Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All

Thursday, January 03, 2013

Fool Me Tee Vee

The web is an embarrassment of riches when it isn't being just an embarrassment.

More Fool Me Tee Vee here.

2 comments:

Black guy from the future past said...

The internet is a double edged sword. On the one hand you have people becoming more informed, and on the other hand, people just get sucked into the black hole called the world wide web. Take me for example, I've gone through a distillation process. I encountered all types of shit from conspiracy bunk, new age crack pottery, gurus offering spiritual enlightenment, anarchism and libertarianism, which serves to mask some people's racism, (took this site for me to see through that one) transhumanism...and thing is I fell for all those things. I was exhilarated by all those things, but then I began too look beyond the veneer and long story short I landed here. I know that this is not the end of my journey. I may have to relinquish even what I have gained here at some point, but I feel that now I am better off having encountered the multitude of shit in the world on the internet, rather than encountering it in real life and being duped out there.

Dale Carrico said...

Yochai Benkler writes interestingly about the hope that a widespread culture of linking norms and fact-checking may overcome the dangers of polarization and ramifying scam-artistry inherent in p2p-formations. You should read him, even some of his best stuff is available free online if you look for it. I think the growth of climate change denialism provides a strong case to defy Benkler's optimism, but on balance I still personally incline somewhat slightly in the direction of hopefulness, surprising though that may seem given how often I excoriate digital utopianism and p2p-cheerleading.