I asked my doctor if there is a decent alternative to wearing a respirator to protect yourself and she said yes there is a decent alternative to wearing a respirator to protect yourself: a society …| LibrarianShipwreck
If only I knew how to convince people that they should care about sick cattle and dead birds but I don’t even know how to convince people that they should care about other people. * I’v…| LibrarianShipwreck
Had you asked at the pandemic’s start how long I planned on documenting it for I would have said I didn’t expect the pandemic to last too long. If you ask now how much longer I plan on …| LibrarianShipwreck
The climatologists say if you look the signs of change are everywhere. The epidemiologists say if you look the signs of the pandemic are everywhere. The political scientists say if you look the sig…| LibrarianShipwreck
Apologies, my friend, I know that these are dark and difficult times but you must remember it is in the moment when you cannot imagine how things can get any worse that you must prepare yourself fo…| LibrarianShipwreck
My friend, the doctor, says right now everyone is getting sick. My friend, the teacher, says right now everyone is using AI. My friend, the activist, says right now everyone is giving up. My friend…| LibrarianShipwreck
A scientist told me the real story is the unfolding of climate change. And a doctor told me the real story is the ongoing pandemic. And an activist told me the real story is the rise of fascism. An…| LibrarianShipwreck
I know a modeler who says we should pay attention to the NB variant. And I know an epidemiologist who says we should pay attention to the XFG variant. And I know a doctor who says we should pay att…| LibrarianShipwreck
“The myth of technological and political and social inevitability is a powerful tranquilizer of the conscience. Its service is to remove responsibility from the shoulders of everyone who trul…| LibrarianShipwreck
You’ve probably heard of that person who knew how to recognize the signs of an approaching tsunami and was thus able to warn their family in time, so please know that in this moment those who…| LibrarianShipwreck
In these dark times we are all of us plagued: plagued by self-doubt and plagued by grief, plagued by guilt and plagued by fear, yes, in these dark times we are all of us plagued by so many difficul…| LibrarianShipwreck
Eventually, the disaster that was unfolding rapidly will begin to feel like it is unfolding slowly, but you must not allow this change of pace to distract you from the fact that the disaster is sti…| LibrarianShipwreck
If they ask you how we will get through the next pandemic, tell them we will get through the next pandemic the same way we got through the current pandemic: by taking care of each other. And when t…| LibrarianShipwreck
I know an economist who says at this point none of us really know what will happen next. And I know an epidemiologist who says at this point all of us need to know the pandemic is still happening. …| LibrarianShipwreck
Should they respond to your precautionary ways by asking you: “but what if you’re wrong?” tell them that you can live with being wrong, because if you are right you might not live…| LibrarianShipwreck
People generally do not like being spied on, but what people like even less than the actual spying is having to recognize that it is going on when they had previously been able to pretend it was no…| LibrarianShipwreck
Humans sneeze information, and while most of us then just throw away the tissue, there are others who greedily fish this rag from the trash to analyze the traces left behind (I know, kind of gross)…| LibrarianShipwreck
To what extent does a motto such as “Don’t be evil,” truly mean anything? After all, such smiling simplicity in a mission statement may sound good even as it solicits scoffs, but is that three word…| LibrarianShipwreck
In response: to every piece of grim news my friend writes me to say “I have a bad feeling about this,” and though I worry about him and worry about the news, I am much more worried abou…| LibrarianShipwreck
Apologies, the last thing I want is to romanticize the past, catastrophes and barbarism, cruelty and plagues, none of these things are new, yes, I understand, that we have always lived amidst crise…| LibrarianShipwreck
I sit here with lectures to write, and papers to grade, and emails to send, the world around me is ripping apart, and though I know I should be trying desperately trying to mend those rips, I find …| LibrarianShipwreck
As the economy worsens you may come to regret the money you spent on unnecessary goods, and the energy you spent on marketable skills, but even as the economy worsens please know the time you devot…| LibrarianShipwreck
