im really not a ted fan, but im a huge lessig fan. i love him, id freaking marry him.


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i am watching this for the first time as i post this. if you ever thought the internet was making the public even dumber, this will likely feed your fears (though the point isnt fear, but thought.)

of course it isnt the technology per se, but the present application. social media and search in particular, with their many algorithms for tribal bubbles, are reinforcing peoples misconceptions and narrow views. no ones suggesting that the internet is all bad or that this is an inevitable effect of the internet-- in its present iteration, this is one of the major effects of modern digital communications (and as usual, monopoly.)

tl;dr: the internet is a perfect machine for creating echo chambers and stronger, tighter groups of willful idiots: we should proceed with caution.

Yeah. being from the old school. I  kinda wonder how bad idiocracy will be in 100 years.
 

related reading:
19 Sept 2017 article
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its the same story with different levels of detail. i actually like the article better, but the lessig video lends it extra credence, i think.

also in the guardian: silicon valley wants people to learn to code not for the sake of the workforce, but to cut down on the prices for coders.

personally, i want (everyone) to learn to code because theyll never understand society at this point, without a fundamental understanding of the processes presently at work in society-- those of computer routines. you cant make informed political decisions (at this point) without a basic understanding of how software works.

but i agree with the guardian that silicon valley rarely cares about the customer-- to silicon valley, the customer is just like fuel or food or lubrication-- a commodity. so now we know what the"matrix" was all about-- the west coast technology sector! (half kidding-- its anything *like* the west coast technology sector.) here on the east coast, its not a lot better. but ive always had a special disdain for that side of it. its the mecca of open source imo, and closer to boston some of us still care about education for the sake of it. but who wants to learn about concepts and ideas when they can learn"job skills?"

i would LOVE to find an anti-silicon-valley tech fanbase from the west. where would you look for one? (not facebook, obviously.)

i would LOVE to find an anti-silicon-valley tech fanbase from the west. where would you look for one? (not facebook, obviously.)

Austin Texas, Seattle Washington, just to name a few.