2021 archive
A Strange Diagnosis 0
Nevertheless, I fear that it is an accurate one.
About That Algorithm 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Nir Eyal explains why persons stay buried in their phones, even as they step off the curb in front of passing cars, or, indeed, drive one of said passing cars. He identities four factors designed into “social” media and messaging applications to keep you “engaged.”
Here’s the summary (emphasis added):
- People have become attached to their devices because devices facilitate social connection and because they’re engineered to capture attention.
- Products that lead to habit formation often involve four steps: a trigger, an action, variable rewards, and investment.
- Understanding how people interact with their devices can lead to better iterations of technological products in the future.
Follow the link for a detailed discussion of how “social” media sucks you in.
Counter-Factual 0
Will Bunch notes that it has been 52 years since Americans landed on the moon–a feat made possible by science, Science, after all, is the pursuit of fact. He considers why so many Americans now reject science (think vaccines, for example). A nugget (emphasis added):
Indeed, wealthy capitalists and the politicians who aided the backlash and rode it to victories — Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, Ronald Reagan — were so successful that distrust in science and the conspiracy theories that flow from that distrust now spread as virally as COVID-19 itself, among everyday folks on social media sites like Facebook. Albeit with an occasional booster shot from the most cynical media celebrities like Fox’s Tucker Carlson.
I commend his article to your attention.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another gun left unattended,
Yet another life prematurely ended.
And yet another day in NRA Paradise.
Merchants of Fear 0
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gene Collier explains.
Atypicality 0
At Above the Law, Mark Hermann suggests that Donald Trump’s class action lawsuit against the “social” media sites which have banned and otherwise restricted him may not pass the test to be a class action.
(snip)
First, I bet it’s terribly hard to prove that Trump’s claims are “typical” of other members of the putative class. Facebook and Twitter probably throw people off their platforms for a multitude of different reasons, and those reasons almost surely vary from person to person. Trump was suspended, I assume, because he fomented insurrection (or some such thing).
A Woke-Up Call 0
Rich white folks want their money back from a Catholic school because it exercised what was once known as “Christian charity.” (The plaintiffs say that they want only a return to traditional Catholic values, which, I guess in their view, do not include awareness of injustice, hate, and bigotry.)
Here’s a bit of the news story; follow the link for the rest (emphasis added).
Then, as she marked up the 45-page filing by philanthropists Anthony and Barbara Scarpo against Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa, she decided someone needed to respond.
The suit, filed June 26, alleged that her old school had “become woke” by focusing too much on diversity and equity, and had strayed from Catholic teaching. The Scarpos demanded refunds of donations and tuition. They said the academy should stop billing itself as a Catholic institution.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
“The Happiest Place on Earth” 0
No, argues Leonard Pitts, Jr., it’s no place Disney. Here’s the subhead:
If ignorance really were bliss, Tennessee would be the happiest place on Earth.
Follow the link for his reasoning.