There is actually a well developed reason for "Why the fuck doesn't Hammer repost more stuff?" strangely enough: Tyler Cowan. More specifically, I used to read Marginal Revolution a lot when he (and Alex) used to write longer, more thought out essays. Then he increasingly moved to just links with like "Self recommending" written after it, and I hated that. It felt super lazy, especially when he didn't even talk about what he thought about the article much. So I developed a real aversion to blogs that were just "here's a list of neat stuff." I haven't checked MR on a regular basis since like 2006 or 2008.
In all fairness, that was probably an over reaction. I still like @Arnold Kling's links roundup, but only when he comments on them.
I probably could stand to do more 'Ok, I read this thing, and here's 2000 words on why I think it is important,' and get them done faster than my usual "let this simmer on the back burner for 3 months before putting it all together" :D I do like the cross posting function, though I wish I had more space to write what I like about essays in it. That Sasha Stone piece is just begging for an hour or two of discussion on the idea of socially defensive religion.
This comment clearly articulates my own blogging issues, including less MR, and support for Arnold Kling’s links with usually a single comment. Leaving much unsaid, some of which I or others say in comments, tho with less response than many blogs. So I write too little as I read more broadly on linked to posts, and some good books.
Not really connected, but you made me think of something funny. I was around when the internet was first becoming a thing and I remember a buddy saying excitedly, "Now you can get porn for free!" He spent two hours downloading a centerfold on dial up and printing it on a dot matrix printer. He told me the next day, "Internet porn is stupid. This will never be a thing."
Lol I can sympathize. I totally pop poo’d the idea of iPads/tablets when they were first coming out. Why would you want something smaller and less functional than a laptop, but bigger and less convenient than an iPhone that you can’t make calls on? So stupid!
I think we have owned like 8 tablets at this point, although I still use the Kindle fire from like 12 years ago, because I just want books. Still, that taught me that any thoughts I might have about a career in marketing were bad :)
Post all the things you think are not going to catch on and we'll see if Inverse Doc Hammer could be a money maker. I'm wondering what happens to the fabric of the universe if Cramer goes bullish on the Inverse Cramer ETF?
I will try to keep an eye out for more "this is obviously a bad idea" things for you :) So far I most notably missed iPads and tiny shorts with "Juicy" written across the ass for young girls. I have come so close so many times to asking parents on the playground what they were thinking when they bought such things for a tween.
More recent things like "pretend meat" and "every goddamn movie for the past 5 years" I have been more accurate on, but I have kind of been living in a cave for a while, so I missed most of the new stuff :)
Pop culture is like riding a train. After awhile you look around and say, "The scenery is getting unfamiliar. This is my stop, not going any further." I'm a little older than you so I got off the train awhile ago.
Substacks are the only culture that make it to my cave. I could enjoy the Amish lifestyle if it weren't for the religious aspects.
I am there with you on the Amish thing, there's a group that has solved a lot of problems. I am sure they have new ones to take their place, but they really embody a lot of virtues I respect. (At least the ones out by where my dad lives. I still marvel at how they manage to turn an otherwise dead end backwater area into profitable farms and many other businesses.)
This is so well-written, Doc, and dovetails eerily with Mark Bisone's and my comment on it: https://markbisone.substack.com/p/these-tools-of-mine: "I've been playing with a concept I call slow-tech as opposed to low-tech. It doesn't require or provide 24/7 connectivity and maybe is completely non-commercial. It's hard-wired, maybe only with neighborhood hubs. Once a day, people may see who's responded or write/ read other posts. But the rest of the time, we're with the real people in our lives ... I also think that taking back something as slow-tech as local radio, networked into independent producers everywhere, could be community-building."
This is a transcribed radio episode I did a decade ago called Radio is Community Building: http://thirdparadigm.org/3p_045.php. It references another theme you discussed on how the news has been made into snippets of anecdotes. A book called The Soap Opera Paradigm researches how that happens, which I talked about in We Interrupt This Commercial: http://thirdparadigm.org/3p_024.php.
