3 ms·

The Metaverse Has Always Been a Dystopian Idea

2 points by elsewhen 5y ago

rektide 5y ago
Data Trash: Theory of Virtual Class (1994)[1] is an oldie but goodie, about how cyberspace is an un-equalizer, about how more and more are left behind. Publisher's Weekly review: > They have anticipated the debris that will be left by the traffic of the information highway-and they can't ignore the roadkill. What follows is a survey exploring the consequences of technology on culture, economy, class and individuality. They hold that virtual reality will supplant reality itself, that use of information will reinforce extant caste systems, and that ultimately the information highway will not be so much a tool providing us with usable data but rather it will provide those who control it with data to use us. Their findings, while alternately compelling and repellent, are undermined as they single-handedly double the lexicon of technobabble. The book is both deadly-serious but also self-indulgent, playful, not serious writing per se. It's long been a part of why I think the web is better & more interesting than most tech projects: hypertext markup language is a medium, a somewhat legible one (alas considerbly less so with the advent of webapps & especially React). There's not presently a lot of hooks, reasons why regular folk would want to tech-up themselves, the stratification will continue, but I continue to think there are some not-fully-visible tidal forces that make the web potentially one day more compelling, as an interesting empowering useful primary & general interface to computing in general. Alas we don't seem to be intertwingularizing, building things together these days on the web: apis seem out of mode, cross-site behaviors less & less (except for ads and dollars), so some of the base interest, of the web as a connective medium, are less than they could be: we're recreating isolated siloed application systems, albeit now with far away data-centers running the app, on the web, but that's not the web's fault: that's humanity, that's what we all are up to. The better information superhighway awaits if we dare rise to it. [1] https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312122119 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312122119

2 points by elsewhen 5y ago

Data Trash: Theory of Virtual Class (1994)[1] is an oldie but goodie, about how cyberspace is an un-equalizer, about how more and more are left behind. Publisher's Weekly review: > They have anticipated the debris that will be left by the traffic of the information highway-and they can't ignore the roadkill. What follows is a survey exploring the consequences of technology on culture, economy, class and individuality. They hold that virtual reality will supplant reality itself, that use of information will reinforce extant caste systems, and that ultimately the information highway will not be so much a tool providing us with usable data but rather it will provide those who control it with data to use us. Their findings, while alternately compelling and repellent, are undermined as they single-handedly double the lexicon of technobabble. The book is both deadly-serious but also self-indulgent, playful, not serious writing per se. It's long been a part of why I think the web is better & more interesting than most tech projects: hypertext markup language is a medium, a somewhat legible one (alas considerbly less so with the advent of webapps & especially React). There's not presently a lot of hooks, reasons why regular folk would want to tech-up themselves, the stratification will continue, but I continue to think there are some not-fully-visible tidal forces that make the web potentially one day more compelling, as an interesting empowering useful primary & general interface to computing in general. Alas we don't seem to be intertwingularizing, building things together these days on the web: apis seem out of mode, cross-site behaviors less & less (except for ads and dollars), so some of the base interest, of the web as a connective medium, are less than they could be: we're recreating isolated siloed application systems, albeit now with far away data-centers running the app, on the web, but that's not the web's fault: that's humanity, that's what we all are up to. The better information superhighway awaits if we dare rise to it. [1] https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312122119 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312122119