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David Eisinger
203
static/archive/bogdanthegeek-github-io-p0gyop.txt
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[1]
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BogdanTheGeek's Blog
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• Menu ▾
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•
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□ [2]About
|
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□ [3]Insights
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□ [4]Projects
|
||||
□ [5]Thoughts
|
||||
|
||||
• [6]About
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||||
• [7]Insights
|
||||
• [8]Projects
|
||||
• [9]Thoughts
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||||
|
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[10]Hosting a WebSite on a Disposable Vape
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2025-09-13Bogdan Ionescu6 min read (1266 words)[11]source [12]report issue
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#[13]programming #[14]arm #[15]tools #[16]electronics Hosting a WebSite on
|
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a Disposable Vape
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Preface[17]#
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This article is NOT served from a web server running on a disposable vape. If
|
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you want to see the real deal, click [18]here. The content is otherwise
|
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identical.
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Background[19]#
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For a couple of years now, I have been collecting disposable vapes from friends
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and family. Initially, I only salvaged the batteries for “future” projects
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(It’s not hoarding, I promise), but recently, disposable vapes have gotten more
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advanced. I wouldn’t want to be the lawyer who one day will have to argue how a
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device with USB C and a rechargeable battery can be classified as “disposable”.
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Thankfully, I don’t plan on pursuing law anytime soon.
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Last year, I was tearing apart some of these fancier pacifiers for adults when
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I noticed something that caught my eye, instead of the expected black blob of
|
||||
goo hiding some ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) I see a little
|
||||
integrated circuit inscribed “PUYA”. I don’t blame you if this name doesn’t
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excite you as much it does me, most people have never heard of them. They are
|
||||
most well known for their flash chips, but I first came across them after
|
||||
reading Jay Carlson’s blog post about [20]the cheapest flash microcontroller
|
||||
you can buy. They are quite capable little ARM Cortex-M0+ micros.
|
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|
||||
Over the past year I have collected quite a few of these PY32 based vapes, all
|
||||
of them from different models of vape from the same manufacturer. It’s not my
|
||||
place to do free advertising for big tobacco, so I won’t mention the brand I
|
||||
got it from, but if anyone who worked on designing them reads this, thanks for
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labeling the debug pins!
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What are we working with[21]#
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The chip is marked PUYA C642F15, which wasn’t very helpful. I was pretty sure
|
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it was a PY32F002A, but after poking around with [22]pyOCD, I noticed that the
|
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flash was 24k and we have 3k of RAM. The extra flash meant that it was more
|
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likely a PY32F002B, which is actually a very different chip.^[23]1
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|
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So here are the specs of a microcontroller so bad, it’s basically disposable:
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|
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• 24MHz Coretex M0+
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• 24KiB of Flash Storage
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• 3KiB of Static RAM
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• a few peripherals, none of which we will use.
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|
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You may look at those specs and think that it’s not much to work with. I don’t
|
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blame you, a 10y old phone can barely load google, and this is about 100x
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slower. I on the other hand see a blazingly fast web server.
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|
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Getting online[24]#
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The idea of hosting a web server on a vape didn’t come to me instantly. In
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fact, I have been playing around with them for a while, but after writing my
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post on [25]semihosting, the penny dropped.
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|
||||
If you don’t feel like reading that article, semihosting is basically syscalls
|
||||
for embedded ARM microcontrollers. You throw some values/pointers into some
|
||||
registers and call a breakpoint instruction. An attached debugger interprets
|
||||
the values in the registers and performs certain actions. Most people just use
|
||||
this to get some logs printed from the microcontroller, but they are actually
|
||||
bi-directional.
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|
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If you are older than me, you might remember a time before Wi-Fi and Ethernet,
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the dark ages, when you had to use dial-up modems to get online. You might also
|
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know that the ghosts of those modems still linger all around us. Almost all USB
|
||||
serial devices actually emulate those modems: a 56k modem is just 57600 baud
|
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serial device. Data between some of these modems was transmitted using a
|
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protocol called SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol).^[26]2
|
||||
|
||||
This may not come as a surprise, but Linux (and with some tweaking even macOS)
|
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supports SLIP. The slattach utility can make any /dev/tty* send and receive IP
|
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packets. All we have to do is put the data down the wire in the right format
|
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and provide a virtual tty. This is actually easier than you might imagine,
|
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pyOCD can forward all semihosting through a telnet port. Then, we use socat to
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link that port to a virtual tty:
|
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|
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pyocd gdb -S -O semihost_console_type=telnet -T $(PORT) $(PYOCDFLAGS) &
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socat PTY,link=$(TTY),raw,echo=0 TCP:localhost:$(PORT),nodelay &
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sudo slattach -L -p slip -s 115200 $(TTY) &
|
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sudo ip addr add 192.168.190.1 peer 192.168.190.2/24 dev sl0
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sudo ip link set mtu 1500 up dev sl0
|
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|
||||
Ok, so we have a “modem”, but that’s hardly a web server. To actually talk TCP/
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IP, we need an IP stack. There are many choices, but I went with [27]uIP
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because it’s pretty small, doesn’t require an RTOS, and it’s easy to port to
|
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other platforms. It also, helpfully, comes with a very minimal HTTP server
|
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example.
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|
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After porting the SLIP code to use semihosting, I had a working web server&
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mldr;half of the time. As with most highly optimised libraries, uIP was
|
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designed for 8 and 16-bit machines, which rarely have memory alignment
|
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requirements. On ARM however, if you dereference a u16 *, you better hope that
|
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address is even, or you’ll get an exception. The uip_chksum assumed u16
|
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alignment, but the script that creates the filesystem didn’t. I actually
|
||||
decided to modify a bit the structure of the filesystem to make it a bit more
|
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portable. This was my first time working with perl and I have to say, it’s
|
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quite well suited to this kind of task.
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|
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Blazingly fast[28]#
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|
||||
So how fast is a web server running on a disposable microcontroller. Well,
|
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initially, not very fast. Pings took ~1.5s with 50% packet loss and a simple
|
||||
page took over 20s to load. That’s so bad, it’s actually funny, and I kind of
|
||||
wanted to leave it there.
|
||||
|
||||
However, the problem was actually between the seat and the steering wheel the
|
||||
whole time. The first implementation read and wrote a single character at a
|
||||
time, which had a massive overhead associated with it. I previously benchmarked
|
||||
semihosting on this device, and I was getting ~20KiB/s, but uIP’s SLIP
|
||||
implementation was designed for very low memory devices, so it was serialising
|
||||
the data byte by byte. We have a whopping 3kiB of RAM to play with, so I added
|
||||
a ring buffer to cache reads from the host and feed them into the SLIP poll
|
||||
function. I also split writes in batches to allow for escaping.
|
||||
|
||||
Now this is what I call blazingly fast! Pings now take 20ms, no packet loss and
|
||||
a full page loads in about 160ms. This was using almost all of the RAM, but I
|
||||
could also dial down the sizes of the buffer to have more than enough headroom
|
||||
to run other tasks. The project repo has everything set to a nice balance
|
||||
latency and RAM usage:
|
||||
|
||||
Memory region Used Size Region Size %age Used
|
||||
FLASH: 5116 B 24 KB 20.82%
|
||||
RAM: 1380 B 3 KB 44.92%
|
||||
|
||||
For this blog however, I paid for none of the RAM, so I’ll use all of the RAM.
|
||||
|
||||
As you may have noticed, we have just under 20kiB (80%) of storage space. That
|
||||
may not be enough to ship all of React, but as you can see, it’s more than
|
||||
enough to host this entire blog post. And this is not just a static page
|
||||
server, you can run any server-side code you want, if you know C that is.
|
||||
|
||||
Just for fun, I added a json api endpoint to get the number of requests to the
|
||||
main page (since the last crash) and the unique ID of the microcontroller.
|
||||
|
||||
Resources[29]#
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|
||||
• [30]Code for this project
|
||||
|
||||
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
|
||||
|
||||
1. While getting things together for this post, I came across [31]this project
|
||||
that correctly identified these MCUs as PY32C642, which are pretty much
|
||||
identical to the 002B. [32]↩︎
|
||||
|
||||
2. Later modems used PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) [33]↩︎
|
||||
|
||||
© 2025 Bogdan Ionescu
|
||||
|
||||
References:
|
||||
|
||||
[1] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/
|
||||
[2] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/about
|
||||
[3] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/insights
|
||||
[4] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects
|
||||
[5] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/thoughts
|
||||
[6] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/about
|
||||
[7] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/insights
|
||||
[8] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects
|
||||
[9] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/thoughts
|
||||
[10] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/
|
||||
[11] https://github.com/BogdanTheGeek/blog/tree/main/content/projects/vapeserver.md
|
||||
[12] https://github.com/BogdanTheGeek/blog/issues/new?template=corrections.md&title=[Correction]:%20Hosting%20a%20WebSite%20on%20a%20Disposable%20Vape
|
||||
[13] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/tags/programming/
|
||||
[14] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/tags/arm/
|
||||
[15] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/tags/tools/
|
||||
[16] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/tags/electronics/
|
||||
[17] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/#preface
|
||||
[18] http://ewaste.fka.wtf/
|
||||
[19] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/#background
|
||||
[20] https://jaycarlson.net/2023/02/04/the-cheapest-flash-microcontroller-you-can-buy-is-actually-an-arm-cortex-m0/
|
||||
[21] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/#what-are-we-working-with
|
||||
[22] http://pyocd.io/
|
||||
[23] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/#fn:1
|
||||
[24] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/#getting-online
|
||||
[25] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/insights/jlink-rtt-for-the-masses/
|
||||
[26] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/#fn:2
|
||||
[27] https://github.com/adamdunkels/uip/tree/uip-0-9
|
||||
[28] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/#blazingly-fast
|
||||
[29] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/#resources
|
||||
[30] https://github.com/BogdanTheGeek/semihost-ip
|
||||
[31] https://github.com/grahamwhaley/py32c642_vape
|
||||
[32] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/#fnref:1
|
||||
[33] https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/#fnref:2
|
||||
134
static/archive/johan-hal-se-85n0as.txt
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static/archive/johan-hal-se-85n0as.txt
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|
||||
[1]JohanJohan Halse
|
||||
[2]GitHub[3]Mastodon[4]GitHub profile[5]Mastodon profile[6]GitHub profile[7]
|
||||
Mastodon profile
|
||||
|
||||
2025-09-26David, please stop posting
|
||||
|
||||
Let's be realistic: DHH isn't going anywhere. He owns the trademarks, he
|
||||
controls the Rails Foundation, he sits on the board of Shopify, and he doesn't
|
||||
give a shit about you. In fact, he seems positively giddy at the idea of people
|
||||
being driven away by his occasionally repugnant blog posts and xeets. I'm sure
|
||||
he'd very much like an ideologically pure userbase for Rails, the same way he'd
|
||||
love for Britain to only contain native brits, wink wink. If that means the
|
||||
"Rails community" becomes a small stagnant pool of people getting paid to cheer
|
||||
for him and Tobi, that's clearly a price he's willing to pay! He'll be staying
|
||||
on, whether you like it or not.
