jwiggler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RpPTRcz1no

I hear you, I don't think it was very standard for him and wasn't really rigorous in terms of research. Personally, I do buy what he's saying for the most part, but yeah like he said, I dont think there are any concrete studies on this. But, to me, research (or, I guess I should call it knowledge acquisition) is a little like training a muscle -- the longer you avoid it, the harder it is to get started. And if you never do it, the first time is painful. I mean, that first time, you have to find out how to find out, rather than just finding out (lol)

It reminds me of this book I read called The Internet of Us by Michael P Lynch. He talks about how dependent we are on the Internet to know things, and it's made us, ironically, less connected. We've forgotten how to find out information by other means. He sets up a couple little exercises for himself: to find out, without the Internet -- What is the capital of Bulgaria? Is a four-stroke engine more efficient than a two-stroke? What's the phone number of my representative? What is the best reviewed restaurant in Austin, TX? -- and it turns out pretty difficult for him. All throughout the book he talks about the philosophical implication of having knowledge at our fingertips, at the cost of, perhaps, losing the ability to acquire knowledge through other means.

You should check it out! https://archive.org/details/internetofusknow0000lync_w8o8

I found out about it from this philosotuber on YT, he kinda gives a better run down of the book than me around 20 seconds in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uctUh0Z2YTc

Idk, I mean the mass amount of options we have now are different from the TV days. It's easier than ever nowadays the find the online community that believes in lizard people. At least back then, there was some sense of shared reality through TV, even if it was subservient to corporate or government powers. Now, we don't live in the same reality as our neighbors.

And I kinda think you're misconstruing what he's saying about allowing your thoughts to be guided by the algorithm vs being active in choosing what media you consume. The radio is just an example of how you could find a lot of valuable information by guiding your own consumption. Algorithm wouldnt allow you to find info about that radio. It rewards you for being passive. I mean its meant to be addictive and capture your attention. I think his point is that the more people conflate their social media algorithms with the internet, the less able they become to do some basic research.

It's weird she's talking to you as if she were your mom.

Listening to the second book of a series called "The Book of New Sun" by Gene Wolfe called "The Claw of the Conciliator"

The series is set in an unknown time and centers around an apprentice in the Torturers Guild who commits one of the gravest sins he could -- showing mercy to an inmate.

It's pretty dense and heady and does not hold your hand whatsoever, but it really isn't so bad to get through, especially with audio. Wolfe is a master. This series stands alongside LoTR for me as greatest scifi/fantasy ever.

Directly targeting schools that allow protests

Sounds like a constitutional crisis to me, no?

There's a perspective that some technologically literate people have (not all of them, certainly) that enables them a clearer view of what is going on re: tech oligarchs. That is how much we rely on other people's computers. Most people don't think about what is going on when they browse a website or post something on social media, set up their own shop on squarespace, sell a product on Amazon, stream music or TV or movies or games.

Giant tech companies own it all. They own the computer you use to do all these things. They own the computers other smaller businesses use to run their companies. You invented a product and want to drive your cart to the market square? Pay a tax to King Bezos, the market square is Amazon. Did you make a game? Pay Gaben and you can sell it at his marketplace. Don't wanna use these marketplaces? Wanna set up your own shop? You still have to use Amazon's, or Microsoft's, or Google's computers.

These tech oligarchs are more like feudal lords -- enclosing lands (computers) and charging the peasants and merchants access to them.

I help people do science and math with their computers. I make around 100k, double the median income in my area. My commute is an hour and a half each way, at least, and sometimes I only have around 3 hours to myself after I get back from work before I need to go to bed. Still, I have it better than most (although, with the current attack on science in the US, uncertainty about clients is rising...)

No actually you are totally right and I've made a big mistake. I thought I remembered him going to the island, but he just met with him a couple times. His reaction was pretty poor, but I don't think there's evidence he went to his island. I'll edit my comment. Thanks for pointing that out.

I consider Understanding Power an essential read, but really soured on Chomsky as a person when he defended his ~~going to Epstein's island~~ meetings with Epstein. I still think people should read him but not glorify him.

Edit: there is no evidence, as far as I'm aware, Chomsky went to Epstein's Island. I misremembered.

I'm having some issues with the cross posting from mastodon to lemmy. You can see some of the other photos here https://mastodon.world/@jwiggler/114076153723742305

I saw this and took pictures and a video today 2/27/2025

video: https://peertube.wtf/w/agKxrNY1SzBx4WZVQ5sTn3