sari

Oral societies, Walter Ong argued, were deeply conservative because knowledge was scarce and fragile. All memory was living memory, and knowledge would die with those who held it if they did not pass it on to another person.

Taking notes, I’ve come to realize, is a form of collecting. I’ve never been interested in collecting physical things, but when it comes to beautiful literary quotes, I have thousands of notebook entries.

In general, will Substack replicate the patterns of marginalization found across the media industry, or will it help people locked out of the dominant media sphere to flourish? To a large extent, the answer depends on whether or not Substack’s founders believe they’re in the publishing business. When we spoke, they were adamant that Substack is a p... See more

Networks have also had a contentious relationship with developers, who brought in millions of early users. Developers built alternate clients, invented UI paradigms, and even launched billion-dollar gaming companies. But as they grew, the networks realized that they didn’t need developers anymore. Most users were locked in and wouldn’t leave becaus... See more