❶ There’s no such thing as data
It’s a funny statement, because it’s annoyingly true. We talk about “data” as being this overarching force that dominates everything, but it’s way more siloed than that. Data to run a bus network is not the same data that links tweets to targeted adverts. It’s this nuance which fails the word, and interestingly data is actually more often than not about the people on the other side of your actions, rather than you as an individual. What? Well, when you like my tweet, that forms the data point/s, not necessarily me posting it in the first place 🤔
❷ What next?
“Can we return to normal?” is probably a question you’ve either heard, or asked recently. This works on the premise that 1) normal was good 2) it’s possible to pretend the past two years didn’t happen 3) someone knows how to make that happen. This article describes a “vertigo” that we’re experiencing at the promise of a future which isn’t quite the past, but much better, with freedom at every corner. The problem is that no one really knows how to get there. Culture has been shifted forever, and whatever norms we thought we had are off-tilt. If the now can’t be defined, how do we get to whatever is next?
❸ We are living in the past
This is more of a listicle than I’d like, but is in depth enough to have a good read. It describes how the internet cannot and is not at any time “in the present”, with it most of the time being a reaction to something that has already happened. This makes it really hard to define when the internet is, which just broke my brain.
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Bonus round
- A lovely blog post by The Browser Company about how much living our lives through the eyes of KPIs sucks
- Your favourite colour is probably blue