This is why surveillance logic is self-propelling too. It’s always trying to close this gap but it never can

And so it becomes a ratchet: you need more and more surveillance to alleviate the anxiety about social forces created by the gap between what you know and what you can do about it

I think it’s magical because it sustains an important belief in our ability to control things in the face of real evidence that we sometimes can’t

This is exactly my experience. When my son fist got his drivers license I asked him to turn on location tracking to “ease my worries” when he was out on his own. But all it did was cause me to obsessively worry about where he was. Quickly realized we are both better off with that disabled.

A good, small example of this I've experienced is from my time at a small nonprofit that ran surveys for summer camps on parent and camper satisfaction. In open ended comments, the most consistent issue from parents was about the number, quality, and timing of photos of their kids online

I think people understandably but magically believe that surveilling your loved ones will protect them from harm because it promises knowledge and control. But when you get more knowledge but little actual control, your anxiety goes through the roof

this + the intense scrutiny of all parenting decisions means everyone bristles at the perceived accusation that they're doing it wrong

I tried telling people exactly this. It does not work. We are in lizard brain zone with this stuff and I am afraid it’s too late. People have told me they’d rather have the cia track their kids than give up the “control” of tracking their loved ones. Can’t argue with that.

see: me with my cat cameras

A good, small example of this I've experienced is from my time at a small nonprofit that ran surveys for summer camps on parent and camper satisfaction. In open ended comments, the most consistent issue from parents was about the number, quality, and timing of photos of their kids online

I think people understandably but magically believe that surveilling your loved ones will protect them from harm because it promises knowledge and control. But when you get more knowledge but little actual control, your anxiety goes through the roof

I think the greatest marketing trick Tesla did was convincing people that Teslas weren't a luxury car, but an ethical purchase

On the language of Homeric Greek, and the language of a certain forthcoming film: here are a few simple observations.

At the turning of the millennium there were 769 satellites in space, 2026 there are 14,500 satellites. I spent 7mins photographing the Milky Way rising above Poatiri Mt Charles Hoopers Inlet, on Muaupoko (Otago Peninsula) this evening. Ōtepoti Dunedin, NZ #Photography

New York just became the first state to ban smart glasses in every courthouse. As wearable surveillance becomes more common, protecting privacy in sensitive spaces matters more than ever. Read more via Engadget: www.engadget.com/2211151/new-...

Plot of the reboot will involve RICO charges against Willy

Spending our short time on this earth trying to divine the sincere heartfelt political intentions of a guy with a Nazi tattoo. This one is so easy! Am I having a stroke?

This is a really moving and thoughtful interview

I know this isn't an uncommon opinion, but it's jarring to hear the words "Oh, I don't care about the environment" directly in a conversation

“A satisfying nexus of music and mathematics.” An interactive explanation of how synthesizers work.

Do not give me a salad that is 90% greens. I’m not a rabbit

I'll summarize this: Mamdani asked NYers to keep air conditioning at 78 degrees. A wave criticism hit online. A MSNBC broadcast pointed out the US Department of Energy recommends that 78 degree figure. Immediately after, the US Department of Energy deleted 6,000 web pages related to energy saving.

I guess I'll also be teaching media history in the fall

Doing a bit of research on video calls and found this 1992 AT&T video phone manual, including good advice about call backgrounds and lighting. Even had a shutter

My sister saw a couple dozen big ass whales on her boat 13 miles or so off P Town today holy moly. Video below

Marvel Rivals is fun. I wish the currency system made sense

you look like the 4th of july

to me, the most impressive thing about history (and archaeology) is how much we can know about the past from the little material we have

FWIW, besides video games we also have very little material from early cinema or tv. a shared problem

someone rescue the nice, safe nuclear family trapped in the video phone

Doing a bit of research on video calls and found this 1992 AT&T video phone manual, including good advice about call backgrounds and lighting. Even had a shutter

Performative doesn't mean fake!

As coined by JL Austin, the idea that language is “performative” means it isn’t just signs or symbols, it DOES THINGS IRL—kinda means the opposite of “fake”

Performative doesn't mean fake!

I know things are pretty bad. But at least Henry Kissinger is still dead

Like many others, Sony ditching discs reminded me of that E3 2013 moment when two now-former PlayStation execs made a mockery of Xbox's convoluted digital gaming rights Xbox One plans by showing that you could share a PS4 game by simply handing it to someone But I'd forgotten about this...

Wrote a short post about how GenAI makes us into gamblers who confuse judgment and probability

Until next year

Considering I use my PS as a blu-ray player too, I hope they don't remove the drive

Until next year

"Maybe it doesn’t matter that the Starfire glasses, or the Ray-Ban Metas, are an attempt to hide the camera from the subject. We assume the camera is everywhere now, anyway, and we all act like it."

Centrists really hate leftists more than they fear fascists, huh

the way that can be walked is not the way. the app that can be named is not the app

Love tapping through 3 screens to snooze suggested posts in my IG feed every 30 days

🚨THE KIDS ACT IS AN INTERNET SURVEILLANCE BILL🚨 Congress is rushing the KIDS Act toward a vote. This blend of KOSA, the SCREEN Act, SAFE Bots, and other bills is a single package that is a threat to privacy and free expression for ALL internet users. 🧵(1/10)

It's easier for media to portray the election as an attack on American Jews than to delve into what NY-10 really was: The second most Jewish Congressional district in the US having a referendum between two Jewish candidates on what it means to do Jewish politics in the age of Trump and Netanyahu.

this is a great illustration of one of the fundamental insights of democracy — that there is no such thing as "the people" and that majorities are elusive and ever shifting. no election, no decision, is final and treating an election as a final decision is profoundly undemocratic.

smh people won't even write their own propaganda anymore

Every single Isaac Chotiner interview

My nephew and his little friend proving that boys truly go to Jupiter to get more stupider