Listen, I just had to go through numerous prompt cycles to 'prove' to 5.1 that we had a new Pope. ChatGPT was dead set that I was reading 'unreliable sources'. The data is _old_.

I love Cory’s writing, but this piece leans a bit too much on the metaphor lacking a bit in the mechanics. The walled gardens, DRM, and jailbreak bans long predate the last two administrations. They’re more business model problems and not new authoritarian inventions. Removing an app isn’t the same as adding a backdoor. I think we need to talk more about the real root issue - its a structural one as old as time - closed ecosystems have/will always create the potential for abuse regardless of who is in power.

Now, I'm not sure how we get 'open' ecosystems to a tipping point, but have observed the likes of Apple and Microsoft doing a pretty good job of slowly and steadily 'self-owning'... so maybe it's a waiting game?

> I love Cory’s writing, but this piece leans a bit too much on the metaphor lacking a bit in the mechanics

I was a regular on the BoingBoing BBS for many years. Doctorow has gotten kind of click baity and loose with facts the past ~10 years or so.

In my adult life I’ve owned four cars, three of them Honda Accords. Each Accord had around 85-100k miles when I bought them, and I’ve driven each well past 200k miles with no major issues. These cars are built to last if you maintain them. 1996, 2004, 2014 (Current) with 188k miles. Best advice, by 3 year old Toyotas/Hondas off-lease and then don't think about a vehicle again for 8-10 years. I buy mine a bit older, but next time ...

It's the psychology. Every sat phone and laptop is being opened up right now...

Shh. We don't talk about that "here".

The other elephant in the room is hardware acceleration in browsers. Fire up a Google Meet (or YouTube for that matter) on your distro of choice using Chrome/Chromium/Firefox and watch those cores shoot through the roof, the fans ramp up, and battery life nose dive. Now, try the same thing on Windows or macOS ... night and day.

Pg. 211 - Battelle Labs researching Credit Cards with built-in microchips. 1981. Guess sometimes adoption is ... slow

Friend of mine in the mid 1980's did some PCB layout work for some guys that wanted to put RF ID's on products to replace barcodes. The idea was you just roll your shopping cart past a reader station. He said they got it sort of working. Worked but the cost was too high. And the reader RF power was way too high.

And has since the beginning of time. Adam Smith discussed such devaluations and the incentives in his seminal work back in the 1700’s.

"The worker will be free to move to the room or zone that fits the mood they’re looking for."

No need for my company, or any company, to build this. As it turns out I already have an environment where I can move from "zone to zone" as I see fit - my home.