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Tag Archives: Technology and Society
Recoding History
A few years ago I read Broad Band, a history of women in early computing, which blew my mind. I’d taken for granted that computers and the early internet were wholly the domain of socially awkward dudes with glasses wearing … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged AI, audiobook, digital world, history, human space flight, Technology and Society, women
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Hit Refresh (it’s the F5 key)
When I first began using computers in the late 1990s, Microsoft was establishing itself as The Establishment — a successor to IBM, becoming the uncool behemoth. It wasn’t quite there yet, but it would be there soon. A few years … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged AI, digital world, India, Microsoft, Technology and Society, the Internet
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Worth reading: “What’s Become Of Us”?
Freya India writes today on not only how social makes us feel, but how it degrades us as people. Over time I’m becoming convinced that our most pressing concern isn’t that social media makes us feel worse about ourselves. It’s … Continue reading
Worth reading: “A Time we Never Knew”
Freya of GIRLS, one of my favorite substackers, just posted an article on one of my favorite book-authors’ substack called “A Time We Never Knew”, on the wistfulness that Gen-Zers can experience when seeing videos of high school in the … Continue reading
AI killed the internet star, ooh wah ooh
Quoting from “Here lies the internet, killed by generative AI” on the amount of ai-generated trash that is now beginning to overwhelm real content, including children’s videos that parents use to babysit their kids. What will be the cognitive/developmental consequences … Continue reading
Highlights from People vs Tech
Moments ago, I finally posted a review for a book I read back in September, The People vs Tech. We won’t witness a repeat of the 1930s, everyone’s favourite analogy. Rather, I believe that democracy will fail in new and … Continue reading
The People vs Tech
Democracy must bring big tech to heel, adapt itself to thrive despite big tech, or perish. Born of different times, with different expectations, they cannot coexist in their present date: the latter will surely destroy the other. In The People … Continue reading
Chaos Machine Highlights
A few minutes ago I posted a review for The Chaos Machine: How Social Media Rewired Our Minds. Below are selected highlights from it. The thought process that went into building these applications,” Parker told the media conference, “was all … Continue reading
Posted in quotations
Tagged AI, civic awareness, digital world, quotations, social media, Technology and Society
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How Social Media Rewired Our Minds
One of my core beliefs is that we live in a world which we made for ourselves, and yet which is not fit for ourselves. Our eyes expect to see what they do not see, our arms reach for which … Continue reading
A day without a phone
One of my class assignments this week is to go 24 hours without touching my phone, and since that aligns fairly well with some of the books I‘ve written about here over the years, I thought I might share my … Continue reading
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