|
||||
|
||||
But be that as it may, I sincerely wish he would just shut up. He has a severe
|
||||
case of [8]American Brainworm and like most of that parasite's hosts, he's
|
||||
absolutely determined to infect everyone else with their culture war. He
|
||||
actually managed to recognize how harmful it was to his own company, and banned
|
||||
political discussions as a consequence. But somehow, he has yet to grasp the
|
||||
fact that in a bankshot way, everyone working with Rails is working with him at
|
||||
their day job, and it's exactly as corrosive to the Ruby community as it was
|
||||
inside Basecamp at the time. It's sort of unreal to me that he can't wrap his
|
||||
head around that, having gone through what he did and having taken so much
|
||||
obvious psychic damage from it. To the best of my kremlinology it seems like he
|
||||
views these posts as some fun harmless sport, where he goes off to "[9]annoy
|
||||
people on the Internet" as a way of blowing off steam, to then sit back and
|
||||
guffaw to himself at how he really pwned the woke-ass SJWs this time, won't
|
||||
they get their panties in a twist, haha roflmao pepe the frog meme dot jpeg.
|
||||
Then he can't refrain from diving into the backlash and escalating the conflict
|
||||
even further. I wish he'd stop. It's unseemly. It's destructive.
|
||||
|
||||
Run me on a need-to-know basis
|
||||
|
||||
I have no idea what political views John Hawthorn, Xavier Noria, Jean Boussier,
|
||||
or the rest of the core team hold. You read something from Byroot or Tenderlove
|
||||
and it'll be all [10]competence and [11]excellence and sometimes very bad dad
|
||||
jokes and I can respect these people for what they do and how they conduct
|
||||
themselves both online and in real life. I really don't need to know if they're
|
||||
paying members of the Charlie Kirk fanclub, or if they think people with ADHD
|
||||
should just stop fidgeting and get over themselves. I don't need them to air
|
||||
their grievances with DHH in public, either–I don't know whether they've patted
|
||||
him on the back and said "good one" every time he's spat another slimy gob of
|
||||
far-right politics at everyone, or whether they've privately told him to please
|
||||
stop because they're collateral damage in his tiresome rants. And not knowing
|
||||
is a splendid and magnificent thing, because it means we can all project our
|
||||
beliefs onto the core team and they can remain paragons of Ruby virtue to
|
||||
everyone. [12]Recent events have also shown pretty conclusively that anyone who
|
||||
fails to show Dear Leader enough respect will be promptly replaced by some
|
||||
AI-assisted Shopify drone. The current economy is heavily tilted towards the
|
||||
people holding the bags of money and they're squeezing that for all it's
|
||||
worth—I have a lot of sympathy towards people who just want to do their job and
|
||||
avoid getting fired because they're not enthusiastic enough towards the mad
|
||||
king.
|
||||
|
||||
But I really do think that being a leader and a public figure, in open source
|
||||
as well as in a company, comes with a price of admission: it requires some
|
||||
goddamn decency. Elementary shit like being able to contain your glee when you
|
||||
feel the political winds blowing your way. Not antagonizing others for the
|
||||
lulz. Not broadcasting virulent American schisms to the rest of us sorry fucks
|
||||
who are already inundated with FAR TOO MUCH OF IT on top of all the mass
|
||||
layoffs, AI shenanigans, and russian drone strikes we wake up to every day. If
|
||||
you can't extend this kind of basic courtesy to the people who work with you,
|
||||
you're just not a good leader. He gets called a fascist and bristles at it, but
|
||||
the fact is that he picked each and every one of these fights himself. And
|
||||
again, it's mind-bendingly strange how someone like DHH, given his long history
|
||||
of [13]telling others to [14]keep it private and [15]not get political, doesn't
|
||||
get this. The rest of Rails core seem to understand it perfectly well.
|
||||
|
||||
The deal
|
||||
|
||||
Rails has been a successful project for literally decades now, and with [16]a
|
||||
few [17]tweaks it's still a great choice for anyone who wants to build solid
|
||||
web applications. Ruby as a language and ecosystem has benefitted tremendously
|
||||
from it, too. People can get paid to write in what often looks like magical
|
||||
pseudocode, that's a lovely thing, and I believe David's personality was a big
|
||||
part of its early success. Going up against what he calls the Merchants of
|
||||
Complexity with their onerous but well-funded Java and Microsoft stacks
|
||||
required a strong mix of courage, arrogance, and grit. But those kinds of
|
||||
qualities can really curdle when you make the journey from underdog to
|
||||
incumbent—especially if you end up rich and untouchable, and surrounded by
|
||||
yes-men with blue ticks. To the rest of us, it looks like a real beast of a
|
||||
mid-life crisis, and it's playing out on an open stage. Everyone wants to look
|
||||
away, but he insists on putting his cringe right in front of us and
|
||||
gesticulating over it. It's terrible.
|
||||
|
||||
I think most rubyists would be pragmatic enough to just accept things for what
|
||||
they are and let them settle, if he'd just let them. If he stopped posting
|
||||
inflammatory rightwing nonsense then we could all pretend he wasn't drunkenly
|
||||
stumbling towards the open arms of QAnon and the manosphere with tears of joy
|
||||
on his face. The deal is this: if he can shut his mouth, we can hold our noses.
|
||||
Then we can all make this work despite our differences. The alternative is that
|
||||
Rails keeps shrinking and sliding into irrelevance as Shopify's Backend, some
|
||||
parts of which are open source.
|
||||
|
||||
I'm Johan Halse: web developer, feared duelist, renowned lover, compulsive
|
||||
liar. I made this fat footer because that's how footers are supposed to look
|
||||
these days!
|
||||
|
||||
While you're here, consider following me on Mastodon. Am I always correct on
|
||||
Mastodon? No. But am I always hilarious? Also no. But I'm angling for enough
|
||||
followers to credibly call myself a "thought leader" and retire to a quiet life
|
||||
of picking shameful public fights with JavaScript celebrities.
|
||||
|
||||
If Mastodon's not your jam, maybe star one of my GitHub repos. It's really the
|
||||
least you can do.
|
||||
|
||||
Also: if you found my technical writing interesting, you should know that I
|
||||
founded a company called Varvet many years ago and they're still going, so give
|
||||
them a buzz if you want help with web stuff.
|
||||
|
||||
Copyright © Johan Halse 2025
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
References:
|
||||
|
||||
[1] https://johan.hal.se/
|
||||
[2] https://github.com/johanhalse
|
||||
[3] https://ruby.social/@hejsna
|
||||
[4] https://github.com/johanhalse
|
||||
[5] https://ruby.social/@hejsna
|
||||
[6] https://github.com/johanhalse
|
||||
[7] https://ruby.social/@hejsna
|
||||
[8] https://johan.hal.se/wrote/2023/01/13/twitter-didnt-need-fixing/
|
||||
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vagyIcmIGOQ&t=11655s
|
||||
[10] https://byroot.github.io/ruby/performance/2025/08/11/unlocking-ractors-generic-variables.html
|
||||
[11] https://tenderlovemaking.com/2024/09/29/eliminating-intermediate-array-allocations/
|
||||
[12] https://joel.drapper.me/p/rubygems-takeover/
|
||||
[13] https://world.hey.com/dhh/meta-goes-no-politics-at-work-and-nobody-cares-d6409209
|
||||
[14] https://world.hey.com/dhh/make-politics-private-again-9b47aaaf
|
||||
[15] https://world.hey.com/dhh/linkedin-71ee75d9
|
||||
[16] https://johan.hal.se/wrote/2024/11/19/turbo-considered-harmful/
|
||||
[17] https://www.phlex.fun/
|
||||
417
static/archive/joshbrake-substack-com-jwoo1m.txt
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417
static/archive/joshbrake-substack-com-jwoo1m.txt
Normal file
@@ -0,0 +1,417 @@
|
||||
[1]
|
||||
The Absent-Minded Professor
|
||||
|
||||
[2]The Absent-Minded Professor
|
||||
|
||||
SubscribeSign in
|
||||
|
||||
An E-bike For The Mind
|
||||
|
||||
E-bikes and what they can teach us about AI
|
||||
|
||||
[7]
|
||||
Josh Brake's avatar
|
||||
[8]Josh Brake
|
||||
Jun 10, 2025
|
||||
32
|
||||
[9]
|
||||
6
|
||||
5
|
||||
[10]
|
||||
Share
|
||||
|
||||
Thank you for being here. As always, these essays are free and publicly
|
||||
available without a paywall. If my writing is valuable to you, please share it
|
||||
with a friend or support me with a paid subscription.
|
||||
|
||||
[21][ ]
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Subscribe
|
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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
|
||||
[23]
|
||||
[https]
|
||||
A photo of my new ride, the OG [24]Aventon Abound. Not quite the same capacity
|
||||
as the new minivan, but close. Fitting four kiddos is easy. Probably could
|
||||
squeeze three on the back bench to make five in a pinch.
|
||||
|
||||
I've always had a philosophical objection to e-bikes. It probably started a few
|
||||
years ago when I was out of the saddle, cranking my way up the hills west of
|
||||
the Rose Bowl to reach the top of the hill and a glorious overlook of the San
|
||||
Gabriel Mountains when I got passed by some older ladies calmly powering their
|
||||
way up past me, hardly breaking a sweat. On further reflection, maybe it's not
|
||||
just a philosophical objection.
|
||||
|
||||
And yet, as you’ve seen in the picture above, I am now the proud owner of—you
|
||||
guessed it—a beautiful, used-but-new-to-me, cargo e-bike.
|
||||
|
||||
[25]
|
||||
[https]
|
||||
The trusty, now semi-retired, kid trailer hauler with a photo of the San
|
||||
Gabriel Mountains in the background on a fine morning from 2017.
|
||||
|
||||
As I've been pedaling around town over the past few days, I've been reexamining
|
||||
my beef with e-bikes. And as I've wrestled with it, I've come to a few
|
||||
conclusions that I think are relevant not just to e-bikes but—wait for it, I'm
|
||||
sure you didn't see this one coming either—our use of artificial intelligence
|
||||
too.
|
||||
|
||||
Steve Jobs famously imagined the computer as [26]a bicycle for the mind. If the
|
||||
computer is a bicycle, perhaps AI is an e-bike.
