Look Around – Yet Another Piece about “Don’t Look Up”
Truly, I live in the dark times! The guileless word is folly. A smooth forehead Suggests insensitivity. The man who laughs Has simply not yet heard The terrible news. – … Continue reading
Theses on Techno-Optimism
“If you fall in love with a machine there is something wrong with your love-life. If you worship a machine there is something wrong with your religion.” – Lewis Mumford … 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
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
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
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
“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
Understanding Fascism – making sense of dark times – a reading list (expanded 10/20/17)
“No other method exists for acquiring knowledge about the human heart than the study of history coupled with experience of life, in such a way that the two throw light … Continue reading
The future looks expensive
When times are grim, and menacing clouds literally gather on the horizon, it can be immensely reassuring to have some event that restores faith in the future. All that is … Continue reading
Against the “anti-technology” strawman
Have no doubts about the one who tells you he is afraid But be afraid of the one who tells you he has no doubts – Erich Fried 1) Somewhere … Continue reading
Who moderates the moderators? On the Facebook Files
Speculative fiction is littered with fantastical tales warning of the dangers that arise when things get, to put it amusingly, too big. A researcher loses control of their experiment! A … Continue reading
Facebook Reactions Are No Laughing Matter
Prepare yourself for a not particularly shocking observation: when it comes to interpersonal communication, there are certain types of information that are not conveyed particularly well by information technology. Indeed, … Continue reading
When it Comes to Social Media – Is There No Alternative?
In the first weeks of a new year, many people look back on the previous year and dwell upon what they wish they had done differently. And thus inspired, they … Continue reading
The Ground Beneath the Screens – A Review of Jussi Parikka’s A Geology of Media and The Anthrobscene
Despite the aura of ethereality that clings to the Internet, today’s technologies have not shed their material aspects. Digging into the materiality of such devices does much to trouble the … Continue reading
The Social Construction of Acceleration – A review of Judy Wajcman’s book Pressed for Time
Patience seems anachronistic in an age of high speed downloads, same day deliveries, and on-demand assistants who can be summoned by tapping a button. Though some waiting may still occur … Continue reading
Loving Technology – Regardless of the Era (or Error)
Spending an afternoon at a Renaissance Festival presents an individual with the opportunity to indulge in a mythologized version of the past without having to worry about contracting any diseases … Continue reading
There’s an Apparatus for That – Reflections on Vilém Flusser’s book Post-History
Critiquing this or that aspect of society can be an invigorating experience. One simply selects a specific topic and sets about excoriating it, methodically ripping it apart with a mixture … Continue reading
Google learns the Alphabet
“You still have to learn the ABC. The ABC says: They will get you down.” – Bertolt Brecht The way to spell “Google” has changed, and now the way to … Continue reading
Now Hear This! – A review of Thus Spoke the Spectacle
We know that the images flashing at us from the multitude of screens that surround us are trying to tell us something. To a certain extent the meanings are quite … Continue reading
Reference Desk: 50 Sh…ut up, that book is terrible.
By now we all know that 50 shades of grey, its sequels, and its movie adaptation are all the worst, and have no redeeming value, literary, moral, or otherwise, beside … Continue reading
A Dark, Warped Reflection – An Analysis of Black Mirror
Editor’s Note: what follows is an analysis of the first two seasons of Black Mirror. An analysis of the third season has also been posted. Depending upon which sections of … Continue reading
(Libraries and/or Archives) + fire = bad
While playing the somber game of “what is posing an existential threat to libraries and archives this week?” it can be easy to focus on slow destructive forces such as … Continue reading
On Broken Glass
Depending on one’s personal stance, the news that Google is halting production of its polarizing product Glass is either cause for celebration, disappointment, or – for most people – simply … Continue reading
Seeing Each Other in the Candle’s Light
There is a Yiddish folk-tale that tells of a foolish man who gets lost in the woods during Chanukah: Having hoped to make it back to his home before sundown … Continue reading
Looking for the Best Deals on Black Friday? (try the library!)
Regardless of what the barrage of advertisements tells you to the contrary – you will not find the best deal in any store or on any website this Black Friday. … Continue reading
Looking Up, With Our Feet Still On the Ground
It is important to look up. Not just from whatever it is that is occupying our attention at any given moment, but to look up as in “way up” – … Continue reading
#teamharpy, Ghomeshi, and What We Know
[Content Note on all the below for discussion of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape.] A Canadian media personality, Jian Ghomeshi, has been making news over the last week or … Continue reading
Corrupting “The Corruption of Liberalism” – Brooks gets Mumford Wrong
The thought of public intellectuals may easily outlive their mortal bodies, their work enduring past the point at which they can still command much claim to a public. The work … Continue reading
LibrarianShipwreck 