Unlike the main public internet, which runs on the (human) protocol of “users” clicking on links on public pages/apps maintained by “publishers”, the cozyweb works on the (human) protocol of everybody cutting-and-pasting bits of text, images, URLs, and screenshots across live streams. Much of this content is poorly addressable, poorly searchable,... See more
Privacy and security in this world mostly means “which private company do you trust with your safety?” The answer often coincides with who has the largest walls and deepest moats.
This brings me to a problem that we've been noodling on for several years, and to my mind, it still a critical open question. So when you're trying to build these end-user extensible, digital document systems, there's a few desiderata that you want: You want to be very fast. You want to be safe, in the sense of, end users aren't going to be... See more
Digital documents aren't subject to the constraints of paper. We should hold modern propaganda to a higher standard. By all means, be catchy, eloquent, passionate, and inspiring. But we must be able to dive through the pretty words to see the data and sources beneath.
When I take a screenshot, it feels like a tiny rejection of the logic of the contemporary corporate internet. Instead of offering up fragments of my photographic life to the computer gods, the screenshot feels like I’m stealing something back from the computational world for my own uses, removing it from the networked flow (sure, some of these... See more
Disruptive innovations don’t compete against incumbents, they compete with nonconsumption. They start where there is no competition, at the low-end of a market, or in a completely new market. What they offer is not better. It is different. It shifts the basis of competition.
Mirrors and clocks transformed society, but they ’re so old that nobody questions them.
Clocks created a culture of anxiety.
Mirrors created a culture of narcissism.