What do 18th century writers say about posting online?
Brett Scott (@brettscott)
Marshall McLuhan is famous for his observation that the form of a communication technology can shape our mind and society The age of the printed book, for example, carried with it a particular way of being. Regardless of the differing content of different books, all books required a particular mindset in which a thread is followed from the beginning to the end through an arc I feel the age of social media is like the age of a ripped up book, as if we were surrounded by torn shards and shreds of paper floating like confetti around us. We grab for them, hoping for some tiny insight, but not having any way of knowing where it fits in the overarching narrative This note is one such shard. You can toss it away now
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As AI overtakes the web, five writers reflect on how far it’s fallen and what comes next.
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I meant to write something else and this is what came out. It is very weird to be writing about this again.
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Stripped of easy moralising, literature makes us relish the search for truth in an age when many believe truth to be dead
Jacky's homepage on the DARPA-created, commerically-available Web. - Jacky Alciné
In your Web browser, of course. And not all of me; that'd be weird! You're using Firefox, right? You can catch up by email with 112 other folks, on a social network in the Meta, commonly known as Facebook, Threads, Blacksky in the Atmosphere or X, commonly known as Twitter as I continue to share and work on all things towards history, open digital technology, culture — and everything in between. I write essays of varying length; most recently I wrote "On the Notion of Shutting the Fuck up". I keep notes weekly and (near) daily links. Here's what I use on the regular.
"Historical pragmatism and the internet" by James Carey (2005) journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1461444805054107
