Tech’s Two Philosophies – Stratechery by Ben Thompson

The business model follows from these fundamental differences: a platform provider has no room for ads, because the primary function of a platform is provide a stage for the applications that users actually need to shine. Aggregators, on the other hand, particularly Google and Facebook, deal in information, and ads are simply another type of information. Moreover, because the critical point of differentiation for aggregators is the number of users on their platform, advertising is the only possible business

Source: Tech’s Two Philosophies – Stratechery by Ben Thompson

Why I Escaped the ‘Intellectual Dark Web’ – The Chronicle of Higher Education

Opinion is not scholarship, it is not journalism, and we are dying for lack of honest, fact-based, slow inquiry. Twenty years since my first scholarship-based op-ed ran in The New York Times, here’s what I see: a postapocalyptic, postmodern media landscape where thoughtfulness and nonpartisan inquiry go to die. The Intellectual Dark Web isn’t a solution, it might just be a sign of end times. I’m all for bringing intellectualism to the masses, but like a lot of academics, I value ambivalence itself, along w

Source: Why I Escaped the ‘Intellectual Dark Web’ – The Chronicle of Higher Education

Musings

Sitting in a small table in the middle of 8 cuts near hv Dela Costa. Trying to fight back tears either from this head splitting migraine or the despair I am feeling. I hate being a Filipino right now.

Go Fast and Break Things: The Difference Between Reversible and Irreversible Decisions

If a decision is reversible, we can make it fast and without perfect information. If a decision is irreversible, we had better slow down the decision-making process and ensure that we consider ample information and understand the problem as thoroughly as we can. Bezos used this heuristic to make the decision to found Amazon. He recognized that if Amazon failed, he could return to his prior job. He would still have learned a lot and would not regret trying. The decision was reversible, so he took a risk. Th

Source: Go Fast and Break Things: The Difference Between Reversible and Irreversible Decisions

HYMN TO TIME by Ursula K. Le Guin

HYMN TO TIME
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Time says “Let there be”
every moment and instantly
there is space and the radiance
of each bright galaxy.
And eyes beholding radiance.
And the gnats’ flickering dance.
And the seas’ expanse.
And death, and chance.
Time makes room
for going and coming home
and in time’s womb
begins all ending.
Time is being and being
time, it is all one thing,
the shining, the seeing,
the dark abounding.

Pattern Imposition

Someone coined this in the FB post of Ninotchka Rosca. Someone by the name of Victor Velasco. Awesome term. The weaponization of pattern recognition.