Elon Musk has already turned Twitter into a propaganda machine. If Trump wins -- with the approval of the Silicon Valley billionaire class -- what's next?
Silicon Valley already had far too much control over society even before it become politicized, and this recent capture by reactionary & right-wing actors will be nothing short of a disaster for the world at large. Not unless we can get a US government willing to stand up against this country's oligarchs, at least.
I will say I'm sympathetic though, and it's not all grifters — you can't do a paid post and keep comments open to everyone as far as I can tell, at least on Substack. Those folks are probably just trying to get more paid subscribers to support their work; tbh, I'm not sure how I can keep writing this thing much longer if I don't find a way to get some more people to chip in to support it! But I'm never gonna close my comments on public posts.
A good-faith question by an admirer of your work - could you explain your thinking behind remaining active on X? What realistic path do you see to a place where the plusses of the platform (reach, networking) could even remotely outweigh the negatives (letting your message be algorithmically manipulated and your data extracted to drive toxic political dynamics)? As someone who got off commercial social media in 2018 in the wake of Cambridge Analytica, etc., I'm increasingly demoralized to see how even many of the savvyest tech critics haven't managed to get out of this dependency relationship and move to more constructive forms of communication. Obviously this is no easy task, but isn't it past time to seriously tackle it?
This is a valid question! And it's one I've thought a fair amount about — the reason I am still there basically boils down to this: It's where the news I need to follow is, and it's where the fight is. I'm a tech journalists, and the newsmakers in the field are there; Elon of course, but AI companies, crypto guys, VCs; the folks I most need to keep an eye on are there. And if you follow me, you are probably aware that 90% of what I do there is yell or highlight or critique what those folks are doing, and I consider there to be some value to that.
HOWEVER, the question is: Am I adding value for Elon or keeping the thing alive by participating in it at all? Maybe! It certainly sucks and I would like to log off, but right now, my back of napkin calculation has wound up with staying on to make noise. I do my 'for fun' posting on Bluesky.
Thank you for your reply! I can absolutely understand your rationale from an individual journalists' perspective. As a consumer of journalism, I am grateful for those who are keeping an eye on Big Tech and pushing back against the hype. At the same time, it's really frustrating to me that so much journalism, even tech criticism, is so hooked on social media. It means that the meta-message you're sending is, in a sense, that there's no alternative. And now of all times we desperately need the opposite message!
Perhaps if everyone put at least some of their energy into building/supporting alternative networks and gradually making them indispensable, we would be in a better place. Everyone has networks outside Big Tech - journalists have informal networks, professional associations, etc. So why not make a concerted effort to work through these networks IRL to take them to a better place online? Of course that means a lot of slow boring of thick boards, but is the doom loop of the status quo really an alternative...? Anyway, all the best to you and anyone else reading on this depressing day!
I have to say that I'm very tired of X's decline into the sewers being detailed by and yet still used by friends & acquaintances... Perhaps there needs to be more shaming of the advertisers (The NFL, State Farm, Wendy's, Office Depot, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, USAA insurance & Formula 1, etc) though I suspect that even if all advertisers pulled out Muskie would fund his cesspool.
I suppose if the worse happens tomorrow there might be some small glimmer of hope in the fact that if the billionaires gain (even more) political control they will inevitably overreach (as always) and cause a crash similar to that of 1929, which if we're extremely lucky (again) will create a backlash that could (maybe) give us a Green New Deal...honestly, though I'd rather maintain a certain level of cautious optimism about tomorrow and will only go searching for that small glimmer if literally everything else has failed first.
I think Musk is in this so his AI company, and possibly his humanoid robots, can take over many jobs in the US government, as well as seeing favorable legislation so he can deploy his AI and robots all across the US. I believe he views a Harris administration as a big obstacle to achieving those goals.
Silicon Valley already had far too much control over society even before it become politicized, and this recent capture by reactionary & right-wing actors will be nothing short of a disaster for the world at large. Not unless we can get a US government willing to stand up against this country's oligarchs, at least.
