One thing that irritates me time and again is when someone tells me they saw something “on the Internet”. It’s an insult to humanity to have such a low degree of literacy. In order to begin to understand how absurd such a statement is, consider how you would feel if someone talked to you about… Continue reading On the Internet …
Tag: artificial intelligence
To Go with the Flow OR To Swim against the Stream
Mob mentality is usually viewed with disdain. Gustave Le Bon, who was a pioneer in this field of study, painted the mob to be distinctly uncivilized … even sub-human. Yet we ought to also recognize that the cornerstones of what we consider to be modern civilization are governments that were created out of protest, as… Continue reading To Go with the Flow OR To Swim against the Stream
Spoken vs. Written Language
Writing this week’s blog post has been difficult, because I have experienced significant trauma related to the topic of this post. In graduate school, I wrote an essay on the differences between written and spoken languages in a course called “diachronic linguistics”, in which I came to the conclusion that it is impossible to study… Continue reading Spoken vs. Written Language
The Razzle-Dazzle of New & Improved vs. the Tried & True But Tired of Old & Over-Used
A while ago, I became aware of a book published last year, authored by Tali Sharot, titled “Look Again”. In an introductory statement to a talk given by the author at Google, the presenter states: “Look Again” explores all the ways that our brain’s ability to habituate to novel experiences over time affects our behavior,… Continue reading The Razzle-Dazzle of New & Improved vs. the Tried & True But Tired of Old & Over-Used
Delayed Information
Today, I am returning to one of my perennial topics — literacy (and also my newfangled term: publicacy — see also “What is Publicacy + Why does it Matter?“). I was reminded of these issues yet again (and indeed, several times) this week. The most prominent reminder was undoubtedly this quote (by Joe Rogan): As… Continue reading Delayed Information
Is Fake News a Dilemma (or maybe an Industry)?
I’m a little late with this week’s post — but I do have an excuse! 😀 I had to prepare some other texts, which I will refer to below. The question in the title is inspired by recent remarks made by Silke Müller — see “Technology + Culture + Ethics + Education in Deutschland (Interview… Continue reading Is Fake News a Dilemma (or maybe an Industry)?
When the Hitler-Youth Woke Up, They Found They Were Not Only Being Mesmerized, But They Were Also Being Starved to Death
Apparently one of the latest crazes is a song-and-dance piece being spread via TikTok called “They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats”. Probably one of the main reasons this seems to resonate so well with today’s youth is the very bleak outlook today’s younger folks have on life (which I attempted to describe a… Continue reading When the Hitler-Youth Woke Up, They Found They Were Not Only Being Mesmerized, But They Were Also Being Starved to Death
Trustworthy + Distrustworthy
I’ve experienced a few fascinating experiences recently, one of them reminding me of the song “Thin Ice” (by Pink Floyd, from the album “The Wall”). As a teenager, I was very much “into” Pink Floyd — for example, I might have said something like “I am inspired by Floydian ideas”. I decided to watch the… Continue reading Trustworthy + Distrustworthy
The Whole World is Sleeping
If you (like I) grew up in the United States, or if you have lived a somewhat “mediated” life, then you are probably familiar with the chant “The Whole World is Watching”. You may not know that this chant is older than the popularized Internet, which only really took off once Tim Berners-Lee more or… Continue reading The Whole World is Sleeping
We need to figure out what’s going on
This is something a Silicon Valley celebrity said recently — and I’ve decided to “steal” it because the meaning is actually rather ambiguous and depends a lot on context. The person who said it, simply said it in passing and didn’t contextualize what was meant at all — I actually have a vague “gut feeling”… Continue reading We need to figure out what’s going on
Socio Business blog 