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Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

richardosgood.com

201–210 of 396 posts

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#201
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "information wants to be free" discourse of just under 30 years ago feels so charmingly naive now that we've seen how lies are also information and can travel even better using the same flow.

What exactly is this "information wants to be free" discourse? The arguments for and against freedom of speech as a foundational social principle span at least 300 continuous years.

> What exactly is this "information wants to be free" discourse?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_wants_to_be_free

> The arguments for and against freedom of speech

It’s not about freedom of speech but about access to information.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#202
post #198
post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have peak flow of propaganda and disinformation to a cartoonish level.

While true, i don’t see how you can have one without the other. “Fighting disinformation” is the banner under which free flow is necessarily interrupted.

Yes and no I think. If you analyse it, the censors will work to actually block channels where the truth can be shared. What's left over time is only the government sanctioned media, which over time becomes more and more corrupt with disinformation. So I think I agree with your second sentence but not your first, in that if we didn't pretend to fight disinformation, I think we wouldn't have so much of it.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#203
post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have abundant free flow of information today and yet I see a rise of tyranny. "This is how democracy dies, with thunderous applause." feels more grounded in reality.

We have peak flow of propaganda and disinformation to a cartoonish level.

Unfortunately we do not have a solution for countering this kind of a 'denial of service' attack on information consumption.

It is trivial to concoct believable lies as compared to the effort needed to debunk them in a way that is effective at social scale.

Perhaps the only weapon is to teach how to think for oneself. Who is going to invest in that in a scale necessary? Those who have the resources to do that do not have sufficient motivation. Often the motivation to do the opposite is stronger.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#204
post #34

“As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth’s final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to informatio…

We have abundant free flow of information today and yet I see a rise of tyranny. "This is how democracy dies, with thunderous applause." feels more grounded in reality.

We don't. Search engines return a limited number of results from "trusted media" and dissident opinion, whether balanced or batshit crazy, is all lumped together as misinformation and conspiracy theory.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would be correct there are no "banned books" in America. When people say "banned book" they mean that a certain level of government such as a school board or municipality has "banned" them from being in a public (often school) library. But the headline "In [state I disagree with] they are banning books that have [ideas I agree with]" makes a lot more headlines and clicks. Then people run with the phrase "banned b…

Each state is part of the USA, and each state DOES ban some books. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_banning_in_the_United_Sta... USA is ultra conservative on the average in comparison to just any European state for example.

None of those books are banned.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#207
post #6

Years ago there was PirateBox: flash a small Wifi access point with a custom firmware that's a webserver that hosts a forum/filehost. Their website is dead, but here's a mod of the project; https://www.jasongriffey.net/librarybox/ Although, I dread to think what sort of files one would get when user uploads are allowed.

I built a PirateBox with an old Asus access point once. It was a bit of a dissapointing experience. Mostly because people were scared to access an open wifi point. Plus it did not 'give one free internet' so people usually immediately disconnected. Unfortunately the Library Box mod is also no longer an active project.

I had the same experience. I ran it on the original Pi zero with a WiFi dongle, in the middle of a busy town. Not a single interaction.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#208
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "information wants to be free" discourse of just under 30 years ago feels so charmingly naive now that we've seen how lies are also information and can travel even better using the same flow.

What exactly is this "information wants to be free" discourse? The arguments for and against freedom of speech as a foundational social principle span at least 300 continuous years.

popular refrain around the "Free Kevin" era ca. 1999 or so. See also "Boycott RIAA" etc.

I shared its optimism and naivete :-(

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#210

I'd be interested in the banned book list. A glance at the socials with the biggest one missing suggests there will be no interesting books on it. Just the ones you can find in "banned books" stands at mainstream bookstores. Absolute mediocrity of thought free of meaningful diversity.

It's here: https://codeberg.org/rickoooooo/BannedBookLibrary/src/branch...

For the curious, the "banned" books are (it's a short list):

  - Call of the Wild - Jack London
  - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
  - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
  - Women in Love - D.H. Lawrence
Stunning and brave.
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