An Amazon River legend says that its famous pink river dolphins sometimes become shapeshifters and assume human form to seduce unwary travelers and lure them to a magical city called Encante. The catch is that this city is underwater. Once you’ve been there you can never go back home.
That’s the thing about myths: There’s always a catch.
Our society runs on a digital myth, which says that the technology-based economy is different, special and somehow not subject to the principles of mathematics and human nature that govern the rest of our lives. This myth tells us there is something called a “sharing economy,” a wealth-creating phenomenon with no downsides and no human costs. It tells us that we use services like Google and Facebook for “free.” And it insists that corporations like Amazon have unlocked magical technology secrets that allow them to bring the wonders of the world to our doorstep through something like prestidigitation.
The Amazon River myth has one major advantage over the Amazon Corp.’s: The dolphins may not be magical, but they are precious and beautiful and very real. The tech myth is nothing but illusions, all the way down. Full story...
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That’s the thing about myths: There’s always a catch.
Our society runs on a digital myth, which says that the technology-based economy is different, special and somehow not subject to the principles of mathematics and human nature that govern the rest of our lives. This myth tells us there is something called a “sharing economy,” a wealth-creating phenomenon with no downsides and no human costs. It tells us that we use services like Google and Facebook for “free.” And it insists that corporations like Amazon have unlocked magical technology secrets that allow them to bring the wonders of the world to our doorstep through something like prestidigitation.
The Amazon River myth has one major advantage over the Amazon Corp.’s: The dolphins may not be magical, but they are precious and beautiful and very real. The tech myth is nothing but illusions, all the way down. Full story...
Related posts:
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