I have a lot of thoughts about how Media currently functions; I just deleted most of them. My doom, as always, is to understand at some level that everyone is doing the best they can in their local circumstances while also being conscious of the fact that the lattice that's been constructed around us essentially pulps and juices creators and audiences alike. This arrangement does serve somebody, but you and I have never met this person. It's arguable at some level that they can't be met: We've fashioned a kind of Omnissiah with these algorithms that drive and reward engagement, and we're determined to worship it even if it results in the self-replicating shit blizzard we currently "enjoy."

We are - on both sides of this screen - locked in a kind of Kirk-tier grapple with monopolized advertising, a fetish for media "efficiency" that results primarily in the production of bait, and our own incredibly dim simian machinery that makes us such reliable marks. Merry Christmas…?

These things always go in cycles, from greater to lesser concentration and then back. The fantasy scenario for me is that this year - which has seen a profound, frankly draconic concentration of wealth - doesn't just calcify all these assumptions further. Since we have to live and work on this fucking thing now, it'd be great if it didn't suck shit.

(CW)TB out.