Anyway I REALLY need to get off my screen and listen to my own advice, but I had to send a note that I think you and Mark are really on to something.
The internet is simultaneously the greatest and worst technology ever created. In terms of economic opportunity, access to resources, and availability of information there has never been a better time to be alive. Unfortunately, there are also more ways than ever to squander these resources and opportunities and lose our humanity. It's a giant character test, and most people fail.
Yea, I am not sure whether the internet just happened to show up at a bad time, or of it is inherently a giant mind fuck for humans, but whew... it is certainly taking a lot of getting used to.
Kind of reminds me of the end of Evangelion, where yay, everyone is connected to each others brain all the time, wheeeee! That struck me as a stark horror possibility, not a nice thing.
Let's see how hopeful I remain when my kids are clamoring for internet access phones :) I can take a weekend off from the internet and not even turn on my monitors without much trouble, but it might be pretty miserable to make them do the same, yet more necessary.
Random thought from today. I’m sure there’s going to be a market for internet-disabled phones, but offering navigation, music streaming and other benefits that don’t involve the hive mind or news media. Like nice versions of shit phones.
I think you are absolutely right on there. There's a whole niche market of highly limited phones for kids, where they can call like 3 numbers only and have GPS (to find the kid) and that is it. Likewise a market for phones with mechanical dead switches, both for the phone and individual parts like microphones and video cameras for the security minded. It seems a light step to privacy centered phones with only GPS, Music and maybe e-reader apps.
Of course, possibly the people who would buy such a phone already have the self control to not use the other, more negative aspects of the phones, but it might be really useful for parents to buy for teenagers. Of course, maybe there is some sort of back door administrator control one can use on regular phones to block apps that is resistant to kid tampering, but I wouldn't expect it to hold out long :)
The folks at AbovePhone might be willing to create a phone variant such as you propose, if they thought they could sell enough of them, in addition to their existing "de-Googled" privacy phone (which sadly, aren't really affordable for a lot of us)
I will have to check them out, thanks! I am fortunately a little ways from needing such things for my girls, but probably a good idea to start looking...
On the point of constant phone checking potentially becoming something frowned upon, this only happens if individuals communicate their disapproval to those at fault. We need get nagging!
I would also add a specific disapproval which is people who tweet constantly. I can't take anyone seriously who does this.
Though the main reason I am on my phone these days is reading the constant stream of good substance articles, not sure of that makes me a hypocrite.....
I have, on occasion, found myself scolding younger compatriots who stop engaging in whatever we are supposed to be doing to check their phones. Sometimes it works! At least, if they already think they ought to stop doing that.
There is definitely an issue with the "I need to produce content so that people will look and I will feel validated!" (Or whatever the "feel" is.) That might be the worst part of the system for many people, getting that dopamine hit instead of building actual relationships. It is certainly alluring.
I do approve of using a phone or device for reading, however. I used to always carry a book in case I got stuck somewhere, and a phone is much easier.
I am personally trying to cut back on reading things I have already read in the metaphorical sense. I think there is such a thing as over dosing on the same version of thing to be mad about from a very slightly different angle. Better to re-read Flashman or something than re-read another article for the first or tenth time. (I say trying, but part of it is that I am just getting bored, although I do find myself reading articles that I know aren't good in a new or interesting way, just sort of "yea, I agree with this, I guess.")
>>the kids have to do something if they aren’t allowed to run around outside with their friends
They should be thrown out the back door and told to go play in the woods with their friends at every opportunity. Only keep them inside when it's lightning storms, frog-stranglers, above 98 degrees or below 20 degrees :) That's what we grew up with and we turned out (mostly) OK :)
Thanks :)
There is actually a well developed reason for "Why the fuck doesn't Hammer repost more stuff?" strangely enough: Tyler Cowan. More specifically, I used to read Marginal Revolution a lot when he (and Alex) used to write longer, more thought out essays. Then he increasingly moved to just links with like "Self recommending" written after it, and I hated that. It felt super lazy, especially when he didn't even talk about what he thought about the article much. So I developed a real aversion to blogs that were just "here's a list of neat stuff." I haven't checked MR on a regular basis since like 2006 or 2008.
