Tara McMullin

@taramcmullin

Writer, podcaster, and producer baffled by the absurdity of neoliberal capitalism. Autistic feminist. Aspiring independent scholar. Amateur baker. Host of the What Works podcast and author of a book of the same name.

whatworks.fyi

All cardsCollections

Definitions

Robin Sloan robinsloan.com

Labor Under Capitalism

Science Fiction and

I’ve been mainlining Le Guin’s non-fiction writing. It strikes me reading this passage again that she’s bumping up against Harry Frankfurt’s definition of “bullshit.” To paraphrase, that bullshit doesn’t concern itself with the truth—it’s objective is outside the realm of information. I don’t think fiction is bullshit, obviously. But now I’m curious about the qualities of fiction as they relate to the qualities of bullshit.

challenges-15-00029-v2

The article critiques prevailing paradigms of digital literacy, proposing a consciousness model rooted in media ecology to address the structural biases of digital communication technologies that hinder sustainability efforts.

Link

Media & Culture

It doesn’t have to be the way it is is a playful statement, made in the context of fiction, with no claim to “being real.” Yet it is a subversive statement.

Subversion doesn’t suit people who, feeling their adjustment to life has been successful, want things to go on just as they are, or people who need support from authority assuring them that... See more

Ursula K. Le Guin — 28. It Doesn’t Have To Be the Way It Is

Worldbuilding and Science Fiction

As a society, we are so fully invested in capitalism, competition and algorithms that it’s almost impossible to pull ourselves out of the cycle to see a bigger pattern, which is that we have entire economies built upon our misery.

The enshittification of dating apps

Capitalism

Inherent in the concept of moral contagion, then, is the idea that moral-emotion expressions are among the most powerful signals to the self and others about one’s identity. As such, they may be among the most functionally relevant forms of expressions in the context of moral and political discourse online, where moral and political identities are... See more

Just a moment...

Media & Culture and The Creator Economy

Because you are human beings you are going to meet failure. You are going to meet disappointment, injustice, betrayal, and irreparable loss. You will find you’re weak where you thought yourself strong. You’ll work for possessions and then find they possess you. You will find yourself — as I know you already have — in dark places, alone, and afraid.... See more

Ursula K. Le Guin — A Left-Handed Commencement Address

Success (In Moderation)

I know what kind of work it takes to complete a book manuscript, and I want to do that work, but to arrive at the end of it and learn that what I should have been doing instead is flooding the zone on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok? That is fundamentally demoralizing.

Collin Brooke • Unfluence

Media & Culture and

‘Fandom Has Toxified the World’: Watchmen Author Alan Moore on Superheroes, Comicsgate and Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alan-moore theguardian.com

Media & Culture and Fandom & Capitalism