In the 19th century, Karl Marx famously identified religion as the opium of the people. In the 21st century, the opium of the people is content. Massive amounts of content are generated and consumed daily by billions of people who increasingly resemble faithful followers, if not outright drug addicts. The[…] Read On
The internet is rife with abusers, bullies, haters and trolls. Everyone is freaking out over it. The question is, how is that different from real life? The call to police the web – to create safe spaces away from all the ugliness of humanity and the lies people tell –[…] Read On
I had hoped to avoid the mass hysteria over sexual harassment and assault, but people are just losing their shit over the #MeToo epidemic, and it’s getting harder and harder to no comment. I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe some of what I’m hearing and reading. Times[…] Read On
It’s Thanksgiving, when all good bloggers are supposed to share with the world all the wonderful things they’re thankful for. How mindnumbingly tedious can you get? Look, I’m just happy to be alive and free to pig out on tasty food, guzzle boatloads of good wine and run it all[…] Read On
Have you noticed Google’s latest feature: answering search queries with a single result shown above all others? While some questions do have definitive answers, most don’t. Life isn’t usually that black and white. That hasn’t stopped the search giant from acting as the definitive authority on, well, pretty much everything.[…] Read On
Finally, a social media pioneer fesses up to the truth in a startling revelation: that Facebook’s founders weren’t just consciously aware of their product’s addictive potential; it was the goal of Mark Zuckerberg and company to “consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible.” And they succeeded[…] Read On
So much about life on Earth makes absolutely no sense at all: If inflammation and swelling are the body’s natural defense when injured, why are we always trying to reduce inflammation and swelling? Software is the only consumer product that’s always broken when you buy it. What makes free people[…] Read On