Dmitry Kudryavtsev

We can no longer trust software

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 20:00:00 GMT

If you told someone back in early 2000s that they would be able to update the software on their TV or fridge, they would look at you very confusingly. And yet, here we are.

As I was powering my LG “smart” TV a few months ago, I was greeted with a message telling me that there is a new update available. The thing with TV updates is that they always have bad timing. I turned the TV on to watch a movie, not to wait 7 minutes until it updates and restarts itself, while my popcorn is getting cold. And so, I declined the update. Little I knew that I dodged a bullet there.

Apparently, this update introduced Microsoft Copilot¹, which can not be removed. Moreover, the same update included a feature called “Live Plus” which does Automatic Content Recognition (i.e. analyze what you watch), sell it to LG Ad Solutions (yes, ad as in “advertisement”), and create a “viewer profile” of you, in order to… Go on, guess… Yes! Serve. You. ADS.

After that, I have disconnected my TV from the internet. I use an Android TV box anyway, and unless we find a way to update our TVs from 4k to 8k via software, or upgrade from 50” to, say, 70”, I’m done with software updates of my appliances.

I guess smartphones, and broadband internet, has accustomed us to get updates in real-time the moment they appear. Back in the “old days”, I would download a new version of Miranda or Winamp, only if my current version had issues that I was aware of. But today, most devices seem to update themselves in the background, and I got “the Wi-Fi symbol” blinking on my fridge and my washing machine, both of them are begging me to connect them to the internet so I can monitor… how many avocados are left in the fridge?!

Jeff Geerling wrote almost a year ago, how he bought a dishwasher that required cloud subscription to work. Automakers tried to pay-wall features like heated seats behind a subscription, despite the fact that the heating element is installed in every, fucking, car. And yet, to use it, you have to pay a subscription. Predatory business 101.

NOTE

This initiative, popularized by BMW, seems to have died. But have no fear, there are rooms full of “smart business people”, who brainstorm day-and-night, how to bring it back in a different packaging.

And so, my conclusion is that we no longer can trust software.

In the past, you used to buy an appliance, and kind-of commit to a known feature set, since it was mostly impossible to update the software, because the software was actually called firmware, and was embedded into the microchip of the appliance. Today, every appliance is basically a computer. Your TV, dishwasher, fridge, and car — all run some kind of Linux with custom UI on top of it. And by connecting them to the internet, you essentially give the maker of said appliance a control over how this appliance will function. So I’d argue that it is better to avoid “internet connected” appliances all together, or at least, not connect them to the internet.

But it’s not only consumer appliances software that we can no longer trust.

With raise of AI for coding, and so called “vibe-coders”², we see an influx of software that was created either by engineers who have no knowledge in the domain they operate in, or software that simply lacks any review process that it is free from malicious code elements. Moreover, said AI tools are not free from injecting malicious code, or simply running destructive operations, hence they require a process of sandboxing — isolating them from actual computers so if they make a mess, they ruin some virtual environment instead. I have written about the need to isolate such AI tools on my tech blog: Isolating Claude Code.

As software engineers, we rely on open-source software and libraries, that are built and maintained by other people and companies. Any while these libraries are not free from attempts to inject malicious code by malicious actors (see: xz backdoor, SHA1-HULUD injections, and various other npm and pypi attacks that happened recently), we are, mostly, able to catch them in time. The reasons, I believe, are because writing malicious code is hard, and in order to achieve desired effect you need to either target core libraries (as the case with xz), or play the numbers game by infecting as many packages as possible (as the case with SHA1-HULUD). But, as the amount of code produced with AI is growing at a very fast rate, it is becoming hard to review software. Many popular OSS libraries either suspended their bug bounty programs, or modified contribution guidelines, citing influx of AI generated code as the main reason³. Human fatigue is a real thing, and people tend to become sloppier as they deal with bigger workload.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if in the past it was somewhat safe to run arbitrary code downloaded from the internet (as long as it was downloaded from a reputable source), in today’s AI-era, everything needs to be sandboxed. Every project you develop — needs to be run in an isolated VM that has no access to your machine and the secrets that you store there. We use our computers for banking, and we tend to store credentials, which malicious code can extract.

Household appliances, and other electronics devices, need to be either disconnected from the network, or run in an isolated VLAN networks that have no access to your main network. I am sure that as we continue to navigate this new reality, new products will come up to serve for better security, but as for now, I conclude that we can no longer trust software.

