It’s time to ditch the idea that, when not paying for a service, we’re the product. Tim Cook (billionaire chief of Apple) brought it up again in September, and recently Mark Zuckerberg (billionaire chief of Facebook) got a little angry with the accusation. These billionaires are, unsurprisingly, out of touch with the rest of us. […]
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- Riders on the StormOriginal date: 17th June 2020 Why did the storm have such an effect on the virus? A single evening and night of torrential rain and frequent thunder, and the outbreak shrank by half – then it carried on withering over the subsequent weeks until there were no new cases. In fact, for the final few… Read more: Riders on the Storm
- No Ghost in the MachineOriginal date: June 16th 2020 I’d originally considered the concept of uploading someone’s mind into a computer as creepy, then pointless, then, when I got ill, intriguing. I’d been a sceptic for such a long time, though, that it was hard for me to admit I’d changed my mind. By the time I was wondering… Read more: No Ghost in the Machine
- The GazetteOriginal date: June 10th 2020 The Gazette was an unexpected offshoot of the development of Artificial Intelligence. The implications of its contents went far beyond the events it described. The Gazette was inspired by similar periodicals published in Great Britain in the 19th century: dull catalogues of everything that happened in a town, from births, marriages… Read more: The Gazette
- In the ZonesOriginal date: June 8th 2020 In the country of D________ there are two large Zones just outside the capital city. These Zones are large enough for many distinct groups of people to gather at agreed times, for agreed purposes. The Zones were established by a wise lawmaker who governed one of the towns near to… Read more: In the Zones
- The Voices Become LouderNo one knows when the Voices began. Some theorests say that they have been audible since the dawn of time. To those peoples’ hypothesis, the Voices originate from beyond Earth, and began as the accidental outpourings of transmissions from a distant planet. It was only later, when the originators of the Voices realised we were… Read more: The Voices Become Louder