In all fairness, that was probably an over reaction. I still like @Arnold Kling's links roundup, but only when he comments on them.
I probably could stand to do more 'Ok, I read this thing, and here's 2000 words on why I think it is important,' and get them done faster than my usual "let this simmer on the back burner for 3 months before putting it all together" :D I do like the cross posting function, though I wish I had more space to write what I like about essays in it. That Sasha Stone piece is just begging for an hour or two of discussion on the idea of socially defensive religion.
This comment clearly articulates my own blogging issues, including less MR, and support for Arnold Kling’s links with usually a single comment. Leaving much unsaid, some of which I or others say in comments, tho with less response than many blogs. So I write too little as I read more broadly on linked to posts, and some good books.
Not really connected, but you made me think of something funny. I was around when the internet was first becoming a thing and I remember a buddy saying excitedly, "Now you can get porn for free!" He spent two hours downloading a centerfold on dial up and printing it on a dot matrix printer. He told me the next day, "Internet porn is stupid. This will never be a thing."
Lol I can sympathize. I totally pop poo’d the idea of iPads/tablets when they were first coming out. Why would you want something smaller and less functional than a laptop, but bigger and less convenient than an iPhone that you can’t make calls on? So stupid!
I think we have owned like 8 tablets at this point, although I still use the Kindle fire from like 12 years ago, because I just want books. Still, that taught me that any thoughts I might have about a career in marketing were bad :)
Post all the things you think are not going to catch on and we'll see if Inverse Doc Hammer could be a money maker. I'm wondering what happens to the fabric of the universe if Cramer goes bullish on the Inverse Cramer ETF?
I will try to keep an eye out for more "this is obviously a bad idea" things for you :) So far I most notably missed iPads and tiny shorts with "Juicy" written across the ass for young girls. I have come so close so many times to asking parents on the playground what they were thinking when they bought such things for a tween.
More recent things like "pretend meat" and "every goddamn movie for the past 5 years" I have been more accurate on, but I have kind of been living in a cave for a while, so I missed most of the new stuff :)
Pop culture is like riding a train. After awhile you look around and say, "The scenery is getting unfamiliar. This is my stop, not going any further." I'm a little older than you so I got off the train awhile ago.
Substacks are the only culture that make it to my cave. I could enjoy the Amish lifestyle if it weren't for the religious aspects.
I am there with you on the Amish thing, there's a group that has solved a lot of problems. I am sure they have new ones to take their place, but they really embody a lot of virtues I respect. (At least the ones out by where my dad lives. I still marvel at how they manage to turn an otherwise dead end backwater area into profitable farms and many other businesses.)
This is so well-written, Doc, and dovetails eerily with Mark Bisone's and my comment on it: https://markbisone.substack.com/p/these-tools-of-mine: "I've been playing with a concept I call slow-tech as opposed to low-tech. It doesn't require or provide 24/7 connectivity and maybe is completely non-commercial. It's hard-wired, maybe only with neighborhood hubs. Once a day, people may see who's responded or write/ read other posts. But the rest of the time, we're with the real people in our lives ... I also think that taking back something as slow-tech as local radio, networked into independent producers everywhere, could be community-building."
This is a transcribed radio episode I did a decade ago called Radio is Community Building: http://thirdparadigm.org/3p_045.php. It references another theme you discussed on how the news has been made into snippets of anecdotes. A book called The Soap Opera Paradigm researches how that happens, which I talked about in We Interrupt This Commercial: http://thirdparadigm.org/3p_024.php.
Anyway I REALLY need to get off my screen and listen to my own advice, but I had to send a note that I think you and Mark are really on to something.
