacy-invading, liberty-restricting software on my phone. My home is "dumb" because I don't want to hand control and usage statistics over to whatever other company. I spent time building a widget to monitor my sump pump rather than buy an IoT thing for the same reason. If my options are to rent every fucking thing I use, or to become a modern-day Luddite, I'll choose the latter and not look back.

    • by Pentium100 ( 1240090 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @05:52PM (#61570423)

      Unless people with guns take away my devices and force me to use the new ones, I think I'll just use what I have now and if I need to, I can probably build some device instead of buying an IoT one.

      If a device requires an internet connection to work, even though its function does not need it, I'm not using it. If I can't get an AC unit that can be managed locally over the network (SNMP, telnet, web), then I'm better off just buying an AC unit that can only be managed with the remote control, I am not going to use an IoT device where the manufacturer can cut off my access at any time.

      From TFS:

      One day in the future, if you buy a physical house, you will likely have to rent the software that operates it.

      Well, I would rather just buy a different house or negotiate the price of this house down enough that I would have money left over to hire contractors to rewire the house and rip all the "smart" crap out. I can walk to a light switch. Maybe when I'm old I won't be able to, but there are still ways to do this without IoT.

      • I use home assistant and only buy IoT devices that I can put 3rd party firmware on. All the automation is on its own vlan with only the server allowed online for updates. No data leaves the house.

        • by rtb61 ( 674572 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @11:18PM (#61571203) Homepage

          You quite simply, good person, are not doing enough. I find all that sort of stuff an annoyance, why bother with that effort. You can sort of expend that effort only once, work to make it illegal for them do it, why, because I don't want to have the hassle of having to work to keep them out. I want the police to arrest them, the courts to prosecute them and correctional services to 'ADJUST THEIR BEHAVIOUR'. I neither want to learn how to keep them out nor make the effort to do so. I want the criminal justice system to DESTROY them confiscate their assets and wipe out their corporations, imprison all those the broke the laws we force in because what ever reason we want to.

          I see that as far more reasonable than making the effort to have to learn to keep them out and apply it, really rather unfair to have to go through, far simpler for me, to just have been beat up and arrested, thrown in jail, prosecuted and left there. A whole lot easier than all the stuff you are doing and thus more fair.

      • I can walk to a light switch. Maybe when I'm old I won't be able to, but there are still ways to do this without IoT.

        The Clapper?

      • Maybe when I'm old I won't be able to, but there are still ways to do this without IoT.
        You can have a dog and teach it to switch on the light. Or have sound activated switches, e.g. with a clap of your hands.

    • Hear hear! If my Galaxy S4 from 2013 is running Android 10 today with LineageOS, surely whatever phone I get in a year or two will still be running in 2030, since I only buy devices that can run custom ROMs. And it will surely be mine. Perhaps the you in the story is the standard you, who doesn't use Linux, uses Facebook if somewhat older or Instagram if younger, etc etc.
      • That standard you is surprisingly rare, the generation coming through now doesn't want facebook, and likely never will, that's why facebook tried to buy them with whatsapp, but they all just switched to something else (mostly tick toc it seems)

        • I have two of the next generation at home, they're sticking it to Zuck by going to Instagram. "Yeah, we don't want anything to do with Facebook"... And indeed, they're on TicToc a lot.
      • by caseih ( 160668 )

        Good luck with that. Doesn't take long for the third-party ROM scene to dry up as phones and technology move on. I have several phones that were once well-supported by LineageOS or it's ancestor. But of course today not at all. It takes a lot of resources to keep firmware patched and updated and still working on the older devices, so it's not surprising that most older phones quickly lose support. I acknowledge that in phone age your 2013 S4 is ancient and I'm impressed it is still supported by the Line

    • Re:Fuck. That. Shit. (Score:5, Informative)

