Following up on yesterday’s brief reference to Jaron Lanier’s editorial in the New York Times, we find the same theme echoed in this coverage by Emma Green at The Atlantic. Green writes about an event at which authors E.L. Doctorow and David Simon also raised concerns regarding the disconnect between overreacting to stories about government surveillance while remaining unconcerned with ...
Once again, computer scientist, author, and musician Jaron Lanier passionately addresses ways in which digital age toys and apps offer illusions of empowerment and greater freedom while in fact limiting both. This article was shared by reader Mike Katell, who also offered a thoughtful comment in response to my post as to why I’m not losing sleep over the revelations ...
Adland.TV pulls no punches with its headline Goldieblox: erasing the line between “disruptive” and “douchebaggery.” Not only does the article that follows blast the toy company for its failed attempted to use legal controversy to gin up a little pre-Christmas marketing, it also justifiably takes aim at the overvaluation of the notion of disruptiveness in these volatile days. Yes, we ...
I’ve written about this subject before, but a recurring, underlying theme that pits the powers of Silicon Valley against all types of producers of creative works is the premise that the digital age is all about abundance in contrast to a pre-internet epoch of scarcity. To read some of the purpler prose on the subject, one would think the early ...
Y’know how some of us keep saying the Silicon Valley agenda is not progressive and that it’s anti-copyright (think labor rights) positions are not in any way about YOU the users of its wondrous TUBES? Well, welcome to the real face of Google, which may start to look a lot more like a portrait of Grover Norquist than its progressive ...
