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What's Some Tech That Was Better Than It Is Now? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

314 comments fedilink hide all child comments

When you connect a new device to a 'smart' tv, you must pay homage to the manufacturer with a ritualistic dance. Plugging and unplugging the device. Turning them on and off in the correct sequence like entering a konami code.

Every time you want to switch devices, the tv must scan for them. And god forbid you lose power, or unplug something. You are granted the delight experience of doing it all over again.

I have fond memories of the days of just plugging something in, and pressing the input button. Instant gratification. It was a simpler time.

What is some other tech that used to be better?

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Anything with asbestos in it. It's just a truly amazing material, with the one catch that it happens to dangerously irritate lung tissues. Relevant XKCD.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Asbestos is mostly bad to the people that work with it, or manufacture products with it. If you have asbestos in your house or building, 99+% of the time it's fine, and you don't need to do anything at all. All of the remediation that we did in the 90s and early 2000s did more harm than good. Like, floor tiles with asbestos; how are the chrystotile fibers embedded in the tile going to break out in enough volume to cause harm to people?

On the other hand, the people that manufactured and installed asbestos-based products were often entirely fucked over.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Fun fact: Where I live, there's apparently a loophole where if a building falls down on it's own, you don't have to do as much mitigation work. As a result, there's at least one government building near me that's just being left to sit there and rot, and has been locked up while they rebuild next door.

There's a massive housing crisis and a construction crunch.