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Agnes Callard’s theory of the uni-context

derekthompson.org

41–50 of 108 posts

Re: Agnes Callard’s theory of the uni-context

#41
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the reason I am not on any socials. It is purely promotional

This is social media unless you change your nick often, but even then people run stylometric analysis all over this site. Nobody is truly anonymous on the internet.

This is why I just use my name… it also helps me dial in my tone when I know I’m putting my name behind a comment.

Re: Agnes Callard’s theory of the uni-context

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is social media unless you change your nick often, but even then people run stylometric analysis all over this site. Nobody is truly anonymous on the internet.

This is why I just use my name… it also helps me dial in my tone when I know I’m putting my name behind a comment.

The "dialing in your tone" you're talking about is precisely context collapse.

Re: Agnes Callard’s theory of the uni-context

#43
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think many social sites have tried to solve it, but in a world where anything is easily saved or screenshotted, it's still effectively a "universal room". Not to mention that properly implementing a form of role-based access control is a big ask for a lot users. Not tying your IRL identity to online communications only solves one side of the problem. You can't use your anon accounts to communicate as yourself to fa…

In Europe the operator of a website that is not purely personal is required to write their full name and address on the website. This is also bad in the opposite direction.

In Germany only.

Re: Agnes Callard’s theory of the uni-context

#44
post #33

Like most of these things, one can bemoan it and say “oh it’s terrible that this is how it is” but I think it’s pretty easy to self-test this to see it’s adaptive for a reason. Brendan Eich was fired from Mozilla as CTO because of a small donation in favour of Prop 8. Fine? I think most people here would say yes. In fact people did say that. I think many people would say they don’t want to have a plumber who opposes…

It also works both ways. Yes a plumber can be more easily outed as anti-gay and fired, but the same uni-context makes the plumber more likely to be anti-gay and more strongly anti-gay in the first place. Being exposed to anti-gay propaganda all the time will do that. Otherwise you just have people who are like, their church told them it was bad to be gay, but they don't really care about it.

Re: Agnes Callard’s theory of the uni-context

#45

I'm having immense problems digesting this interview to understand the concept of the uni-context. It does sound very interesting and right up my alley. I also don't seem to be able to use internet search anymore (probably a user error) so if anyone has a link to a document, soundfile or video of Agnes Callard explaining the concept without the interuptions from a interviewer that is more interested in contributing t…

> I also don't seem to be able to use internet search anymore A bit off topic, but you're not the only one. I've grown up with the internet and yet I'm now completely unable to find things on demand. I sometimes resort to claude, not because I want to, but because it's so difficult to search the real internet now. Asking claude, then asking claude for sources, can uncover hidden gems. ( It can also reveal claude talk…

I believe this is often because things fall off the internet. Back in the early days, things were added more frequently than they were removed, because there wasn't much to remove. Now, it's reached equilibrium - things are also frequently removed.

Re: Agnes Callard’s theory of the uni-context

#46
post #11

This is an interesting perspective on the concept of "atomization of the individual", which the interview interestingly does not refer to. Both atomization and the "uni-context" arise from the destruction of an individual's local contexts, like family and community, leaving them an individual in a global, maximally-large pool of individuals, the so-called uni-context. Atomization has clear motivations: increasing the…

You made me wonder what would happen if I put a sign out front advertising people can borrow my lawnmower for free.

Worst I'd have to lose is a lawnmower.

I don't have a lawnmower or a lawn. But if I did... interesting experiment.

Re: Agnes Callard’s theory of the uni-context

#47
post #29

There are some of us (late generation-X / early millennial) who saw this coming and still maintain a variety of separate identities across many domains. I don't know why someone would want to have the same identity in the workplace as on internet forums, for example. Social media appears to have given many people the idea that they ought to cultivate their public identity from an early age as preparation for internet…

Unfortunately that isn't a solution. When you keep separate identities, the only thing that can exist across platforms is your own participation. Everything you say and do is isolated to whichever identity and platform you are using in that moment. You still don't have the opportunity to exist completely, because your self has been fragmented. Even if you did manage to create a cross-platform identity, the product of…

I think this misses the point. As the article points out, people could and would act differently in different contexts: Home, the Church, the Bar. They weren't lacking opportunity to "exist completely".

The whole point of the omni-context is that you are putting yourself in a space where you have to act in a way that is appropriate to all of those places.

I would say things in the Bar that I would not want the reverend, my grandmother or my children to hear - but in the uni-context I have to mediate my speech to what is appropriate to all of those audiences or risk judgement for it.

The uni-context discourages expression. It's like a dystopia where everything you say and do is recorded and can be recalled for judgement at any time. And yet people sign up for it.

Trying to maintain separate context, different identities across platforms is an attempt to fight against that and to limit the risk that something I say on one plaform is not going to destroy my social credit in every other platform where I participate.

Re: Agnes Callard’s theory of the uni-context

#49
post #29

There are some of us (late generation-X / early millennial) who saw this coming and still maintain a variety of separate identities across many domains. I don't know why someone would want to have the same identity in the workplace as on internet forums, for example. Social media appears to have given many people the idea that they ought to cultivate their public identity from an early age as preparation for internet…

The article explains the distinction between identity and character. You are talking about character.

Re: Agnes Callard’s theory of the uni-context

#50
post #29

There are some of us (late generation-X / early millennial) who saw this coming and still maintain a variety of separate identities across many domains. I don't know why someone would want to have the same identity in the workplace as on internet forums, for example. Social media appears to have given many people the idea that they ought to cultivate their public identity from an early age as preparation for internet…

I think this is one reason online anonymity is so important for some of us. It is the thing that let's us tamp down the great unification, at least a little.
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