Society – Page 2 – Postcards

The real problem with mass social media is: Gossip

November 13, 2020November 13, 2020 No Comments

So suggests Arnold Kling, and it explains the problem better than all the talk about ‘fake news’ and deleting bad content, and all that: The Internet, smart phones, and social media (ISS) have set human communication back about 20,000 years. That is, we now rely more on gossip than we have since we lived in […]

Read on ...

Society

“Drugs Market proves resilient and adaptable despite Covid”

September 22, 2020 No Comments

Is exactly not the headline to this article in the Guardian (“UK had highest number of young cocaine users in Europe last year – report“), although, it could have come from the business and finance section with a little rewording. In short, the drugs trade is resilient to downturns, highly adaptable to changing market conditions, tolerant […]

Read on ...

Big Business Society

Corporate Sociopathy

September 2, 2020October 18, 2020 No Comments

Over on Memex, John Naughton makes a good point worth remembering regarding tech companies (the ‘don’t be evil’ crowd): “Anyone who thinks that tech companies are different from any other ruthless corporation hasn’t been paying attention. My view of tech firms is that they are indistinguishable from tobacco, oil and mining companies, i.e. intrinsically sociopathic […]

Read on ...

Dublin Society Transport

Phoenix Park: Back to Car City

July 10, 2020 No Comments

That good news didn’t last – ‘It will be back to car city’ reports the Journal. Minister of State for the OPW, Patrick O’Donovan, said the decision over the gates was made after discussing issues like a growth of traffic in the surrounding areas over the past few weeks. “The volume of traffic built up […]

Read on ...

Human Rights Society Trumperica

“The officers responsible are rarely prosecuted.”

June 4, 2020 No Comments

Protests over the murder of an unarmed black man at the hands of a white police officer have reached every single US state, in a level of nationwide demonstration not seen since the 1968 assassination of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Curfews are in place across dozens of cities and National Guard troops have been deployed […]

Read on ...

Arts Equality Human Rights Society Trumperica

The Power of Art

June 4, 2020 No Comments

Power granted must be limited, if not, it will destroy that which it draws power from.

Read on ...

Big Business Society

Tim Bray takes a stand

May 8, 2020 No Comments

Tim Bray, now ex-VP in Amazon, quit his job in protest at the treatment of the warehouse workers: Amazon is exceptionally well-managed and has demonstrated great skill at spotting opportunities and building repeatable processes for exploiting them. It has a corresponding lack of vision about the human costs of the relentless growth and accumulation of […]

Read on ...

Society Transport

Silent Skies

April 2, 2020 No Comments

I can usually see a stream of little silver slivers on the horizon, landing and taking off from Dublin Airport. Now, the skies are empty and silent. Global air traffic has collapsed: The tiny yellow aircraft symbols speak volumes. Anyone familiar with the flight-tracking website Flightradar24 knows the scores of miniature aircraft on the interactive […]

Read on ...

Health Life Society

Internet is a utility, not a luxury

March 19, 2020 No Comments

Some things we’ve learned over the last week of movement restrictions.

Read on ...

Life Society

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020 No Comments

Enoch Powell did such harm to this country. When he did his Rivers of Blood speech in 1968 everything changed. I went from being “Lettsy” in the playground to “that black bastard” and “golliwog” overnight. And, thanks to Brexit, it’s happening again. It’s absolutely heartbreaking. I still believe in the power of music and culture […]

Read on ...

Who?

Murf

The real problem with mass social media is: Gossip

“Drugs Market proves resilient and adaptable despite Covid”

Corporate Sociopathy

Phoenix Park: Back to Car City

“The officers responsible are rarely prosecuted.”

The Power of Art

Tim Bray takes a stand

Silent Skies

Internet is a utility, not a luxury

Category: Society