dreaming of a better internet
sari and
dreaming of a better internet
Digital gardens are not about creating utopias. Rather, they design towards the small and slow progress of protopias, as defined by futurist Kevin Kelly as “a state that is better today than yesterday.” We need protopias, alternatives, and the seeds of gardens. We need space to dream, and for that dreaming to connect to concrete action.
Annika Hansteen-Izora • On Digital Gardens: Tending to Our Collective Multiplicity
Large parasocial platforms transformed the internet into a hostile and impersonal place. They feed our FOMO to keep us clicking. They exaggerate our differences for "engagement". They create engines for stardom to keep us creeping. They bait us into nutritionless and sensationalist content. Humanity cannot subsist on hype alone.
Small and sincere... See more
Small and sincere... See more
My new social media will be a giant shared Google doc to which I will add all the cool people as "editors," and there will be no ads, and no algorithm, and you can type into the doc at the same time with whatever dang font you want, and the party in that doc will NEVER END.
Paul J. Pastorx.com
via lauren hough
It might seem that the close coupling of digital innovation with the market was inevitable, but our present reality is only one possible digital world — creating others is still possible, and there is little time to waste.
Rachel Coldicutt • Sunshine Machines: Towards a Feminist Future of Digital Care
Our modest goal with Substack is to help accelerate and amplify the advent of the culture future through a better media system. Culture is not just about getting what you want; it is about learning what to want. It shapes our values, beliefs, identity, taste, and how we relate to other people. And in turn, we shape it, when we choose what to pay... See more
Chris Best • The Two Futures of Media
the world is a surprisingly malleable place and has reconfigured itself around compelling visions many times before
Scraping the Social: “We are unknown to ourselves—and with good reason.” Friedrich Nietzsche—“Even the retards are starting to figure it out.” (comment)—“In data we trust.” Priceonomics—“The Internet fails to scale gracefully.” Chris Ellis—“I want to be surprised by my own bot”—“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”... See more
an incredible word spaghetti
self-hosted networks like Mastodon are an alternative that more people than ever before have experienced. There is more awareness that running these servers and instances in a way which meets the minimum bar of reasonableness costs time and money. And not an insignificant amount. These small communities that are safe, welcoming and adaptive require
... See moreDan Hon • S16e08: Free-Range, Organic, and Natural; The Original Promise
The Social Media Death Spiral
open.substack.com