Specters of Ludd – A Review of Gavin Mueller’s “Breaking Things at Work”
A specter is haunting technological society—the specter of Luddism. Granted, as is so often the case with hauntings, reactions to this specter are divided: there are some who are frightened, … Continue reading
Librarian Was My Occupation – Remembering the Occupy Wall Street People’s Libary
In the fall of 2011, the angry shout of “we are the 99%!” could be heard echoing in localities big and small across the US. The movement had seemed to … Continue reading
Don’t Fall for Facebook’s Trojan Horse
“What we use is not ours simply because we use it.” – Erich Fromm “With the release of its own smart glasses last week, Facebook seems to have learned from … Continue reading
Reference desk: job list
Despite — and partially because of — the pandemic related turmoil of the last year and a half, there are a lot of library jobs out there right now. While … Continue reading
Mergers, acquisitions, and my tinfoil hat
[nb: this is by your long-lost second blogger, who relocated to a large state university two years ago, rather than by the usual fellow who’s been keeping this boat afloat … Continue reading
All our grievances do, in fact, remain connected
[hi, long-lost other writer here, apologies for the long absence] Two things got libraryland heated last week, and at first glance they have little to do with each other. First … Continue reading
Burn it All – a Review of “Your Computer is on Fire”
It often feels as though contemporary discussions about computers have perfected the art of talking around, but not specifically about, computers. Almost every week there is a new story about … Continue reading
They meant well (or, why it matters who gets to be seen as a “tech critic”)
“We need technology to live, as we need food to live. But, of course, if we eat too much food, or eat food that has no nutritional value, or eat … Continue reading
Progress for the status quo – on the Chamber of Progress
“There is no escaping from ourselves. The human dilemma is as it has always been, and we solve nothing fundamental by cloaking ourselves in technological glory.” – Neil Postman A … Continue reading
“into the lifeboats” – a review of Nomadland
“You could not have been born at a better period than the present, when we have lost everything.” – Simone Weil Having been forced to flee, a weary traveler returns … Continue reading
Flamethrowers and Fire Extinguishers – a review of “The Social Dilemma”
“The myth of technological and political and social inevitability is a powerful tranquilizer of the conscience. Its service is to remove responsibility from the shoulders of everyone who truly believes … Continue reading
Facing Facebook
“Manufacturers and promoters always stress the liberating attributes of new technology, regardless of the specific technology in question.” – Ursula Franklin While sailing through the cold waters of the … Continue reading
TikTok Will Not Save Us
Have you heard? Social media is good again! The last several years have been rather rough for the social media companies. These companies—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and others—have gone from being … Continue reading
Be Afraid! But not that afraid? – on Climate Doom
People on social media would have really hated Cassandra. Her constant barrage of doleful warnings would just be dismissed of as hyperbolic and unhelpful. Those who did engage with her, … Continue reading
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Machine – a review of Aaron Bastani’s “Fully Automated Luxury Communism”
Flung back in time, to the year 2063, Captain Jean Luc Picard finds himself escorting a 21st century woman, Lily, through the starship Enterprise. As the year 2063 sees humanity … Continue reading
Stop Using “Google” as a Verb
Here is a hypothetical for you: imagine that someone asks you a question to which you do not know the answer. However, it is the type of question that you … Continue reading
“Cover Your Tracks!” – A Critique of the Privacy Project from The New York Times
Whatever you say, don’t say it twice. If you find your idea with somebody else: deny it. He who didn’t sign anything, who didn’t leave an image Who wasn’t there, … Continue reading
The Whale and the CEO – a Review of “The Inventor Out for Blood in Silicon Valley”
If you knew where you were going You would halt. If you knew What is planned for you You would look around you. – Brecht Few are the things … Continue reading
“No one wants to see disaster coming, but those who look, do.” – A Review of “The Uninhabitable Earth”
“Don’t be a coward. Have the courage to be afraid. Force yourself to produce that amount of fear that corresponds to the magnitude of the apocalyptic danger.” – Günther Anders … Continue reading
Between Salvation and Doom – Notes on the Green New Deal
At a time when their fall was certain – On the ramparts the lament for the dead had begun – The Trojans adjusted small pieces, small pieces In the triple … Continue reading
Choose Very Carefully: a Review of Black Mirror – Bandersnatch
Manipulated comes from manus: hand We see ourselves manipulated and hope in this way to come to grips with our reality When it was really still hands manipulating us manipulation … Continue reading
A Disastrous Year – Reflections on 2018
“There is nothing more frightful than to be right. And if some, paralyzed by the gloomy likelihood of the catastrophe, have already lost courage, they still have a chance to … Continue reading
The technology giants didn’t deserve public trust in the first place
Amazon may have been expecting lots of public attention when it announced where it would establish its new headquarters – but like many technology companies recently, it probably didn’t anticipate … Continue reading
“Striving to minimize technical and reputational risks” – Ethical OS and Silicon Valley’s guilty conscience
Considering how proudly they declare that they are designing the future, technology companies seem almost comically bad when it comes to anticipating the consequences of the things they create. While … Continue reading
Challenging the Tech Companies from Within
“The myth of technological and political and social inevitability is a powerful tranquilizer of the conscience. Its serve is to remove responsibility from the shoulders of everyone who truly believes … Continue reading
All watched over by machines – a review of Yasha Levine’s “Surveillance Valley”
There is something rather precious about Google employees, and Internet users, who earnestly believe the “don’t be evil” line. Though those three words have often been taken to represent a … Continue reading
“Why don’t you go live in a cave?” – when technophiles cry troglodyte
Someone came to the stones and said: Be human The stones replied: We are not hard enough yet – Erich Fried[i] 1) Regardless of where arguments about the impact … Continue reading
Techlash! What Techlash?
In the early 1990s an assortment of activists and academics banded together in an attempt to challenge the direction in which high-technology, and infatuation with it, was taking society. And … Continue reading
The Nerd and the Inured
There’s no point being vague about it: Mark Zuckerberg won. Considering what could have possibly awaited the Facebook CEO when he testified before Congress he got off easy. Despite the … Continue reading
The Shackles of Digital Freedom – a review of Jack Lichuan Qui’s “Goodbye iSlave”
With bright pink hair and a rainbow horn, the disembodied head of a unicorn bobs back and forth to the opening beats of Big Boi’s “All Night.” Moments later, a … Continue reading
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