A little on the lighter side

[drwex]

https://soundcloud.com/officialsxsw/closing-remarks-bruce-sterling-sxsw-interactive-2016

Bruce Sterling's 30th closing remarks at SXSW. It takes a bit to get rolling but once he hits his stride it's hilarious, talking about the four (five) horsemen of the next apocalypse (Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon) and the parallels between them and the US government and how that relates to the definition of a "failed state."

Also, Trump as America's Berlusconi makes a disturbing amount of sense.

But mostly you listen for lines like, "Is there ANYBODY with drones over their heads who is doing what the people with drones want them to do?"

Comments

[psybelle.livejournal.com]

IBM?

Amazon. (Pestilence or Famine?)

[drwex]

Gah, you're right. I'll fix.

[psybelle.livejournal.com]

*grin* I'm not sure IBM even got a mention in the list of "doddering" companies like Hewlett Packard.

[wotw]

Berlusconi is the optimistic scenario. Mussolini is the scarier one.

[drwex]

I agree. I'm brewing a post that poses the question "Are we living in Weimar America"? but I haven't had the cycles to put it together yet (not least because it scares the everloving bejeezus out of me).