For those who don’t know, Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s attempt to shove their AI in every place possible. ↩
Vibe-coder — a person who uses AI prompting to create software, often times knowing nothing about programming, or not having understanding of the problem’s domain in which they operate. ↩
curl shutters bug bounty program, LLVM AI Tool Policy: human in the loop, Ghostty: AI tooling must be disclosed ↩

In the name of progress

Sat, 02 Aug 2025 20:00:00 GMT

Few months ago, the internet has been flooded with AI generated images in the style of Pixar and Ghibli. I didn’t even know that a new AI model was released, because I kind of quit social media, but they were everywhere, and it was impossible to miss it. This made me think, what drives people to use these tools?

This is the price of progress

When we are talking about technological progress, there is one argument that is impossible to fight with: this is the price of progress. The tractor has replaced the hard work of the farmer and his animals. Electricity killed the profession of the guy who had to light candles on the street every day. The internet has killed the printed press. And AI is killing everything else. But this is the price of progress.

I doubt there is a person who would answer negatively if asked: “Would you like your work to be easier, and for you to have more time to do what you really like?”. We all wish we had more time to do the things we like. This is why we invented the washing machine and the dishwasher. And this is why AI is taking the world by storm — because it helps me with mundane tasks, and so I have more time for the things I truly want to do. This is the progress, and this argument is bulletproof. Arguing with this argument, is like arguing that it is better to be alive than dead. It’s almost an axiom.

This is the price we have to pay for progress. Do you want to stay behind, doing mundane work for the rest of your life?

The world is hard, and tech bros are here to make it easier, and there is a price for progress: loss of jobs, loss of friendships, loss of purpose, and loss of meaning. You either agree with this, or you are outdated; an old man rumbling about the good times that were there, 10, 20, 50 years ago. So you adapt, or fall behind.

But despite the fact we have social networks, we feel more lonely and less connected to our fellow human beings. Despite the fact that we have the entire human knowledge in our pockets, we can’t seem to distinguish truth from lies, good from bad, and we are more divided than ever. And contrary to what progress advocates tell you, we, in fact, have less time to do the things we really want to do. Meaningful work is shrinking, despite the fact that AI evangelists tell us that in the bright future of AI, we won’t be doing mundane work — we will all be artists. But artists are disappearing, because today, everyone is a Ghibli Studio. Everyone is a Pixar artist. Everyone is a book writer, a coder, an entrepreneur, a music creator, a blogger.

But here is the kicker: creating something, is not the end goal. For starters, if everyone can create the same things with the same amount of skill, what makes your skills and work special? What, you think you are so unique that only you can prompt ChatGPT to generate a Ghibli-styled image, or vibe-code your shiny SaaS? No, you are not. You will be competing with millions of other “creators” who can do the same as you, and generate a ton crap of AI slop. And secondly, the goal was never to create. It’s the process of creation that is rewarding. Not to sound cliché, but it’s the journey that matters, not the destination. And when you’ve been robbed of the journey — and make no mistake we are being robbed of it — there is nothing left for you other than to float in your pod, wearing your smart glasses and drinking the months’ favorite soda drink and whatever engineered meal they sell you.

Wall-E is sad

Or maybe you thought you will join the singularity together with Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg? Oh, you poor soul. They did not tell you that the rocket to Mars is not for you, and the promised singularity is not for you. You have been, and will stay, a mindless consumer that will get excited about every new AI slop that is wrapped in “in the name of progress”, while owning less stuff, doing more mundane work (if there will be work for you to do, and make no mistake, The Rich won’t finance your Universal Basic Income), while the people who own the tech will decide what you will eat, how far you will drive, or how stimulated you brain will become.

I remember long time ago, 15, maybe 18 years ago, the internet was filled with various blogs of people who used to do coll stuff and write about it. These blogs are still there, but they are hidden beneath a pile of AI generated slop for the sake of gaming SEO. Just like our deep desires to connect with fellow human beings, or the surrounding nature — is buried beneath endless amounts of plastic waste, or the number of likes from your “friends” online. At least we have the ability to wear a new dress every day with same-day delivery, or buy a new iPhone every year. Hooray for progress!

Old man yells at clouds

I might be getting old. Becoming the old man who yells at the clouds and remembers a time when everything was better, or at least seemed better. But I’m also becoming detached from things I liked to do, like software programming. It’s been distilled from problem-solving into AI prompting. Movies with deep meaning were replaced by fast flashing pictures, because our TikTok brain can’t concentrate at a plot line longer than 5 seconds. I don’t remember the last time I’ve been in flow state. 8–12 years ago, I could spend an entire day coding. I would forget to eat, drink water. I would wake up, and sit on a problem for 8–9 hours straight. Today, I can’t concentrate for more than a few minutes. If I don’t get to the solution, I become angry. I become irritated. Boredom has been vilified and became something you need to get rid of by scrolling yet another algorithmically curated feed. The only time I feel creative spark is when I’m in the shower. It’s weird, but it makes sense: there is no technology in the shower. It’s the only place where I am alone, by myself, with myself.

