Kickoff For November 28, 2022
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Monday Kickoff, a collection of what I’ve found interesting, informative, and insightful on the web over the last seven days.
It’s hard to believe that this is the last Kickoff for November. And that 2022 is rapidly coming to an end. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see this year fade into the rear view mirror.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
A Remedy for FOMO, wherein Jeanne Proust looks at why people fear missing out (FOMO), and explains that to combat FOMO we need to change our perception of what time and free will really are.
Using, wherein Anselm McGovern looks at why we are drawn to the pseudo-pleasure of digital culture, and how that attraction has been around before the dawn of the World Wide Web.
Capitalism—Not a Few Bad Actors—Destroyed the Internet, wherein Matthew Crain argues that the growth and prevalence of surveillance advertising on the web is a result of a long series of both public policy decisions and the power of the advertising industry, decisions that have made the online world worse not better.
Mike Rothschild on the Ongoing Influence of QAnon and Its Self-Made Mythologies, wherein the author examines why groups which embrace outlandish conspiracy theories can thrive in so-called enlightened times, and sometimes can expand beyond a small base.
Thatcher’s War on the Internet, wherein Lola Brittain argues that the Conservative party’s neoliberal industrial and privatization policies in the 1980s led to higher prices and lower speeds for telecommunication services in today’s UK.
When Private Equity Takes Over a Nursing Home, wherein we learn, yet again, how corporations put profits before people despite all of the talk about the free market providing better and more efficient services.
The Twisted Life of Clippy, wherein we learn about the genesis of one of the original desktop chatbots, why it was reviled, and why Microsoft is pushing it back in front of the eyes of Windows users.
Quitting single-use plastic in Japan, wherein Melinda Joe explores Japan’s obsession with plastic packaging, especially with food, and how the country is trying to further curb its use of plastic.
The Revival of Stoicism, wherein we learn how a (misunderstood) philosophy, propounded by writers like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, has become all the rage in some circles and how its new popularity often misses the point of what its originators intended.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.