|
||||
|
||||
Narcissus as Narcosis
|
||||
|
||||
In an early chapter of his magnum opus, [28]Understanding Media (with the
|
||||
blog-post worthy title "The Gadget Lover: Narcissus as Narcosis"), Marshall
|
||||
McLuhan makes the case that technological augmentation is simultaneously
|
||||
amputation. He writes:
|
||||
|
||||
Any invention or technology is an extension or self-amputation of our
|
||||
physical bodies, and such extension also demands new ratios or new
|
||||
equilibriums among the other organs and extensions of the body.
|
||||
|
||||
He goes on to quote the 113th Psalm to argue that by using technologies, we are
|
||||
both formed by them and conformed to them.
|
||||
|
||||
Their idols are silver and gold,
|
||||
The work of men’s hands.
|
||||
They have mouths, but they speak not;
|
||||
Eyes they have, but they see not;
|
||||
They have ears, but they hear not;
|
||||
Noses have they, but they smell not;
|
||||
They have hands, but they handle not;
|
||||
Feet have they, but they walk not;
|
||||
Neither speak they through their throat.
|
||||
They that make them shall be like unto them;
|
||||
Yea, every one that trusteth in them.
|
||||
|
||||
"They that make them shall be like unto them." Indeed.
|
||||
|
||||
This is the question we had better be asking much more regularly, publicly, and
|
||||
with each other: to what image is our technology conforming us? In recent
|
||||
years, there has been much conversation about the conforming power of
|
||||
algorithmically-powered social media and internet-connected devices that are
|
||||
practically attached to our hands. In so many ways, we accepted them into our
|
||||
lives with a false promise of augmentation without amputation. Only in
|
||||
retrospect are we noticing what’s been cut off.
|
||||
|
||||
In the midst of it all, there is hope. We can work to reclaim those things we
|
||||
have lost. Perhaps amputation is the wrong metaphor, and it is more a
|
||||
desensitization from infrequent attention and use. But if we thought that the
|
||||
societal impact of smartphones and social media was significant, just wait till
|
||||
we see the downstream amputations on offer with the promises of artificial
|
||||
intelligence.
|
||||
|
||||
As we consider the potential augmentations of AI, we need to hold them in
|
||||
tension with the concurrent amputations. E-bikes and their tradeoffs can offer
|
||||
us some wisdom.
|
||||
|
||||
Today, I’d like to riff on three e-bike-inspired perspectives I’m using to
|
||||
think about my technology use.
|
||||
|
||||
1. What: What is being augmented and amputated?
|
||||
|
||||
2. How: How does the augmentation interact with our effort?
|
||||
|
||||
3. Why: What are the values and stories motivating our choices?
|
||||
|
||||
1. What: Augmentation and Amputation
|
||||
|
||||
The question is not a question of whether a technology has enabling and
|
||||
disabling effects, but rather a question of what they are. Many times, this has
|
||||
to do with your perspective.
|
||||
|
||||
In the case of the e-bike, the most obvious augmentation is the ease of travel
|
||||
compared to a standard bicycle. With the addition of a motor, the bike can
|
||||
propel itself with an energy source that supplements (or completely replaces)
|
||||
that of its human rider. If you look at the advertisements for any technology,
|
||||
the augmentations are clear. E-bikes are no different. What’s front and center?
|
||||
Range, speed, and power.
|
||||
|
||||
But how to judge the choice depends on the alternative. If I were to trade my
|
||||
road bike for an e-bike, that would indicate a certain set of values and
|
||||
choices. However, in my case, I sold a car and got a cargo e-bike.
|
||||
|
||||
The cargo bike will enable me to get around town and accomplish many of the
|
||||
things a second car would have. It doesn't solve any long-range transportation
|
||||
needs, but it will solve the majority of our need for a second car by giving me
|
||||
a more convenient and efficient way to get around town with enough space on the
|
||||
back for the kids and some groceries, too.
|
||||
|
||||
Yesterday, I biked to my dentist appointment. It was only a mile away and
|
||||
certainly in reach with my road bike, but the e-bike makes it even more
|
||||
accessible without the car.
|
||||
|
||||
Of course, there is always an amputating influence, even if the overall
|
||||
motivation for the e-bike was a good one. It is worth asking why not use a
|
||||
regular bicycle or even walk. Some of the benefits of bicycling, like getting
|
||||
fresh air and being able to move more slowly and intentionally, or taking time
|
||||
to pay attention to your surroundings, are even more accentuated when moving
|
||||
less efficiently.
|
||||
|
||||
Whatever our choice, we should be clear about the tradeoffs.
|
||||
|
||||
2. How: The Principle of Proportional Augmentation
|
||||
|
||||
When we think about what a certain technology does for us, it is also important
|
||||
to consider how that technology is conforming us. The features of the
|
||||
technology matter, but often the conformational power of the technology is
|
||||
significantly influenced by how they are implemented.
|
||||
|
||||
Take, for example, the implementation of the electric motor assist on an
|
||||
e-bike. When you first think of an e-bike, you may think of it essentially as a
|
||||
motorbike. Most e-bikes can be ridden without pedals. You can use throttle
|
||||
control to power your forward movement completely from the onboard battery and
|
||||
motor.
|
||||
|
||||
But most e-bikes today are primarily designed to be driven using pedal assist.
|
||||
In this mode, sensors on the bike detect the force or speed with which you are
|
||||
pushing on the pedals and use this measurement to supplement, not totally
|
||||
replace, the power being exerted by the rider through the pedals in the
|
||||
old-fashioned way. In this mode, the assistance from the motor is proportional
|
||||
to the effort that you, as the rider, are putting in.
|
||||
|
||||
Functionally, there is little difference between the throttle and the pedal
|
||||
assist. In both cases, the motor is giving you a significant boost.
|
||||
Philosophically, however, there is a big difference. In pedal assist mode, you
|
||||
are still required to exert some effort. You have some choice over how strong
|
||||
the assistance will be, but in any situation, the level of assistance remains
|
||||
directly connected to the amount of effort you put in.
|
||||
|
||||
This sort of design strategy is important to consider as we think about AI,
|
||||
especially in educational contexts. If we eliminate the connection between
|
||||
effort and results, we are training ourselves to become reliant on our AI
|
||||
tools. Just like only using the throttle on our e-bike will deprive us of the
|
||||
health benefits of exerting ourselves and cycling, using AI in this way will
|
||||
sacrifice opportunities we have to build our cognitive and intellectual skills.
|
||||
|
||||
3. Why: The Ruthless Elimination of Friction
|
||||
|
||||
One last question we should be asking as we choose our technology is why we are
|
||||
choosing to use it. In many ways, these three questions cannot be disconnected
|
||||
from each other. The what, how, and why are interconnected.
|
||||
|
||||
In the case of my e-bike, am I really getting it to replace my car, or will it
|
||||
just serve as an excuse to ride my road bike less? As we think about AI, is the
|
||||
thing it will accomplish for us worth doing the old-fashioned way? Why exactly
|
||||
are we choosing to outsource it? What does our choice indicate about our
|
||||
values?
|
||||
|
||||
In my case, I feel pretty justified in my purchase, having towed all three kids
|
||||
around town multiple times already. My previous bike just didn’t have the space
|
||||
to fit all of them, and trying to tow a bike trailer behind a cargo bike with a
|
||||
five and almost four-year-old on the back without some assistance just isn’t a
|
||||
tenable solution.
|
||||
|
||||
But enter a little electronic boost, and the bike has new life again. Last
|
||||
week, we rode to get ice cream as a family on bikes. I had a smile on my face
|
||||
for the rest of the weekend. Yesterday, we explored a new neighborhood and
|
||||
checked out a new park. All these things were enabled by the e-bike and the
|
||||
additional boost of power that comes with it.
|
||||
|
||||
[32]
|
||||
[https]
|
||||
[33]
|
||||
[https]
|
||||
The Innovation Bargain 2x2. Original design by me based on [34]the idea from
|
||||
[35]Andy Crouch.
|
||||
|
||||
At the end of the day, we must remember that [36]innovation is a bargain. We
|
||||
often consider what technology promises to enable for us, without considering
|
||||
what it will almost certainly disable.
|
||||
|
||||
Most of the time, we fail to stop and consider the tradeoffs. Perhaps e-bikes
|
||||
may give us a metaphor to frame our thinking.
|
||||
|
||||
[47][ ]
|
||||
Subscribe
|
||||
Got a thought? Leave a comment below.
|
||||
|
||||
[49]Leave a comment
|
||||
|
||||
Reading Recommendations
|
||||
|
||||
I’ve been intrigued and encouraged by the work that The
|
||||
[51]Cosmos Institute
|
||||
is doing to ask thoughtful questions about AI. Their mission to cultivate
|
||||
philosopher-builders resonates deeply with my own and the kind of impact I hope
|
||||
to have at Harvey Mudd.
|
||||
[52]Brendan McCord
|
||||
’s latest, where he uses Wilhelm von Humboldt as a frame to think about our
|
||||
future with AI, is worth a read.
|
||||
|
||||
[53]
|
||||
[https]Cosmos Institute
|
||||
AI vs. the Self-Directed Career
|
||||
Two centuries ago, as mechanization began reshaping society, German philosopher
|
||||
Wilhelm von Humboldt issued a vision and a warning…
|
||||
Read more
|
||||
5 months ago · 69 likes · 12 comments · Brendan McCord and Cosmos Institute
|
||||
[64][ ]
|
||||
Subscribe
|
||||
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
|
||||
|
||||
The Book Nook
|
||||
|
||||
[67]
|
||||
[https]
|
||||
|
||||
Slowly but surely making progress on [68]The Devil and the Dark Water. Getting
|
||||
more and more interesting, page by page.
|
||||
|
||||
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
|
||||
|
||||
The Professor Is In
|
||||
|
||||
Hard to believe we are quickly coming up on the end of four weeks of summer
|
||||
research already. It’s always amazing to see how much progress my students make
|
||||
so quickly during the summer, and great fun to get to dig into building and
|
||||
debugging optical systems with them.
|
||||
|
||||
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
|
||||
|
||||
Leisure Line
|
||||
|
||||
[https][https][https]
|
||||
[https][https][https]
|
||||
|
||||
Some pies from the weekend. Went with a slightly higher than usual hydration
|
||||
(65%), which led to some nice chewy texture on the crust.
|
||||
|
||||
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
|
||||
|
||||
Still Life
|
||||
|
||||
[72]
|
||||
[https]
|
||||
|
||||
#1 and I went to see the Mets last week at the Dodgers game. We took the train
|
||||
in from Claremont and the bus to the game, which was fun. The good guys lost,
|
||||
but we took the season series from LA and were in it all four games of the
|
||||
series we played out west. Metsies are just fun to watch this year, and boy,
|
||||
Alonso is just ripping the cover off the ball lately.
