The net. The web. On-line. These are things designed to trap prey, keep them immobile for the kill.
The feed. The screen. A partially bitten apple. Farm implements to keep beasts of burden docile and satiated, ready for the abattoir.
The nomenclature of digital life uncannily cemented itself around us. As if conspiring against its users, words appeared to describe our device’s and platform’s functions and qualities that corral and cajole us through the simple tool of language, the first truly invisible technology.
But mark this: there’s no conspiracy of elites laughing about their linguistic witticisms embedded in our devices. There was no conscious decision made by bad actors to create the system we’re suffering in today.
This is simply the nature of the technology we serve: to trap and keep us domesticated. Language most often follows form. The form is the medium within which content lies.
And as it’s ever important to remember in this conversation, the medium is the message…