15 years ago in Japan, I thought it was pretty cool that I could send short messages via text to my friends. That wasn’t a thing yet in North America. I was living in the future! But it was complicated. There was “short mail” and “long mail.” Short mail could be sent at a steepContinue reading “The long and the short of mobile messaging incompatibility”
Category Archives: tech
Technology is a symptom
As “software eats the world,” further intertwining with our daily lives, more and more discussions that are ostensibly about tech are at heart political discussions. What looks like technology criticism is actually political critique, and therefore cannot be countered by arguments resting entirely within the niche of technology. That is why I do not lookContinue reading “Technology is a symptom”
What is data doing to our species? — A review of Kitten Clone
My review in the Literary Review of Canada is finally released. It is behind a paywall now, but will open up in about a month or so. Or you could pick it up at your local magazine purveyor and support Canadian publishing! The piece is mostly about “industrial innovation” and the wonderful (and forgotten?) legacyContinue reading “What is data doing to our species? — A review of Kitten Clone”
An overly positive contribution — A review of How We Got to Now
How We Got to Now: The History and Power of Great Ideas by Steven Johnson I have mixed feelings about this book. I am a big fan of Steven Johnson, and my familiarity of his work might be why I didn’t love this book. In How We Got to Now Johnson explores the scaffolding ofContinue reading “An overly positive contribution — A review of How We Got to Now”
Pulling back the tattered ethical rags of the sharing economy
Mike Bulajewski has written a lengthy reflection on ethical consumerism singling out the “sharing economy.” His premise: We’re led to believe that as consumers and suppliers for these services, we’re supporting ethical values of kindness, community-building and trust between strangers; living more sustainably by sharing unused property; building community wealth; reducing the power of centralizedContinue reading “Pulling back the tattered ethical rags of the sharing economy”
Long Morozov
The New Left Review has an excellent in depth interview with Evgeny Morozov called Socialize The Data Centres! Too bad that was the headline they went with, because his argument is more subtle than that, and the article contains so much more. For example, we learn about Morozov’s upbringing in Belarus and his early intellectualContinue reading “Long Morozov”
Computing in North Korea
There has been a wave of information about the computing environment and networking capabilities of North Korea coming out in the past week. Vice reported on the the release of a torrent of RedStar OS, a North Korean fork of Fedora. Combined with heightened interest over the purported Sony hack, there have been a lotContinue reading “Computing in North Korea”
“Political platforms: A list of technology platforms and the political ideologies they are associated with.”
[This is an imaginary appendix for my imaginary dissertation I will write someday.]
Disruptive politics
As Silicon Valley becomes the economic and cultural center of the US (and everywhere else, considering how “software is eating the world”) it is only natural that it will seek to become a political center. Hiring lobbyists — like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Uber (and Netflix in Canada) have — is just the first step. InContinue reading “Disruptive politics”
Podcast devolution
This is my current roster of podcasts. It has been pared down severely from what it was a few years ago. It is a mix of Canadian news, tech law and philosophy, actual philosophy, movies and pop culture. I highly recommend them all. With all the talk about a podcasting renaissance recently, I thought IContinue reading “Podcast devolution”
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