And I am not the only one. People across the internet describe similar symptoms. They coined the term “AI Brain rot” which is described as in-ability to solve difficult problems. People are getting a joy from “unplugging” from AI and solving problems using their own brain capacity.

Everything has been turned into a product that helps us save time, and yet, we seem to be busier than always. But we need to ask ourselves the following question: Is it really about progress? Or is the argument of progress being (ab)used in the same way door-to-door salesmen use emotionally abusive arguments to sell their products:

What do you mean you don’t want life insurance for your family? Don’t you think it would benefit them to have money once you die?

Maybe progress is not always the goal we should aim for. Don’t get me wrong, there are things in this world that I am grateful for, and that were done in the name of progress: modern medicine, electricity and everything that comes with it, technology. And I don’t want to sound like an anti-AI evangelist. I use AI, and I find it useful for certain tasks. But there is always a scale that we need to balance. And I feel like we’ve tipped the scale way too much. We just keep rushing into the abyss with a promise that this new and shiny thing will, finally, give us the ability to actually do the things we want to do. And yet, we can’t seem to get there. With every step forward that we take, we, eventually, find out that we took two steps backwards. Or if not backwards, then in the wrong direction.

Nobody stops to look around, and ask the right question: Do we really need this EVERYWHERE? Have you noticed how almost every website now has a button to “Chat with our AI Assistant”? How every company went from “Doing cool [stuff] to solve [pain point]” to “AI [stuff] to solve [pain point]”? Like, why? Why shove it in every possible place? It’s a rhetoric question. The answer is money. But this is a topic for another post.

And this brings me back to Ghibli/Pixar styled pictures. What’s the point? Why even have such ability? These styles were unique because they were produced by certain studios. Now they are everywhere, and there is nothing special in them anymore. Why was in necessary? What purpose it serves other than “in the name of progress”?

With every new technology we discover, or invent, we lose something. With the computer we lost the art of handwriting, and structuring our minds (and yes, I can see the irony). And with AI we are going to lose everything that is left in us that makes us humans: creation, art, problem-solving, human communication, connection and relationships. And then, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will be here, but not because we will create it, but because we will destroy ourselves in such way that machines will be the only entities capable of producing everything of value: art, software, music, poems, books — thus turning us into mindless consuming amoebas.

Why I ditched my Apple Watch

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 17:00:00 GMT

Almost two years ago, I landed in Costa Rica. After arriving at my Airbnb in the evening, I took off my Apple Watch and put it on a charger while I was preparing to take a shower and go to sleep. The next day, after I woke up, instead of putting the watch first thing in the morning, like I used to do for the past 2+ years, I left it on the charger. For more than a week. And then I powered it off. And barely wore it again since then.

My relationship with (smart) watches

I can’t call myself a watch enthusiast, but the oldest photo of me that I could find is from 2009, and I wear a watch on this photo. It’s a Casio that I don’t remember the model number of. I’ve replaced it over the years with different models of Seiko, which I love and appreciate as pieces of Japanese craftsmanship. I owned one Timex, and a few G-Shocks. Nothing fancy, and nothing without a quartz in it. But a watch was on my wrist since high school.

And while yes, a watch can tell you the time (and sometimes the date), this is not the reason I wore watches. I always saw them as pieces of self-expression. Going on a hike? Slap on a G-Shock. Fancy date night? Put on a nice dress watch. Or change the strap.

I always resisted smartwatches because they felt soulless to me. I couldn’t find a round smartwatch that didn’t look like a toy, and Apple’s square design was big no-no for me.

But then, COVID came.

I, like everyone else, was locked in my home and barely had any movement. And when the lockdowns eased, I decided to get a smartwatch, as everyone around me was getting one. I got the Samsung Galaxy Watch because I was using a Samsung phone, but later switched to Apple ecosystem with iPhone and Apple Watch. And after more than 2 years of wearing the watch all day, every day, except for nights, I took it off except for occasional uses, and a few months ago I sold it and went back to a traditional watch.

I write this post as a reminder to my future self.

But, why?

