My world on the web
Imagine summer camp, on the radio, connecting with friends old and new as you tell stories around the campfire, reflecting on the year that’s been and learning a whole lot …
Imagine summer camp, on the radio, connecting with friends old and new as you tell stories around the campfire, reflecting on the year that’s been and learning a whole lot along the way.
ᔥ in DS106Radio Summer camp – the partial attention conference – The Ed Techie ()
I have always disliked Substack, but I’m beginning to see why people move to Substack, which handles all these problems for them. I would just say to the proponents of the open web: If you want more people to move onto the open web, you have to be more patient with them than you’ve been with me, and you have to be willing to provide more basic instruction than, so far, you’ve been willing to provide to me.
Changes Ahead by Alan Jacobs
Alan Jacob’s reflections on living on the open web reminds me of Doug Belshaw’s recent remark about enshittification:
@mrkrndvs If there *is* a post-2023 AI era I’d wager there’s also one before it from about 2017-2022 which has something to do with enclosure, authoritarianism, and what Doctorow eventually identified as enshittification.
TL;DR: the time when it became all but impossible impossible to avoid cloud services and Big Tech
A blog isn’t a publication. It’s a person
@loosewire https://www.loosewireblog.com/2007/04/how_to_really_r.html
Philosopher, neuroscientist and psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist says we require three things to attain a meaningful life. The first is feeling part of a wider community – family, friends, and society in general. Second is an understanding of nature and a connection to the natural order of things, which McGilchrist feels we have largely lost. Finally, we need to form a relationship with the sacred or divine – this can be found in art, music, poetry and religion, where we acknowledge the ineffable and all-encompassing force that holds the world together.
Nick Cave https://www.theredhandfiles.com/thoughts-about-loneliness/
Are there any songs in your life that got so overplayed you can never listen to them again?
For me, it’s “Everybody Hurts” by REM
genuinely a great song
but it was so exhaustively overplayed back in the 90s — licensed for just about every single weepy scene in any TV show or movie, on infinite loop on terrestrial radio — that I reached some sort of lifetime saturation
I cannot abide it, even decades on now, a single time
it’s like an allergic reaction
I need to *leave* the goddamn *room*
Austin Kleon (austinkleon.com)Four Tet’s Three is one of my favorite albums of the year, so I was delighted to come across an interview with Kieran Hebden on the Tape Notes podcast discussing its making. He rarely gives interviews, so before listening, I really knew nothing about him or how he works. It was a delight to hear […]
You’ve got to love records so much, he says, that you want to make something that can sit on a shelf alongside the records you love.
It’s a lesson that is true for all creative people: Your output depends on your input.
If you want to be a great musician, you need to listen to more great music. If you want to write great books, you need to read more great books.
https://austinkleon.com/2024/07/22/four-tet-on-making-music/
This was something that he touched on in his conversation with Jamie Lidell on the Hanging Out with Audiophiles podcast. He spoke about listening to a full album each day.
One of the surprises from the TapeNote podcast was that Hebden does not actually have a strong background in musical theory. He argues that that, compared to say Fred again.., this possible weakness provides more opportunity for serendipity and chance.
Ryan Barrett (snarfed.org)I think talent is probably overrated.
Talent exists, sure. Some people are naturals. But we overestimate its impact. I think much of what we see as talent is actually motivation.
@schnarfed https://snarfed.org/2024-07-31_53442
It reminded me of a post from Dave Cormier from a few years ago about ‘care’ being learning’s first principle. He makes the case that,
Student separate into two categories… those that care and those that don’t care.
Learning’s first principle – the most important thing i learned this year
- Discusses what poetry is, and what it is for, with examples from both contemporary and ancient poets
- Examines the contemporary debates surrounding the value and universality of poetry.
- From distinguished modern poet and literary critic, Bernard O’Donoghue.
- Part of the Very Short Introductions series – over nine million copies sold worldwide
Source: Poetry – A Very Short Introduction by Bernard O’Donoghue
Bernard O’Donoghue’s Poetry: A Very Short Introduction explores what it is that constitutes a poem and what are its purposes. He explores the various applications, the devices and their various contexts. In the end, he concludes with the following:
Having started with grand claims for poetry, by Shelley, Wallace Stevens, and others, on grounds of public utility, this brief consideration of what poetry is has encountered a series of recurrent features. Its primary effect seems to be to satisfy what the reader or hearer wants by surprising them in some way. It is never the statement of the obvious. It may be abnormal in language or in opinion or in organization. But it must not be abnormal for the sake of it; it must not be perverse, because its endeavour is to expose the truth in some sense that is not obvious. It works in the service of reality. It is in that sense that it is an enhancement of life as we end where we began.