|
||||
|
||||
32
|
||||
[73]
|
||||
6
|
||||
5
|
||||
[74]
|
||||
Share
|
||||
PreviousNext
|
||||
|
||||
Discussion about this post
|
||||
|
||||
CommentsRestacks
|
||||
User's avatar
|
||||
[ ]
|
||||
[ ]
|
||||
[ ]
|
||||
[ ]
|
||||
[81]
|
||||
Colin's avatar
|
||||
[82]Colin
|
||||
[83]Sep 5
|
||||
Liked by Josh Brake
|
||||
|
||||
Interestingly in the UK e-bikes _must_ be propelled with human energy and can
|
||||
only support you up to 15.5mph / 25kph. Otherwise, it's a moped and you need to
|
||||
get a drivers license / register it as a motor vehicle. There are 'jailbroken'
|
||||
bikes where you can just use the motor but the police are cracking down on
|
||||
those as they're proving to be a public safety issue. [86]https://
|
||||
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/sep/04/
|
||||
britains-e-bike-boom-desperation-delivery-drivers-and-unthinkable-danger
|
||||
|
||||
Expand full comment
|
||||
Reply
|
||||
Share
|
||||
[87]
|
||||
Kalen's avatar
|
||||
[88]Kalen
|
||||
[89]Jun 10
|
||||
|
||||
It's funny- I had the e-bike thought a few days ago-but less charitably. In my
|
||||
neck of the woods a particular breed of especially fat-tired, awfully fast,
|
||||
never-actually-seen-it-pedaled e-bike has been surging in popularity, and
|
||||
functionally has turned into a way to get away with driving a small motorcycle
|
||||
on the bike and walking paths- a weird netherworld device that mostly just
|
||||
serve to muck things up. It's less old people being enabled and dads towing a
|
||||
pack of kids through nature and more almost being run over by disaffected
|
||||
teenagers.
|
||||
|
||||
I dunno- the longer this hype cycle goes on the more that chatbots really just
|
||||
seem like a bad tool, regardless of their technical sophistication. More
|
||||
amputation than augmentation. They do too much if you are trying to improve
|
||||
yourself (synthesized homework text is one of their major markets) and do too
|
||||
little if you have actual work to do (not enough knobs to turn for creatives
|
||||
trying to express themselves, and fake law citations will never do). Just like
|
||||
with the metaverse and crypto and all the rest, the giant pool of money is
|
||||
doing its best to drive uptake through sheer noise with a product that might
|
||||
just be kind of bad in a durable way, or at least kind of niche (given how much
|
||||
coding is boilerplate in something besides your native language, sure, maybe
|
||||
the boilerplate generator is a nice thing to have).
|
||||
|
||||
Your thoughts reminded me of a good Nicholas Carr essay on good and bad tools
|
||||
that's been rolling around my head of late- on the off chance you haven't read
|
||||
it yet, you might enjoy it: [91]https://www.newcartographies.com/p/
|
||||
the-love-that-lays-the-swale-in-rows
|
||||
|
||||
Expand full comment
|
||||
Reply
|
||||
Share
|
||||
[92]4 more comments...
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© 2025 Josh Brake
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[110]Privacy ∙ [111]Terms ∙ [112]Collection notice
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References:
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|
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[8] https://substack.com/@joshbrake
|
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[9] https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/an-e-bike-for-the-mind/comments
|
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[10] javascript:void(0)
|
||||
[23] https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!t_AT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fda5c221b-40ed-44ae-bb42-5e9417997ada_1024x768.jpeg
|
||||
[24] https://www.aventon.com/products/abound-ebike?variant=42319517515971
|
||||
[25] https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!V_-V!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9286909-abcf-49d5-9396-76c21c7ca5b9_1024x768.jpeg
|
||||
[26] https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/a-bicycle-for-the-mind
|
||||
[28] https://amzn.to/448Ndm3
|
||||
[32] https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I3Pv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb3be922-4cab-4ed9-b0a8-e9191d248814_2001x2001.png
|
||||
[33] https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E2lY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb08d97d3-f35d-4db4-8588-3a7614af4f36_1601x1600.png
|
||||
[34] https://journal.praxislabs.org/we-dont-need-superpowers-we-need-instruments-860459cfc165
|
||||
[35] https://andy-crouch.com/
|
||||
[36] https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/the-innovation-bargain
|
||||
[49] https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/an-e-bike-for-the-mind/comments
|
||||
[51] https://open.substack.com/users/179794473-cosmos-institute?utm_source=mentions
|
||||
[52] https://open.substack.com/users/866604-brendan-mccord?utm_source=mentions
|
||||
[53] https://cosmosinstitute.substack.com/p/ai-vs-the-self-directed-career?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web
|
||||
[67] https://amzn.to/3FhqzhO
|
||||
[68] https://amzn.to/4mnZt9z
|
||||
[72] https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AKII!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F06d89460-fec1-4724-9d7b-d5b7e25b84cd_1024x768.jpeg
|
||||
[73] https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/an-e-bike-for-the-mind/comments
|
||||
[74] javascript:void(0)
|
||||
[81] https://substack.com/profile/21520494-colin?utm_source=comment
|
||||
[82] https://substack.com/profile/21520494-colin?utm_source=substack-feed-item
|
||||
[83] https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/an-e-bike-for-the-mind/comment/152585767
|
||||
[86] https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/sep/04/britains-e-bike-boom-desperation-delivery-drivers-and-unthinkable-danger
|
||||
[87] https://substack.com/profile/7174172-kalen?utm_source=comment
|
||||
[88] https://substack.com/profile/7174172-kalen?utm_source=substack-feed-item
|
||||
[89] https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/an-e-bike-for-the-mind/comment/124514975
|
||||
[91] https://www.newcartographies.com/p/the-love-that-lays-the-swale-in-rows
|
||||
[92] https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/an-e-bike-for-the-mind/comments
|
||||
[110] https://substack.com/privacy
|
||||
[111] https://substack.com/tos
|
||||
[112] https://substack.com/ccpa#personal-data-collected
|
||||
[113] https://substack.com/signup?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_content=footer
|
||||
[114] https://substack.com/app/app-store-redirect?utm_campaign=app-marketing&utm_content=web-footer-button
|
||||
[115] https://substack.com/
|
||||
[116] https://enable-javascript.com/
|
||||
752
static/archive/www-noemamag-com-zt2clg.txt
Normal file
752
static/archive/www-noemamag-com-zt2clg.txt
Normal file
@@ -0,0 +1,752 @@
|
||||
[1]Skip to the content
|
||||
|
||||
[2][noema-logo]
|
||||
[3]Subscribe
|
||||
|
||||
[4] Published
|
||||
by the
|
||||
Berggruen
|
||||
Institute
|
||||
|
||||
Topics
|
||||
|
||||
• [5]Technology & the Human
|
||||
• [6]Future of Capitalism
|
||||
• [7]Philosophy & Culture
|
||||
• [8]Climate Crisis
|
||||
|
||||
• [9]Geopolitics & Deglobalization
|
||||
• [10]Future of Democracy
|
||||
• [11]Digital Society
|
||||
• [12]Read Noema In Print
|
||||
|
||||
Search
|
||||
|
||||
[13][ ]
|
||||
Go
|
||||
The Last Days Of Social Media
|
||||
|
||||
Social media promised connection, but it has delivered exhaustion.
|
||||
|
||||
Illustration by Daniel Barreto. Illustration by Daniel Barreto.
|
||||
Daniel Barreto
|
||||
[15]Essay[16]Digital Society
|
||||
By [17]James O'Sullivan September 2, 2025
|
||||
[18][19][20][21][22]
|
||||
Credits
|
||||
|
||||
James O’Sullivan lectures in the School of English and Digital Humanities at
|
||||
University College Cork, where his work explores the intersection of technology
|
||||
and culture.
|
||||
|
||||
At first glance, the feed looks familiar, a seamless carousel of “For You”
|
||||
updates gliding beneath your thumb. But déjà‑vu sets in as 10 posts from 10
|
||||
different accounts carry the same stock portrait and the same breathless
|
||||
promise — “click here for free pics” or “here is the one productivity hack you
|
||||
need in 2025.” Swipe again and three near‑identical replies appear, each from a
|
||||
pout‑filtered avatar directing you to “free pics.” Between them sits an ad for
|
||||
a cash‑back crypto card.
|
||||
|
||||
Scroll further and recycled TikTok clips with “original audio” bleed into Reels
|
||||
on Facebook and Instagram; AI‑stitched football highlights showcase players’
|
||||
limbs bending like marionettes. Refresh once more, and the woman who enjoys
|
||||
your snaps of sushi rolls has seemingly spawned five clones.
|
||||
|
||||
Whatever remains of genuine, human content is increasingly sidelined by
|
||||
algorithmic prioritization, receiving fewer interactions than the engineered
|
||||
content and AI slop optimized solely for clicks.
|
||||
|
||||
These are the last days of social media as we know it.
|
||||
|
||||
Drowning The Real
|
||||
|
||||
Social media was built on the romance of authenticity. Early platforms sold
|
||||
themselves as conduits for genuine connection: stuff you wanted to see, like
|
||||
your friend’s wedding and your cousin’s dog.
|
||||
|
||||
Even influencer culture, for all its artifice, promised that behind the
|
||||
ring‑light stood an actual person. But the attention economy, and more
|
||||
recently, the generative AI-fueled late attention economy, have broken whatever
|
||||
social contract underpinned that illusion. The feed no longer feels crowded
|
||||
with people but crowded with content. At this point, it has far less to do with
|
||||
people than with consumers and consumption.
|
||||
|
||||
In recent years, Facebook and other platforms that facilitate billions of daily
|
||||
interactions have slowly morphed into the internet’s largest repositories of
|
||||
[23]AI‑generated spam. Research has found what users plainly see: tens of
|
||||
thousands of machine‑written posts [24]now flood public groups — pushing scams,
|
||||
chasing clicks — with [25]clickbait headlines, half‑coherent listicles and hazy
|
||||
lifestyle images stitched together in AI tools like Midjourney.
|
||||
|
||||
It’s all just vapid, empty shit produced for engagement’s sake. Facebook is
|
||||
“sloshing” in low-effort AI-generated posts, as Arwa Mahdawi [26]notes in The
|
||||
Guardian; some even bolstered by algorithmic boosts, like “[27]Shrimp Jesus.”
