Reverse Improvement
Bill Maher is new to me, and in a bit over 8 minutes he just became my favorite satirist.
In a new segment called New Rule Bill Maher lamented the shitty status of technology driven forced improvement which I'm the first to admit, a lot of times, does not make our lives materially better.
He makes the examples of streaming services which drive the user experience back to where we were 20 years ago (or worse), disappearing car handles and apps to do everything. As a European I can't really relate on the car valet experience, but I do find infuriating the growing number of restaurants forcing me to scan a QR code, register with my email, and then squint at my phone screen trying to decide what to order. Bring paper menus back 😠
It's a well worth watching 8 minutes. Especially if you work on the field.
The lack of ethics in our field is really showing, and TBH I think we got away easily in this critique. It could have gotten much worse and much less funny.
I'm suddenly reminded why Berkshire is cautious when it comes to investing in technology companies.