Source: Poetry – A Very Short Introduction by Bernard O’Donoghue
Throughout, O’Donoghue ties together various points of view and perspectives, often contradictory. It had me thinking again about Stanley Fish’s essay ‘How to Recognise a Poem When You See One’, in which he argues that it is the act of reading and the associated attention which creates the poem:
In other words, acts of recognition, rather than being triggered by formal characteristics, are their source. It is not that the presence of poetic qualities compels a certain kind of attention but that the paying of a certain kind of attention results in the emergence of poetic qualities.
Source: ‘How to Recognise a Poem When You See One’ in Is There a Text in This Class? by Stanley Fish
In the end, O’Donoghue’s book provides an thought provoking introduction that asks as many questions. It felt like anytime that he made a statement of sorts that there was also a but that followed it. Whether it be Goethe’s world literature, discussion of rhythm and the domination of lyrical poems compared to say epics.
Neoliberalism: A Very Short Introduction
- Explores the origins, evolution, and core ideas of neoliberalism
- Discusses the impact of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and the related European Sovereign Debt Crisis on neoliberal ideals and systems
- Considers the global variations of neoliberalism
- Part of the Very Short Introductions series – over ten million copies sold worldwide
New to this Edition:
- Includes a new final chapter focused on the impact of resurgent national populism on neoliberalism
Source: Neoliberalism: A Very Short Introduction by @OUPAcademic
I am not sure what I expected when I dived into Manfred B. Steger and Ravi K. Roy’s Neoliberalism: A Very Short Introduction (2nd Edition). Over the years I have read a number of these books, but never really ventured far into the unknown. For me, neoliberalism was a topic that I felt I knew enough about, but had never actually properly considered it in its own right. What was interesting was there isn’t really anything as such that one could state as defining as ‘neoliberalism’, rather it is is made of four strands that produce their own interpretation depending on context.
Neoliberalism is a rather broad and general concept referring to an economic model or paradigm that rose to prominence in the 1980s. Built upon the classical liberal ideal of the self-regulating market, neoliberalism comes in several strands and variations. Perhaps the best way to conceptualize neoliberalism is to think of it as four intertwined manifestations: (1) an ideology; (2) a mode of governance; (3) a policy package; (4) a particular form of capitalism.
The book walks through the history of liberalism and then neoliberalism. It then documents the various ways it has been taken up around the world.
One thing that was interesting was the way in which Trump’s measures can be construed as “nationalist volves in neoliberal sheep’s clothing.”
Our assessment of Trumpism reveals a messy ideological mixture that advances some core principles of economic nationalism while also furthering significant items of the neoliberal agenda. For this reason, it might be apt to characterize his economic stance in contradictory terms as ‘nationalist neoliberalism’, or, as other commentators have suggested, as ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’. While this contradictory concept indicates that neoliberalism is now suffering from a deepening legitimation crisis that has buoyed the fortunes of national populism, it also reveals the uncanny staying power of some major neoliberal tenets.
In the end, the book could have been easily been retitled, what we talk about when we talk about neoliberalism.
Pynchon diagnosed our idolatry of the inanimate.
Chelsea (chelseatroy.com)I don’t think the Paypal Mafia building for themselves can independently launch us into the future we want. I think they can rapidly saturate any market opened by a new tech platform. As a result, first-generation and even second-generation product ideas are done to death almost as soon as the platform becomes available. The surest, and maybe the only, pathways to innovation in a saturated market require a focus on the marginal cases. Who can best identify and solve for these cases? Often, it’s the people for whom the status quo works the least well—whose existence doesn’t even factor into status quo decision-making.
To the extent that the availability of generative models constitutes a new platform, that framework applies the same way it applied for the mobile platform and the consumer web. The perspectives, lived experiences, and contributions that would transition AI products from “expensive skeuomorph” to “meaningful innovation” won’t, and can’t, come from tech’s noveau riche. For that transition to materialize, the execution support available from the Paypal Mafia will have to go looking for who it has left behind.
