This is not the future

Source: Hacker News

on Sat 08 November 2025

I thought about this when reading a Mastodon post which commented on a news article where a project adopted a “use Generative AI but disclose it” policy, because it is “the future” and “people are going to use it anyway”. I find the “this is the future, like it or not” framing particularly disgusting, and it is somewhat common in tech circles to accept it for most “new” technologies as if it were backed by evidence.

This post is to underline that nothing is inevitable.

Modern technology is abusive

A small contingent of power users using niche OSes (like myself) survive by avoiding as much of the tech oligarchs’ world as possible, but overall everything is disgusting, and using FOSS is certainly no silver bullet.

Tech enthusiasts who do not apply critical thinking are even worse, because they get beat up every day by the things they buy at a premium and they like it because they have this twisted idea of what constitutes progress. This is slowly infusing into the general population, which is also a problem.

People have been trained to be abused by software and hardware, to ignore their needs, and to accept any change as inevitable. I speak of abuse because people have been trained to expect and accept change at the same time, with no agency whatsoever. Most older people (sorry, Mom) have given up and resigned themselves to drift wherever their computing devices take them, because under the guise of convenience everything is so hostile that there is no point in trying to learn, and dark patterns are everywhere.

Not being in control makes people endlessly frustrated, but trying to wrestle control from the parasites is an uphill battle that they expect to lose, leading to even more frustration. I want to emphasize that there are good products (both software and hardware) on the market, even though the list gets shorter every year; some products even manage to solve real problems. That does not change the fact that consent, hype, and projected consumer needs are manufactured by years of abuse and marketing campaigns.

Those things were or are not inevitable

• Internet‑connected beds are not inevitable.
• AI browsers are not inevitable.
• Talking to chatbots instead of public servants is not inevitable.
• Requiring a smartphone to exist in society is not inevitable.
• Unrepairable devices are not inevitable.
• “AI‑enhanced” vacation pictures are not inevitable.
• NFTs were not inevitable.
• The Metaverse was not inevitable.
• Your computer changing where things are on every update is not inevitable.
• Websites that require your ID are not inevitable.
• Garbage companies using refurbished plane engines to power their data centers is not inevitable.
• Juicero was not inevitable.
• Ads are not inevitable.
• Being on a platform owned by Meta is not inevitable.
• The Apple Vision Pro was not inevitable.
• “Copilot PCs” are not inevitable.
• TikTok is not inevitable.
• Your computer sending screenshots to Microsoft so they can train AIs on it is not inevitable.

I could spend years filling this list up, because tech grifters always find new ways to make us more miserable.

Nothing is inevitable; nothing sold by powerful grifters is “the future” no matter how much they wish it were true. Sure, some things can keep existing for a very long time—especially if they have amassed billions by exploiting personal data and attention—but nobody has to be complicit. Some things might even endure because they are genuinely useful.

What matters to me is keeping perspective on what constitutes a desirable future, and which actions bring us closer or farther from that. Every choice is both a political statement and a trade‑off based on the energy we can spend on the consequences of that choice.

If you have remarks or suggestions concerning this article, please by all means contact me.