Metaviews

I’m physically of the belief that the previous frame by which we understood our world is gone, and we’re currently in the process of constructing new frames. Plural in the sense that what this crisis may mark a split where we no longer think of society, but rather societies.

Over the last decade, data literacy has grown substantially, and along with it the growing awareness that data is a valuable commodity. This has not only fostered an unhealthy obsession with data in this current crisis, but it has also changed the relationship most people have with data in general.

A cornerstone of our surveillance society is the use of loyalty marketing programs to obtain people’s consent for sophisticated profiling, data collection, and sharing. Although that consent is arguably meaningless, as the vast majority of consumers who collect “points” have no understanding of why those points are being given to them.

We’ve been publishing our Future Fibre series for over six months. During that time we’ve learned a lot about rural and remote connectivity, as well as what kinds of policies and community action is necessary to improve it.

It may come as no surprise that one of my cultural influences was Mad Magazine. For those of us of a certain vintage, Mad magazine was an oasis in a satirical desert.

I was particularly fond of the Spy vs Spy comics, as they combined hilarious dirty tricks and double dealing with a modest satirical critique of the art of espionage. Growing up in the Cold War, espionage was generally mysterious and glamours, and I loved how Spy vs Spy offered an alternate view that emphasized incompetence and heavy handedness.

Yesterday’s issue was an important reminder of why our Future Tools series is not only relevant to our readers, but essential to this publication’s production and survival. The issue was published at 11:26am, but was not distributed until close to 2pm. Relying upon substack.com for distribution means that we had no idea why this delay happened, and for those two plus hours, it’s not unreasonable to assume the worst.