      by rtkluttz ( 244325 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @06:30PM (#61570505) Homepage
      I also run Linux at home. I also run a Pixel. But I run a Pixel with de-Googled OS using /e/ OS on it. I have a VERY automated home and I do it with Home Assistant https://www.home-assistant.io/ [home-assistant.io] and zwave equipment. I work in technology. I want the benefits of technology and I refuse to be a luddite, but I also refuse to be controlled and bound by corporations who wall me in or farm me.
    • by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @08:09PM (#61570785) Journal
      Right up there with you: FUCK THAT SHIT, SIDEWAYS WITH A RUSTY CHAINSAW, BACKWARDS ON THE FREEWAY!
      You know who says "you'll own nothing, rent everything, and like it"? RENT SEEKERS!
      Screw them. Screw the 1%. Screw downgrading the 99% to being just peasants and slaves. FUCK ALL THAT SHIT.
      I'd rather see the Earth burn to a cinder in a world war than let that sort of bullshit destroy our lives.
    • by e3m4n ( 947977 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @08:53PM (#61570889)
      Remember when the courts ruled that your employer had the right to read all the email on your work email account? Because THEY were the owners of the domain/account.. If you rent everything exactly what rights do you retain as to how much spying goes on in your life? My guess is zero.
    • I wouldn't worry too much. People are notoriously and almost universally awful at predicting the future, especially with regards to tech.

      Do you remember how many people in the media were speculating that the PS4 and Xbox One were likely to be the last generation of console ever? This was right in the middle of the smartphone boom. Why would you buy a gaming console when everyone would have their own personal supercomputer (and thereby completing missing the point of a console).

      Yeah... oops. Everyone who

    • by quenda ( 644621 )

      My home is "dumb" because I don't want to hand control and usage statistics over to whatever other company.

      And a thousand Slashdot nerds cry out "Home Assistant!!"

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I usually check is something can be hacked before buying it. Some companies are actually waking up to hackability being a selling point, e.g. there are lots of ESP32 based smart devices that can take open-source Tasmota firmware and it's the only reason many people buy them.

  • Rent Seeking (Score:5, Insightful)

    by deadaluspark ( 991914 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @05:42PM (#61570399)
    Let's just be real here, that section of the DMCA has just allowed software developers to essentially lock up the whole world behind software with the intent to turn the entire planet into a permanent renting class. The thing is, they say you won't own anything and you'll love it, but like... they're not saying that about Bezos or anyone else. They will still happily own everything, and just make you pay money to access the things you use. Company towns and company stores are on their way back, and the only way to fight this bullshit is unionization.
    • Apple claims when you buy an iPhone, it is their platform.

    • by fazig ( 2909523 )
      Apple in a nutshell. And the idiots of Slashdot are cheering for Cook's strawman fallacies.

      One first big step would be to push Rights to Repair through. But I'm sure the idiots will argue that this will stifle innovation or something other stupid that's not even related to the issue.
      • How does Right to Repair solve this? Apple sells non-user-serviceable computers, phones, and copyrighted software. Microsoft is now making non-user-serviceable laptops and desktops under the Surface brand. Every car brand makes ASE-serviceable-only cars, and they're not handing out ASE licenses to non-dealers anymore.

        This causes expensive services, but cheaper devices.

        Messes were common at homes due to user-done oil changes in the past. Computers that can't be opened can't be contaminated by "This Is Fire"

    • Exaclty. The 1% are pushing this bullshit, at the expense of the 99%. Screw them. Get the guillotine out.
    • Burning it to the ground works too.
  • by Z80a ( 971949 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @05:44PM (#61570403)

    They can and will take it from you when they want for any reason they want.
    Bad mouth apple, lose your everything.

    • Samsung doesn't actually want your used refrigerator or dryer, an they won't in the future. What they do want is for you to keep paying subscription fees. To accomplish that, they'll disable some of the "upgrade" features. Like a Ring doorbell, it still works as a doorbell if you don't continue paying your subscription, you just don't get the fancy features without it.

  • by NewtonsLaw ( 409638 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @05:48PM (#61570413)

    The concept of having business to consumer deliveries by drone is a fairy-tale dreamed up by those who want to make a fortune out of selling UTM (unmanned traffic management) systems to governments around the world.

    There are a host of companies vying for this role right now and they've lobbied regulators into believing that this *is* the future -- even though commonsense and logic dictates otherwise.

    Drones can only fly in good weather. Drones have limited ranges. We're told that drones are dangerous -- far to dangerous to fly over people, houses, cars and property. Drones are expensive and easily hijacked/stolen. Drones have a very low payload capability.

    By comparison, regular old trucks and cars (especially once driverless) are much cheaper, safer, more reliable, resistant to weather and less burdened by over-regulation in the way that drones are.

    In the Milton Keynes in the UK, fast food is already being delivered -- not by flying drones but by youths on mopeds and by little robotic buggies that trundle the towns many sidewalks and walkways -- delivering stuff for next to no cost and at no risk to anyone.

    THAT is the future of "drone" delivery -- not the "(pizza) pie in the sky" being promised by those who have duped our regulators and politicians in order to make a quick dollar from taxpayers.

