Social media has removed the element of shame from the public sphere. That’s what we are missing.

I want to IM someone. Do I use Messenger? Sorry, Apple only. How about Allo? Android only. Hangouts? Works everywhere, but most people haven’t got it. Skype? Same, and many people who use to use it have uninstalled it. Text message? Talk about lowest common denominator: (maybe) no photos, … I want to video-chat. Even worse.

Why do tech companies constantly reinvent this stuff in incompatible ways? I just got a message from Slack (which I use because I have to, for work) saying their XMPP gateway will be taken down soon, because their system is better. Couldn’t they just make XMPP better? Couldn’t everyone make XMPP better, so we could all use the client of our choice and still talk to one another?

Imagine if AT&T had done this with phones. Or Philips with audio cassette tape. Or cars with gas tank fittings.

https://www.eurozine.com/change-course-human-history/

It’s not Rousseau state of nature to the Agricultural Revolution to the rise of the city state after all. That’s just a theory, and new science doesn’t support it. So Civilization doesn’t imply hierarchy and inequality.

https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/80xig4/inside_the_study_showing_conservatives_retweeted/?utm_source=reddit-android

From the article:

“The issue here is how much we believe what we read,” Badawy said. “There is going to be a lot of content that we’re not sure of anymore, and this problem opens up more room for doubt in American politics and politics around the world.”

Doubt is good. Skepticism is good. Fundamental to the scientific method, and to rationality in general. If the takeaway from this explosion of propaganda is that people start doubting what they read, we are in better shape.

Of all the officials involved with the endless war in the Middle East, I’d love to hear what John Kerry has to say.  He’s the one guy who, because of his formative experience during the Vietnam war, should have some inkling about why the US is bogged down spending lives and money for decades in a cause that thas nothing to do with the defense of the country.

He should write a book, like Robert McNamara did, that explains what everyone was thinking.  Maybe it’s too soon, but I’d read that book.

https://newrepublic.com/article/146915/american-politics-has-never-been-normal

A short history of politics in the US. TL;DR: the US has been here before. The civility of the period 1870-1970 is not where we are heading, we are going back to politics as war, and thinking that a Democratic majority in the Congress will return us to reasonableness is naive.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/john-perry-barlow-internet-pioneer-1947-2018

Back in my SF days, we would read this guy’s missives on the WELL and think of how we were inventing techno Utopia. Lyricist for the Grateful Dead, and spokesperson for the web before the corporations arrived and colonised it.

Let’s get the King a Commander-in-Chief military uniform. Maybe take a four-star general outfit and add more braid, a bigger hat … Create a few new medals for him to pin on. He can wear it all while he’s saluting the troops.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/neweconomics/neoliberalism-destroyed-social-mobility-together-must-rebuild/

Interesting fact-oid: the Bank of England says that, of the average 3-4% growth in GDP worldwide over the past 30 years, negative 0.2% can be attributed to technology. It’s all outsourcing (“new sources of labour”) and better education. Meanwhile, regression of the middle class has been masked by debt.

Time for a change

A Government of One http://quillette.com/2018/01/26/a-government-of-one/

Almost. There were observers during the Obama administration warning of the power of the Presidency.