I'm not convinced that the impact of SM is much different from the impact of 3-network TV programming back in the 50s-60s. 'We've turned over our perception of

I'm not convinced that the impact of SM is much different from the impact of 3-network TV programming back in the 50s-60s. 'We've turned over our perception of what's real to algorithmically driven systems ....' Like Nielson ratings? We certainly weren't allowed to play a greater part then. Are we now, really? So, if once again we've allowed corporations to spoon-feed us, in return for watching advertising ... how's that any more of a doomsday than the first time around? Stephenson's a remarkable story-teller but this comment is not helpful. If things look darker, that doesn't mean that they are. TV and Newspaper headlines were essentially algorithmically predictable. 'Darker' stuff wound up in magazines. Today, anyone with the time can see it all ... unfiltered by news 'experts'. If it looks manipululated, it always was. "The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread." - John Swinton, 1880