    • Don't be ridiculous (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Okian Warrior ( 537106 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @06:05PM (#61570455) Homepage Journal

      Drones can only fly in good weather. Drones have limited ranges. We're told that drones are dangerous -- far to dangerous to fly over people, houses, cars and property. Drones are expensive and easily hijacked/stolen. Drones have a very low payload capability.

      Oh don't be ridiculous.

      Because drones can't handle *every* delivery, there won't be drones handling *any* delivery - is that your position?

      Lots of deliveries can be made within a mile of a parked truck, by air-drones and by street drones. Delivery person parks a van at a convenient spot, lets the drones fly/roll out, then drives around and delivers the furniture and other heavy items by hand.

      The street drones will become cheap enough that the van doesn't have to wait for the customer to retrieve their package - leave the drone at the address overnight and have it return to a different van the next morning.

      This would reduce the energy and effort of deliveries *and* the fossil fuel consumption *and* the time needed for deliveries by quite a lot. You can still have classic delivery for rural areas, heavy objects, or during a rainstorm.

      Or depending on the forecast, wait until the rain is over and deliver a couple of hours later. Or the next day. I'll bet delivery algorithms could take weather forecasts into account and make those decisions automatically.

      There's a lot of low-hanging fruit for drone delivery. Whoever enters the market first will be the main player for decades to come.

      P.S. - I'm not sure how one would go about hijacking an air drone, but I'm pretty sure "easily" isn't an appropriate adjective.

      • by angel'o'sphere ( 80593 ) <angelo.schneider ... e minus math_god> on Saturday July 10, 2021 @08:33PM (#61570857) Journal

        P.S. - I'm not sure how one would go about hijacking an air drone, but I'm pretty sure "easily" isn't an appropriate adjective.
        By having a remote controller with a stronger signal ...

        • Iran stole a stealth spy drone by jamming gps forcing it to land.
        • There's a very small intersection of people with that level of technical ability and people who can't use such abilities to find gainful employment, or at least an easier way to steal something worth a few thousand dollars. Especially given that it's simply not plausible that there's a huge market for stolen delivery drones, so not only will you need to be technically knowledgeable, but extremely well connected to move them. But then it's not worth it to just steal one, and if you start stealing a lot of th
    • Limited range isn't a problem self-driving cars will bring the drones to you and they'll charge while they're driving around town. The bad weather was only a problem when we didn't have a gig economy. The way it'll work is that when the weather is too bad for the robots to drive human beings will take over. That wouldn't work if you were forced to actually have employees but with the gig economy you can only have them being paid when you need them. Try to imagine if every time the weather is nice out every
    • Absolutely think this is the direction. The "drone" of "drone" propellors will basically prevent drones in an urban environment.

      But I have very little concerns about a set of Boston Dynamics "big dog" type things stepping out of a truck and delivering 20 items from a truck stuck around a corner.

      Beating the air into submission (ie: flying either fixed wing or multi-copter) is way more intrusive than having something on land in the same places that people and animals walk. If we look at what's around us evo

  • From TFS:

    Making decisions all the time is difficult, and it's easier when someone else limits the options you can choose from. It's not hard to turn a blind eye to a problem if, for the most part, your life is made a little simpler. Isn't that what every tech company says it's trying to do? Make your life a little simpler? Life is hard enough already, and living in a home that maintains itself so long as you hand over control â" well, by 2030, who's to say that's not what we'll all want?

    How is it easier when someone limits you to choose between, say, three options that all are not good enough, but also, not really worse than the other two? Just like buying a laptop - do I want a better video card or a higher quality screen? Or maybe this one that looks a bit more durable? This (at least for me) pretty much guarantees that I will spend much longer deciding and will not be happy with the result anyway.

    And it's not just control, it's money. Life may be hard enough, but if you are forced to overpay for stuff, it makes it even harder. And the reason for all of those restrictions is to force people to overpay.

  • by Qbertino ( 265505 ) <moiraNO@SPAMmodparlor.com> on Saturday July 10, 2021 @06:02PM (#61570439)

    I might not use them regularly, but I sure as sh*t will own them and keep them in an operating state so I'm not screwed when services fall or there is a price hike or something mission critical is disabled from one day to the next.

    • I might not use them regularly, but I sure as sh*t will own them and keep them in an operating state so I'm not screwed when services fall or there is a price hike or something mission critical is disabled from one day to the next.

