Saved by Maurice Cronin and
Desire, Dopamine, and the Internet
The years ahead are likely to bring ever more powerful technologies that can exploit our ways of thinking, fuelling addictive and compulsive behaviour. The world has lots of experience of trying to handle or at least contain potentially destructive addictive behaviours. Will these prompt new temperance movements, focused now on digital behaviours (
... See moreGeoff Mulgan • Another World Is Possible: How to Reignite Social and Political Imagination
the original question remains: What does this steadily throbbing shimmer hold for us? How is it revising our ideas about the larger human project? What continuities remain, and how do we contend—collectively and individually—with all the breaks and rifts, all the spots where traditions can no longer carry us over?
Sven Birkerts • The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age
It is the business model of the internet, driven by ad revenue, that pushes companies to design their digital tools for compulsive engagement. This is, I think, true enough. The business model has certainly exacerbated the problem. But I’m far less sanguine than Hari appears to be about whether changing the business model will adequately address th... See more
theconvivialsociety.substack.com • Attending to the World
In a 2017 interview, Ev Williams (the founder of Twitter), said something that has stuck with me since: “the trouble with algorithms, is that it rewards extremes. Say you’re driving down the road and see a car crash. Of course you look. Everyone looks. The internet interprets behavior like this to mean everyone is asking for car crashes, so it trie... See more