Morning Thoughts: Gibson, Moore, Elections, Walkaway, Fediverse
Some morning thoughts for this Monday. Good morning, thanks for dropping in.
- One of the books I'm reading right now is Zero History by William Gibson. Until his new novel comes out, this will be the final novel of his I need to finish before having read everything he's published. This makes me a little sad. He has such a way with words and imagery, I wish there were more on the backlist. Gibson's style has come a long way since Neuromancer and while I enjoy that first novel, the writing in his later work is smoother and more deft; hardly unexpected.
- Alan Moore's newest book, The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic has arrived on my doorstep, and I'm looking forward to digging in. It's a beautfil hardback history of magick filled with art. I exepct I'll dine on this one through the winter.
- The election is almost over, but I think the worst is yet to come.
Walkaway/Fediverse
Cory Doctorow's book Walkaway served, amongst other things, as an extended metaphor for people who were are tech savvy walking away from corporate internet interests and building their own webs or 'verses. You can see this in the FLOSS communities and, to my mind, the Fediversal movement of the moment. The concept of walking away is very attactive to me in the moment, given the state of things. However, in that book he also points out that it's not a fix-all, nor is it easy or convenient. Like many tech-savvy folks out there, I have it within my ability to drastically cut down or eliminate my reliance and interaction with what I call "The Mundane Web" or as a friend calles it, "Muggleweb," that place within cyberspace that the corporations want you to believe makes up the entirely of the Internet, but is really just most funded and garishly lit parts of it.
Their rhetoric is effective. To walk away from all of that, we would be told, is to lose touch with "reality," to be "ill-informed." But their "reality" is so small, and their "information" is little more than a fear machine.
What lies outside the brightly lit minimalls of the Mundane Web? Can you just go live there instead?
Of course you can. It's just a matter of making a few choices. Choice that I keep flitting back and forth over because their rhetoric is effective if not correct. Maybe it's time for a change in my online habits.
Ok...I'm out of coffee. Time to start the day. Have a good one. :)