Henry Madison
@ragesheen.bsky.social
Engineering, philosophy, governance. Tracking the train wreck of popularity.
I think outsourcing community for those people to social media platforms ‘enshittifies’ (Cory Doctorow’s concept) their community, leaving it wide open to abuse.
April 28, 2025 at 10:59 AM
I think outsourcing community for those people to social media platforms ‘enshittifies’ (Cory Doctorow’s concept) their community, leaving it wide open to abuse.
Absolutely, the exact same.
April 25, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Absolutely, the exact same.
Turn the platforms off.
April 25, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Turn the platforms off.
Thanks Alan, I try to cross-post, and sometimes busyness gets in the way!
April 20, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Thanks Alan, I try to cross-post, and sometimes busyness gets in the way!
The original meaning of conservative, in Burke’s time, was somebody who understood this and therefore fought to protect institutions.
Today’s conservatives are thugs. Reactionary revolutionaries, smashing things with abandon. Capitalising on the damage, for self-gain.
/end
Today’s conservatives are thugs. Reactionary revolutionaries, smashing things with abandon. Capitalising on the damage, for self-gain.
/end
April 19, 2025 at 8:34 PM
The original meaning of conservative, in Burke’s time, was somebody who understood this and therefore fought to protect institutions.
Today’s conservatives are thugs. Reactionary revolutionaries, smashing things with abandon. Capitalising on the damage, for self-gain.
/end
Today’s conservatives are thugs. Reactionary revolutionaries, smashing things with abandon. Capitalising on the damage, for self-gain.
/end
Always though it will have been a catastrophe of some kind that created the habit, the custom and tradition and institution. The domestication.
Only the threat to existence interrupts present-focused status games. Creating institutional stability.
5/6
Only the threat to existence interrupts present-focused status games. Creating institutional stability.
5/6
April 19, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Always though it will have been a catastrophe of some kind that created the habit, the custom and tradition and institution. The domestication.
Only the threat to existence interrupts present-focused status games. Creating institutional stability.
5/6
Only the threat to existence interrupts present-focused status games. Creating institutional stability.
5/6
The dreaded ‘red tape’ of ‘bureaucracy’, but also our inherited customs and traditions, the origins of which we mostly don’t know.
It’s like how nobody understands how animals became domesticated. Look it up, nobody really has a clue how it was done.
4/6
It’s like how nobody understands how animals became domesticated. Look it up, nobody really has a clue how it was done.
4/6
April 19, 2025 at 8:34 PM
The dreaded ‘red tape’ of ‘bureaucracy’, but also our inherited customs and traditions, the origins of which we mostly don’t know.
It’s like how nobody understands how animals became domesticated. Look it up, nobody really has a clue how it was done.
4/6
It’s like how nobody understands how animals became domesticated. Look it up, nobody really has a clue how it was done.
4/6
This is something populist (electoral) politics simply can’t understand. Nor the populist electors, who think human rationality solves society’s problems.
Institutions (customs, traditions, habits) are what holds societies together. Again they’re society’s nervous system.
3/6
Institutions (customs, traditions, habits) are what holds societies together. Again they’re society’s nervous system.
3/6
April 19, 2025 at 8:34 PM
This is something populist (electoral) politics simply can’t understand. Nor the populist electors, who think human rationality solves society’s problems.
Institutions (customs, traditions, habits) are what holds societies together. Again they’re society’s nervous system.
3/6
Institutions (customs, traditions, habits) are what holds societies together. Again they’re society’s nervous system.
3/6
Human life is like a human body. The vast majority of it acts autonomically. Nearly everything a society does when it succeeds is an inherited custom or tradition.
A habit. An institution. Emergent from the blood and death of history, as what allowed us to survive.
2/6
A habit. An institution. Emergent from the blood and death of history, as what allowed us to survive.
2/6
April 19, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Human life is like a human body. The vast majority of it acts autonomically. Nearly everything a society does when it succeeds is an inherited custom or tradition.
A habit. An institution. Emergent from the blood and death of history, as what allowed us to survive.
2/6
A habit. An institution. Emergent from the blood and death of history, as what allowed us to survive.
2/6
It’s too easy to win doing the wrong thing.
April 19, 2025 at 10:11 AM
It’s too easy to win doing the wrong thing.
Even then, somebody will lead, others will follow. Lord of the Flies.
April 19, 2025 at 6:14 AM
Even then, somebody will lead, others will follow. Lord of the Flies.
Bubbles I call them. Team sports bubbles.