|
||||
|
||||
The difference between human and synthetic content is becoming increasingly
|
||||
indistinguishable, and platforms seem unable, or uninterested, in trying to
|
||||
police it. Earlier this year, CEO Steve Huffman pledged to “[28]keep Reddit
|
||||
human,” a tacit admission that floodwaters were already lapping at the last
|
||||
high ground. TikTok, meanwhile, [29]swarms with AI narrators presenting
|
||||
concocted news reports and [30]“what‑if” histories. A few creators do append
|
||||
labels disclaiming that their videos depict “no real events,” but many creators
|
||||
don’t bother, and many consumers don’t seem to care.
|
||||
|
||||
The problem is not just the rise of fake material, but the collapse of context
|
||||
and the acceptance that truth no longer matters as long as our cravings for
|
||||
colors and noise are satisfied. Contemporary social media content is more often
|
||||
rootless, detached from cultural memory, interpersonal exchange or shared
|
||||
conversation. It arrives fully formed, optimized for attention rather than
|
||||
meaning, producing a kind of semantic sludge, posts that look like language yet
|
||||
say almost nothing.
|
||||
|
||||
We’re drowning in this nothingness.
|
||||
|
||||
The Bot-Girl Economy
|
||||
|
||||
If spam (AI or otherwise) is the white noise of the modern timeline, its
|
||||
dominant melody is a different form of automation: the hyper‑optimized,
|
||||
sex‑adjacent human avatar. She appears everywhere, replying to trending tweets
|
||||
with selfies, promising “funny memes in bio” and linking, inevitably, to
|
||||
OnlyFans or one of its proxies. Sometimes she is real. Sometimes she is not.
|
||||
Sometimes she is a he, sitting in a [31]compound in Myanmar. Increasingly, it
|
||||
makes no difference.
|
||||
|
||||
This convergence of bots, scammers, brand-funnels and soft‑core marketing
|
||||
underpins what might be called the bot-girl economy, a parasocial marketplace
|
||||
[32]fueled in a large part by economic precarity. At its core is a
|
||||
transactional logic: Attention is scarce, intimacy is monetizable and platforms
|
||||
generally won’t intervene so long as engagement [33]stays high. As more women
|
||||
now turn to online sex work, lots of men are eager to pay them for their
|
||||
services. And as these workers try to cope with the precarity imposed by
|
||||
platform metrics and competition, some can spiral, forever downward, into a
|
||||
transactional attention-to-intimacy logic that eventually turns them into more
|
||||
bot than human. To hold attention, some creators increasingly opt to behave
|
||||
like algorithms themselves, [34]automating replies, optimizing content for
|
||||
engagement, or mimicking affection at scale. The distinction between
|
||||
performance and intention must surely erode as real people perform as synthetic
|
||||
avatars and synthetic avatars mimic real women.
|
||||
|
||||
There is loneliness, desperation and predation everywhere.
|
||||
|
||||
“Genuine, human content is increasingly sidelined by algorithmic
|
||||
prioritization, receiving fewer interactions than the engineered content
|
||||
and AI slop optimized solely for clicks.”
|
||||
|
||||
The bot-girl is more than just a symptom; she is a proof of concept for how
|
||||
social media bends even aesthetics to the logic of engagement. Once, profile
|
||||
pictures (both real and synthetic) aspired to hyper-glamor, unreachable beauty
|
||||
filtered through fantasy. But that fantasy began to underperform as average men
|
||||
sensed the ruse, recognizing that supermodels typically don’t send them DMs.
|
||||
And so, the system adapted, surfacing profiles that felt more plausible, more
|
||||
emotionally available. Today’s avatars project a curated accessibility: They’re
|
||||
attractive but not flawless, styled to suggest they might genuinely be
|
||||
interested in you. It’s a calibrated effect, just human enough to convey
|
||||
plausibility, just artificial enough to scale. She has to look more human to
|
||||
stay afloat, but act more bot to keep up. Nearly everything is socially
|
||||
engineered for maximum interaction: the like, the comment, the click, the
|
||||
private message.
|
||||
|
||||
Once seen as the fringe economy of cam sites, OnlyFans has become the dominant
|
||||
digital marketplace for sex workers. In 2023, the then-seven-year-old platform
|
||||
[35]generated $6.63 billion in gross payments from fans, with $658 million in
|
||||
profit before tax. Its success has bled across the social web; platforms like X
|
||||
(formerly Twitter) now serve as de facto marketing layers for OnlyFans
|
||||
creators, with thousands of accounts running fan-funnel operations, [36]baiting
|
||||
users into paid subscriptions.
|
||||
|
||||
The tools of seduction are also changing. One 2024 study [37]estimated that
|
||||
thousands of X accounts use AI to generate fake profile photos. Many content
|
||||
creators have also [38]begun using AI for talking-head videos, [39]synthetic
|
||||
voices or endlessly varied selfies. Content is likely A/B tested for
|
||||
click-through rates. Bios are written with conversion in mind. DMs are
|
||||
automated or [40]outsourced to AI impersonators. For users, the effect is a
|
||||
strange hybrid of influencer, chatbot and parasitic marketing loop. One minute
|
||||
you’re arguing politics, the next, you’re being pitched a girlfriend experience
|
||||
by a bot.
|
||||
|
||||
Engagement In Freefall
|
||||
|
||||
While content proliferates, engagement is evaporating. Average interaction
|
||||
rates across major platforms are declining fast: Facebook and X posts now
|
||||
scrape an average 0.15% engagement, while Instagram has dropped 24%
|
||||
year-on-year. Even TikTok has [41]begun to plateau. People aren’t connecting or
|
||||
conversing on social media like they used to; they’re just wading through slop,
|
||||
that is, low-effort, low-quality content produced at scale, often with AI, for
|
||||
engagement.
|
||||
|
||||
And much of it is slop: Less than half of American adults [42]now rate the
|
||||
information they see on social media as “mostly reliable”— down from roughly
|
||||
two-thirds in the mid-2010s. Young adults register the steepest collapse,
|
||||
which is unsurprising; as digital natives, they better understand that the
|
||||
content they scroll upon wasn’t necessarily produced by humans. And yet, they
|
||||
continue to scroll.
|
||||
|
||||
The timeline is no longer a source of information or social presence, but more
|
||||
of a mood-regulation device, endlessly replenishing itself with just enough
|
||||
novelty to suppress the anxiety of stopping. Scrolling has become a form of
|
||||
ambient dissociation, half-conscious, half-compulsive, closer to scratching an
|
||||
itch than seeking anything in particular. People know the feed is fake, they
|
||||
just don’t care.
|
||||
|
||||
Platforms have little incentive to stem the tide. Synthetic accounts are cheap,
|
||||
tireless and lucrative because they never demand wages or unionize. Systems
|
||||
designed to surface peer-to-peer engagement are now systematically filtering
|
||||
out such activity, because what counts as engagement has changed. Engagement is
|
||||
now about raw user attention – time spent, impressions, scroll velocity – and
|
||||
the net effect is an online world in which you are constantly being addressed
|
||||
but never truly spoken to.
|
||||
|
||||
The Great Unbundling
|
||||
|
||||
Social media’s death rattle will not be a bang but a shrug.
|
||||
|
||||
These networks once promised a single interface for the whole of online life:
|
||||
Facebook as social hub, Twitter as news‑wire, YouTube as broadcaster, Instagram
|
||||
as photo album, TikTok as distraction engine. Growth appeared inexorable. But
|
||||
now, the model is splintering, and users are drifting toward smaller, slower,
|
||||
more private spaces, like group chats, Discord servers and [43]federated
|
||||
microblogs — a billion little gardens.
|
||||
|
||||
Since Elon Musk’s takeover, X has [44]shed at least 15% of its global user
|
||||
base. Meta’s Threads, launched with great fanfare in 2023, saw its number of
|
||||
daily active users collapse within a month, [45]falling from around 50 million
|
||||
active Android users at launch in July to only 10 million active users the
|
||||
following August. Twitch [46]recorded its lowest monthly watch-time in over
|
||||
four years in December 2024, just 1.58 billion hours, 11% lower than the
|
||||
December average from 2020-23.
|
||||
|
||||
“While content proliferates, engagement is evaporating.”
|
||||
|
||||
Even the giants that still command vast audiences are no longer growing
|
||||
exponentially. Many platforms have already died (Vine, Google+, Yik Yak), are
|
||||
functionally dead or zombified (Tumblr, Ello), or have been revived and died
|
||||
again (MySpace, Bebo). Some notable exceptions aside, like Reddit and BlueSky
|
||||
(though it’s still early days for the latter), growth has plateaued across the
|
||||
board. While social media adoption continues to rise overall, it’s no longer
|
||||
explosive. [47]As of early 2025, around 5.3 billion user identities — roughly
|
||||
65% of the global population — are on social platforms, but annual growth has
|
||||
decelerated to just 4-5%, a steep drop from the double-digit surges seen
|
||||
earlier in the 2010s.
|
||||
|
||||
Intentional, opt-in micro‑communities are rising in their place — like Patreon
|
||||
collectives and Substack newsletters — where creators chase depth over scale,
|
||||
retention over virality. A writer with 10,000 devoted subscribers can
|
||||
potentially earn more and burn out less than one with a million passive
|
||||
followers on Instagram.
|
||||
|
||||
But the old practices are still evident: Substack is full of personal brands
|
||||
announcing their journeys, Discord servers host influencers disguised as
|
||||
community leaders and Patreon bios promise exclusive access that is often just
|
||||
recycled content. Still, something has shifted. These are not mass arenas; they
|
||||
are clubs — opt-in spaces with boundaries, where people remember who you are.
|
||||
And they are often paywalled, or at least heavily moderated, which at the very
|
||||
least keeps the bots out. What’s being sold is less a product than a sense of
|
||||
proximity, and while the economics may be similar, the affective atmosphere is
|
||||
different, smaller, slower, more reciprocal. In these spaces, creators don’t
|
||||
chase virality; they cultivate trust.
|
||||
|
||||
Even the big platforms sense the turning tide. Instagram has begun emphasizing
|
||||
DMs, X is pushing subscriber‑only circles and TikTok is experimenting with
|
||||
private communities. Behind these developments is an implicit acknowledgement
|
||||
that the infinite scroll, stuffed with bots and synthetic sludge, is
|
||||
approaching the limit of what humans will tolerate. A lot of people [48]seem to
|
||||
be fine with slop, but as more start to crave authenticity, the platforms will
|
||||
be forced to take note.
|
||||
|
||||
From Attention To Exhaustion
|
||||
|
||||
The social internet was built on attention, not only the promise to capture
|
||||
yours but the chance for you to capture a slice of everyone else’s. After two
|
||||
decades, the mechanism has inverted, replacing connection with exhaustion.
