To quote Buckminster Fuller “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Ian thinks: The Mozilla global festival 2025 call for participation is live. The theme this year is unlearning and includes unlearning design, security, harmful tech systems, traditional profit models, tech governance and tech Immateriality. A lot of unlearning! Get your proposals in before the 21st May deadline
Ian thinks: Not only do I think Digital legacy is important (even playing a part in Black Mirror’s Eulogy), if you attend Republica 2025, do look out for our conversation titled six feet under the data centre. One part of the conversation is how different nations/cultures face digital legacy and what could be learned for the future. This rest of world article is just the start.
Ian thinks: Unreported world is great at highlighting these stories and this one reminds me of the same problems of surveillance, and parents and young people are facing all over the world
Ian thinks 3 white men (Zuckerberg, Bezos and Musk) are on track to become trillionares a level wealth that is unimaginable. This video is a good summary of where we are and huge problem. The Buy, Borrow and Die loop hole is so prolific even I have heard about it. Gary Stevenson has plenty to say about this all and is included in the video
Ian thinks: With the up-tick in surveillance, is it possible to protest without being tired to a protest? Short answer not really but there are some practical tips to consider when near or in a protest. I wonder how many of us knew about the London tube trial?
Ian thinks: Carole Cadwalladr’s nervous but ever-so important talk, is right on the nose and strongly worded. Well shared and delivered right at the moment but if you find it short on substance; I recommend the follow up spicy interview with Cadwalladr and Anderson.
Ian thinks: Watching Rushkoff’s talk from SXSW 2025, with his thoughts from being an agent of change to an agent of care. Its clear to me there is so many connections with Maria Farrell’s ReWild the internet. If only they could come together in some way?
Ian thinks: This short which is a clip from the larger session about building communities across the social web. The whole session is worth a watch from SXSW’s social web space, covering the Fediverse (ActivityPub & ATproto) with a interesting panel from across the Fediverse. Also keep some time for Cory Doctorow in the same space.
Ian thinks: Rossmann, is a loud critic of the right to repair and ownership battle. Although he’s style is pretty in your face, he raises good points and many examples demostrating how enshittification and DRM go hand in hand with dense EULAs. Synology’s change and Black Mirror’s common people are examples.
The Guardian has announced it will no longer post content on Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, from its official accounts.
In an announcement to readers, the news organisation said it considered the benefits of being on the platform formerly called Twitter were now outweighed by the negatives, citing the “often disturbing content” found on it.
My instant thought is the medium is the message and organisations and people are starting to understand this. The hate on Xtwitter is almost impossible to avoid but the medium Elon’s X changes and shapes not just the conversation but the way people think.
To quote Buckminster Fuller “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.“
Ian thinks: Another look at the uncomfortable side of AI, but this video outlines the problem and also offers some solutions beyond running your own LLM; including Venice.ai and Brave’s Leo LLM.
Ian thinks: The internet archive and wayback machine has been a solid part of the internet for so long, the shock of many when it was taken offline recently has visceral. There are other web archives but this has shone a light on the absolute importance of archives and maybe more cooperation between archives to boost resilience.
Ian thinks: Nostalgia gives a lot of people a fuzzy warm feeling even when you never actually experienced it as GenZ have demonstrated. It is very hard to explain how problematic nostalgia can be when thinking and writing policies for the future. The very notion of commercial nostalgia jacking, being used to weaponize nostalgia against ourselves is even more dangerous. The video shows talks through all this and how it was a commercial tactic for decades.
Ian thinks: This interview is full of interesting points about privacy and the problems we all face when attempting to protect our privacy. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to explain why I don’t use Whatsapp for example.
Ian thinks: The rise of right to repair is exciting. However could paying people to repair their old goods be a mixture for something more sustainable? Or could make things more complex as other studies have shown in the past.
Ian thinks: I think Schmidt’s statement is very irresponsible to say the least, But he’s not the only one, following their Silicon values (Which was coined and written by Julian York) and the absolute push for revenue with complete dominance over human life; is shocking. However worst still is the belief the problem will be solved by emerging tech, is short term thinking and gambling with all our lives. In this case Gen AI, is clearly part of the problem and won’t save us.
Ian thinks: Schmidt and all of the AI industry really need to take a serious look at the environmental impact. However those figures can be quite dry and difficult visualise. The Washington post have made the environmental damage more tangible using resources we use everyday.
