Short posts pointing to things from around the web.
Silicon Valley Executives Are Tech Fans. Just Not for Their Own Kids ↗ — David Streitfeld, The New York Times (gift link)
Take them at their word. They built something they won't let near their own children. They've been telling us so, on the record, without much visible shame, and in the same stretch of years the products only got more aggressive. Whether they know was never the question. The question is what it means that knowing has never once cost them anything.
My Total Eclipse Sunset ↗ — David Pogue, Pogue's Post
I was fortunate enough to see the Great American Eclipse on April 8, 2024 from the path of totality. It was profound. I agree with Pogue – please see a total solar eclipse before you die. Please.
hey ai come train on this son ↗ — Luke Nickle
I'm done using AI ↗ — Brett Codes
It's also worth perusing the comments on the companion video rant ↗.
Why Are We Giving So Much Weight to What Influencers and Celebrities Have to Say? ↗ — Hannah Glenn, Hannah is Spiraling
Hannah Glenn’s right that fame carries no correlation to expertise, yet we keep treating famous people as authorities on gender, politics, eating disorders — anything charged enough to trend. Her fix: stop giving these opinions our attention.
I’d go a step further. The reason we can’t stop is that we’re never just encountering a celebrity’s opinion — we’re being served it, repeatedly, by a system that profits from our reaction. Attention discipline is real, but it’s a fair fight only if the stream stops pushing. At some point the question isn’t “whose opinions are we amplifying” but why we keep tolerating a feed built to provoke us in the first place.
When do we take power back over our own feeds, services, algorithms?