Before I tell you why I ditched my smartwatch, let me tell you why I got one in the first place. Except for the fact that everyone was getting one, and I got hooked on the fitness tracking, there weren’t many reasons as to why I got one in the first place. I still think they look like a toy. I still dislike the square form factor. And I’ve learned that smartwatches are not as useful as they are advertised to be.

Sure, it was nice to glance at my watch and make sure I won’t miss yet another pointless meeting in 7 minutes. Or it was comfortable to approve my request to connect to a company VPN, from a company laptop, while being on a company Wi-Fi network. Gee, I hate the corporate world. And I feel like the smartwatch is built for this corporate environment where everything is overcomplicated, and your life is a chaotic mess filled with pointless meetings.

And so, little by little, every advantage that I saw in smartwatches, turned into things I hate about them.

The tracking

Without a doubt, one of the biggest advantages of smartwatches is the fitness tracking. When I was debating what smartwatch to get, I was debating mainly between a Garmin that is more fitness oriented, and a Galaxy Watch which is more day-to-day and some fitness. Today’s smartwatches are filled with sensors to measure your heart rate, steps, calories burned, etc. They collect a bunch of health related data about you, and present it to you via a nice application. Some devices even take it further, and provide you with “energy score” or “body battery levels” — the purpose of which is to let you know how well rested you are. But there are 2 problems with tracking health data.

Firstly, it’s unreliable. None of the devices on the market today are certified as medical grade equipment. I would randomly close my activity ring on the Apple Watch while sitting in front of a computer. Or the other time, when I took the watch with me while summiting Acatenango Volcano in Guatemala, and try to measure my SpO2 (blood oxygen levels), I got results that varied from 88% to 97% in a span of two different measurements followed one another. Mind you, anything below 95% stars to get dangerous.

Secondly, and I think this is the Achilles hill of fitness tracking, is that most of the time it’s counterproductive. After getting the watch, I wanted to gather as much information about my health as I could. There were two applications where I couldn’t use the watch.

The first one, is during boxing sessions. It’s uncomfortable to put gloves on top of wraps on top of a watch. So I got myself a chest strap. The second is sleep tracking. The watch needs to be charged at least once every 24 hours, so it means I either sacrifice missing the daily standup notification, or I miss tracking my sleep. In addition to that, sleeping with the watch is uncomfortable. So at some point, I was thinking to get an Oura ring. A ring that is designed to track sleep. It’s relatively discreet, and I wear my wedding ring anyway, so I could just replace it with the Oura ring.

The way Oura ring works, is that it gives you a score every morning based on how well you’ve slept the night before. And what happens to many people I’ve read or watched online, is that they would wake up rested, but then would look up at their score to find out that it’s bad, and the app would recommend them to rest or do light workout this day. So this will lead to more anxiety and self-induced bad mood, in addition to potentially skipping the gym.

And this is the biggest problem with these fitness trackers. They give you a bunch of data and then try to do pattern matching. But this data is pointless, and often times causes you to be more upset with yourself. I remember I was invited to a panel where I shared tips on how to get hired in tech, and I was wearing my Apple Watch. I, like many other people, get stressed when talking in front of a big group of people. And I remember that for the first time in my entire time of owning the Apple Watch, I got a notification of an unusually high heart rate. It was about 160-170 bpm. I knew I was stressed, but I tried to focus my attention on the questions and the answers. You know what this notification did to me? Made me more stressed.

You are always connected

When I first got the Apple Watch, I thought it’s kind of cool to take a look at the watch and decide if a notification is worth my time or not. But as I lived more with it, it became annoying. First, it started with the fitness challenges. My friend would complete a workout, and I got a notification for that, so I could boost his ego. After some time, I turned it off.

But with every new app that I’ve installed on my phone, came a hidden watch companion app, so I would get random buzzing on my wrist throughout the day. It became a constant fight of man against machine, where I tried to outsmart my watch from bombarding me with more and more notifications. In addition to that, some built-in features like smart unlock — became annoying.

The way smart unlock works, is that if it detects that I take my phone while my watch is on my wrist, it will unlock the phone without the need for FaceID. The same would work for a MacBook — when I open the lid, the watch would unlock it. And so, every time I would take out my phone to check the time, or see who is calling me, my watch would vibrate and unlock the phone. It’s a nice feature I guess, but I don’t think it’s really that necessary as FaceID is very reliable.

I’ve read of people who developed a syndrome they call “phantom vibration”. They got so conditioned for the vibrations of their watch, that they now imagine it vibrating at random times.