|
||||
“Dopamine detox” and “digital Sabbath” have entered the mainstream. In the
|
||||
U.S., [49]a significant proportion of 18‑ to 34‑year‑olds took deliberate
|
||||
breaks from social media in 2024, citing mental health as the motivation,
|
||||
according to an American Psychiatric Association poll. And yet, time spent on
|
||||
the platforms remains high — people scroll not because they enjoy it, but
|
||||
because they don’t know how to stop. Self-help influencers now recommend weekly
|
||||
“no-screen Sundays” (yes, the irony). The mark of the hipster is no longer an
|
||||
ill-fitting beanie but an old-school Nokia dumbphone.
|
||||
|
||||
[50]Some creators are quitting, too. Competing with synthetic performers who
|
||||
never sleep, they find the visibility race not merely tiring but absurd. Why
|
||||
post a selfie when an AI can generate a prettier one? Why craft a thought when
|
||||
ChatGPT can produce one faster?
|
||||
|
||||
These are the last days of social media, not because we lack content, but
|
||||
because the attention economy has neared its outer limit — we have exhausted
|
||||
the capacity to care. There is more to watch, read, click and react to than
|
||||
ever before — an endless buffet of stimulation. But novelty has become
|
||||
indistinguishable from noise. Every scroll brings more, and each addition
|
||||
subtracts meaning. We are indeed drowning. In this saturation, even the most
|
||||
outrageous or emotive content struggles to provoke more than a blink.
|
||||
|
||||
Outrage fatigues. Irony flattens. Virality cannibalizes itself. The feed no
|
||||
longer surprises but sedates, and in that sedation, something quietly breaks,
|
||||
and social media no longer feels like a place to be; it is a surface to skim.
|
||||
|
||||
No one is forcing anyone to go on TikTok or to consume the clickbait in their
|
||||
feeds. The content served to us by algorithms is, in effect, a warped mirror,
|
||||
reflecting and distorting our worst impulses. For younger users in particular,
|
||||
their scrolling of social media can [51]become compulsive, rewarding [52]their
|
||||
developing brains with unpredictable hits of dopamine that keep them glued to
|
||||
their screens.
|
||||
[53]Read Noema in print.
|
||||
|
||||
Social media platforms have also achieved something more elegant than coercion:
|
||||
They’ve made non-participation a form of self-exile, a luxury available only to
|
||||
those who can afford its costs.
|
||||
|
||||
“Why post a selfie when an AI can generate a prettier one? Why craft a
|
||||
thought when ChatGPT can produce one faster?”
|
||||
|
||||
Our offline reality is irrevocably shaped by our online world: Consider the
|
||||
worker who deletes or was never on LinkedIn, excluding themselves from
|
||||
professional networks that increasingly exist nowhere else; or the small
|
||||
business owner who abandons Instagram, watching customers drift toward
|
||||
competitors who maintain their social media presence. The teenager who refuses
|
||||
TikTok may find herself unable to parse references, memes and microcultures
|
||||
that soon constitute her peers’ vernacular.
|
||||
|
||||
These platforms haven’t just captured attention, they’ve enclosed the commons
|
||||
where social, economic and cultural capital are exchanged. But enclosure breeds
|
||||
resistance, and as exhaustion sets in, alternatives begin to emerge.
|
||||
|
||||
Architectures Of Intention
|
||||
|
||||
The successor to mass social media is, as already noted, emerging not as a
|
||||
single platform, but as a scattering of alleyways, salons, encrypted lounges
|
||||
and federated town squares — those little gardens.
|
||||
|
||||
Maybe today’s major social media platforms will find new ways to hold the gaze
|
||||
of the masses, or maybe they will continue to decline in relevance, lingering
|
||||
like derelict shopping centers or a dying online game, haunted by bots and the
|
||||
echo of once‑human chatter. Occasionally we may wander back, out of habit or
|
||||
nostalgia, or to converse once more as a crowd, among the ruins. But as social
|
||||
media collapses on itself, the future points to a quieter, more fractured, more
|
||||
human web, something that no longer promises to be everything, everywhere, for
|
||||
everyone.
|
||||
|
||||
This is a good thing. Group chats and invite‑only circles are where context and
|
||||
connection survive. These are spaces defined less by scale than by shared
|
||||
understanding, where people no longer perform for an algorithmic audience but
|
||||
speak in the presence of chosen others. Messaging apps like Signal are quietly
|
||||
[54]becoming dominant infrastructures for digital social life, not because they
|
||||
promise discovery, but because they don’t. In these spaces, a message often
|
||||
carries more meaning because it is usually directed, not broadcast.
|
||||
|
||||
Social media’s current logic is designed to reduce friction, to give users
|
||||
infinite content for instant gratification, or at the very least, the
|
||||
anticipation of such. The antidote to this compulsive, numbing overload will be
|
||||
found in deliberative friction, design patterns that introduce pause and
|
||||
reflection into digital interaction, or platforms and algorithms that create
|
||||
space for intention.
|
||||
|
||||
This isn’t about making platforms needlessly cumbersome but about
|
||||
distinguishing between helpful constraints and extractive ones. Consider [55]
|
||||
Are.na, a non-profit, ad-free creative platform founded in 2014 for collecting
|
||||
and connecting ideas that feels like the anti-Pinterest: There’s no algorithmic
|
||||
feed or engagement metrics, no trending tab to fall into and no infinite
|
||||
scroll. The pace is glacial by social media standards. Connections between
|
||||
ideas must be made manually, and thus, thoughtfully — there are no algorithmic
|
||||
suggestions or ranked content.
|
||||
|
||||
To demand intention over passive, mindless screen time, X could require a
|
||||
90-second delay before posting replies, not to deter participation, but to curb
|
||||
reactive broadcasting and engagement farming. Instagram could show how long
|
||||
you’ve spent scrolling before allowing uploads of posts or stories, and
|
||||
Facebook could display the carbon cost of its data centers, reminding users
|
||||
that digital actions have material consequences, with each refresh. These small
|
||||
added moments of friction and purposeful interruptions — what UX designers
|
||||
currently optimize away — are precisely what we need to break the cycle of
|
||||
passive consumption and restore intention to digital interaction.
|
||||
|
||||
We can dream of a digital future where belonging is no longer measured by
|
||||
follower counts or engagement rates, but rather by the development of trust and
|
||||
the quality of conversation. We can dream of a digital future in which
|
||||
communities form around shared interests and mutual care rather than
|
||||
algorithmic prediction. Our public squares — the big algorithmic platforms —
|
||||
will never be cordoned off entirely, but they might sit alongside countless
|
||||
semi‑public parlors where people choose their company and set their own rules,
|
||||
spaces that prioritize continuity over reach and coherence over chaos. People
|
||||
will show up not to go viral, but to be seen in context. None of this is about
|
||||
escaping the social internet, but about reclaiming its scale, pace, and
|
||||
purpose.
|
||||
|
||||
Governance Scaffolding
|
||||
|
||||
The most radical redesign of social media might be the most familiar: What if
|
||||
we treated these platforms as [56]public utilities rather than private casinos?
|
||||
|
||||
A public-service model wouldn’t require state control; rather, it could be
|
||||
governed through civic charters, much like public broadcasters operate under
|
||||
mandates that balance independence and accountability. This vision stands in
|
||||
stark contrast to the current direction of most major platforms, which are
|
||||
becoming increasingly opaque.
|
||||
|
||||
“Non-participation [is] a form of self-exile, a luxury available only to
|
||||
those who can afford its costs.”
|
||||
|
||||
In recent years, Reddit and X, among other platforms, have either restricted or
|
||||
removed API access, dismantling open-data pathways. The very infrastructures
|
||||
that shape public discourse are retreating from public access and oversight.
|
||||
Imagine social media platforms with transparent algorithms subject to public
|
||||
audit, user representation on governance boards, revenue models based on public
|
||||
funding or member dues rather than surveillance advertising, mandates to serve
|
||||
democratic discourse rather than maximize engagement, and regular impact
|
||||
assessments that measure not just usage but societal effects.
|
||||
|
||||
Some initiatives gesture in this direction. Meta’s Oversight Board, for
|
||||
example, frames itself as an independent body for content moderation appeals,
|
||||
though its remit is narrow and its influence ultimately limited by Meta’s
|
||||
discretion. X’s Community Notes, meanwhile, allows user-generated fact-checks
|
||||
but relies on opaque scoring mechanisms and lacks formal accountability. Both
|
||||
are add-ons to existing platform logic rather than systemic redesigns. A true
|
||||
public-service model would bake accountability into the platform’s
|
||||
infrastructure, not just bolt it on after the fact.
|
||||
|
||||
The European Union has begun exploring this territory through its Digital
|
||||
Markets Act and Digital Services Act, but these laws, enacted in 2022, largely
|
||||
focus on regulating existing platforms rather than imagining new ones. In the
|
||||
United States, efforts are more fragmented. Proposals such as the Platform
|
||||
Accountability and Transparency Act (PATA) and state-level laws in California
|
||||
and New York aim to increase oversight of algorithmic systems, particularly
|
||||
where they impact youth and mental health. Still, most of these measures seek
|
||||
to retrofit accountability onto current platforms. What we need are spaces
|
||||
built from the ground up on different principles, where incentives align with
|
||||
human interest rather than extractive, for-profit ends.
|
||||
|
||||
This could take multiple forms, like municipal platforms for local civic
|
||||
engagement, professionally focused networks run by trade associations, and
|
||||
educational spaces managed by public library systems. The key is diversity,
|
||||
delivering an ecosystem of civic digital spaces that each serve specific
|
||||
communities with transparent governance.
|
||||
|
||||
Of course, publicly governed platforms aren’t immune to their own risks. State
|
||||
involvement can bring with it the threat of politicization, censorship or
|
||||
propaganda, and this is why the governance question must be treated as
|
||||
infrastructural, rather than simply institutional. Just as public broadcasters
|
||||
in many democracies operate under charters that insulate them from partisan
|
||||
interference, civic digital spaces would require independent oversight, clear
|
||||
ethical mandates, and democratically accountable governance boards, not
|
||||
centralized state control. The goal is not to build a digital ministry of
|
||||
truth, but to create pluralistic public utilities: platforms built for
|
||||
communities, governed by communities and held to standards of transparency,
|
||||
rights protection and civic purpose.
|
||||
|
||||
The technical architecture of the next social web is already emerging through
|
||||
federated and distributed protocols like ActivityPub (used by Mastodon and
|
||||
Threads) and Bluesky’s [57]Authenticated Transfer (AT) Protocol, or atproto, (a
|
||||
decentralised framework that allows users to move between platforms while
|
||||
keeping their identity and social graph) as well as various blockchain-based
|
||||
experiments, [58]like Lens and [59]Farcaster.
