General Discussion

I was just watching Trump. He really doesn’t know how to stop. He goes on and on and on.

But it’s worse than Trump. I used to feel indignant for years about superficial tech criticism that blurs the line between technology you have control over and technology you can’t “log off of”.

Pervasive nuisances increasingly embedded into every space. Nuisance technologies polluting and corrupting living spaces - the analog of a rubbishy app that quietly auto installs itself since no one who has not had a lobotomy would choose it.

That framework offers you these ghastly and coercive “options” - either helplessly allowing the quiet normalization of junk tech that drains away your attention (like an endless monologue from a Trumper or in fairness any creepy bore that you feel obligated to yell back at) or an undirected (and thus equally futile) battle with it.

But thanks to Lina Khan, even if this is a low, I figure let these tech Trumper types think they are “winning” and compromise themselves. Anyway there is a real MAGA Trumper versus tech Trumper rift. To quote a commenter online “ I don’t know which side to not root for!”

But it’s illustrative to look at these creeps to see how they are perverting our behaviors so we stay glued to the screen or respond to more subtly intrusive stuff over trust that it can be stopped. As long as it doesn’t derail you by getting inside your head driving you to learned helplessness.

So though Trumpers and other bores can’t shut up, I can stop responding. Lina Khan was in my book the biggest triumph of the Biden administration. This is something affecting any of us who are not retired more than any other issue aside from environmental issues. Matt Stoller (who is pretty cool..the rare sane economist -so few like him - just Atrios, Krugman, Reich & Calpundit) writes a good blog covering it.

So she was a sign of real hope. Can’t put that back in the bottle, once people see it’s possible. Even though tech’s robber barons responded by destroying the American govt. It’s so lame and predictable -their sleazy behaviorism. None of that stuff is clever.

Once things are bad enough (ie Trump) one can suspend disbelief and respond by tuning out as that’s the best strategy wrt pushing back and getting to regulations, complaints etc.