Lastly, talking with people who wear smartwatches — became annoying. I barely speak with people in real life, as I moved to a new country. And so I appreciate every opportunity to talk to people in real life, and I try to dedicate 100% of my attention to the person I’m spending time with. And I’ve noticed that people who wear smartwatches get often interrupted by a notification which makes them lose focus and concentrate on the watch in order to focus their mental energy on one question: Should I pull out my phone and react to this notification?

Which leads me to the last problem.

It’s neither a tool nor a fashion statement

You see, my phone is a tool. I can reply to an email; refund a customer; make a call; schedule an event. Yes, it allows me to waste my time by engaging in doom scrolling, but it’s still a tool.

A regular watch, at least for me, is more of a fashion statement. Yes, it tells the time and sometimes the date, but unless a random person on the street asks me “what time is it?” — I’d rather pull out my phone to check for time and at the same time pay for my groceries or make a phone call. A watch is something you would pair with an outfit; a phone is not. A nice watch could be a conversation starter; a phone is not.

However, smartwatches are neither a tool not a fashion statement. Even if you change the straps, it won’t make people notice you or appreciate your watch any more than a pink phone case would. With an Apple Watch you will look like any other person who has Apple Watch. And everything you can do on a smartwatch, you can do better on a phone. Here are a few examples.

Navigation. In a car, I would prefer a screen that is positioned at a road level rather than having to take my eyes of the road to look at my watch. While biking, I found out that Google Maps has very unreliable turn-by-turn navigation, so I spend time messing with getting Google Maps work on my watch rather than paying attention on the road, and usually resort to occasional stops where I pull out my phone, and memorize the next segment of the route.

Google/Apple Wallet. I rarely leave my house without my phone. I believed I developed a fear that I share with other peers of my generation (and the generations after mine) — feeling naked without my phone on me. But let’s assume that the phone is in my backpack or whatever, so it becomes easier to pay with the watch, but in reality it is not. You see, while I’m right-handed, I wear my watches on my left hand, as I believe the majority of people do (it is common to wear watches on your non-dominant hand). And I found out that most payment terminals were designed for right-handed operation. In the Netherlands, for example, the most common payment terminal I use, is at the gates of a train stations. The terminal is always located on the right side. And this means that paying with a watch on a left hand involves cross body hand rotation at a weird 180 degrees motion in order to place the face of the watch at the terminal.

Music controls. I have controls on the AirPods for that, and I don’t really care what’s the name of the song, so I don’t need a screen.

There is nothing you can do better on a watch than on a phone. Nothing at all.

Conclusion

I don’t say you need to ditch your smartwatch. I just feel like it’s a product that doesn’t bring anything new to the market. Sure, there are fitness oriented smartwatches mainly from Garmin. And in-fact, I used to own a Garmin as replacement for my G-Shock for when I go hiking. It’s way tougher than Apple Watch, so it won’t break as easy, and it has actual fitness related features and a longer battery than the Apple Watch. As for now, I have decided to downgrade to one watch to do it all.

But other than this, I was very happy to take off my Apple Watch after quitting my job. I feel like this is a product that was created for the chaotic, and unhealthy industry that we live in. An industry of constant time-wasting activities in a form of pointless meetings, as well as demand to be online 24/7 and reply to any notification in an instant.

Apple watch, a curse or a blessing?

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 22:45:00 GMT

From my observations, the pandemic has been one of the best times for Apple as a company. Everyone around me switched to Apple. I also did the switch and got myself an iPhone and Apple Watch.

The functionality that Apple Watch provides, is enormous. For starters, I never missed a meeting with the Apple Watch. A glance at the time, would also provide me with my next meeting. Apart from that, the ability to RSVP to meetings, approve two-factor authentications, and monitor my heart rate - were very comfortable additions.

However, as time passed, I lost enthusiasm toward Apple Watch. Instead of a productivity tool, I started to feel like it’s an electronic handcuff. I’d wear it first thing in the morning, and it was the last thing in the evening I’d remove from my body before sleeping. The constant buzzing and vibrations, also drove me nuts.

And so, when I quit my job, the first thing I did - was to stop wearing Apple Watch. I no longer have meetings that I can miss, and honestly, everything else I can do on my phone anyway.

Today, after few days that it was lying around, I powered it off, and tucked away in one of my electronics organizer bags. And I really don’t know what to do with it anymore.

The Future is Grim. Maybe.

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 13:00:00 GMT

About a week ago, I met with one of my friends for beer. We catched up on each other’s lives, spoke about current day events - mainly the War in Ukraine, the recent crash in the stock market, and other events happening right now in the world. At some point I’ve said “Everything looks so fucked up”, and he added “Yeah…”.

