Techocalypse
Free software” means software that respects users' freedom and community. Roughly, it means that the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software . Thus, “free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech,” not as in “free beer.” We... See more
Free Software Foundation • What is Free Software? - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation
“The villain here is not necessarily the internet, or even the idea of social media,” she writes. “It is the invasive logic of commercial social media, and its financial incentive to keep us in a profitable state of anxiety, envy, and distraction.” The business model of platforms like this — which rely on advertising and clicks and “engagement”
... See moreJenny Odell • How to quit Facebook without quitting Facebook
What does it tell us about progress if the most influential technological innovation of the century is clearly destroying lives on a massive scale?
Ted Gioia • I Ask Seven Heretical Questions About Progress
If the early internet was serving beer and wine that brought people together, today’s internet is dealing crack and fentanyl that tears people apart. The consumer isn’t winning when they are addicted to a product that makes them unhappy, and when they are spending hours each day using products they would pay money to make disappear.
Jonah Peretti • The Anti-SNARF Manifesto
I Talked to the Cassandra of the Internet Age
archive.ph
Michael Goldhaber is the internet prophet you’ve never heard of. Here’s a short list of things he saw coming: the complete dominance of the internet, increased shamelessness in politics, terrorists co-opting social media, the rise of reality television, personal websites, oversharing, personal essay, fandoms and online influencer culture — along with the near destruction of our ability to focus.
This is what a frictionless world looks like. Everything accelerates, until you forget what it means to try.
kyla scanlon • The Most Valuable Commodity in the World Is Friction
It isn’t that you don’t “get” tech, it’s that the tech you use every day is no longer built for you, and as a result feels a very specific kind of insane.
Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At • Never Forgive Them
Many things in modernity are brain dead, but I can’t think of anything worse than the short form dystopias of TikTok and Instagram. They’re materially making people dumber, breeding addict behavior (particularly in the young) and ultimately ruining the lives of normies. It’s depressing to think about the countless kids who might have started garage... See more
Adam Singer • TikTok and Instagram are intellectual poison
There have to be some kind of longer-term, more drastic impact of the attention-shattering of our human experience. Too many tabs, to much switching from one stream of consciousness to another, not enough…work?