I do not know if we will make it through these dark times, but I am certain that if we make it it will not be because we just carried on, it will be because we carried each other. * I sent my frien…| LibrarianShipwreck
The scholars who have studied the dark times keep warning that fascism begins not with jackboots on the march, but with empathy in retreat, and I fear, my friends, that this pandemic has convinced …| LibrarianShipwreck
“The computer has long been a solution looking for problems—the ultimate technological fix which insulates us from having to look at problems.” – Joseph Weizenbaum (1983) Trying to kee…| LibrarianShipwreck
After years of pretending that the current pandemic isn’t still happening we are well prepared we are very well prepared to pretend that the next pandemic isn’t about to happen. * When …| LibrarianShipwreck
What we are eating often remains a bit of a mystery. We may know what it says on the packaging or what it says on the menu – but when the food enters our mouth there is often a certain act of faith…| LibrarianShipwreck
As the sun set on March 7th a diffuse band of marathoners began an arduous trek: the “National Day of Unplugging.” From sundown on the 7th to sundown on the 8th these brave participants would aim t…| LibrarianShipwreck
Almost all historians agree on the following fact: Internet access on the Titanic was terrible. Really, it was just horrible. It was nearly impossible to get a wireless signal, the connection speed…| LibrarianShipwreck
1. If there is to be a great anti-technology bogeyman, that dubious honor may belong to General Ned Ludd: the great marauding miscreant, armed with a sledgehammer and an army of acolytes who have c…| LibrarianShipwreck
A specter is haunting our technological society – it is the specter of General Ludd. Granted, Luddite is generally not considered to be a complementary term. Most of the time, when it is used it is…| LibrarianShipwreck
1. A History of Too Much Information Modern technology allows for the accumulation and utilization of information on a historically unprecedented scale. While organizations in previous times – whet…| LibrarianShipwreck
1. How might a person understand a collection of millions of phone records? The easy answer is that they would not. Millions of records is too much for a single person to try to wrestle with. There…| LibrarianShipwreck
Admit it you always kind of wondered what you would have done had you been alive during the dark times of the previous century, and now that you are here during the dark times of the current centur…| LibrarianShipwreck
I am sorry but it is too late to heed the warnings of those who decades ago said we were on track to wind up right where we are now, but if you would honor Cassandra’s kinfolk you can start b…| LibrarianShipwreck
I asked my aunt, the doctor, if she believes 2025 will be different from 2024, and she replied: yes, it will probably be different. And when I asked her for more details she explained that in 2024 …| LibrarianShipwreck
It is a difficult task to try to convince people that they should care about sick birds and cows and cats, about dying birds and cows and cats, when recent years have shown that most people donR…| LibrarianShipwreck
There is an old saying that the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago but the next best time is today. And in this moment in which case numbers are growing know that the best time to start…| LibrarianShipwreck
An odd thing occurs if one tries to locate Mount Sinai within a recent atlas – for that mountain of such storied import is no longer where one might expect to find it. Today, alas, if one wants to …| LibrarianShipwreck
Some of the appeal of new technologies is the ease with which they can be used. Though we may recognize, on a subconscious level, that these devices represent impressive feats of mining, engineerin…| LibrarianShipwreck
Technology poses many questions. This inquisition occurs at multiple levels, there are the questions that it clearly asks of us: name, password, birthday, credit card number, address, where your fr…| LibrarianShipwreck
When engaging in a contemporary conversation about human rights it is inevitable that the matter of technology will be brought up. The interesting thing is not that this issue arises, but rather th…| LibrarianShipwreck
The games have ended and the Olympians have all gone home so now you won’t hear any more about how this or that athlete contracted the virus, no, the games have ended, so now you will only he…| LibrarianShipwreck