After a few moments of silence, I asked him “Do you think our parents had similar feelings about their lives and their future?”. My friend is a popular blogger and has a big community around him, and he went on telling me that just recently he ran a survey among his community on the exact same question. We were both born in Post Soviet Union countries and most of his community are members from post USSR, so he asked them whether their parents had a feeling that their lives and future is totally fucked up. And surprisingly, their parents’ answers were - no. They didn’t have that feeling.

A brief history of USSR

Most of our parents were born somewhere around 1950-1960. A mere decade after the end of the second world war. The USSR had lost 13.7% of its population, a devastating 26,600,000, due to WW2. You don’t recover from that in one decade.

On top of all that, Germany and Berlin were divided among the winning allied powers, the most notable being the US and USSR, with a completely different world views and societal order - Capitalism vs Communism. This led to yet another war - The Cold War which lasted almost 5 decades. The US was spreading Capitalism all over the world, while the USSR was hidden behind an Iron Curtain manifesting its communist views to its citizens.

The peak point of the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis - a 35-day confrontation that could have brought the world and human civilization to an end with Nuclear War.

Then in 1968 Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia. In 1969 there was a clash between Soviet and Chinese troops across the border. Then things were silent for a few decades, up until 1986 when the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded.

1989 signals the beginning of “Revolutions of 1989” leading to toppling of Soviet imposed communist regimes, the Fall of the Berlin Wall and eventually the Fall of USSR in 1991.

The fall of the USSR followed by very unsettling times and the rise of Anti-Semitism which forced a lot of people to immigrate. And the rest is modern history.

50 years of tension between two world powers, a prospect of Nuclear Annihilation and Iron Curtain, and yet, our parents did not feel that everything is fucked up. Why is that?

Information

On 26 of April 1986 at the No.4 Nuclear Reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant - an explosion occurred. An explosion that released enormous amounts of radiation over Ukraine, Belarus and Russia and neighboring European countries. Only 36 hours after the event, the first news about evacuations started to appear in mass media. And on 28th of April, the Russian national federal news agency reported that an explosion occurred.

An event that big was hidden for more than 2 days. This was in 1986. Also, in that year, IBM announced its first laptop computer - the IBM PC Convertible, weighing 12 pounds (~5.4 kg), which is 18 pounds (~8.1 kg) lighter than the earlier portable computer.

Another nuclear disaster occurred on 11 of March 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. At 14:46 local time, an earthquake hit Honshu Island causing nuclear reactors 1, 2 and 3 to shut down automatically. At 15:46 a tsunami overtops the seawall that was designed to protect the plant and causes flooding and malfunction of the backup generator, which in turn leads to overheating.

16:00 - The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of Japan initiates an emergency headquarters to gather information. And at 19:03, a bit more than 4 hours from the start of the event, the prime minister Naoto Kan declares a nuclear emergency status. Also in 2011 Emojis became mainstream after their introduction on the iPhone.

The way we access information today is way different from what it was in the USSR. Back in USSR times, you’d learn about events from the radio or newspapers. Radios were not portable so you rarely carried one in your pocket; and newspapers needed to be printed and distributed, so information became outdated by the time you read it.

Moreover - radio air time was limited as well as the amount of news you could print in a single newspaper, so editors had to pick the most “interesting” or “shocking” news to publish. Individual press was nearly non-existing; and major news outlets, especially in the USSR, were controlled by the ruling party. So you get one point of view, censored by the ruling party.

This is way different from today. Today you have a ton of independent, oftentimes first-hand reports of live events. YouTubers and TikTokers find themselves among the early ones to cover major events, way ahead of news agencies - which still rely on some sort of editing and publishing format.

News are broadcasted via countless TV channels, while at the same time being mirrored to websites and YouTube streaming. On demand news is accessible on a by-minute basis through platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Telegram. Unfiltered, uncensored. All in one device, weighing somewhere around 6.1 ounce (~173 grams) that fits easily in your pocket, with a constant connection to the Internet.

Our world in data

I really like the website ourworldindata.org. They have 3280 charts across 297 topics including - Demographic, Health, Food, Living Conditions, etc.

According to some of their research, all major metrics associated with happy life - are increasing. Life expectancy, for example, has grown from an average of 32 years in 1900, to an average of 72 years in 2019 (source). The share of battle deaths is declining (source). Global education has increased as well (source).