This is the fear!
Thank you for leaving comments open. The grifters now charge for posting comments.
For sure.
I will say I'm sympathetic though, and it's not all grifters — you can't do a paid post and keep comments open to everyone as far as I can tell, at least on Substack. Those folks are probably just trying to get more paid subscribers to support their work; tbh, I'm not sure how I can keep writing this thing much longer if I don't find a way to get some more people to chip in to support it! But I'm never gonna close my comments on public posts.
Me over here trying to chill tf out on election eve. 😬 Sidenote: enjoying your book. YES.
haha I know the feeling -- and thank you!
A good-faith question by an admirer of your work - could you explain your thinking behind remaining active on X? What realistic path do you see to a place where the plusses of the platform (reach, networking) could even remotely outweigh the negatives (letting your message be algorithmically manipulated and your data extracted to drive toxic political dynamics)? As someone who got off commercial social media in 2018 in the wake of Cambridge Analytica, etc., I'm increasingly demoralized to see how even many of the savvyest tech critics haven't managed to get out of this dependency relationship and move to more constructive forms of communication. Obviously this is no easy task, but isn't it past time to seriously tackle it?
This is a valid question! And it's one I've thought a fair amount about — the reason I am still there basically boils down to this: It's where the news I need to follow is, and it's where the fight is. I'm a tech journalists, and the newsmakers in the field are there; Elon of course, but AI companies, crypto guys, VCs; the folks I most need to keep an eye on are there. And if you follow me, you are probably aware that 90% of what I do there is yell or highlight or critique what those folks are doing, and I consider there to be some value to that.
HOWEVER, the question is: Am I adding value for Elon or keeping the thing alive by participating in it at all? Maybe! It certainly sucks and I would like to log off, but right now, my back of napkin calculation has wound up with staying on to make noise. I do my 'for fun' posting on Bluesky.
Thank you for your reply! I can absolutely understand your rationale from an individual journalists' perspective. As a consumer of journalism, I am grateful for those who are keeping an eye on Big Tech and pushing back against the hype. At the same time, it's really frustrating to me that so much journalism, even tech criticism, is so hooked on social media. It means that the meta-message you're sending is, in a sense, that there's no alternative. And now of all times we desperately need the opposite message!
Perhaps if everyone put at least some of their energy into building/supporting alternative networks and gradually making them indispensable, we would be in a better place. Everyone has networks outside Big Tech - journalists have informal networks, professional associations, etc. So why not make a concerted effort to work through these networks IRL to take them to a better place online? Of course that means a lot of slow boring of thick boards, but is the doom loop of the status quo really an alternative...? Anyway, all the best to you and anyone else reading on this depressing day!
What's next is nobody knows, but that never stops people from making things up in the absence of facts.
I have extended this comment and put it out here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-need-protect-truth-much-more-than-free-speech-gerben-wierda-rewbe/
I have to say that I'm very tired of X's decline into the sewers being detailed by and yet still used by friends & acquaintances... Perhaps there needs to be more shaming of the advertisers (The NFL, State Farm, Wendy's, Office Depot, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, USAA insurance & Formula 1, etc) though I suspect that even if all advertisers pulled out Muskie would fund his cesspool.
Yup — commented on this above. I am still there, for better or worse (definitely worse).
I suppose if the worse happens tomorrow there might be some small glimmer of hope in the fact that if the billionaires gain (even more) political control they will inevitably overreach (as always) and cause a crash similar to that of 1929, which if we're extremely lucky (again) will create a backlash that could (maybe) give us a Green New Deal...honestly, though I'd rather maintain a certain level of cautious optimism about tomorrow and will only go searching for that small glimmer if literally everything else has failed first.
I think Musk is in this so his AI company, and possibly his humanoid robots, can take over many jobs in the US government, as well as seeing favorable legislation so he can deploy his AI and robots all across the US. I believe he views a Harris administration as a big obstacle to achieving those goals.
you could log off?
never