Our Times
Books matter. Making them is a combination of craft and insight. Publishing them is a generous act of faith. Adding to the corpus of shared knowledge is important. Books change the culture when people act on them, even if they don’t sell many copies. And sometimes the backlist surprises the accountants.
But the economics of new books have nothing to... See more
But the economics of new books have nothing to... See more
Books don’t sell
Was in anderen medialen Zeiten ein John F. Kennedy, eine Mutter Teresa, ein Nelson Mandela oder in Frankreich Simone Weil waren - anerkannt über die politischen Lager hinweg -, solch eine Person wäre heute Ansporn und Auftrag für die digitalen Hassfabriken der ganzen Welt.
Nils Minkmar • Kate, Moskau Und X: Wir Haben Ein Ego-Problem
Die technologischen Möglichkeiten der digitalen Protokollierung von immer mehr Lebensspuren laden heutzutage dazu ein, ein auf das Individuum zielendes diagnostisches Instrumentarium der Risikoklassifikation anzuwenden. Der über uns schwebende Datenschatten, der unser soziales, politisches und ökonomisches Leben beschreibt und nachverfolgt, kann
... See moreSteffen Mau • Sortiermaschinen
The concept of efficiency — how much one can accomplish per unit of time (or per dollar, etc.) — requires a quantitative numerator as well as a denominator. It requires a metric. Therefore, it tells us nothing about results we cannot quantify or measure. When we gear our society around efficiency, we produce more and more of the measurable, while... See more
The British writer Robert Colville says we are living through ‘the Great Acceleration’, and like Sune, he argues it’s not simply our tech that’s getting faster – it’s almost everything. There’s evidence that a broad range of important factors in our lives really are speeding up: people talk significantly faster now than they did in the 1950s, and
... See moreJohann Hari • Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention
And I increasingly think our job, maybe our method of rebellion, is to be people who care, who have taste, who like and share and look for good things, who read and watch and look at those things on purpose instead of just staring slackjawed at whatever slop is placed between the ads they hope we won’t really notice.
A new movie taking on the tech bros
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” — Zora Neale Hurston
But is there not some truth to claim that reality pales in comparison to the digitally mediated worlds on offer? My most straightforward answer is, of course, no. But viewed from a certain angle, perhaps. As an example, consider the case of someone who has only lived where light pollution obscures all but a few of the brightest stars. Under these
... See moreL. M. Sacasas • Notes From the Metaverse
By way of contrast, the ideal of limitlessness consumption serves the modern economy quite well, but it does not serve the person well at all. [2] This ideal imparts to us all a spirit of scarcity that darkens our experience: not enough time, not enough attention, not enough capacity to care. But upon what does this spirit feed? It feeds, in part,
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