Category: Uncategorized

I’d like to read The People’s Platform by Astra Taylor. Looks pretty on point to me.

"The Internet has been hailed as an unprecedented democratizing force. A place where all can participate equally. But how true is this claim? In a seminal dismantling of techno-utopian visions, The People’s Platform argues that the Internet in fact amplifies real-world inequities at least as much as it ameliorates them. Online, just as off-line, attention and influence largely accrue to those who already have plenty of both. A handful of giant companies remain the gatekeepers, while the worst habits of the old media model — the pressure to seek easy celebrity, to be quick and sensational above all — have proliferated in the ad-driven system.

"We can do better, Astra Taylor insists. The online world does offer a unique opportunity, but a democratic culture that supports work of lasting value will not spring up from technology alone. If we want the Internet to truly be a people’s platform, we will have to make it so."

My book at the moment is Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks. I’m fairly certain I’ve read it before, many years ago (my Mum had most of his books when I was growing up) – long enough ago to remember only brief flashes of it.

Enjoying it greatly so far. It’s a lot lighter than I remember Banks’ books being (maybe I’m just thinking of The Wasp Factory…). I came back to it after a recommendation from a friend, of science fiction with some thought experiments around a socialist society. The Culture, a race within the novel, are I believe what one podcast I listened to recently called ‘space communists’, warts and all, so it should be interesting to see how they’re explored.