tribes, institutions, markets, algorithms, networks, influencers
To function, democracies require more than just voting. Citizens are afforded access to information and an open system of debate. But throughout history, when new forms of communications arrive—from the disingenuous use of sophistic techniques developed in Athens to the social media–enabled spread of propaganda we see today—they often undermine the
... See moreZac Gershberg • The Paradox of Democracy
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
404media.co
Media are the hardware of society—the hardware has evolved from expressing ideas to centering on identities. The software—our culture—has followed suit. Identity politics mirrors the development of media, reflecting its cultural consequences.
Andrey Mir • The Digital Reversal. Thread-saga of Media Evolution
The engagement with digital flow is stimulated by hormonal rewards—evolutionary physiological mechanisms that encourage people to search for something useful and share it with others for bonding and recognition, much like real hunting and gathering.
Andrey Mir • The Digital Reversal. Thread-saga of Media Evolution
We’re now confronting the greatest structural challenge to democracy we’ve ever seen: a truly open society. Without gatekeepers, there are no constraints on discourse. Digital technology has changed everything. Consequently, reality is up for grabs in a way it never has been before.
Zac Gershberg • The Paradox of Democracy
Politics is fandom — indeed, everything is fandom — because everything is mediated. Most of what we know, feel, and act on is almost exclusively delivered to us through screens, images, text. In practice, there is no clear break between “real life” and “media.” We experience reality the way we experience fiction. Fandom is the organizing principle... See more
Nick Fuentes' Body, Our DeviantArt Account
Writes the psychologist Professor Carol Tavris, ‘Without feeling attached to groups that give our lives meaning, identity and purpose, we would suffer the intolerable sensation that we were loose marbles floating in a random universe. We will do all it takes to preserve these attachments.’
Will Storr • A Story is a Deal: How to use the science of storytelling to lead, motivate and persuade
Technologies changed media that changed communicative styles that changed culture that changed thinking and interaction. How we centered ourselves as individuals and the relationships we had to culture, institutions, and the nation-state all transformed.
Zac Gershberg • The Paradox of Democracy
Influence over behavior is the very goal of advertising and to some extent that is what Zuboff describes. But Zuboff takes a stronger view of the influence the platforms have over us, suggesting that they have a distinct form of power (which she labels “instrumentarianism”) that can be defined as “ownership of the means of behavioral
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