Yea I wrote this then immediately jettisoned to hang out outside with the kids and neighbors :)
The internet is simultaneously the greatest and worst technology ever created. In terms of economic opportunity, access to resources, and availability of information there has never been a better time to be alive. Unfortunately, there are also more ways than ever to squander these resources and opportunities and lose our humanity. It's a giant character test, and most people fail.
Yea, I am not sure whether the internet just happened to show up at a bad time, or of it is inherently a giant mind fuck for humans, but whew... it is certainly taking a lot of getting used to.
Kind of reminds me of the end of Evangelion, where yay, everyone is connected to each others brain all the time, wheeeee! That struck me as a stark horror possibility, not a nice thing.
I vote for inherent mind fuck. It's just too much.
The surveillance device in your pocket is not your friend
Agreed. A dangerous tool and a fearful master.
It's nice to find hopeful ideas expressed on this topic and maybe I'm too pessimistic.
Your point about safetyism (which is control) is well made.
Let's see how hopeful I remain when my kids are clamoring for internet access phones :) I can take a weekend off from the internet and not even turn on my monitors without much trouble, but it might be pretty miserable to make them do the same, yet more necessary.
Random thought from today. I’m sure there’s going to be a market for internet-disabled phones, but offering navigation, music streaming and other benefits that don’t involve the hive mind or news media. Like nice versions of shit phones.
I think you are absolutely right on there. There's a whole niche market of highly limited phones for kids, where they can call like 3 numbers only and have GPS (to find the kid) and that is it. Likewise a market for phones with mechanical dead switches, both for the phone and individual parts like microphones and video cameras for the security minded. It seems a light step to privacy centered phones with only GPS, Music and maybe e-reader apps.
Of course, possibly the people who would buy such a phone already have the self control to not use the other, more negative aspects of the phones, but it might be really useful for parents to buy for teenagers. Of course, maybe there is some sort of back door administrator control one can use on regular phones to block apps that is resistant to kid tampering, but I wouldn't expect it to hold out long :)
The folks at AbovePhone might be willing to create a phone variant such as you propose, if they thought they could sell enough of them, in addition to their existing "de-Googled" privacy phone (which sadly, aren't really affordable for a lot of us)
I will have to check them out, thanks! I am fortunately a little ways from needing such things for my girls, but probably a good idea to start looking...
On the point of constant phone checking potentially becoming something frowned upon, this only happens if individuals communicate their disapproval to those at fault. We need get nagging!
I would also add a specific disapproval which is people who tweet constantly. I can't take anyone seriously who does this.
Though the main reason I am on my phone these days is reading the constant stream of good substance articles, not sure of that makes me a hypocrite.....
I have, on occasion, found myself scolding younger compatriots who stop engaging in whatever we are supposed to be doing to check their phones. Sometimes it works! At least, if they already think they ought to stop doing that.
There is definitely an issue with the "I need to produce content so that people will look and I will feel validated!" (Or whatever the "feel" is.) That might be the worst part of the system for many people, getting that dopamine hit instead of building actual relationships. It is certainly alluring.
I do approve of using a phone or device for reading, however. I used to always carry a book in case I got stuck somewhere, and a phone is much easier.
I am personally trying to cut back on reading things I have already read in the metaphorical sense. I think there is such a thing as over dosing on the same version of thing to be mad about from a very slightly different angle. Better to re-read Flashman or something than re-read another article for the first or tenth time. (I say trying, but part of it is that I am just getting bored, although I do find myself reading articles that I know aren't good in a new or interesting way, just sort of "yea, I agree with this, I guess.")
>>the kids have to do something if they aren’t allowed to run around outside with their friends
They should be thrown out the back door and told to go play in the woods with their friends at every opportunity. Only keep them inside when it's lightning storms, frog-stranglers, above 98 degrees or below 20 degrees :) That's what we grew up with and we turned out (mostly) OK :)