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“Affordances,” a science-fiction story by Cory Doctorow
- Tomte 7y ago[I was wrong] Real title: "Affordances". Don't editorialize, please.
- Mathnerd314 7y agoThat's the title of the story, but the Slate metadata has "Cory Doctorow on Reclaiming Technologies of Oppression" as og:title and twitter:title. The conclusion is that Slate prefers the longer title be shown in links to the story.
- danShumway 7y agoEditorialization or not, this title rephrase is useful to me. It tells me who the author is (which in this case is information I care about), and what the article is going to be about. In contrast, "Affordances" tells me literally nothing. At best, maybe I could assume that article will be about UX design? I'm all for titles being neutral, but I also want to know whether or not something is worth clicking on. I'd be fine with a rename like, "Affordances: A sci-fi story by Cory Doctorow", but for my sake please don't just give the title of an article in isolation if that title provides no context.
- malvosenior 7y agoI find it a bit odd that Doctorow talks about the technology of oppression yet lately he's been using his own substantial voice to claim people who don't think Epstein killed himself are "conspiracy theorists": https://boingboing.net/2019/08/13/malice-vs-incompetence.html https://boingboing.net/2019/08/13/malice-vs-incompetence.htm... From his article: > The point isn't that it's inconceivable that Epstein died as the result of a conspiracy, but the conspiracy theories that say that it has to be a setup because it's so implausible that prison authorities would be so totally useless are thoroughly disconnected from reality. That's a complete strawman of what people are saying. No one thinks it's inconceivable that the prison system is incompetent. They do think the highest profile prisoner on the planet with ties to the most powerful people on the planet killing himself in a prison that hasn't had a suicide in 21 years looks like a conspiracy. I agree. That seems very much like siding with the establishment to me.
- prepend 7y agoI’ve really enjoyed Doctorow’s books. My WiFi ssid is parasiteNet. However, he seems a bit too bullshitty nowadays. While I agree with him on OSS/CreativeCommons/etc he seems to be arguing with no one as copyright maximalists have different points. Also his recent Walkaway novel has a long couple of pages about meritocracy is a myth and a tool of the man and it’s all about random access, etc.
- swayvil 7y agoCory may lately be suffering from echochamber, it tends to take the edge off of one's analyses. I present BOINGBOING.NET as evidence.
- criddell 7y agoHe's mostly talking about Ken White's argument. I believe his main point is this: > The state of US prisons is a national shame, and the fact that America incarcerates more people than any other nation in world history in these gulags is a national horror.
- AndrewBissell 7y agoYes, and this is an irrelevant, too-clever-by-half woketake which accomplishes nothing but to distract from the fact that Epstein's vast trafficking & blackmail network is still extant, and will be much more difficult to hold accountable in the wake of his death. As Ben Hunt puts it, you don't have to think any one oligarch is responsible to hold them all responsible: https://www.epsilontheory.com/im-a-superstitious-man/ https://www.epsilontheory.com/im-a-superstitious-man/
- criddell 7y agoIt's relevant because Epstein's death in prison wasn't extraordinary. I agree with White and Doctorow that the simplest explanation is the most plausible one.
- malvosenior 7y ago
- swayvil 7y agoI want to read it but the site is obnoxious. Anybody got an EPUB? --- got an epub http://www.filedropper.com/affordances http://www.filedropper.com/affordances
- petre 7y agoOh, thank you.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- wizzwizz4 7y agoThis reminds me of Meditations on Moloch. https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ (HN thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19756487 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19756487)
- userbinator 7y agoWhen I think about "technologies of oppression" the first thing that came to mind was not AI, but encryption in the form of DRM and walled gardens --- of which Doctorow has written a lot about already.
- petre 7y agoThat's not opression but rather inconvenience. Control all begins as a convenience (credit cards, smart phones) or inconvenience (airport searches, face recognition).
- xhkkffbf 7y agoI think encryption and DRM are complex. For some odd reason, Doctorow hates DRM even though it essentially empowers artists to control people who want to steal from them. He seems to hate the idea that artists may want to sell their art directly and only embraces ideas where artists do things like sell tickets to concerts. My feeling is that DRM is just encryption for artists. If you think that encryption and privacy are good things that empower people, I don't know why you would want to disempower artists. But he thinks differently.
- sam_lowry_ 7y agoSteal?
- mikekchar 7y agoI would have been a famous author, but pesky kids stole all my stories. I have none left and now I'm stuck being a computer programmer. If only I had embraced DRM when I had the chance! /s
- zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 7y agoPrimarily, he seems to think that totalitarianism is not an acceptable solution to any problem. I happen to agree.
- 7y ago