The Weekly Sneak: How to Curmudgeon

As the last piece in a series about the internet, privacy, freedoms etc I really got to let fly about my perspective on these technologies. To which La Dee said: do you realize you have turned into a grumpy old lady? Yes, I have. And yes, I know. My defense is that it is harder to catch a pessimist off-guard than your average bear:

"In the relationship between woman and machine I am firmly on the humans' side. Sometimes this means being a very careful non-consumer. I don't respond to advertisements voluntarily, and take pains to avoid too much capitalistic stimulus. It means being content with the limitations this places on my life, and it is liberating. Having no need for the latest newfangled doodad is salutary: it means that marketing departments can't exploit my self-esteem to make me a cash-spitting zombie. 

More importantly, I think, is that it keeps life rich. I am coming to believe that the more convenient life is for us, the less complex, then the worse off we are. It is a contradiction of modern life: never have humans been smarter as a species. But then again: never have we been more violent to the environment nor more subject to the manipulations of economic elites."

And I didn't even get to the parts about Net Neutrality wars etc so had to do it by implication. I figure there is only so far down this road I can go before I get a polite call from the Men In Nairobi about perhaps taking a chill pill. 

Anyways, a propos the topic of the column let me leave you with this lovely piece of news I just found thanks to Reddit: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/7/putin-signs-sweeping-surveillance-measures-law-sno/

Ah, the joys of modern life.