Difference between revisions of "18: Slipping the DISC: State of The Portal and Chapter 2020"

We have been frightened about individuals coming to rival our institutions, in terms of power. And that's what's so great about the new revolution in long-form podcasting, and all of these other forms of social media. Now, we have a great danger in that most of these platforms are mediated. We saw what happened to Alex Jones. It's quite possible that if these powerful institutions come to believe that a particular individual should be removed, they can always choose to enforce the rules in a different way. We saw recently the advent of Terms-of-Service changes to include [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transphobia#Misgendering_and_exclusion deadnaming]. Now if I say that Walter Carlos composed the album [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched-On_Bach Switched-On Bach], or performed the album Switched-On Bach, that is a true statement. But because Walter Carlos became [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Carlos Wendy Carlos], I have no idea whether or not I can be accused of deadnaming. Now imagine that you have a hundred such rules, rules that are never spelled out, never clear, that can be enforced any which way to deny someone access to the major platforms. This is the great danger with this moment. We have unprecedented access, but we also have a gating function, which can be turned on at any time if we fall out of line with the institutions.  

We have been frightened about individuals coming to rival our institutions, in terms of power. And that's what's so great about the new revolution in long-form podcasting, and all of these other forms of social media. Now, we have a great danger in that most of these platforms are mediated. We saw what happened to Alex Jones. It's quite possible that if these powerful institutions come to believe that a particular individual should be removed, they can always choose to enforce the rules in a different way. We saw recently the advent of Terms-of-Service changes to include [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transphobia#Misgendering_and_exclusion deadnaming]. Now if I say that Walter Carlos composed the album [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched-On_Bach Switched-On Bach], or performed the album Switched-On Bach, that is a true statement. But because Walter Carlos became [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Carlos Wendy Carlos], I have no idea whether or not I can be accused of deadnaming. Now imagine that you have a hundred such rules, rules that are never spelled out, never clear, that can be enforced any which way to deny someone access to the major platforms. This is the great danger with this moment. We have unprecedented access, but we also have a gating function, which can be turned on at any time if we fall out of line with the institutions.  

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