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What Alan Turing Warned About Our Digital Future

Our digital beings are taking us apart. Pluralism is about holding ourselves together: various mental styles interact unpredictably within us, allowing for unpredictable contact with other thinking beings. Truthtelling B is helpless without the communication of chimerical A and the analysis of stern C. Without honest B, shapeshifting A will retreat to decadence with C, producing a digital tyranny that kills democracy and the planet. – New York Review of Books

Watching Together: TV Is As Much A Community Experience As It Ever Was

Twitter has, for two complementary reasons, been a sustaining force for event television. The fans want to avoid spoilers. They also want to enhance the collective experience by chattering on the platform as events unfold. In the current century, the world is not only watching together, it is also talking to itself as it does so. – Irish Times

All Of The Earth Has Been Transformed By Humans. It’s A Scary Power

“In this newly designated ‘human age’, our species’ impact on the oceans, the land and the atmosphere has become an inescapable feature of the Earth. This idea that humanity has forced a geological transition is capturing people’s attention not just because changes in epochs are rare. It is attracting notice because our species is gripped by the idea that we possess planetary powers.” – Aeon

Journalism’s Dependence On Freelancers Has Impoverished It (And The Profession)

“In truth, freelance journalism, as a career, is mostly an anachronism. Given the rock-bottom rates on offer, few writers actually support themselves with full-time freelancing… But for most of us, freelance journalism is a monetized hobby, separate from whatever real income one earns. The ideal relationship for a freelance journalist to their work becomes a kind of excited amateurism.” – The New Republic

Ralph Fiennes On The Challenges Of Making A Movie About Nureyev

While other films about ballet have gone for big-name actors with body doubles for the dancing bits — think of “Red Sparrow” and “Black Swan” — Fiennes was committed to casting a dancer as Nureyev. Yet the dancing scenes, he says, “were a big, big, big challenge, because I don’t have a ballet background, and I needed the help of the ballet masters and choreographer to know if it was good, because not every time a dancer dances it’s as good as it could be. It was scary.”  – Washington Post

What Twitter Thinks About You Based On Your Online Behavior

Seeing what Twitter thinks you like can be a fun activity — but it can also be an odd experience to see what the company infers about you from your online moves. The psychology around targeted advertising is complex. On the one hand, if we have to see ads, it’s probably better that they’re in line with our interests. On the other, knowing how much advertisers know can feel a bit, well, creepy.  – Vox

In every pot

Had you told me in 1963 — or 1985 — that I would live to see a fully mobile phone in every person’s pocket, I would have laughed in your face. And it’s easy to forget that as late as 1940, 45% of all Americans did not yet have indoor plumbing. – Terry Teachout