|
||||
|
||||
But protocols alone won’t save us. The email protocol is decentralized, yet
|
||||
most email flows through a handful of corporate providers. We need to “[60]
|
||||
rewild the internet,” as Maria Farrell and Robin Berjon mentioned in a Noema
|
||||
essay. We need governance scaffolding, shared institutions that make
|
||||
decentralization viable at scale. Think credit unions for the social web that
|
||||
function as member-owned entities providing the infrastructure that individual
|
||||
users can’t maintain alone. These could offer shared moderation services that
|
||||
smaller instances can subscribe to, universally portable identity systems that
|
||||
let users move between platforms without losing their history, collective
|
||||
bargaining power for algorithm transparency and data rights, user data
|
||||
dividends for all, not just influencers (if platforms profit from our data, we
|
||||
should share in those profits), and algorithm choice interfaces that let users
|
||||
select from different recommender systems.
|
||||
|
||||
Bluesky’s AT Protocol explicitly allows users to port identity and social
|
||||
graphs, but it’s very early days and cross-protocol and platform portability
|
||||
remains extremely limited, if not effectively non-existent. Bluesky also allows
|
||||
users to choose among multiple content algorithms, an important step toward
|
||||
user control. But these models remain largely tied to individual platforms and
|
||||
developer communities. What’s still missing is a civic architecture that makes
|
||||
algorithmic choice universal, portable, auditable and grounded in
|
||||
public-interest governance rather than market dynamics alone.
|
||||
|
||||
Imagine being able to toggle between different ranking logics: a chronological
|
||||
feed, where posts appear in real time; a mutuals-first algorithm that
|
||||
privileges content from people who follow you back; a local context filter that
|
||||
surfaces posts from your geographic region or language group; a serendipity
|
||||
engine designed to introduce you to unfamiliar but diverse content; or even a
|
||||
human-curated layer, like playlists or editorials built by trusted institutions
|
||||
or communities. Many of these recommender models do exist, but they are rarely
|
||||
user-selectable, and almost never transparent or accountable. Algorithm choice
|
||||
shouldn’t require a hack or browser extension; it should be built into the
|
||||
architecture as a civic right, not a hidden setting.
|
||||
|
||||
“What if we treated these platforms as public utilities rather than private
|
||||
casinos?”
|
||||
|
||||
Algorithmic choice can also develop new hierarchies. If feeds can be curated
|
||||
like playlists, the next influencer may not be the one creating content, but
|
||||
editing it. Institutions, celebrities and brands will be best positioned to
|
||||
build and promote their own recommendation systems. For individuals, the
|
||||
incentive to do this curatorial work will likely depend on reputation,
|
||||
relational capital or ideological investment. Unless we design these systems
|
||||
with care, we risk reproducing old dynamics of platform power, just in a new
|
||||
form.
|
||||
|
||||
Federated platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky face [61]real tensions between
|
||||
autonomy and safety: Without centralized moderation, harmful content can
|
||||
proliferate, while over-reliance on volunteer admins creates sustainability
|
||||
problems at scale. These networks also risk reinforcing ideological silos, as
|
||||
communities block or mute one another, fragmenting the very idea of a shared
|
||||
public square. Decentralization gives users more control, but it also raises
|
||||
difficult questions about governance, cohesion and collective responsibility —
|
||||
questions that any humane digital future will have to answer.
|
||||
|
||||
But there is a possible future where a user, upon opening an app, is asked how
|
||||
they would like to see the world on a given day. They might choose the
|
||||
serendipity engine for unexpected connections, the focus filter for deep reads
|
||||
or the local lens for community news. This is technically very achievable — the
|
||||
data would be the same; the algorithms would just need to be slightly tweaked —
|
||||
but it would require a design philosophy that treats users as citizens of a
|
||||
shared digital system rather than cattle. While this is possible, it can feel
|
||||
like a pipe dream.
|
||||
|
||||
To make algorithmic choice more than a thought experiment, we need to change
|
||||
the incentives that govern platform design. Regulation can help, but real
|
||||
change will come when platforms are rewarded for serving the public interest.
|
||||
This could mean tying tax breaks or public procurement eligibility to the
|
||||
implementation of transparent, user-controllable algorithms. It could mean
|
||||
funding research into alternative recommender systems and making those tools
|
||||
open-source and interoperable. Most radically, it could involve certifying
|
||||
platforms based on civic impact, rewarding those that prioritize user autonomy
|
||||
and trust over sheer engagement.
|
||||
|
||||
Digital Literacy As Public Health
|
||||
|
||||
Perhaps most crucially, we need to reframe digital literacy not as an
|
||||
individual responsibility but as a collective capacity. This means moving
|
||||
beyond spot-the-fake-news workshops to more fundamental efforts to understand
|
||||
how algorithms shape perception and how design patterns exploit our cognitive
|
||||
processes.
|
||||
|
||||
Some education systems are [62]beginning to respond, embedding digital and
|
||||
media literacy across curricula. Researchers and educators argue that this work
|
||||
needs to begin in early childhood and continue through secondary education as a
|
||||
core competency. The goal is to equip students to critically examine the
|
||||
digital environments they inhabit daily, to [63]become active participants in
|
||||
shaping the future of digital culture rather than passive consumers. This
|
||||
includes what some call algorithmic literacy, the ability to understand how
|
||||
recommender systems work, how content is ranked and surfaced, and how personal
|
||||
data is used to shape what you see — and what you don’t.
|
||||
|
||||
Teaching this at scale would mean treating digital literacy as public
|
||||
infrastructure, not just a skill set for individuals, but a form of shared
|
||||
civic defense. This would involve long-term investments in teacher training,
|
||||
curriculum design and support for public institutions, such as libraries and
|
||||
schools, to serve as digital literacy hubs. When we build collective capacity,
|
||||
we begin to lay the foundations for a digital culture grounded in
|
||||
understanding, context and care.
|
||||
|
||||
We also need behavioral safeguards like default privacy settings that protect
|
||||
rather than expose, mandatory cooling-off periods for viral content
|
||||
(deliberately slowing the spread of posts that suddenly attract high
|
||||
engagement), algorithmic impact assessments before major platform changes and
|
||||
public dashboards that show platform manipulation, that is, coordinated or
|
||||
deceptive behaviors that distort how content is amplified or suppressed, in
|
||||
real-time. If platforms are forced to disclose their engagement tactics, these
|
||||
tactics lose power. The ambition is to make visible hugely influential systems
|
||||
that currently operate in obscurity.
|
||||
|
||||
We need to build new digital spaces grounded in different principles, but this
|
||||
isn’t an either-or proposition. We also must reckon with the scale and
|
||||
entrenchment of existing platforms that still structure much of public life.
|
||||
Reforming them matters too. Systemic safeguards may not address the core
|
||||
incentives that inform platform design, but they can mitigate harm in the short
|
||||
term. The work, then, is to constrain the damage of the current system while
|
||||
constructing better ones in parallel, to contain what we have, even as we
|
||||
create what we need.
|
||||
|
||||
The choice isn’t between technological determinism and Luddite retreat; it’s
|
||||
about constructing alternatives that learn from what made major platforms
|
||||
usable and compelling while rejecting the extractive mechanics that turned
|
||||
those features into tools for exploitation. This won’t happen through
|
||||
individual choice, though choice helps; it also won’t happen through
|
||||
regulation, though regulation can really help. It will require our collective
|
||||
imagination to envision and build systems focused on serving human flourishing
|
||||
rather than harvesting human attention.
|
||||
|
||||
Social media as we know it is dying, but we’re not condemned to its ruins. We
|
||||
are capable of building better — smaller, slower, more intentional, more
|
||||
accountable — spaces for digital interaction, spaces where the metrics that
|
||||
matter aren’t engagement and growth but understanding and connection, where
|
||||
algorithms serve the community rather than strip-mining it.
|
||||
|
||||
The last days of social media might be the first days of something more human:
|
||||
a web that remembers why we came online in the first place — not to be
|
||||
harvested but to be heard, not to go viral but to find our people, not to
|
||||
scroll but to connect. We built these systems, and we can certainly build
|
||||
better ones. The question is whether we will do this or whether we will
|
||||
continue to drown.
|
||||
|
||||
[64]Enjoy the read? Subscribe to get the best of Noema.
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More From Noema Magazine
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[65]
|
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[66] Essay [67]Digital Society
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||||
[68] Reclaiming Europe’s Digital Sovereignty
|
||||
[69]Francesca Bria
|
||||
[70] Illustration by Noah Campeau for Noema Magazine.
|
||||
Audio Icon
|
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[71] Essay [72]Geopolitics & Globalization
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[73] Is European AI A Lost Cause? Not Necessarily.
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[74]Benjamin Bratton
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[75] Illustration by Christina S. Zhu for Noema Magazine.
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[76] Essay [77]Digital Society
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||||
[78] A Diverse World Of Sovereign AI Zones
|
||||
[79]Nathan Gardels
|
||||
[80][noema-logo]
|
||||
|
||||
[81] Published
|
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by the
|
||||
Berggruen
|
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Institute
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[82]Terms of Service
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[83]Privacy Policy
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• [84]Technology & the Human
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• [85]Future of Capitalism
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• [86]Philosophy & Culture
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• [87]Climate Crisis
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• [88]Geopolitics & Deglobalization
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• [89]Future of Democracy
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• [90]Digital Society
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References:
|
||||
|
||||
[1] https://www.noemamag.com/the-last-days-of-social-media/#site-content
|
||||
[2] https://www.noemamag.com/
|
||||
[3] https://www.noemamag.com/subscribe
|
||||
[4] https://www.berggruen.org/
|
||||
[5] https://www.noemamag.com/article-topic/technology-and-the-human/
|
||||
[6] https://www.noemamag.com/article-topic/future-of-capitalism/
|
||||
[7] https://www.noemamag.com/article-topic/philosophy-culture/
|
||||
[8] https://www.noemamag.com/article-topic/climate-crisis/
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||||
[9] https://www.noemamag.com/article-topic/geopolitics-globalization/
|
||||
[10] https://www.noemamag.com/article-topic/future-of-democracy/
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[11] https://www.noemamag.com/article-topic/digital-society/
|
||||
[12] https://shop.noemamag.com/
|
||||
[15] https://www.noemamag.com/article-type/essay/
|
||||
[16] https://www.noemamag.com/article-topic/digital-society/
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[17] https://www.noemamag.com/author/james-osullivan/
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||||
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||||
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||||
[23] https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/news/ai-spam-accounts-build-followers
|
||||
[24] https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-151
|
||||
[25] https://www.wired.com/story/gadget-lab-podcast-632/
|
||||
[26] https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2025/jan/08/ai-generated-slop-slowly-killing-internet-nobody-trying-to-stop-it
|
||||
[27] https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/from-shrimp-jesus-to-fake-self-portraits-ai-generated-images-have-become-the-latest-form-of-social-media-spam/
|
||||
[28] https://www.reddit.com/user/spez/comments/1kfciml/reddits_next_chapter_smarter_easier_still_human/
|
||||
[29] https://www.newsguardtech.com/special-reports/tiktok-content-farms-use-ai-voiceovers-to-mass-produce-political-misinformation/
|
||||
[30] https://restofworld.org/2023/ai-tiktok-creators-rewrite-history/
|
||||
[31] https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/02/06/the-vast-and-sophisticated-global-enterprise-that-is-scam-inc
|
||||
[32] https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.13047
|
||||
[33] https://scienceblog.com/social-media-bots-create-more-chatter-but-less-meaningful-conversation-research-shows/
|
||||
[34] https://www.supercreator.app/automation#:~:text=Supercreator%20%2D%20Engage%20Fans%20With%20OnlyFans,more%20proactive%20in%20your%20conversations.
