Category: Culture

  • Nothing is ever meant to be

    The difference between stories and real life is that stories make sense. We humans love stories. We love to tell stories, and we love to consume stories even more. “Tell me a story!” little children command. Whether our stories are sweeping novels like Anna Karenina, a sweeping collection of TV series like more than a half…

  • Analog Lives in a Digital World

    What makes things special, memorable, satisfying often has less to do with the things themselves than with the context where we experience them. Some mysteries are eternal. If the Coyote can afford all those expensive items sold by the Acme Company, then why doesn’t he just visit a desert KFC to eat plumper poultry than…

  • A Simple Test for What Counts as “The Metaverse”

    Lots of walled gardens and videogame platforms are now touting themselves as part of the metaverse, but there’s an easy way to tell if it’s true. Plus, revising Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” Two shorter (although slightly connected) main stories this week… 1. Revisiting Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” If you subscribe to…

  • Trust is Analog

    A handshake is worth a thousand Zoom calls. This has implications for going back to the office, building corporate culture, and democracy. You’re on a short elevator ride with one other person. Neither of you speak, but you get a lot of information. Does the other person politely keep a distance? Make momentary eye contact?…

  • The Web3/Creator Paradox

    The latest phase of the digital revolution is a Read/Write/Own structure where more culture creators can join a new Artistic Middle Class… maybe. Calling something “Web3” makes it sound like everybody agrees on what it means. That’s not the case: we’re at the start of our Web3 journey. It might be more accurate to call it Web3.001.…

  • 2007 Post about a new “Artistic Middle Class” plus Web3 in 2022 and beyond…

    My first blog was called “Mediavorous,” and it’s long gone and therefore hard to find but for the noble work of the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Lately, with the rise of Web3, I’ve been thinking about an old post from 2007, “Yes, box office is up this summer, but don’t get comfy“, which I’ve re-published…

  • How Risk is Changing

    The world seems more dangerous today than it ever has before, but study after study shows that we’re safer now. Hans Rosling’s Factfulness, Matt Ridley’s Rational Optimist, and Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature are three books that dig into this. In part, life feels more dangerous today because we have so much information about bad things that happen…

  • Listen to me on this week’s “Laugh Your Cry Out” podcast!

    I’m delighted to share that I’m the guest on this week’s episode of “Laugh Your Cry Out with Joey Dumont,” a podcast about (and I’m quoting here) men’s mental health and masculinity [seen] through the lens of fatherhood, politics, and the world of business. Our enjoyable conversation has a mediocre book as its point of…

  • Book Review: Go read “Joey Somebody” by Joey Dumont immediately

    The short version of this review is simple: drop everything, and order a copy of the new memoir, Joey Somebody: The Life and Times of a Recovering Douchebag. Then read it as soon as you can. You won’t regret doing so. Here’s the longer version: Usually when I’m reviewing a book I try to be objective, or at…

  • Wearing a mask is like wearing pants

    To the people who think that wearing a mask infringes on their liberties, then how do you feel about pants? If a nudist demanded to be able to, ah, let it all hang out in Starbucks, plopped down next to your table, and then claimed that his or her liberties were being trampled if you…