What a great article Plato’s Cave & Social Media” was.
Social media consumption reminds me of tobacco in a way. People didn’t realize how bad it was for their health in the early days. I feel Ike we are on this stage with social media.
But I’m responding to a really interesting article that I learned in social media whereas nothing good comes out of smoking, so perhaps it’s not a great comparison, but still..
I couldn’t believe how young the author was when I saw it at the end. How insightful. Bright guy!
I think the decisive moment was around 2006 when Google bought YouTube. Antitrust authorities had an opportunity of stopping the deal, but they approved it. Had it been stopped, perhaps the precedent would have impeded FB from buying Instagram and so on…
Now we have 2 or 3 giants. It’s too much money and power in the hands of these entities. It’s must be really hard to impose any sort of regulation.
I think the EU is trying to revise their algorithms, hopefully they’ll make some progress.
Yes, too much money / power in the hands of few individuals / corporations is never, historically speaking, a good thing. The EU is better at this than the US because they are less obsessed with the myth of laissez-faire capitalism.
Rafael, right, the situation with social media is more complex than the case of smoking. Still, the parallels are pretty strong, including the hypocritical stance of the industry itself, which keeps insisting that the technology is neutral (it isn’t) and that it is entirely our fault if we misuse it.
Great to see another "suggested readings". They should be more frequent :)
I've just finished Donald Robertson's Verissimus. Robertson has written two books on the stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius before making this comic on Aurelius' life. Highly recommended (by someone who doesn't particularly like comics).
Q to Massimo: Marcus Aurelius was the last of the supposedly five good emperors. What in Zeus' name was good about Hadrianus? And why hasn't Antoninus Pius got a better reputation? Antoninus was emperor between Hadrianus and Marcus and my knowledge of him is limited to Verissimus and a wikipedia entry but the man seems absolutely decent etc and perhaps lucky.
Is the photo on top of the article real? I thought that the busiest day on the Everest ever (back in 1996, the 1996 Mount Everest disaster - remember "Thin Air", the book or the film) involved several dozen people. No way near this.
The crypto zoology article was fun but raised a big question: why do people on the search for bears and snakes and more fail to take pictures while every accident since the year 2010 has been caught on camera, usually despite serious risks to the witness?
Maurits, yes, I’ll try to do more “Suggested readings” now that the “Stoic practice” series is winding down.
Hadrian is considered a good emperor because his reign was mostly prosperous. He only started going crazy near the end, especially after his famous young lover, Antinous, tragically died in the Nile. Still, it’s interesting that Marcus doesn’t mention him among the people he is grateful to, in book 1 of Meditations.
Antoninus truly was a great rule, but I think he was lucky enough that nothing major happened during his reign, so he is usually underestimated.
Yes, that photo of the Himalaya appears to be real. Ghastly, no?
Cryptozoology: right, especially these days when everyone has a smart phone and is connected to social media, you’d expect better evidence. Same goes for UFOs.
Everest: I found the same photo on the website of the BBC so it's probably the real (1996?) traffic jam.
Ghastly, yes. I can't imagine what it's like to wait there on the crest but I've been well above 5 km in the Andes with a guide, in the wind, the cold and the thin air. The Zeusforsaken loneliness adds enormously to the discomfort so perhaps waiting in a line is not so bad!
Thanks for the list Massimo.
What a great article Plato’s Cave & Social Media” was.
Social media consumption reminds me of tobacco in a way. People didn’t realize how bad it was for their health in the early days. I feel Ike we are on this stage with social media.
But I’m responding to a really interesting article that I learned in social media whereas nothing good comes out of smoking, so perhaps it’s not a great comparison, but still..
I couldn’t believe how young the author was when I saw it at the end. How insightful. Bright guy!
Very true.
I think the decisive moment was around 2006 when Google bought YouTube. Antitrust authorities had an opportunity of stopping the deal, but they approved it. Had it been stopped, perhaps the precedent would have impeded FB from buying Instagram and so on…
Now we have 2 or 3 giants. It’s too much money and power in the hands of these entities. It’s must be really hard to impose any sort of regulation.
I think the EU is trying to revise their algorithms, hopefully they’ll make some progress.
Yes, too much money / power in the hands of few individuals / corporations is never, historically speaking, a good thing. The EU is better at this than the US because they are less obsessed with the myth of laissez-faire capitalism.
Rafael, right, the situation with social media is more complex than the case of smoking. Still, the parallels are pretty strong, including the hypocritical stance of the industry itself, which keeps insisting that the technology is neutral (it isn’t) and that it is entirely our fault if we misuse it.
The elusive yeti is another example of questionable existence in which the supposed evidence dissipates at those high altitudes.
Great to see another "suggested readings". They should be more frequent :)
I've just finished Donald Robertson's Verissimus. Robertson has written two books on the stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius before making this comic on Aurelius' life. Highly recommended (by someone who doesn't particularly like comics).
Q to Massimo: Marcus Aurelius was the last of the supposedly five good emperors. What in Zeus' name was good about Hadrianus? And why hasn't Antoninus Pius got a better reputation? Antoninus was emperor between Hadrianus and Marcus and my knowledge of him is limited to Verissimus and a wikipedia entry but the man seems absolutely decent etc and perhaps lucky.
Is the photo on top of the article real? I thought that the busiest day on the Everest ever (back in 1996, the 1996 Mount Everest disaster - remember "Thin Air", the book or the film) involved several dozen people. No way near this.
The crypto zoology article was fun but raised a big question: why do people on the search for bears and snakes and more fail to take pictures while every accident since the year 2010 has been caught on camera, usually despite serious risks to the witness?
Btw, if you've never seen a mammoth, try this https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/mar/04/genetically-modified-woolly-mice-mammoth (no paywall).
Maurits, yes, I’ll try to do more “Suggested readings” now that the “Stoic practice” series is winding down.
Hadrian is considered a good emperor because his reign was mostly prosperous. He only started going crazy near the end, especially after his famous young lover, Antinous, tragically died in the Nile. Still, it’s interesting that Marcus doesn’t mention him among the people he is grateful to, in book 1 of Meditations.
Antoninus truly was a great rule, but I think he was lucky enough that nothing major happened during his reign, so he is usually underestimated.
Yes, that photo of the Himalaya appears to be real. Ghastly, no?
Cryptozoology: right, especially these days when everyone has a smart phone and is connected to social media, you’d expect better evidence. Same goes for UFOs.
Everest: I found the same photo on the website of the BBC so it's probably the real (1996?) traffic jam.
Ghastly, yes. I can't imagine what it's like to wait there on the crest but I've been well above 5 km in the Andes with a guide, in the wind, the cold and the thin air. The Zeusforsaken loneliness adds enormously to the discomfort so perhaps waiting in a line is not so bad!