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+Wim Wenders, in “Written in the West” — his most excellent book of photographic research for his film, Paris, Texas — writes:
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+Solitude and taking photographs are connected in an important way. If you aren't alone, you can never acquire this way of seeing, this complete immersion in what you see, no longer needing to interpret, just looking.
+...
+If you're not alone you take different photos. I rarely feel the urge to take pictures if I’m not on my own.
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+Stop giving away your work to people who don’t care about it. Host it yourself. Distribute it via methods you control. Build your audience deliberately and on your own terms.
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+I don’t read a lot of philosophy, but I found Crawford’s book here timely, deeply considered and very profound. He takes a thoughtful approach to how one constructs an authentic life in a world surrounded by “choice architects” that mediate our experiences through technology.Blair Reeves added,
+Crawford is better known for his first book, “Shop Class as Soulcraft,” which ruminates on the value of engaging with the physical world in one’s work. The dude is both a philosophy professor and owns his own motorcycle repair shop in Richmond.
+A lot to absorb in this book, but two parts that really resonated with me: Crawford points to our attention itself as a precious resource (which it is), and describes how protecting it against politico-corporate imperatives to seize it helps construct ourselves intentionally.
+In addition: he goes into some lengths discussing the cultures of traditional craftsmanship in fields like glasswork, pipe organs and engine mechanics, in which, technological progress aside, real excellence is achieved only in a community of expert practitioners.
+“The World Beyond Your Head” was, to me, a powerful rebuttal to the mantra of technology as the chief driver of human progress and a mis-centering of the modern self. I strongly recommend it.
+The internet’s slow transformation from a collection of communities into just another media platform has lots of causes, and is not wholly a bad thing. After all, media platforms should exist on the internet. The problem is that passive consumption as a primary mode of engagement turns the user into a product to be securitized and sold, exactly as Facebook does and many others aspire to. It leads to an algorithmization of the online experience that, aside from removing individual agency, is also frequently manipulated into promoting whatever wacky, far-out craziness “performs” well in your given demographic. (As a 30-something white guy, I can attest that the portals into alt-righty Trumpism basically follow me around the internet.)
+"What I have found is that once you recognize the “choice architects” for what they are, you begin to see them everywhere. They are the sites you visit, the networks you use, right down to the form factor of device that is your internet portal. The internet is inherently a mediated platform, after all, and there’s just no getting away from any filter whatsoever. In the real world, you can’t just Richard Stallman your way through the internet. Thus, it becomes a question of making the right choices to maximize your agency and take what control of your internet experience any one person can."
+@BlairReeves