|
||||
[35] https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/onlyfans-payments-2023-financials-revenue-creator-earnings-1236135425/
|
||||
[36] https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-promote-onlyfans-according-to-creators
|
||||
[37] https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.02627
|
||||
[38] https://aijourn.com/how-ai-is-revolutionizing-digital-content-creation-from-face-swaps-to-lip-syncing/
|
||||
[39] https://www.tiktok.com/@itstarachristina/video/7350403031969713441?lang=en
|
||||
[40] https://www.wired.com/story/onlyfans-models-are-using-ai-impersonators-to-keep-up-with-their-dms/
|
||||
[41] https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2401.02627
|
||||
[42] https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet/
|
||||
[43] https://www.theverge.com/24063290/fediverse-explained-activitypub-social-media-open-protocol
|
||||
[44] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/26/twitter-usage-in-us-fallen-by-a-fifth-since-elon-musks-takeover
|
||||
[45] https://time.com/6305383/meta-threads-failing
|
||||
[46] https://www.tubefilter.com/2025/01/10/twitch-lowest-watch-time-streams-charts-top-streamers-december-2024/
|
||||
[47] https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2025-sub-section-state-of-social
|
||||
[48] https://jamescosullivan.substack.com/p/we-cant-get-enough-of-the-bullshit
|
||||
[49] https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/news-releases/more-new-years-mental-health-resolutions
|
||||
[50] https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jul/05/cant-pause-internet-social-media-creators-burnout
|
||||
[51] https://www.apa.org/news/apa/2022/social-media-children-teens
|
||||
[52] https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/1359918931
|
||||
[53] https://shop.noemamag.com/?utm_source=MiddleCTA&utm_medium=website
|
||||
[54] https://dig.watch/updates/messaging-app-signal-sees-rising-popularity-in-us-and-europe
|
||||
[55] https://www.are.na/
|
||||
[56] https://www.brookings.edu/articles/utilities-for-democracy-why-and-how-the-algorithmic-infrastructure-of-facebook-and-google-must-be-regulated/
|
||||
[57] https://docs.bsky.app/docs/advanced-guides/atproto
|
||||
[58] https://lens.xyz/
|
||||
[59] https://docs.farcaster.xyz/
|
||||
[60] https://www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/
|
||||
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a small sketchbook with elaborately designed travel notes and drawingsAll
|
||||
images courtesy of José Naranja, shared with permission
|
||||
|
||||
Through a Love of Note-Taking, José Naranja Documents His Travels One Tiny
|
||||
Detail at a Time
|
||||
|
||||
April 23, 2025
|
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[39]Design[40]Illustration
|
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[41]Kate Mothes
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From postage stamps to jetliner specifications to items he packed for the
|
||||
journey, [46]José Naranja’s sketchbooks ([47]previously) capture minute details
|
||||
of numerous international trips. “I’m lost in the intricate details, as
|
||||
always,” he tells Colossal. Everything from currency to noodle varieties to
|
||||
film references make their way into small books brimming with travel ephemera
|
||||
and observations.
|
||||
|
||||
Naranja is currently working on a thicker book than he has in the past, which
|
||||
is taking more time to fill, along with an illustrated card project called
|
||||
2050, which merges science, tech events, and his signature “beauty of
|
||||
note-taking” aesthetic. The artist has also reproduced some of his sketches in
|
||||
The Nautilus Manuscript, a small batch-printed, hand-bound edition available
|
||||
for sale in [48]his shop. Follow updates on the artist’s [49]Instagram.
|
||||
|
||||
a small sketchbook with elaborately designed travel notes and drawings, on a
|
||||
table with artmaking tools like pens and ink a small sketchbook with
|
||||
elaborately designed travel notes and drawings, on a table with artmaking tools
|
||||
like pens and ink a small sketchbook with elaborately designed travel notes and
|
||||
drawings a small sketchbook with elaborately designed travel notes and
|
||||
drawings, on a table with artmaking tools like a stencil and stamps a small
|
||||
sketchbook with elaborately designed travel notes and drawings, on a table with
|
||||
artmaking tools like pens and ink a series of small sketchbooks with
|
||||
elaborately designed travel notes and drawings a small sketchbook with
|
||||
elaborately designed travel notes and drawings a small sketchbook with
|
||||
elaborately designed travel notes and drawings, on a table with artmaking tools
|
||||
like pens and ink a small sketchbook with elaborately designed travel notes and
|
||||
drawings, on a table with artmaking tools like pens and ink the tops of a
|
||||
series of closed, small sketchbooks showing how full they have become, with
|
||||
color and details on the edges
|
||||
|
||||
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[57]drawing[58]José Naranja[59]notebooks[60]sketchbooks[61]travel
|
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Related articles
|
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||||
• [62][naranja-3]
|
||||
[63]Maps, Everyday Ephemera, and Watercolor Drawings Record José Naranja's
|
||||
Travels with Fantastic Detail
|
||||
• [64][naranja-5]
|
||||
[65]Stamps, Scientific Charts, and Hand-Drawn Maps Occupy Every Inch of
|
||||
Travel Notebooks by José Naranja
|
||||
• [66][ocean]
|
||||
[67]A New Book Plunges into the Vast Diversity of the World's Oceans Across
|
||||
3,000 Years
|
||||
• [68][sketch-6]
|
||||
[69]Drawn the Road Again: Inside the Travel Sketchbooks of Chandler O'Leary
|
||||
as She Explores the U.S.
|
||||
• [70][kobayashi-3]
|
||||
[71]Japanese Chef Has Filled Notebooks with Delectable Illustrations of All
|
||||
of His Meals for 32 Years
|
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• [72][DrawingMachine_03]
|
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[73]Crank Out Infinite Geometric Designs With The Wooden Cycloid Drawing
|
||||
Machine
|
||||
|
||||
Trending
|
||||
|
||||
• [74]a black-and-white photo by Dawoud Bey of a Black man standing on a
|
||||
street in New York next to two women in large coats and hats, who are
|
||||
turned away from the camera [75]Explore Trailblazing Street Photography in
|
||||
‘Faces in the Crowd’ at MFA Boston
|
||||
• [76]the open atrium at Calder Gardens with two large-scale sculptures in
|
||||
red and black and a large hanging mobile [77]Calder Gardens, a Light-Filled
|
||||
Museum and Prairie, Houses the Sculptor’s Work in Philadelphia
|
||||
• [78]a white arm with a tattoo by Nano Ponto of a vibrant gradient emerging
|
||||
from a black and white eye [79]Innumerable Dots Form Bright, Bold Gradients
|
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in Nano Ponto’s Entirely Handpoked Tattoos
|
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[81]Monumental Tapestries by Jacqueline Surdell Invoke Forests as Portals
|
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to the Divine
|
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• [82]a full-room installation of red fiber and paper pages by Chiharu Shiota
|
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[83]World War II Journal Entries Float in a Web of Blood-Red Yarn in
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Chiharu Shiota’s ‘Diary’
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patterns in bright colors [85]Lakota and Western Art History Converge in
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Dyani White Hawk’s Vibrant Works
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• [86]"Noche obsidiana." symmetrical natural pigment painting by Omar
|
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Mendoza, featuring cosmic symbols and visual motifs evoking Mesoamerican
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ancestry [87]Omar Mendoza’s Natural Pigment Paintings Radiate the Power of
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Ancestral Knowledge
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• [88]a photo of a large, vaulted room inside an abandoned house by Bryan
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Sansivero [89]Bryan Sansivero Documents Otherworldly, Forgotten Houses in
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|
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[74] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/faces-in-the-crowd-street-photography-mfa-boston-exhibition/
|
||||
[75] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/faces-in-the-crowd-street-photography-mfa-boston-exhibition/
|
||||
[76] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/calder-gardens-philadelphia-art-museum/
|
||||
[77] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/calder-gardens-philadelphia-art-museum/
|
||||
[78] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/nano-ponto-vibrant-handpoke-tattoos/
|
||||
[79] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/nano-ponto-vibrant-handpoke-tattoos/
|
||||
[80] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/jacqueline-surdell-rope-tapestries-the-conversion/
|
||||
[81] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/jacqueline-surdell-rope-tapestries-the-conversion/
|
||||
[82] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/chiharu-shiota-japan-society-gallery-two-home-countries/
|
||||
[83] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/chiharu-shiota-japan-society-gallery-two-home-countries/
|
||||
[84] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/dyani-white-hawk-mixed-media-lakota-modern-art/
|
||||
[85] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/dyani-white-hawk-mixed-media-lakota-modern-art/
|
||||
[86] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/09/omar-mendoza-solar-serpent-obsidian-night/
|
||||
[87] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/09/omar-mendoza-solar-serpent-obsidian-night/
|
||||
[88] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/09/bryan-sansivero-america-the-abandoned-architecture-book/
|
||||
[89] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/09/bryan-sansivero-america-the-abandoned-architecture-book/
|
||||
[98] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/members/
|
||||
[99] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/?memberful_endpoint=auth
|
||||
[100] https://nectarads.com/
|
||||
[101] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/about/
|
||||
[102] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/newsletter/
|
||||
[103] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/contact/
|
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[104] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/explore/
|
||||
[105] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/members/
|
||||
[106] https://colossal.shop/
|
||||
[107] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/feed/
|
||||
[108] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/legal/terms-of-service/
|
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[109] https://www.thisiscolossal.com/legal/privacy-policy/
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||||
[110] https://www.instagram.com/thisiscolossal
|
||||
[111] https://bsky.app/profile/thisiscolossal.com
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||||
[112] https://mastodon.art/@colossal
|
||||
[113] https://www.facebook.com/thisiscolossal/
|
||||
[114] https://pinterest.com/itscolossal/colossal/
|
||||
[115] http://links.thisiscolossal.com/
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Reference in New Issue
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