Ian thinks: This mini-series by Paris Marx is a powerful reminder of how little to zero care or attention is paid to democracy, the environment and humanity in the Silicon corps. I kept thinking about those Silicon values across the episodes, and its very clear across this 4 part series [2] [3] [4].
Ian thinks: There is a number of journalists and news publishers who have switched their business models to one focused on supporting journalism by going direct to the reader. The podcast post outlines how the fediverse can support direct community relationships and sets out why it could signal the future of news.
To quote Buckminster Fuller “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.“
Ian thinks: Although put together by big brotherwatch, this video shows the people caught up in the facewatch surveillance in the UK. Its hard to watch but a good reminder of the on going problems.
Ian thinks: Based around the paper written by Barath Raghavan and Bruce Schneier. NBTV, puts the paper into focus through many clear examples and comparisons. Its clear privacy has been misjudged and we are all paying for this.
Ian thinks: Cory’s follow up to last years talk, is another great reminder of the horrible state of the market, internet and society. You can’t help but raise a fist to some of points about Spotify, Google, Meta, etc. But the re-examination of the words; if you are not paying for the product you are the product. Is a very important call.
Ian thinks: Although it sounds ridiculous on first glance, This is an example of the big difference between the EU data space and the Silicon Valley space. There is no way Lidl would even consider this an option outside the EU, but the EU laws makes a somewhat trusted brand viable for this type of pivot.
Ian thinks: This conversation between Simon Sinek & Trevor Noah strikes a chord with some of the large societal problems. This has so much from questions about friendship to the importance of cultivating them into something strong and lifelong. Just at a time when loneliness is rising, I felt this a important one to share.
Ian thinks: Match group currently has 50% of the market, but the Japanese government is about to launch their own as the population decline is that serious. Its worth noting Japan has tried many things including paying bars/clubs to put on single nights for the last 10 years, making this decision not something made lightly.
Ian thinks: We are all facing a barrage of AI generated images and videos, it is easy to be distracted or be tricked and there is no shame to this. With some of these tips, it will help weed out 90% of the typical AI slop.
Ian thinks: Digital legacy is something we rarely think about but really should. There is a number of interesting developments from research into digital legacy to UK justice beta testing digital LPAs. This podcast gives a real sense of the importance of this all.
Ian thinks: Following the previous link, this video from the Guardian, explores both sides of the divide around using AI technology for people who die. Its striking as these homegrown solutions are being commercialised and rolled out with little to no care for the people on both sides
I use to share notable chocolates on twitter and my blog in the past.
However with the Fediverse and one of my favourite platforms is pixelfed (like Instagram without all the crap, algorithmic nonsense, enshittifcation and unhuman design).
I have been thinking a lot about the public service internet (or the notion of a internet which is focused on public value not extraction and surveillance)
Theres a number of things in my head but one of them is about collectively sharing what we mean. When I say we, I literately mean exactly that. I was reminded of this a while ago while looking at my diigo group I setup ages ago. Ultimately its a aggregated list of links from a pool of people.
In practice it didn’t really work because although I did accept a few people, almost no one added any links to the group. In actual fact I’m looking for an fediverse version of diigo because I’m really not getting that much out of it. I did get some spammers but not enough to cause any problems, harm or use much of my time. I could glance at their profile and easily work out their intentions.
Anyway I do think the pooling/aggregation is a good idea within a human scale group.
While listening to tech won’t save us and looking more into the Degrowth movement, I found a number of books by the guest Jason Hickel. I did what I normally do is add them to bookwrym as books of interest. Then thought wonder if there is a category or tag option. I found lists and the ability to change the visibility and contribution options.
So I setup a public list and the ability to carefully add contributors.
Ideally this could be really good and a useful list for me personally listening to a lot of public service related audiobooks. It could also be useful to collate some of the lesser know books and authors. But even better is the ability to share wider what is meant by a public service internet?
Interested in joining the group? Get on bookwrym or setup your own instance and click the button to join the list? Of course if I don’t accept the request (I’m new to this too) just direct message me.
Back to the link sharing, I realised this is what Lemmy is…kinda is. I may take a different route on link sharing and potentially self-host it myself. Once I do I’ll likely just move away from Diigo completely, shutting down the existing groups. Don’t worry I have already gone a export of the links and data.
Looking forward to reading and sharing more.
Little update on Bookwrym
I now have a group which can add to the book list, I’m carefully adding people who are collaborators. If you feel this is also you, contact me.
