Great TED talk about the internet and specifically social media (or as the speaker calls them, "behavior modification empires").
https://www.ted.com/talks/jaron_lanier_how_we_need_to_remake_the_internet#t-882787
@gemlog whoops, sorry about that. It's only my 25th year or so on the internet.
@gabe Yeah, try to keep up eh? :-)
We must be about the same age then (I'm 57). My first use of the internet was on an amiga ;-)
@gemlog Ah, haha. I'm a bit younger than that, I was just lucky enough to have parents that were "with it" enough (or at least knew people who were) to get the internet in our house when I was still in elementary school.
An early 90s Macintosh Performa was my first machine. The Amiga definitely gives you more street cred!
@gabe Heck, I was the local amiga dealer ;-)
Thanks for the link to that talk.
@gemlog Oh dang that's awesome! You're welcome!
@gabe The guy is not the most compelling 'entertainer'/speaker, but the info is very good. Especially https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener#The_Human_Use_of_Human_Beings_%281950%29 insights.
Very good talk. Very good. And optimistic in the end.
I'll add that I'm not totally sure I agree with the "charge money for social media" thing, as I'm not too keen on putting information behind paywalls. Feels classist.
However, I do think it'd be a better option than the current way of "doing social media".
I still think decentralization, user-ownership, and cooperative management are likely the best ways forward, as I'd rather no company own a social media platform (whether funded via ads or user subscriptions).
Regardless: #FuckZuck
@gabe the way I see it someone is always paying for social media. the users are paying with their time, attention, and content. their data they inadvertently throw in for free. but in the end it's the ones that pay in capital that ultimately control it. that might as well be us too. if its done right and at scale the price is a pittance compared to the alternative.
@gabe I'm glad to put money into social.coop at my comfort level and hope others will be glad to do the same, as an alternative to nearly every other venue's efforts to strip me (and any other person not of the 1%) of assets by stealth.
@risabee Absolutely!
>not totally sure I agree with the "charge money for social media" thing
- "no taxation without representation". Cooperative ownership FTW!
@gabe https://www.ted.com/talks/jaron_lanier_how_we_need_to_remake_the_internet (deleted the time code from the end of the url)