My travels to places where there are no paths to follow.
How to detect fake news?
I think the brouhaha about “detecting fake news” (and the underlying notion of “fake news” itself) is utterly wrong because it teaches people to think in simplistic boxes, in almost black-and-white terms.
Hey people, I’ve got news for you (and it isn’t fake): Continue reading “How to detect fake news?”
Writing this piece on the eve of the national elections on May 9, I think all will agree that the presidential and vice-presidential contest has been the most bitterly fought since the 1986 snap elections.
The fight has been a no-holds-barred grudge fight. Chances are it will continue that way until Election Day, and probably even beyond. Several factors have created this situation. Mindful of column space and time limitations, I should mention at least three highly influential factors. Continue reading “Nurturing mass-based politics online”
Sometimes, like a youth wistfully pining for a lost teenage love on a rainy night like this, I’m stricken by an irrational wish for the online world to revert back to 1992-1994.
Twenty years ago, the BBS community was earthy and robust, and the Internet was young and full of promise. Back then, I was a wide-eyed online newbie fumbling with a 2400-bps modem and AT commands. My computer was a clunky Toshiba laptop running on DOS, with an RJ-11 jack, an RS-232 serial port, and two 3.5″ floppy drives with a total 2.8 Mb active storage space.
Continue reading “Internet love and nerdy thoughts on a rainy night”