I’m not holding my breath.
Source: How do we build the future with AI? by Chelsea Troy
Chelsea Troy explains that visionary ideas are often derived directly from centering people at the margins, not generated based on data and statistics. The opportunity with AI lies in the margins, the problem is that those in control, “tech’s noveau riche”, are unlikely to embrace this.
ᔥ in Adactio: Links—How do we build the future with AI? – Chelsea Troy ()
The Sea, The Sea is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1978, it was her nineteenth novel. It won the 1978 Booker Prize.
The Sea, The Sea Wikipedia
The Sea, The Sea is a novel that seemingly places the reader on the stage and helps us reflect upon how we might act. I wrote a longer reflection here.
a blog is probably the least cool way to communicate with people. It doesn’t have old-school cred or state-of-the-art shine; it falls into a kind of uncanny valley. To be a blogger is sort of like being that Japanese guy who makes paintings with Excel. But that suits me.
Audrey Watters (Second Breakfast)It’s a good reminder, perhaps, that it’s not so much that AI is getting better. It’s that humans are just becoming more like robots.
Audrey Watters https://2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/travis-barker-on-the-treadmill-and-other-fitness-content-slop/
This method is for advanced users because it requires more work and does not always work as intended.
It is suitable for users who are still using the old Classic editor and want to display code without using a plugin.
First, you need to pass your code through an online HTML entities encoder tool. It will change your code markup to HTML entities, which will allow you to add the code and bypass the WordPress cleanup filters.
Now copy and paste your code into the text editor and wrap it around <pre> and <code> tags.
Syed Balkhi https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-easily-display-code-on-your-wordpress-site/
For code, I was just using <code>, but it never formatted properly. Using <Pre> and a HTML encoder solves that.
I wonder if these are an alternative to IndieBlocks or something else.
@johnjohnston https://johnjohnston.info/blog/bookmarked-disabled-postkinds-plugin/
I remember reflecting upon Ton’s concern about Post Kinds lock in a few years ago.
Without the time and patience to develop my own fully fledged solution, I have instead taken to kind of living in both worlds by manually including the quote part of the respond property within my post. My reason for this is because I feel that this often adds context to the post, especially when displayed as a comment.
In addition to this, I have created my own buttons in the text editor to add ‘reply’ or ‘like’ to a link. I often use this as a means of displaying bookmarks etc in the comment section of a linked post, rather than displaying as a pingback. For example, this comment will display beneath my response to Ton’s original post.
Regarding Blocks and Classic, I am still live two worlds. I use blocks for my long post site and classic for this site, therefore I have not really dived into IndieBlocks. However, I probably should have a look. But to be honest, I think a part of me holds hope that David might one day integrate the response box into the content or provide an export tool.
For now, I plod on.
Aaron Davis (readwriterespond.com)There have been a lot of discussions lately about Facebook, social media and connected society in light of the Cambridge Analytica revelations. Here are my thoughts on what it might mean to be more informed consent. Secret and Safe?
At the start of Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins inherits a ring fr…
A few years ago, Doug Belshaw made an attempt at mapping the internet. He divided it into five eras:
- 1993-1997: The Information Superhighway
- 1999-2002: The Wild West
- 2003-2007: The Web 2.0 era
- 2008-2012: The Era of the App
- 2013+: The Post-Snowden era
I have been thinking lately, with fake news and data breaches, maybe we are entering a new era, what Belshaw mooted as an ‘informed era’.
Source: Secret, Safe and Informed: A Reflection on Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and the Collection of Data – Read Write Respond by Aaron Davis
I was left thinking that in addition to the ‘informed era’, we may have entered a new era with AI?
Danielle Chelosky (stereogum.com)A couple of years ago, M.I.A. compared Alex Jones’ Sandy Hook lies to celebrities advocating for COVID vaccines. Last week, the British musician went on Jones’ Infowars show to promote her new clothing line that claims to “preserve your privacy, autonomy, and rights over your body and your data.”
Source: M.I.A. Launched A Clothing Line To Block 5G On Alex Jones’ ‘Infowars’ by @stereogum
Where is Chuck from Better Call Saul?