This is an interview with Harry Halpin. Harry Halpin is a technologist and philosopher who moved from building Indymedia during the anti-globalisation protests to earning a Ph.D. in Informatics und…
Re: The Noisy Room | The Paper Pilot
The Paper Pilot's digital garden of thoughts on philosophy, politics, and sociology
Digital feeds, malnourished students — Phantom Power
Today we’re doing one of our occasional episodes where host Mack Hagood talks about a new essay he’s written for our newsletter “Feed Logic and the Failure to Thrive” Mack writes that students and professors are struggling, both academically and spiritually. He tries to diagnose the issue he felt in his classrooms this year and the role technology may play in it. For new listeners, Mack is a writer and researcher who studies sound, technology, and culture. He is the author of Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control, a book on noise-canceling headphones, white noise, tinnitus, and the ways people use sound to manage modern life. He is currently writing a new book for Penguin Press, and he also hosts this podcast Phantom Power, where he interviews artists, scholars, musicians, and sound designers about the invisible power of sound in everyday life. Besides all that, Mack is a university professor and that’s what his most recent essay is about. Click here to read the newsletter for free. Cited Media: Film:Mary…
The Anti-Intellectualism of Silicon Valley Elites
I recently re-read Richard Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, and now every time a reactionary Silicon Valley billionaire opens his mouth, I think about it. So I wrote about it for The Nation. Here's the column: On Instagram, there’s an activist named Brian Patrick (@pano.
ChatGPT's "Honest Reaction" to a "Song" Composed Entirely of Gas-Passing Noises Will Make You Question Whether It's Honestly Evaluating Your Other Brilliant Ideas
Writer Jonas Ceika "sent ChatGPT an audio file of a series of FART sound effects" for feedback. It was extremely flattering.
Sound Obsessed — collection
Music
The Paper Pilot's digital garden of thoughts on philosophy, politics, and sociology. Reading time: ~4 minute read | Published: Aug 18, 2026 | Updated: Sep 12, 2026
The Filter Bubble
Lynn Parramore interviews Internet activist Eli Pariser, board president of MoveOn.org, about the filter bubble our internet habits create:
Ian Preston (@ianopolous.bsky.social)
Mathematician/particle physicist turned privacy researcher. Java Rockstar #Oxford Building a better web - private, self-sovereign identity, p2p, social - with @peergos.org. Public social media undermines democracy. #covidisairborne #maskswork #cleantheair
Filter Bubbles | The Paper Pilot
The Paper Pilot's digital garden of thoughts on philosophy, politics, and sociology
Signal v. Noise moves to Medium
When Jason Fried a few months ago suggested that we should start posting articles on Medium, I was skeptical. What possible gain could we have from sharing our stories on someone else’s platform ra…
Gil Durán Maps the Rise of the 'Nerd Reich'
Concentric Groups, Knowledge Bridges and Epistemic Communities
vs Elitism, Celebrity and Oligarchy This article is part of a series: ‘Stigmergy: Systems of Mass Collaboration’. Note: Concentric circles relate to sound amplification – the voic…
Knight Media Forum 2026
Ed Zitron on big tech, backlash, boom and bust: ‘AI has taught us that people are excited to replace human beings’
His blunt, brash scepticism has made the podcaster and writer something of a cult figure. But as concern over large language models builds, he’s no longer the outsider he once was
Fascinating talk on the history of peer review from Melinda Baldwin at @icssi.org, with some parallels to current crises. Also I hadn't realized peer review was such an American thing.