“The myth of technological and political and social inevitability is a powerful tranquilizer of the conscience. Its service is to remove responsibility from the shoulders of everyone who trul…| LibrarianShipwreck
We fly over the mountains As though there was nothing to it Great are the works of humans! But bread for all? We can’t do it. Child, ask why Can we not feed the hungry.- Brecht When things are goin…| LibrarianShipwreck
“If you fall in love with a machine there is something wrong with your love-life. If you worship a machine there is something wrong with your religion.” – Lewis Mumford (1952) The…| LibrarianShipwreck
“The viability of technology, like democracy, depends in the end on the practice of justice and on the enforcement of limits to power.” – Ursula Franklin I. Is technology a proble…| LibrarianShipwreck
Without even needing to look at the copyright page, an aware reader may be able to date the work of a technology critic simply by considering the technological systems, or forms of media, being cri…| LibrarianShipwreck
Have no doubts about the one who tells you he is afraid But be afraid of the one who tells you he has no doubts – Erich Fried 1) Somewhere between the first page and the tenth page of most bo…| LibrarianShipwreck
The juxtaposition between the potential of technology and its actual manifestation can be rather jarring. Tools that promise to make tasks easier are used to automate people out of their jobs, devi…| LibrarianShipwreck
Possessing tremendous foresight is not always an uplifting attribute. Likewise, a keen sense of hindsight may provide as much of an education in ruins as in woebegone romance. Yet it is precisely b…| LibrarianShipwreck
My cousin who is heading to college asked for advice, but when I said “wear a mask” she said she’s scared if she does no one will want to be her friend, so I told her if they won&…| LibrarianShipwreck
Please note you must react to plagues in an appropriate manner: when facing the brown plague respond not with fear but with mockery, for fascists hate being laughed at; but when facing a literal pl…| LibrarianShipwreck
When the historians write of this day (and the historians will write of this day) I wonder how many of them will note the announcement was made while he was recovering at home sick with the virus f…| LibrarianShipwreck
I know, my friend, that now, especially now, you are frightened and anxious you are angry and distraught but if you feel you must do something and are unsure of what you should do start by putting …| LibrarianShipwreck
It is said that during the plague the bard wrote King Lear. Perhaps, but how many did not live to see it performed? * When they said “go out” I wanted to stay in. And when they said “stay in” I wan…| LibrarianShipwreck
Most of the time when I see a masked face it is only because I have seen my reflection but there are times when I see you all masking and though I am alone I am reminded that I am not really alone.…| LibrarianShipwreck
Only those who suffer from paranoid delusions truly believe that everyone else is out to get them but I must confess that there are days when I am surrounded entirely by unmasked faces and I can…| LibrarianShipwreck
You’ve probably heard that in the summer when someone tells you to put on sunscreen what they are saying is that they care about you. So please hear me when I say that in a pandemic when some…| LibrarianShipwreck
We laugh at horror movies for being unrealistic, faced with so many clear signs of the dangers ahead how unbelievable it is that the characters so blithely proceed yes, we laugh, at those doomed fo…| LibrarianShipwreck
You probably know someone who has lived through a disaster. Or someone who has lived through a car accident. Perhaps even someone who has lived through a cancer diagnosis. But, my friend, you have …| LibrarianShipwreck
“If you fall in love with a machine there is something wrong with your love life. If you worship a machine there is something wrong with your religion.” – Lewis Mumford It …| LibrarianShipwreck
Please, do not worry, though it is behind a mask I promise you that I have not forgotten how to smile yes, I know, I know, I need to find joy but right now I am busy trying to find my way through t…| LibrarianShipwreck
Behind me in the checkout aisle a man in a flag shirt kept asking why I was wearing a mask but I was not listening to him not really anyways because the pharmacy stereo was playing Donna Summer and…| LibrarianShipwreck
In the early days of the current pandemic everyone was sharing a map which reassuringly showed the countries best prepared and the countries least prepared for a pandemic but that was long ago now …| LibrarianShipwreck