And yet, we feel like everything is doomed. Especially during the past 3 years. And the biggest reason that my friend and I believe is to blame - is social media and rapid access to information.

Humans developed from hunter-gatherers in predator filled environments. Our brains are programmed to look for danger. If you spot the lion before it spots you - you get another day to live. We are addicted to “bad” news. Bad news helps us survive.

Now - here is the catch. Evolution works well over time. A long time. Like a really long time. You won’t see substantial change in the evolution of our brain over one generation. Technology on the other side progresses superfast. The first transistor computers appeared in 1955. There are now teenagers who have never seen a Floppy Disk before.

Technology has blessed us with many good things. But our brains did not evolve enough to adapt to technology, so we are still hooked on looking for disasters. Especially now - when disasters are one swipe away. Disasters and catastrophes sell. Nobody wants to read the news about peaceful pandas. We are hooked on gossip, and “fail” videos. We are motivated by a scarcity mindset that is being sold to us by marketers. “Beware! Only today! 19.99 instead of gazillion”.

An entire generation is feeling hopeless, while the data shows that our world is becoming better, all due to rapid access to technology and by-minute coverage of major world events.

Internet is killing your brain

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 09:00:00 GMT

People who smoke usually know that smoking might prematurely kill them. Or if not kill, then give them cancer, stroke, heart disease, lung disease etc. People who drink alcohol are aware that they will have liver problems and might prematurely die. Eating processed food leads to obesity which in turns might lead to cardiovascular disease. It’s all known, It’s hard to argue with it, the data is there (look at sources in NHS, WHO, CDC). But very few people know that internet damages your brain.

Internet is the vegetable diet among fast food

If someone asked me, what was the best invention in the past 100 years, I’d say - the Internet. I have experience life with a PC and no internet. I have experiences dial-up internet when picture took minutes to load and going on the internet required approval from family members - because they won’t be able to use the phone. I’ve experienced ADSL speeds. And now experiencing fiber optic speeds as well as being connected 24/7 thanks to my smartphone.

Without internet, devices like Kindle and Smartphones would be useless, services like Spotify, Audible, YouTube and this blog - would not exist. Internet gave us instant access to shopping. Internet gave us unlimited access to knowledge. Internet gave us ability to stay connected with our loved ones, especially now during pandemic. Internet gave us international collaboration. But every coin has 2 sides.

Internet is also the cocaine among drugs

Internet addiction is not a new term. Our society is discovering new anxiety disorders like Fear Of Missing Out. We’ve created terms like Internet Bullying to describe online bullying. People are being shamed. Deceived. Raped and killed. All via, or with the help of, the internet. And while undoubtedly those issues must be addressed, there is another issue that nobody is talking about - and it’s the pandemic of our times. The pandemic of the false information, the pandemic of fear spreading.

With access to entire human competence and knowledge, we also got access to entire human stupidity, opinions and beliefs. And if in pre internet times, the weirdo who thinks that the government spies on him, would put a tin foil cap and move to live in the woods - today he expresses his opinion on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms.

All the cars in the world are red

Imagine a situation where all you see are red cars. You walk on the street and all the cars are red. Those that are parked. Those that are being driven. Taxis. Buses. All red. Would you believe me if I told you that I’ve seen a blue one? You’d probably be skeptical.

We tend to form our opinions based on the world we see around us. We see green apples, and we think that apples can only be green. But then we travel, we discover new kinds of apples. We discover new people, new traditions and new religions. And suddenly we understood more about the world. We’ve seen that there are cars other than red.

The internet works similarly. You watch YouTube video after YouTube video until you find yourself sitting in front of your computer at 3 AM looking at cats or worse - conspiracy theories how aliens manipulate humans.

Your engagement time with different services (almost) always have direct conversion to revenue. Then more videos you watch, the more ads you see, the more revenue the service makes. And in order to maintain this cause and effect, online services have a recommendation mechanism in place. The way it works is pretty simple. You watch a video about cats, the algorithm assumes you like cats, so it recommends you another cat video. If you watch it, its assumption becomes stronger, and you will see more cat videos.

Show me your YouTube homepage and I’ll tell you who you are

There is a saying by an Unknown that goes like this: Show me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are. The idea behind it, and I believe in it, is that people tend to be attracted to similar minds. Successful people rarely hang out with bums. Athletic people rarely hang out with physically inactive people. They might, but its temporary, and eventually they will drop them as friends or drag them to their level (it works both ways - a shy nice kid in a company of schools hooligans will either become bored and looks for other shy nice kids to befriend or be dragged down and become a school hooligan).

