Look, as an American technophile and web services developer, it would be the best thing for us. Just turn the Internet off. It was a bad fucking idea. Force people to interact with the people around them instead of self-selecting their social circle.
The internet wasn’t a bad idea, we just somehow failed to see how letting billionaires seize the reins of a new global media empire could go badly - despite it being a story as old as time by now…
I guess it comes down to how much is manipulation of algorithms and how much is just human nature. I don’t know the answer to that but I’m feeling pretty cynical right now.
I feel like a lot of it is down to bad monetary policy and weak antitrust and labour law. Low rates led to a glut of speculation and venture capital in tech over the decades. The free stuff was free because we were the product, and the rest was offered cheap to kill the competition. Laws with teeth and carefully crafted regulations are normally society’s safeguards. Propaganda by corporate media made them a boogeyman.
If we just protected gig workers, if we just busted monopolies and refused walled gardens, if we didn’t let landlords own so much property, etc we’d never be at the mercy of Uber, Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Apple, BlackRock, etc. And now that dovish monetary policy is ended and cannot realistically continue, all that free shit has to get worse, be profitable, compete, enshittify. The faerie gold turns to ash in our pockets sooner or later.
All this at a time of unprecedented upward wealth transfer, it’s understandable to feel cynical.
Human nature is what it is, we’re pretty gnarly at our worst. But there has been a deliberate emphasis of the conditions that bring out the worst in us.
Look, as an American technophile and web services developer, it would be the best thing for us. Just turn the Internet off. It was a bad fucking idea. Force people to interact with the people around them instead of self-selecting their social circle.
They’re not going to shut it off, just silence anything but their own views.
The internet wasn’t a bad idea, we just somehow failed to see how letting billionaires seize the reins of a new global media empire could go badly - despite it being a story as old as time by now…
I guess it comes down to how much is manipulation of algorithms and how much is just human nature. I don’t know the answer to that but I’m feeling pretty cynical right now.
I feel like a lot of it is down to bad monetary policy and weak antitrust and labour law. Low rates led to a glut of speculation and venture capital in tech over the decades. The free stuff was free because we were the product, and the rest was offered cheap to kill the competition. Laws with teeth and carefully crafted regulations are normally society’s safeguards. Propaganda by corporate media made them a boogeyman.
If we just protected gig workers, if we just busted monopolies and refused walled gardens, if we didn’t let landlords own so much property, etc we’d never be at the mercy of Uber, Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Apple, BlackRock, etc. And now that dovish monetary policy is ended and cannot realistically continue, all that free shit has to get worse, be profitable, compete, enshittify. The faerie gold turns to ash in our pockets sooner or later.
All this at a time of unprecedented upward wealth transfer, it’s understandable to feel cynical.
Human nature is what it is, we’re pretty gnarly at our worst. But there has been a deliberate emphasis of the conditions that bring out the worst in us.
I’ve written too much. Sorry for that.
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Those darn masses and their checks notes FCC lobbyists…