To quote Buckminster Fuller “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.“
Ian thinks: This video really explains whats known about the XZ backdoor and the Microsoft employee who saved so many in the industry from a unthinkable backdoor. The social engineering side is also fascinating and chilling.
Ian thinks: This lightening talk is a harsh reminder of the current state of encryption law in the UK. Whittaker’s talk is aimed at the EU, which are facing similar legal objections around encryption and privacy,
Ian thinks: When a very popular youtuber covers a issue such as enshitification, you know its hit the mainstream (plus it was word of the year last year). This is perfect to share with many other people.
Ian thinks: Zittrain’s recent podcasts looking at AI is worth your time. Although he use the metric of revenue & profit most of the time, there is parts across both podcasts asking about the public benefit. There is also a clear question about the problem of booms and bubbles.
Ian thinks: Although a very clicky headline, there are some really good points raised about the fragile egos of some men and the clear pointers to the lack of imagination and cooperation in a patriarchy. Read with a open mind.
Ian thinks: In the latest dot social podcast, Mike Cue is joined by Meta employees to talk about joining the fediverse. Techcrunch have a good cover of the conversation, Regardless of Meta, its clear the fediverse isn’t something which can be ignored.
Ian thinks: I have always been concerned about DNA testing, especially in the tech space. In this update the Freakonomics play an existing interview and update it with the very public downfall. I can’t help but think public health was ignored from the start.
Ian thinks: To understand Transhumanism is to understand the almost unwritten motivation of so much of the tech billionaires. Recently renamed techno-optimism, longtermism and even effective altruism, it crops up so much. Where better to listen to a critical view of it than on tech won’t save us?
It was quite a watch and as the title indicates, there was a lot of thoughts about not just the big chocolate companies but the whole industry and the reliance on child slave labour. I posted about it on the Fediverse because I felt it was well worth watching with a warning
2023 has been a super busy year. This is the year when the United Kingdom and the freedoms we held tightly fell a part. Like last year the strikes haven’t stopped and the cost of living crisis isn’t going anywhere.
From a Quantified Self data point of view 2023 looked like this (worth noting its harder to get the data from some of the services)
My average sleep duration has dropped from 7hours 30mins to 6hours 20mins. Deep sleep stayed at 2.40hrs.
Been to a few places in 2023 but no new countries. Although I have to say 15 days in the Netherlands was incredible and glad I could do that (even with Easyjet troubles and Rotterdam rail problems). This year I went to; Manchester, Lisbon, Newport, London, Bristol, Bath, Weston, Newcastle, Gateshead, Huddlesfield, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Zwolle, York, Ledbury, Birmingham, Lancaster, Durham, Barcelona, Stoke on Trent and Alton.
According to Trakt (which had a database problem recently), my most played show is Traitors (which sounds about right when you add UK, AUS, NZ, USA and Canada) Film wise for highest rating it was Oppenheimer and Spiderman: across the spider-verse..
Most listened to podcast is Daily Tech News Show with podnews just behind that.
I watched 154 movie and 297 hours of TV, mainly while doing other things.
Combining a number of the previous digital nomad things
I really need to understand the tax side of a digital nomad from the business point of view as an employee of a large company not a freelancer. With this knowledge I can build the solid business case for being a digital nomad for a year.
This has moved forward a little bit. There is a interest at work and I have a plan to visit the Portuguese embassy in Manchester when I can finally get an appointment (they open the appointments every 3 weeks and seem to go very quickly). It will cost a bit of money but it will be worth it if I can get the answer to the tax question from an official.
Finish my dating book
The book is being worked on and some are suggest I’m a lot closer than I think . The book has structure, being edited, I have illustrations and even decided to use mid-journey for the cover. After reaching out to many agents and publishers with not much success I decided self-publishing is the way to go. I’m setting myself 2023 as the year to finally do this.
This is moving forwarded, I have all the illustrations now except the front cover (but have plans). I also formatted the latest version into the 8×5 inch book format using templates, added the illustrations and shared it with a selected few. I await there comments over the festive season, then another check and final look at by Hannah.
There is still work to be done but its getting closer to self publishing status and I expect 2024 will be the year it goes to epub/print.
I’m planning to go the Amazon self publish route but I’m keen to know about better routes, as I’m not keen on Amazon’s licence agreement.