      I suppose that depends on your definition of "own".

      You might pay money for a physical object and still not own it - be legally prevented from repairing it, from switching to a different provider, from having recourse if the service shuts down, have to pay a monthly fee on top of the purchase price, and be unable to sell it to someone else.

      All of these points are currently in force for some gadgets, it's just that no gadgets enforce all of them. Currently.

      Note that the Samsung dryer demands access to your co

  • by S_Stout ( 2725099 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @06:05PM (#61570451)
    YOU will own some gadgets because you come to Slashdot. However, MOST people will be fine with the rent model. We're seeing it with video games, TV, movies, office software, music. Phones are becoming more locked down to their ecosystems. The amount of people playing with Linux, their own NAS, etc. is small and growing smaller. In many ways it's more convenient. In some ways it really sucks.
    • Maybe, but I feel confident I won't be getting a washing machine delivered by drone.

    • And people laugh at me when I say I own CDs, DVDs, and books. For this very reason. They're mine. No one can take them from me short of breaking into my place and physically taking them. Their contents can likewise not be altered by anyone.

      It's the same reason I drive a stick shift. I don't have to worry about some strung out programmer deciding they know what's best for me when it comes to what gear I should be in. When I put my car in gear it will stay in that gear until I shift to another gear. Nor

  • ...and fly to...nowhere, since everything comes by drone.

  • by ukoda ( 537183 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @06:25PM (#61570487) Homepage
    Own nothing rent everything is fine when you are 18. What about when you are 68? Living on a merger government pension and you have to pay for every single little thing because you have nothing? Stuff that, sounds like a plan for a miserable retirement!

    I'm 58, 7 years out from potential retirement. Paying rent could would probably take about half my pension, good thing I finally got a free hold house last year. Power is the next big bill, but since I own my house I can invest now in better insulation and solar panels. Can't do that if renting. I own a battery electric car, which is good as I live rural. No public transport or ride shares here. Either an expensive taxi trip or drive yourself.

    Stop and think who really benefits if you own nothing? Corporations. Do you think they are going to take care of you in your old age when you fall off their target demographic?
  • What incentive would anyone have to invest in the products I lease once I'm no longer in charge of making the decisions? Sorry, but no. I have zero interest in ceding ownership of parts of the system that can be meaningfully differentiated (unlike raw bandwidth, storage, or cloud compute.) Recurring revenue is a dream for every company on the planet that wants to stop competing on the basis of what it actually has to offer.
  • by ffkom ( 3519199 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @06:26PM (#61570491)
    If you own nothing, and everything is owned by some small, abstract group of mega-corporations, that is much like the idea of "no private property, everything is owned by The People!", where of course, "The People" translates to a small oligarchy of a non-elected elite.

    Does it make a difference whether a "one-party government" makes the 5-year-plans on what to produce, versus a small group of CEOs deciding the same? Does it make a difference whether there is a person cult about some "party leader(s)" or whether that person cult is about some equally non-elected CEO? Does it make a difference whether the profit from what you produce is entirely diverted into funding "the system", or whether "that system" is some mega-corporation that can take whatever they want from you, as a fee for the items you rented from them?
    • Pretty much, yes.

      I mean, whether it's some corporations that own everything or whether it's "the state", in the end it means that you own jack shit and some asshole gets to tell you when and how you may use his stuff.

    • Mod up !! This guy gets it. You can have either government by the public, or government by the private corp (inverted fascism).

      Choose wisely -- don't vote for *either* of the mainstream parties!

  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @06:27PM (#61570493)
    To make the millennials and gen z okay with the fact that they are not being allowed to own any property because we're giving all the property to the top elites. It's the absolute worst sort of 1984 style double speak propaganda. Unless we're going to transition to a post capitalist anarchist Utopia like what the YouTuber thought slime likes to talk about then we're going to keep needing property. Because otherwise rent seekers will rent us the essentials of life back at super high rates while reducing the production of those necessities in order to artificially increase their value. That's how rent-seeking works.

    This isn't futurism. This is a pathetic attempt to disguise the horrible things being done to us all. Like in that video game syndicate when they put a chip in your brain so you would think you were living in comfort and luxury instead of squalor.
    • Dealing with landlords is a serious pain, even though there are many to choose from.

      Dealing with rent seekers in this future scenario will be just as bad.

      • by dcw3 ( 649211 )

        Dealing with landlords is a serious pain, even though there are many to choose from.

        Dealing with rent seekers in this future scenario will be just as bad.

