A letter from Om Issue #08/2023

Hi! In case you are new around here, I’m Om. In this letter, I share my latest thoughts, articles worth reading from around the web, my recommendations & occasionally, my photography.

In this issue, I address the following: 

• Social has made us anti-social
• Two new essays
• Some recent blog posts 
• My new favorite app. 
• 3 good reading recommendations.

Social has made us anti-social

It is a long weekend in the United States. I am celebrating Independence Day, staying away from the social web (and the Internet) to give my mind and body a chance to exhale from the ballast of bullshit it receives via social and mainstream media. Lately, social media has been even more tiresome. 

Every day on social media, I am reminded that if I have half a brain, impulse control, and respect for my intelligence, I should not be on any social media platform. 

The so-called free speech absolutist is not so literal in his translation of free speech — it is more like what I think is “speech you can have for free.” People who promote federated web, aka web kumbaya, are not as open to federating with Meta. And those making or backing the alternatives also believe in idiots who don’t believe in science. 

If all the leaders of social platforms are not very social or socially adept people, should we be surprised that we have ended up in such an antisocial society?

I am getting the weekend rolling early — so there is not much to add, except I am sharing a couple of long essays I have written since the last issue of the newsletter. Read at your leisure. In addition, I have links to some of my recent blog posts — I am blogging more often — and some recommendations from across the Internet. 

Log off and enjoy your weekend with family and friends. 

Two New Essays

1. Arnold’s Docuseries: A Case Study in Online Content Pollution: The irony of the Internet age; even though information is easily accessible, people often cannot find what they are looking for. The real cause of this is the increasing info-pollution, which can help forget the past. Everything becomes a blur.
2. Why Apple’s Vision Pro Will Change Movie-Watching:  The driving forces of change in the movie experience have been the human desire for comfort and convenience. We went from drive-in theaters to indoor theaters to multiplexes. The same forces pushed us from VHS tapes to streaming services. Apple’s Vision Pro is the next obvious step. 

My recommendation: 

Why I love MacWhisper? 

This is my new favorite app, which uses AI to help me with my transcriptions and helps me save money by not paying for now seemingly outdated services like Otter. It is recommended for those who have the new Apple Silicon Macs. 

Other Recent Writings 

1. Like everything, data, too, needs power & water.
2. AI Hype: Smoke and Mirrors
3. Is AI a snake that eats itself? 
4. Why Elon is being a cheapskate 
5. Cord Cutting doom loop

Worth reading

• Rule number one of 21st century: we hate winners. No wonder people dislike F1’s Christian Horner so much. 
• Winning and success might bring money, but it doesn’t bring happiness. A look at the sad life of Zappo’ Tony Hseih.
• The furor over LLMs shouldn’t distract us from the fact that this is a big step for the world from a technological perspective. Just as it shouldn’t distract us from the fact that this is an error-prone technology, writes The National Interest magazine. 

On the Beach: a new photo essay

Despite the charm, I never found Stinson to be a photographic muse. After 15 trips, I’m yet to capture a ‘portfolio-worthy’ snap. So this year, I decided to go light & simple – and this is what I came up. 

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PS: Visit the blog, where I occasionally post short blog posts with links and nuggets of goodness about tech, science, and life in general. You can find my essays,  interviews, and photos on Om.co.