In 2018 – See the figure through the ground – I used the Media laws Developed by Marshall and Eric McLuhan to examine the impact of social media. McLuhan's laws indicate that each medium (technology) used by people has four effects. Each medium extends a human property, obsolete the previous environment (and in fact often a good luxury), recovers a much older support and inverse its properties when it is pushed to its limits. These four aspects are known as the media tetrade.
This image was the resulting tetrade.
I finished the post with these questions.
- How can we educate people to extend their voice to help themselves and make better civil society?
- How can we provide time and space so that everyone is offline, so it's not just a luxury for the rich?
- How can we strengthen the good aspects of the tribes (for example, expanded families, cooperatives, etc.) while contravening their harmful effects such as online propaganda?
- How can we make sure that online orthodoxy does not limit the public debate and the investigation, which is one of the treasures that we have inherited from the Enlightenment?
Six years later and the training of a ridiculously easy group is mainly available on platforms belonging to companies that spy on us and feed us garbage. Our voices are shouted by algorithms. Offline is definitely a luxury, especially for those who have private jets so that they can spend time with other wealthy from around the world. Tribalism, in the form of Maga and convoy conspirators, makes society vulnerable to disinformation such as anti-vaccination lies and anti-immigrant feelings. The narrowing of public thinking occurs. Speaking against the genocide in Gaza can lead to a job loss or Professional ostracism. Let's face it, the McLuhan was right. The medium is the message and we live there.
Cory Doctorow sums up our current situation with social media platforms
These are the two factors that provide terrible services: captive users and no constraints. If your users cannot leave, and if you have no consequences to make them miserable (not only their departure for a competitor, but also fines, criminal accusations, workers' revolts and guerrilla warfare with interoperators), you have the means, the reason and the opportunity to transform your service into a giant shit stack. ” –2025-01-20
So how can we recover common goods online? Doctorow gives us some suggestions.
Last week, I approved a project entitled Free Our Feeds, whose objectives include the hacking of some fire outlets in Bluesky by force majeure-that is to say standing independently an alternative bluesky server in which people can withdraw if Bluesky changes management, or has a heart change …
I firmly believe in improving the fediverse, and I believe in the addition of the federation long expected in Bluesky. This is because my goal is not the success of the Fediverse – it is the defeat of the insonstification. My response to “Why spend money to repair the Bluesky?” “Why leave 20 million people at risk of insioning when we could not only make them sure, but also create the tool chain to allow many organizations to exploit an entire federation of Bluesky servers?” If you care about a better internet – and not just Fediverse – you should also share this goal. –2025-01-20
The Fediverse is An alliance, not a platform. Mastodon is an open protocol and everyone can install a server and connect to a federated host network using the protocol. It is like the first years of blogs where we have just connected with each other, using the blog tools running for each of us. Conversations on this subject occur on mastodon. Join me there- @Harold.