        How so? Having been both a renter, and a landlord (a week after I bought my first townhome, my company asked me to go overseas, so a I rented it out for seven years) for many years, I never really had an issue.

    • I expect to be sent a cease and desist notice for using my own DNA pretty soon.
  • by jenningsthecat ( 1525947 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @06:30PM (#61570511)

    "You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy," it says. "Whatever you want, you'll rent. And it'll be delivered by drone...."

    Fuck no. I'm often not happy with what I already own, because I've had to choose from among shitty, shittier, and spectacularly terrible. Being forced to rent that stuff, and therefore have no right to repair or modify it, would be a living hell.

    In some ways, not owning things is easier. You have fewer commitments, less responsibility, and the freedom to bail whenever you want.

    Owning things is easier, because there's less chance of an assault charge when I punch out the lights of whoever dares to tell me how and how not to use, maintain, fix, or dispose of my stuff. MY stuff, get it?

    One day in the future, if you buy a physical house, you will likely have to rent the software that operates it.

    Again, "fuck no". I'll rip out and burn anything that requires software I didn't choose and install. If it's illegal to own a libre home, then I'll live in a box under a bridge and piss on the shoes of passing politicians, banksters, and traitors like you.

    The scary thing is that only sounds terrible if you have the mental energy to care about principles.

    No, the scary thing is that you think 'caring about principles' is the only reason this sounds terrible. The primary reason this is worth taking a principled stance on is this: a life dependent on important material goods that other people own, control, and can dick with or outright disable on a whim, will drive people to suicide and/or murder. We humans are not meant to be sheep.

    Making decisions all the time is difficult, and it's easier when someone else limits the options you can choose from.

    Speak for yourself, asshole. Making decisions all the time is much easier than being in a position where I have no freedom of choice. And before you blather on about how freedom of choice derives from the 'principles' you seem so unfamiliar with, let's just put you in solitary confinement for a month. Your frantic animal need for human contact, freedom of movement, the feel of the elements, and a glimpse of the sun will drive principles right the fuck out of your addled brain.

    Life is hard enough already, and living in a home that maintains itself so long as you hand over control — well, by 2030, who's to say that's not what we'll all want?

    I'm part of that "all", and no, I will never want that. I suspect most people reading this agree with me. As for life being "hard enough", a significant portion of that difficulty is a result of the psychopaths who are already running much of the show. Giving in to them and handing them power over you will make life harder, not easier. If you believe otherwise, you need to give your head a shake and demand your money back from whatever educational institutions allowed you to graduate with such a profound lack of critical thinking ability.

    • Not happy? Well, step right up friend because the surgery to make you happy is not only available for the low low rate of $599 a month, it’s also mandatory by law!
  • Maybe. Having owned a home and lots of stuff for 30 years, I see the appeal. I'm ready to downsize.

    There are downsides. For example, I like owning tools because I can just wander into my garage and start up the table saw or whatever. I don't want to get halfway into a project just to realize I need a router and have to wait half a day for it to arrive. On the other hand, I don't have a drill press because I don't need one often enough to want to store it. There's definitely a business opportunity there some

  • By 2030, companies that try this shit will not be getting my money. Certainly not enough to buy the item. Maybe they'll onkly get 1/4 of what it would cost to buy, if that even.

    Fuckin greed. Money for nothing. Corporate wet dream. If they want to rent everything out, then they can damn well absorb full liability for whatever happens, or STFU.

  • Sure, a lot of companies are doing their utmost to get you to rent everything... but, from a consumer point of view, it's a flawed model. You don't even have to go any further than cost.

    The only companies that could get away with this are de facto monopolies (e.g. Comcast, Adobe). Fortunately, most companies still have some competition - as soon as they try to require a subscription, one of their competitors will take advantage of the opening.

    • Look at the zoomers (gen Z): they already are scared the sky is going to fall on them and don't want to be tied down. Then here come the 1% who encourage them to believe that owning anything just ties you down and is a bad idea. Meanwhile the Zoomers never own a home and never are worth anything, no equity building, all the money they earn goes down the rent-everything drain. We have to keep fighting against this crap so they and who comes afterwards aren't indoctrinated into beleiving this 'own nothing' cr
  • A minimal lifestyle. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Ostracus ( 1354233 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @06:59PM (#61570573) Journal

    In some ways, not owning things is easier. You have fewer commitments, less responsibility, and the freedom to bail whenever you want. There are upsides to owning less.

