Saved by Alex Wittenberg and
The Face Stares Back
I have often heard it said of social media: ‘when you cannot see the product being advertised, it’s because you are the product.’
Our preferences and opinions become part of the programme, encouraging certain types of thoughts and behaviours in others. The ‘like’ button is integral to the function of social platforms and yet what purpose does it ser
... See moreMarcus De Brun • The Algorithm of Evil | Cassandra Voices
This is anything but an argument against technology, were such a thing even coherent. It’s an argument for taking technology as seriously as it deserves to be taken, for recognizing, as McLuhan’s friend and colleague John M. Culkin put it, “we shape our tools, and thereafter, they shape us.”
Ezra Klein • I Didn’t Want It to Be True, but the Medium Really Is the Message
Every time you find a new favourite blog or Twitter account or Tiktok personality online, you'll have to ask: Is this really a whole human with a rich and complex life like mine? Is there a being on the other end of this web interface I can form a relationship with?
Maggie Appleton • The Expanding Dark Forest and Generative AI
In ordinary language, we frequently speak of machinery or ideas ‘doing’ things in our lives. But they do nothing. People – human persons – produce, operate and apply their creations. The problem with assigning agency, even informally, to the nonhuman is that this disguises the strength of human control, limited though it is in other respects. It le... See more