Thomas

the best narratives and metaphors for thinking about how life works come not from our technologies (machines, computers) but from life itself.

What we need most in a rapidly changing world is rootedness. Could just be me but when I listen to the misery and confusion of my generation beneath it I hear a heartbreaking need—a need to be bound to others, to a community, to a moral code, to something more.

UBI should not be just about survival or consumer spending. Instead, it should be seen as a catalyst for driving technological change. A kind of long-form state support could shore up social cohesion and lead to better governance. That would have a halo effect.

People are more likely to participate in the technological transition positively if they... See more

So much of our training as women tells us that we are objects of desire rather than desiring subjects. We know this. . . . As girls we were often expected to please others, and as women we fear being called selfish. We put others’ needs first, we stifle our own desires, or, worse, we forget we even have them. I’m talking here about sexual desires,... See more

‘Yeah, TikTok is for three things: learning stuff and feeling good about yourself, stalking people, and brain rot.’

In this way, brain rot is what we might call a ‘genre of participation’, to borrow a term from the work of the cultural anthropologist Mimi Ito. On a digital social media application like TikTok, with its endless different types of... See more