Twitler

[DrEvil]

I find that offensive!

[Joe Hillshoist]

The real problem with Twitter is that it exists.

For a start its a private space that people treat like a public square.

This is how the commons, and public space generally, dies.

Secondly, it has destroyed nuanced discussion. Remember Jeff's original essays on blogger or whatever site they were on?

That shit never happens on twitter. Even when some publishes a 30 tweet essay its limited by space and so nuance gets trashed.

Even without the obvious, algorithmic mind control implications or more accurately applications of the platform it has potent subtle ones.

Your venue of expression is owned by private interests so you depend on them to be able to speak and then they knowingly limit your ability to speech by packaging it in discrete measurably chunks. You are programming yourself to limit the extent of what you say cos of the limitations on tweet size.

Brevity is great and even more so if you are learning to write things I spose but this is beyond brevity.

[DrEvil]

I've blathered on about this before, but Joel Shepherd, an Australian scifi author, came up with a great concept that perfectly describes what Twitter and engagement algorithms does: compulsive narrative syndrome. It takes normal people with a passing interest in X, then it locks them in a dark room, removed from the usual moderating influences that human contact offers, and force-feeds them nothing but X until they become an extremist.

[MacCruiskeen]

https://twitter.com/stillsickofit/statu ... 8190845954