[Dove]

Every few years, I think Yahoo's old attempt to have real people build a phone directory of the web wasn't such a bad idea. And I occasionally wish Google still worked by seeing what other people thought was a worthy web page on a topic. My algorithm for finding worthwhile content is similar: I try to visit the community of interest and see what they like. There is no substitute for the human element in evaluating quality.

Interestingly, tragically, YouTube seems to have gotten the message that I like long form informational videos, and serves me ones with intriguing titles that are clearly written, illustrated, and read by AI. I seem to be training it to deceive me, which is not a good thing. In fact, I had trained it so well to push my psychological buttons that I recently had to leave entirely, which is surely not what anyone wants.

[gdulli]

A side effect of Reddit/Twitter/etc having captured most of the population/eternal September might be that a web directory has become feasible again. Ignore social media, ignore AI, ignore paywalled sites. What's left and high enough quality might be manageable to maintain a directory for.

Easier said than done, obviously, but the point is that the worthwhile web isn't so big anymore.

[physicles]

Every now and then someone shares a small web link here (Kagi is one aggregator). It’s like survivors picking up the shards of civilization after the apocalypse. Of course such a project can remain viable and useful as long as it remains niche, which is virtually guaranteed as long as there’s no money in it.

It’s incredible how too much money corrupts everything it touches.

[Dove]

Some of my best work has been done as a labor of love. I do have the vague impression that we as a society have taken a wrong turn in selling the sacred. I am not in favor of collapsing society down to hippie communes or anything, but it does seem to me that we told better stories back when stories were freer.

I sometimes imagine gathering up some number of like-minded electrical and software engineers, and founding some sort of monastary in which everyone was fed and taken care of and built the best technology they could, as a gift to humanity. I do wonder if the day's robber barons would find a way to shut us down, of course, but I still remember a bright and optimistic time when technology was made to serve people, not to oppress them, and it seems to me like a bright expression of human spirit that oughtn't to have been sold.