    And there's the middle-ground called minimalsim [becomingminimalist.com] where you own stuff, stuff doesn't own you.

  • just wait for them to do rent a car ding & dent BS with the rented hardware you drooped it an there is an very small dent that will be $600 on the 2 year old hardware

  • One day in the future, if you buy a physical house, you will likely have to rent the software that operates it.

    Seriously? There is zero software that 'operates' my house (whatever the hell that even means). I'm also curious as to what a 'physical house' is vs. a regular house. I didn't even bother to RTFA after reading this laughable line from the summary.

    • by sjames ( 1099 )

      Most of us were alive at a time when the idea that you might need to reboot a phone was absurd. There was no software in washers, dryers, dishwashers, TVs, light bulbs (yes, some light bulbs have firmware now), cars, stoves, radios, etc. Not long before that even cash registers and adding machines had no software in them.

      But unless your appliances are all from the '70s or before, your house DOES have software.

      If you delete the software running your home, you have no appliances and no heating and air. You li

  • Everything the WEF posts is about how the Western world has to take a cut to living standards to pay for third world development and to undo environmental damage. These people are psychopaths that want more for themselves at everyone else's expense. The same people that want to outsource work to third world countries while using H1-B and 457 Visas to import/undercut labor markets. The scam is simple: Companies don't hire locals and refuse to train on the job whilst crying "skills shortage". Meanwhile, comp
  • Let's put it into terms people might understand better. The people will own nothing. Things will be owned by the corporate party. The company politburo will decide what you are allowed to do with it's things, but only if you pay enough taxes to be allowed to use anything at all. If they decide they want more later you pay or they take their stuff back.

    It's the USSR all over again only they don't even bother to pretend that you get to vote.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10, 2021 @08:37PM (#61570869)

    10 PRINT "Say something ridiculous and or incendiary"

    20 PRINT "Sit back and rake in clicks and views as outrage fueled Internet lusers take your obvious bait."

    30 GOTO 10

  • Thankfully life is finite.
  • I don't need a smart app to turn the lights on. I don't need one for a toaster or a stereo. All these computerized gadgets are just ways to part fools with their money. If the makers make it a pain to own because of EULAs, there will be someone who starts making point to point wired versions of anything we actually need, and make a fortune.
  • Because companies will recycle them we'll all have gadgets someone else used for a while then stopped renting. Unless you pay for the privilege of renting clean new gadgets. Because of global warming there will be laws limiting the proliferation of new gadgets to reduce the enormous amounts of materials and energy they waste by being manufactured and thrown away after a few years. Hence the current business model of selling a new version every year will vanish and the scale of business operations will sh
  • by Vandil X ( 636030 ) on Saturday July 10, 2021 @10:05PM (#61571045)
    The moment cancel culture decides to cancel you over your thoughts and opinions, they ban your account and you lose access to everything.

    Nope.

    Still going to own my stuff and have real money.
  • ...when you borrow money for your house, you're renting it from the bank.

    When you take up loans or get credit cards, you rent stuff - you don't own it at all, untill it's all paid for.

    I've never missed a payment in my life, and I'm an old guy now. But I own stuff, lots of it.
    "Stuff" is good when SHTF, because FIAT and other currencies can fall flat at any time, this is when basic human needs sets in, and they're coming for your "stuff".

    By stuff - I mean all kinds of useful things, vehicles, repair equipment

  • The people you're renting from own stuff.

    This is the end state of capitalism approaching, when it becomes impossible to own anything anymore unless you're born into wealth to start with. Those with the capital have an advantage, and it gets them further ahead, and it gets their children further ahead.

    At some point, unless they're spectacularly bad with money like Trump, the money starts to manage itself - more realistically, you have enough capital that returns on basic competent investment outpace inflati

  • I"m so glad I grew up in a world where it was possible to own stuff.

    >1990 Soviets don't own anything- HAHA!
    2030+ Americans don't own anything - HAHA!

    I am so glad that when 2030 rolls around I won't have much more time in my life to live anyway, and shit will be so user hostile at that point (even before the king owns everything), I might just fuck it all off and go back to paperback books, records, and old cassette tapes.

    Sucks to be those after Generation Z.

  • If a drone gets angry or is below delivery quota, will it just drop my package from 50 ft in the air and move on to the next delivery?

    These drones are gonna put disgruntled UPS "kickers" to shame.

The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and to watch someone else doing it wrong, without commenting. -- T.H. White

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