Please read this. It's literally been 8 years in the writing.
The first wave of tech disruption of democracy 2016-2024 is over. What starts now is something much, much worse: the age of information chaos.
1/
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
It's exactly 8 years since I published this on Nov 6, 2016. My first step down the rabbit hole that became Facebook/Cambridge Analytica. And if you still think that's a 'conspiracy', I have a social media platform to sell you.
2/
theguardian.com/technology/201…
Oh no, that's right. The world's richest man already bought it. Remember Marshall McLuhan, 'the medium is the message'? Well the medium now is Musk. And he's the shadow head of state of the world's greatest superpower. That’s the message. Have you got it yet?
3/
Trump is cholera. He's the bacillus in our drinking water. But there's worse coming. Because this platform - all the platforms - are stinking toxic sewers. This is Victorian London before sanitation. Our information system is sick, sick, sick.
4/
This is Steve Bannon's world now: 'Politics is downstream from culture.' The young men who voted for Trump? Did they? Or for protein shakes and deadlifts? For YouTube shorts & Twitch? Because this is culture now. Curated by algorithms owned by broligarchs.
5/
Please just read the piece. And if you're as panicked as fuck - as you should be - pls sign up to my new newsletter. I don't know what the answer is but I've spent the last 8 years trying. The only thing I know is that we can't do this alone
6/
open.substack.com/pub/broligarch…
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.