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Comment Let it burn (Score 2) 34

I can only see this as a good thing, similar to what Microsoft did to the gaming industry: buy up a bunch of studios, do nothing with them for years, then fire everyone. Basically a money burning party. All those developers are now free to work for independent studios and do something new.

Are blockbuster films and basic cable really things worth preserving?

Comment Sadistic Circus (Score 1) 88

Social media is a real marketplace of ideas gone wrong. It's like walking into a room and having hundreds of people suddenly start screaming at you while doing obnoxious "look at me" dances, with the audience gleefully going along with it and tearing apart anyone who disagrees. It's exhausting. Why contribute to that? Preening before that unblinking eye is a sick game only attractive to narcissists.

It brings to mind an episode of Star Trek: Voyager which I watched recently: Season 2 Episode 23, "The Thaw." In this episode, the crew finds some people trapped in a virtual world that was supposed to be a utopia... but its program was corrupted, and is now run by a sadistic clown who leads a group of computer-generated characters and forces the trapped "players" to perform torturous and humiliating games.

The episodes aired in 1996 before social media existed, but the sadistic spirit of the simulation really reminded me of the current state of the Internet, only in this case the clown is Mark Zuckerberg.

Comment Re:Television Model (Score 1) 40

It even pre-dates television. Lots of golden age radio shows had advertisements not just weaved into the show, but were outright named after the sponsors.

The Ford Sunday Evening Hour
The General Electric Concert
Kraft Music Hall
Maxwell House Showboat
Palmolive Beauty Box Theater
Philip Morris Playhouse ...just to name a few.

This trend only continued once television became widespread. My favorite is the the Colgate Comedy Hour! A whole hour of toothpaste commercials interspersed with variety acts.

Everything old is new again.

Comment Re:Wait until you find out about celebrity addicti (Score 1) 52

That makes sense. There are fields of dandelions but people are complaining about being hungry. Then get out there and forage!

Nobody remembers that dandelions are a non-native food crop that was brought over from Europe and then abandoned after we moved on to more palatable foods. It did take over the landscape though, and now it's a "weed."

Comment Re:At what point does this become a problem? (Score 1) 52

If you bring your kids to a playground and you spend your time staring at your phone instead of interacting with them, you're missing out on an opportunity for strengthening your bond. If that happens often enough, I can see this as causing problems in the long term.

This just seems like yet another "refrigerator mother" theory which--while long discredited for explaining schizophrenia and autism--may yet have a grain of truth to it...

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