April 19, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Bubbles I call them. Team sports bubbles.
If only the grass roots was a thing.
April 19, 2025 at 5:41 AM
If only the grass roots was a thing.
And our entire lives, from the most intimate and personal, through to the professional and political, are now transacted on these platforms.
They’re not ‘about’ the societies we live in. They are those societies now.
/end
They’re not ‘about’ the societies we live in. They are those societies now.
/end
April 19, 2025 at 4:22 AM
And our entire lives, from the most intimate and personal, through to the professional and political, are now transacted on these platforms.
They’re not ‘about’ the societies we live in. They are those societies now.
/end
They’re not ‘about’ the societies we live in. They are those societies now.
/end
Look around you, every day. If it trends now, it’s real. Not just popular. Everybody is now an expert in everything, because social media lets them be.
It gives us a place where anything is real, provided we can get the followers.
/21
It gives us a place where anything is real, provided we can get the followers.
/21
April 19, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Look around you, every day. If it trends now, it’s real. Not just popular. Everybody is now an expert in everything, because social media lets them be.
It gives us a place where anything is real, provided we can get the followers.
/21
It gives us a place where anything is real, provided we can get the followers.
/21
When winning them is only about a victory in your current team sports. Not about making any material difference to peoples’ lives.
Look at Trump right now. His *entire* agenda is a set of revenge retributions for social media battles he’s been engaged in.
/20
Look at Trump right now. His *entire* agenda is a set of revenge retributions for social media battles he’s been engaged in.
/20
April 19, 2025 at 4:22 AM
When winning them is only about a victory in your current team sports. Not about making any material difference to peoples’ lives.
Look at Trump right now. His *entire* agenda is a set of revenge retributions for social media battles he’s been engaged in.
/20
Look at Trump right now. His *entire* agenda is a set of revenge retributions for social media battles he’s been engaged in.
/20
This is also what makes public life now so flaky. Attention spans of toddlers. Entire populations lurch from one trend to another, sometimes within hours.
There is no public policy now. You can win elections having no policies at all. Why would you bother?
/19
There is no public policy now. You can win elections having no policies at all. Why would you bother?
/19
April 19, 2025 at 4:22 AM
This is also what makes public life now so flaky. Attention spans of toddlers. Entire populations lurch from one trend to another, sometimes within hours.
There is no public policy now. You can win elections having no policies at all. Why would you bother?
/19
There is no public policy now. You can win elections having no policies at all. Why would you bother?
/19
This is also not just confined to the loon fringes. ‘The economy’ for example is just a trend, not an objective reality.
There isn’t a public issue today that isn’t just teams battling for status, in some latest trending outrage. Teslas, anyone?
/18
There isn’t a public issue today that isn’t just teams battling for status, in some latest trending outrage. Teslas, anyone?
/18
April 19, 2025 at 4:22 AM
This is also not just confined to the loon fringes. ‘The economy’ for example is just a trend, not an objective reality.
There isn’t a public issue today that isn’t just teams battling for status, in some latest trending outrage. Teslas, anyone?
/18
There isn’t a public issue today that isn’t just teams battling for status, in some latest trending outrage. Teslas, anyone?
/18
Expertise working in institutions. Now they emulate whoever is trending, on social media. Influencers will make up whatever outrageous fantasy they feel like, provided it gets likes and followers.
Reality is now literally only what trends. Reality is just fashion.
/17
Reality is now literally only what trends. Reality is just fashion.
/17
April 19, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Expertise working in institutions. Now they emulate whoever is trending, on social media. Influencers will make up whatever outrageous fantasy they feel like, provided it gets likes and followers.
Reality is now literally only what trends. Reality is just fashion.
/17
Reality is now literally only what trends. Reality is just fashion.
/17
We’re now ‘living with’ a pandemic, because that’s trending. The vast majority of people think the pandemic is over, because they use the metric they’ve always used.
Not science. Just ‘what everybody else is doing’. In the past everybody emulated hierarchies of expertise.
/16
Not science. Just ‘what everybody else is doing’. In the past everybody emulated hierarchies of expertise.
/16
April 19, 2025 at 4:22 AM
We’re now ‘living with’ a pandemic, because that’s trending. The vast majority of people think the pandemic is over, because they use the metric they’ve always used.
Not science. Just ‘what everybody else is doing’. In the past everybody emulated hierarchies of expertise.
/16
Not science. Just ‘what everybody else is doing’. In the past everybody emulated hierarchies of expertise.
/16