The same can be said about your social feeds. What you see there is an exact reflection of who are you and what you believe in. Now there is a very big question that I do not know the answer for yet - which came first? Your beliefs that guided you towards specific YouTube videos or those videos that shaped your beliefs? I tend to speculate that it’s a bit of each.

Deep down the rabbit hole

The problem is that if you are not very, very, very careful - you might end up deep in a rabbit hole. Video after video, post after post it will drag you down, narrowing your world view, slowly shaping your beliefs. And exiting this rabbit hole is hard. It requires having open mind, it requires being active, way beyond the level of activity needed to click on the next video or scroll to the next post. You actively need to challenge your world views. Challenge your beliefs. Expose your self to different sources of information. Because if you keep staying in the city of red cars, you will never discover that cars can be made in different colors.

I always like to end up with a personal touch. Advice from myself. I don’t believe I’m qualified to discuss a topic I don’t have experience in.

But honestly, giving an advice here is very hard. Because the best advice I can give you is that you need to train your mind. Train it to challenge information. Remember than news never speak about good things, they only talk about death and murder, war and disease. It doesn’t mean that those are the only things outside the window. Its just that news are not a good source of positive and educational information. Look elsewhere. The same with social networks. If you allow the algorithm to decide what you like - you might end up in a rabbit hole. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t click on controversial videos, or share controversial posts. It means that by doing so, you also need to take control of what information you want to be exposed to. And you need to take control and verify your information.

YouTube (and probably other social networks) have a way to control how the algorithm works. Each recommended video you see can be tagged as “Not Interested” or “Don’t recommend channel”. By doing so, you can control how the algorithm works without dragging you deep into the rabbit hole.

My YouTube homepage looks the same. Exactly same 10–20 videos are being offered to me with each refresh. No matter what kind of videos I watch, even when I watch controversial, fake, provoking videos or click on videos out of boredom or when procrastinating - once I start getting recommendations to them, I flag them as either “Not interested” or “Don’t recommend channel”. This way I control what information I see. Not the algorithm (whose purpose is to offer you more cat videos if you like cats - which by itself is not a bad thing, but remember every coin, two sides..)

Take control. If you start to feel that your feed is taking control of you, you feel anxiety, stress, panic - STOP. Evaluate whether the information you see is relevant and doing good to you. If not, quit or block. I’ve had a nervous breakdown recently from reading too much news. I’ve blocked them. Didn’t miss anything. Its still pandemic outside.

When I’ve noticed that YouTube is taking me down the rabbit hole I’ve stopped. Reevaluated what videos I’m being offered, removed the one that are bad for me. Found a hobby (like reviving this blog).

You also need to consider how you are getting your information. There are 2 mains methods: Push method and Pull method.

In a push method you are being offered information. You see YouTube home page with video recommendations, Facebook news feed with post recommendations. In push method you rarely have control. Push method is the way to the rabbit hole. You are bored or have a minute to spare, so you open your feed, see some information, click on it which makes the algorithm think you are interested in it so you are being offered more of it. At some point you end up in the rabbit hole I’ve told you about. Sure, some of the best YouTube videos I’ve watched were offered to me by the recommendation algorithm, but at that point I’ve already had control over what information I want to be exposed to. I knew how the push method worked and could control it. If you lack this control, skip the push method and start with pull.

Pull method is different. In pull method you search for information. You want to discover something new so you go and search for it. You watch videos, you read posts. You form an opinion. It’s different from push in one specific aspect - control. In pull method you have control, in push method - you usually don’t (unless you already have enough self-control to stop, criticize, challenge and evaluate). Pull method is active, while push is passive. You are less likely to engage in pull method when you are bored or procrastinating hence your ability to criticize and challenge information is higher at those moments. Your mindset is different. In pull method you are set to learn or find the truth. In push method you are set to relax or kill the boredom. You lack control.

Remember this the next time you scroll through your feed.

Dmitry Kudryavtsev

We can no longer trust software

Footnotes

In the name of progress

This is the price of progress

Why I ditched my Apple Watch

My relationship with (smart) watches

But, why?

The tracking

You are always connected

It’s neither a tool nor a fashion statement

Conclusion

Apple watch, a curse or a blessing?

The Future is Grim. Maybe.

A brief history of USSR

Information

Our world in data

Internet is killing your brain

Internet is the vegetable diet among fast food

Internet is also the cocaine among drugs

All the cars in the world are red

Show me your YouTube homepage and I’ll tell you who you are

Deep down the rabbit hole