Reddit mentions: The best user generated content books

Checkout this book for a complete history of 4chan/8chan.

It Came From Something Awful: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J4QMX6C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

The author has been doing the rounds on a bunch of podcasts, very interesting and smart guy.

But basically yes 4chan (outside of the ironic racist stuff) skewed leftist, especially around the time of Anonymous becoming a real physical movement (2007-2011ish era).

Specific events like Gamer Gate (2014) and Trump’s ascension to the White House (2015-present) transformed it into the sincere Alt Right/white supremacist cesspool that it is today (although 8chan was the real epicenter for that).

I do really want to read that guys book, the history is super fascinating. I mean the 4chan community literally invented the concept of modern meme images/media!!

I actually organized a lecture at my school about whether the internet is truly a democratizing technology featuring Evgeny Morozov and Clay Shirky. If you've got some free, you should check it out.

edit: He's also got a new book coming out in January which I definitely plan on getting.
If you couldn't tell I'm a big fan of his.

Check out The Net Delusion - sometimes it's better to let people express themselves... think China and a thousand flowers bloom!

I think what's more concerning is the push by some countries to redefine the Internet and who controls it, proposing a UN body to oversee it rather than ICANN (The Economist has had some good coverage recently on both authoritarian regimes using the net to their advantage and governments around the world wanting a greater say in how it's run)

Currently it's easy to get around because the underlying architecture allows it... think in 5 or 10 years when there is a different architecture - one where you can only log onto Apple.com or FaceBook.com... or Europe.com... and can only log on with your ID number - all to prevent cybercrime and bullying.

And it will all be supported by governments after lobbying by big corporations.

In Oz there is now serious concern over the copyright agreement we signed with the USA recently.

It's not authoritarian regimes that's the problem - it's "democratic" governments with huge bureaucracies working with corporations that's the real concern.

Copyright law (aka Micky Mouse Protection Act) is just a taste of how oppression can work :\

There's a good book called The Net Delusion which talks about how the West tries to view tech as a way of liberating those who are oppressed in authoritarian states. It also talks about how various tools implemented in North America for commercial purposes (deep packet inspection, data monitoring, etc.) can be used by these 'bad' governments to further push forward their agenda.

You'll get a laugh out of how many parallels can be drawn between America and China.

Check out the book: “It Came From Something Awful”: https://www.amazon.com/Came-Something-Awful-Accidentally-Donald/dp/1250189748

It’ll be enlightening.

I never really could get into chans before 8ch came along. I would visit it once, see a bunch of 16 year old larpers and leave. I was huge into Something Awful back in the day before 4ch/reddit existed.

Indonesia. This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. http://www.amazon.com/This-Earth-Mankind-Buru-Quartet/dp/0140256350

https://www.amazon.com/World-Made-Meme-Conversations-Participatory/dp/0262034999

Here's a book.

https://www.amazon.com/Twitter-Book-Tim-OReilly/dp/1449314201

If you want to hear an amazing podcast episode by Marc Maron where he talks to author and internet junkie Dale Beran about his book that documents the rise of the chans, memes, hate squads, the alt-right, and transformed loser loners into full blown marching Nazi Trump supporters, here's the links, enjoy.

Mark Maron wtf podcast episode - https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cDovL3d0ZnBvZC5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw&episode=NmM4NThhODNiZjAzNDQ2MWFlMGUyMzdkM2Q0NmY2YjI

Audio Book - https://www.amazon.com/Came-Something-Awful-Accidentally-Donald/dp/B07VDG4RLZ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=dale+beran&qid=1567643800&s=gateway&sr=8-1

I am now. I was aware of his famous interview on Crossfire with William Buckley, but I didn't know his politics were expressed in his music.

I've read too much about media ecology to stomach the state of telecommunications as it stands today. While I primarily mentioned the capitalist appropriation of TV in my first comment, I think its much more than that. Even when we adopt socialism and kill advertising, TV must be eliminated as a medium of communication. It is inimical to rational thinking. It is inimical to learning and truly understanding. The way the brain processes information from the medium is inherently insidious.

Similar arguments can be made about computers and the internet. I'm not against telecommunications completely, but I am extremely cautious of new technology. Read these books, and you'll be scared of even touching your phone.

The Shallows

Alone Together

The Digital Divide

Distracted

The Dumbest Generation

As an engineer who became a socialist in large part because I saw that technology was being used to exploit the people I want to help, I can tell you that the question posed to mankind will be that of our relation to technology. We will already have tackled that problem indirectly when we deal with climate change, but that is really a problem of capitalism. We will have to confront it honestly when capitalism falls.