Thanks for this report August, this was great, although I was vicariously crushed to hear about the smartphone-free village only to have my dream dispelled a mere few paragraphs later. Here in Aotearoa New Zealand there are still places with no cellphone coverage (they are growing more endangered, but I assume they still exist in pockets of the backblocks? I hope?). Until recently these included the place I grew up & the place where my local folk festival was held. The fact that people COULDN'T be on their phones even if they wanted to made these places so special to me. Being in them felt like a time-glitch, like stepping back into somewhere far better. (Note: It's not enough to make a guideline that people shouldn't use their phones: technical impossibility is the only measure that works.) The folk festival site got a cell tower and I was devastated. I honestly can't understand why others don't feel the same way. Bring on the intentional tech blackout zones.
There’s about 7 threads I wanna pull apart from this:
“It occurred to me then, for the first time, that anti-tech activism was in a sense conservative. Both reflected a longing to return to an earlier, superior age. Once I’d drawn the connection, I was shocked I hadn’t seen it before.”
^ would love to hear your thoughts on this too, August! I assumed it was just you being cheeky and saying things to win over the people you were temporarily spending time with (regardless of whether you truly believed it), but I hope you recognize that those folks can't truly be your “friends” if they don't see you as an equal & agree women should have fewer rights than men :( even if they agree with you on some anti-tech points and gave you validation.
That’s a good one… ‘right wing party asset, undercover for the New Yorker’. But that ‘bleached out hair’ has those conservatives suspecting you might be a ‘Liberal’!
And still no Paris? But soon… hopefully. Ever onwards!
glad you saw the thread, August, in terms of Luddite tendencies being inherently conservative, in the old-school definition of conservative.
i've been picking apart this particular tapestry since 1992, no lie. my work in the "internet revolution" and online community damaged my body with a permanent partial disability i carry to this day. the addictiveness was a problem, the sexism was a problem, the technology itself was a problem, too, despite the positives it brought forward.
we were going to change the world! i thought. we were going to change democracy!
so i wrote for magazines like Wired and Mondo 2000 and Fringe Ware. created nerd-fun-fan "webzines", then wrote for the corporate webzines that followed, for good money. then got paid to write blogs. somehow i questioned and critiqued the technology while evangelizing for it, advancing it, feeding the beast, stroking the beast's belly. this is even before Web 2.0 and social media and smartphones enshittified the internet, to use Cory Doctorow's term.
if Luddite = conservative but Luddite does not = bad ... the net on that is good. our minds should be able to enjoy a multitude of explorations and possible beliefs. conservative is only 100% bad when we are trapped in our blue bubbles, incapable of critical thinking, cowed by dogpilers and cancelers, pinned in a box by rigid belief systems, afraid of personal exploration and independent thought.
As a member of the Oxford Far Right, it was a pleasure meeting you, August.
Highly enjoyed this.
Thanks for this report August, this was great, although I was vicariously crushed to hear about the smartphone-free village only to have my dream dispelled a mere few paragraphs later. Here in Aotearoa New Zealand there are still places with no cellphone coverage (they are growing more endangered, but I assume they still exist in pockets of the backblocks? I hope?). Until recently these included the place I grew up & the place where my local folk festival was held. The fact that people COULDN'T be on their phones even if they wanted to made these places so special to me. Being in them felt like a time-glitch, like stepping back into somewhere far better. (Note: It's not enough to make a guideline that people shouldn't use their phones: technical impossibility is the only measure that works.) The folk festival site got a cell tower and I was devastated. I honestly can't understand why others don't feel the same way. Bring on the intentional tech blackout zones.
There’s about 7 threads I wanna pull apart from this:
“It occurred to me then, for the first time, that anti-tech activism was in a sense conservative. Both reflected a longing to return to an earlier, superior age. Once I’d drawn the connection, I was shocked I hadn’t seen it before.”
august, can you unpack why you think the emancipation of women has been net-negative for society? because that part felt very random to me...
^ would love to hear your thoughts on this too, August! I assumed it was just you being cheeky and saying things to win over the people you were temporarily spending time with (regardless of whether you truly believed it), but I hope you recognize that those folks can't truly be your “friends” if they don't see you as an equal & agree women should have fewer rights than men :( even if they agree with you on some anti-tech points and gave you validation.
Good article. Wish you all the best in your future attempts
Glad to have an update, I enjoyed this a lot.
That’s a good one… ‘right wing party asset, undercover for the New Yorker’. But that ‘bleached out hair’ has those conservatives suspecting you might be a ‘Liberal’!
And still no Paris? But soon… hopefully. Ever onwards!
Damnit I love your writing, August!
I love the photos here. Seeing a picture taken on film is like running into an old friend you haven’t seen in years.
I just feel so lucky to be your reader and supporter, August. Your talent as a writer feeds my brain and my soul.
glad you saw the thread, August, in terms of Luddite tendencies being inherently conservative, in the old-school definition of conservative.
i've been picking apart this particular tapestry since 1992, no lie. my work in the "internet revolution" and online community damaged my body with a permanent partial disability i carry to this day. the addictiveness was a problem, the sexism was a problem, the technology itself was a problem, too, despite the positives it brought forward.
we were going to change the world! i thought. we were going to change democracy!
so i wrote for magazines like Wired and Mondo 2000 and Fringe Ware. created nerd-fun-fan "webzines", then wrote for the corporate webzines that followed, for good money. then got paid to write blogs. somehow i questioned and critiqued the technology while evangelizing for it, advancing it, feeding the beast, stroking the beast's belly. this is even before Web 2.0 and social media and smartphones enshittified the internet, to use Cory Doctorow's term.
if Luddite = conservative but Luddite does not = bad ... the net on that is good. our minds should be able to enjoy a multitude of explorations and possible beliefs. conservative is only 100% bad when we are trapped in our blue bubbles, incapable of critical thinking, cowed by dogpilers and cancelers, pinned in a box by rigid belief systems, afraid of personal exploration and independent thought.
oh hell yes. a good writer.
we need you.
signed,
not a conservative
but not entirely anything else, either