“Hideously Limited”
ISSUE 3.6 FEBRUARY 28, 2016
HELLO EARTHLINGS! Sorry for an ever-so-slightly truncated week of links as I struggle to return my brain to something approaching normality. We at IYO HQ are conducting experiments (mainly with caffeine and drugs) to see if we can get things back on track, but here’s the deal: I will never not appreciate taking time off—this break, in particular, was totally joyous—but I would like it very much if my head would return to the game as soon as I need it to.
Oh, and a QUICK REMINDER: I am always happy to share recommendations of great stories from readers—please just leave a response down below with your tip, or tweetcast me at @IfYouOnly.
1. Unless You Speak English, The Internet Doesn’t Care About You
(Kristen V. Brown, Fusion, 2016)
A one-time obsession of mine was the rise of the splinternet—not a term I coined, I don’t think, but I’m happy to claim credit—that is, the fracturing of the internet into many smaller networks. Mostly I thought about it from the political point of view: The ability of states to create their own networks in order to repress or control, and the reliance of internet culture on the entirely non-constitutional benevolence of networks. But from a linguistic lens, or at least a cultural one, this article made me think: the splinternet is maybe a good thing. The sheer volume of material available online in English makes it so advantageous to speak English that smaller languages just get dropped entirely.
2. Who Is The Real Boris Johnson?
(Michael Wolff, GQ, 2013)
I have only interacted with Boris, the mayor of London, a couple of times. Once, on a bus, he endeared himself by having a jacket that seemed to be covered in a squirt of mustard. Another time I had to put up with some light Twitter abuse because my username was a little too close to his. But he is deeply fascinating in general, and in particular right now, as the British right locks itself in a battle over membership of the European Union. Because he can’t really be a powerful buffoon, right? He can’t be the charming idiot who politicks his way to the top. He’s got to be smart, calculated, aggressive… acting. But what if he is actually authentic? This mini profile by Wolff calls him “original, incomparable, shameless.” Seems about right.
3. Economists Aren’t As Non-Partisan As We Think
(Zubin Jelveh, Bruce Kogut, Suresh Naidu, FiveThirtyEight, 2014)
A big royal “we” in this. Who ever thought economists weren’t partisan? But still, a study that undoes any assumptions you might have about the neutrality of it all.
4. VR Will Make Life Better—Or Just Be An Opiate of the Masses
(Wagner James Au, WIRED, 2016)
There are lines in this short piece that really made me sit bolt upright. Not the ones treading the ground of “it’s an exciting technology, but also a potential danger.” No, it’s quotes from people at the forefront of the virtual reality industry which imply that they’ve not really made any moral interrogation of what they believewho basically seem to adopt a position straight out of The Matrix without even realizing it. “These are devices that you could imagine almost everyone in the world owning,” says John Carmack, 3D pioneer. “This means that some fraction of the desirable experiences of the wealthy can be synthesized and replicated for a much broader range of people.” Palmer Luckey, the creator of Oculus Rift, suggests “Once you’ve perfected VR, you can imagine a world where you don’t need to perfect anything else.” What a terrifying abstention of responsibility. This is the kind of bullshit we’ve got to fight, people.
That’s it from me, I’m off to download a PATCH FOR MY BRAIN in the hope that it starts to work properly. I’ll leave you with this video of Boris Johnson knocking over a small Japanese child playing rugby.
Because.
