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Max Headroom is now more relevant than ever. If you haven't watched the TV series, stop what you're doing and get the binge over with. The dystopian future pr

Max Headroom is now more relevant than ever. If you haven't watched the TV series, stop what you're doing and get the binge over with. The dystopian future predicted in this series is well and truly upon us - a case of fiction predicting future truths. We need Max Headroom to guide us out of the disaster of the modern Internet. Alas, we have Zuckerberg instead ..

ganzuul 7y ago
I too keep telling people to watch it. We are close to accidentally creating an attention-democracy where whoever is able to keep the attention of the masses has the most influence over politics. It could be argued that whoever is able to get the most attention is also the most in tune with what people want. Since centralized filtering of news is an important part of the political meta-game of building opinion, perhaps it is not wrong to formalize this process. Enter Max Headroom.
- Nasrudith 7y ago
  I don't think that this new and it arguably predates democracy. Being able to keep the attention of the masses influencing policy has generally been called 'leadership' - even if they are frankly idiots who lead them straight off cliffs. It is another one of those annoyingly conflated words like 'empathy' assuming that understanding people and caring about them are the same - leadership has connotations of actually being effective and getting others to follow.
  - ganzuul 7y ago
    True. Follow-the-leader is easy and democracy isn't. Especially when idiots are all too willing to jump off cliffs instead of acting with the responsibility that democracy places upon us. Perhaps there exists forms of democracy which steer us away from the obvious precipice.
DonHopkins 7y ago
Ron Headrest for president! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Headrest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Headrest https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/07/Ron-Headrests-revenge/1378547358400/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/07/Ron-Headrests-reveng... >HELEN THOMAS, UPI White House Reporter, UPI ARCHIVES MAY 7, 1987 >Headrest is shown saying, 'That re-reminds me! Kids! Need rock-solid information on safe sex? Call this number on your screen!' - 202-456-1414, the White House.

ganzuul 7y ago

I too keep telling people to watch it. We are close to accidentally creating an attention-democracy where whoever is able to keep the attention of the masses has the most influence over politics. It could be argued that whoever is able to get the most attention is also the most in tune with what people want. Since centralized filtering of news is an important part of the political meta-game of building opinion, perhaps it is not wrong to formalize this process. Enter Max Headroom.

Nasrudith 7y ago
I don't think that this new and it arguably predates democracy. Being able to keep the attention of the masses influencing policy has generally been called 'leadership' - even if they are frankly idiots who lead them straight off cliffs. It is another one of those annoyingly conflated words like 'empathy' assuming that understanding people and caring about them are the same - leadership has connotations of actually being effective and getting others to follow.
- ganzuul 7y ago
  True. Follow-the-leader is easy and democracy isn't. Especially when idiots are all too willing to jump off cliffs instead of acting with the responsibility that democracy places upon us. Perhaps there exists forms of democracy which steer us away from the obvious precipice.

DonHopkins 7y ago

Ron Headrest for president! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Headrest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Headrest https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/07/Ron-Headrests-revenge/1378547358400/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/07/Ron-Headrests-reveng... >HELEN THOMAS, UPI White House Reporter, UPI ARCHIVES MAY 7, 1987 >Headrest is shown saying, 'That re-reminds me! Kids! Need rock-solid information on safe sex? Call this number on your screen!' - 202-456-1414, the White House.