Hamish Campbell an #openweb organic intellectual and technologist
In the early days, the internet was a wild, open landscape, a place of creativity, collaboration, and decentralization. But over time, the rise of corporate platforms (the #dotcons) turned it into something far more controlled, walled-off, and extractive. What if we could reclaim that original vision? What if we could build an open, federated, and … Continue reading Rewilding a people-first web, beyond the #dotcons
There is a tech ideology that masks corporate power, and this view of #mainstreaming Cyber libertarianism is a bizarre ideological mishmash, a combination of hippie flower power, economic neoliberalism, and a heavy dose of technological determinism. It’s the credo of Silicon Valley, so much so that for years it was known as the “Californian Ideology.” … Continue reading The #dotcons share an ideology
Let’s try a spiky reply to this tweet on the #mainstreaming #dotcons platform, keep in mind these spaces often reek of superficial analysis and throwing around half-baked ideas without engaging with the deeper structural issues. On the subject: “the culture of spontaneity, and mass horizontalism.” Yes, these approaches have their flaws, particularly when they lack … Continue reading Prodding a #dotcons flow
It’s obvious to us all now, that we do need a critique of the trajectory of social media platforms like #Facebook and #Instagram, to highlight how their growing reliance on AI-generated profiles and diminishing organic engagement undermines the little trust, satisfaction, and the purpose of social connection that people have left in them. This started … Continue reading #dotcons fail human connection
The critical paths between governance, activism, and the ideological underpinnings of #FOSS, #opensource, and the #openweb. The problem, governance without “politics” which FOSS and opensource often ignore and block the politics, leading to governance models resembling feudalism where “better kings” may emerge, but the underlying structure remains inequitable. Without addressing systemic issues, projects replicate the … Continue reading #4opens vs. the #dotcons
The main complaint, the blunt language I use. My reason for speaking plainly, is that it’s impossible to dress up the disgusting things I’m exposing in polite terms and still make the point clear to those who need to hear. I might as well be talking to the wind if I try to sugarcoat the … Continue reading Outreaching in the #dotcons is hard work
This is so obverse that we should not need to talk about it, but we do. In the United States, propaganda is intertwined with consumerism. Edward Bernays working in the US can be seen as the father of modern propaganda, he believed that humans were driven by instincts and animal desires. His work was used … Continue reading #dotcons push consumerism as propaganda
Let’s look at capitalism through the lens of #dotcons (a term that plays on “dot-coms” with a critical twist). “Capitalism is the logic of the #dotcons” shows how these paths have shaped the #openweb into a landscape to prioritize profit over public good, leading to the current mess of exploitation, centralization, surveillance, and inequality. We … Continue reading Capitalism is the logic of the #dotcons
The term #enshittification, coined by Cory Doctorow, is a catchy way to describe the decline of digital platforms as they become exploitative and unusable. While it’s an effective pop term, it ultimately obscures the root causes of the problem. For the past 20 years, I’ve used #dotcons to describe the same issue, but with a … Continue reading Why #Enshittification Misses the Point and Why #Dotcons is the Better Frame
The #dotcons are designed for greed and selfishness. Everything about them feeds this and, in turn, feeds off it. This negative path is hard-coded deep into their architecture. They cannot be fixed. The rebooting of the #openweb is the good path we have taken. Copying worked well for the first step – it let us … Continue reading The mess we made with the #dotcons
Criticisms of capitalism: * Income inequality: Capitalism leads to greater income inequality, as those who own capital and assets are able to accumulate wealth at a faster rate than those who rely on wages. * Exploitation: Capitalism results in the exploitation of workers, who are paid low wages, work in poor conditions, and have limited … Continue reading Criticisms of capitalism and its digital children the #dotcons
A lot of people talk about censorship on the #fedivers without much understanding how this is different to censorship on the #dotcons The fedivers instances voluntary federate to other instances of the fedivers, its part of the open network that you can choose not to federate with some instances. This is not censorship as each … Continue reading Censorship on the fedivers is different to censorship on the #dotcons