Head even further a field with the scooter
2022 I didn’t go as far as 2021 but, I am up for driving on the scooter either up through Scotland or finally Netherlands and Belgium. 2023 has to be the year.
This is another year with less scooter driving. Although its worth noting I spent a lot of time flying which wasn’t the plan post pandemic. I did look at the train multiple times but the price between Manchester and London is always a killer on price and time. (Don’t get me started about HS2)
Hopefully next year I’ll finally drive to the Netherlands instead of flying or getting the train.
Learn to drive a car
Its also time, I’m not ever going to buy a car but being able to rent one for trips to IKEA and for longer journeys when the weather isn’t great makes sense. Its super clear the weather is going to get more extreme and being able to rent a car is more sensible. The other side of this is I can actually drive a car and passed my theory test with flying colours a long time ago (of course I need to do it again)..
Not even started this but its something I keep thinking about, as hiring a car for certain journeys would be handy. Especially with my partner Although I did buy some panniers for my scooter, to carry even more stuff when on longer journeys (like potentially Europe)
Listen to a Audiobook at least once a month.
This worked out so well last year and to be fair I want to keep it going. Especially if I start using the gym too, although I’m thinking music is better for repetitive exercises. I also think I should write a some short reviews for them as some are excellent.
This has been excellent with 17 audiobooks completed and started another 4. No idea why its registered the tyranny of metrics twice but you can see some great books in the list.
I am listening to most of the books while in the spa using waterproof headphones. I also started listening while on longer journeys like train rides to London, Bristol, etc.
Go to a new country
I missed this over the last few years and really like to get back into the flow of this. South Korea is certainly of interest along with a few of the European countries I have missed like Norway and the Czech republic.
Another year missed but I’m thinking about some of the European countries for a short retreat.
I started undoing the bad habits but its time for the endless suicide and some vertex genocides. Really need to find some groups again, as learn so much quicker when I can see it in front of me.
This hasn’t quite happened but I’m finding new groups including one which I went to after mybrushwithdeath.
I simply haven’t had the time but its something I keep thinking about. I noticed there being more interest in meeting up with people physically since the pandemic. However found peoples time is much more stricter and so it needs to be much tighter in its impact. I also noticed the idea of bi-monthly becoming a long stronger than previously.
Do more self-hosting
The selfhost train has really been moving over the last few years and I’m finding managing it a lot less stressful than it use to be. Yunohost has been a real joy and auto-update is great. Ideally a multiple domains would be really useful but cubicgarden.info is my playground.
This has happen although I am struggling with Docker containers on my QNAP nas and Yunohost is great but sometimes a bit strange.
If I can fully get my head around Docker containers using either container station or CasaOS, all will be good as I have struggled with Qnap’s cron. I did think about running Yunohost in a QNAP container but it seems overly complex for no reason.
Be more selective about the subscriptions
I am pretty good about this but I noticed there is quite a lot of legacy stuff which I should have removed a while back.
Well.. This was ahead of the complete move to the Fediverse, where I removed xtwitter from my life and cut down my podcast subscription too. One thing I noticed is I’m using the google feed quite a bit and consistently annoyed about it.So I installed FreshRSS to replace the ageing Tiny tinyRSS to finally get back into RSS again. The clients are much more fitting with the Android system. I also found much more up to date clients on Linux too.
Even better wellbeing
I’m not doing too bad but there is room of improvement, for example my sleep has taken a drop and I’m less active when not playing volleyball or summer. I need remind myself my spa also includes a gym which I should take advantage of more. Wellbeing also includes my digital wellbeing with not enough blogging and my gratitude diary has gone to pot. Next year I got to do something about this too.
This year has been ups and downs when it comes to wellbeing. Generally this is the year of many things including ultra processed food, multiple volleyball options, lots of early mornings, etc.
Generally its been ok but the dip in sleep has followed through into 2023. I did go the gym quite a bit but frankly it wasn’t for me. The spa is very relaxing and is a great place for audiobooks. Being active this year has been good especially during summer and now there is Volleyball options on Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat and in future Sundays. There is a headache with booking each one but at least there are options and its clearer now than ever.
I keep thinking about the gratitude diary and what I could do about it. My quick thought is just to write something personally, then keep wondering about Signals stories. However a small microblog seems better, as I do like to look at them over time. Maybe something for Fediverse ideas?
I saw this in my mastodon feed and just thought it was incredible and just so much how the Fediverse is and could be a shining light for the future of the social internet.
