Damus’ new “who to follow” feature is as offensive as YouTube or Netflix or Amazon’s watch recommendations. Algorithms that guide thought inhibit personal exploration, and consolidate opinions into a unified groupthink. This is the proof of stake model…those who have the most (dollars or followers) encourage governing algorithms to boost their product selectively over the products of others.
In Frederick Douglass’ Narrative, he describes being struck by the poverty of the northern people that he met upon his arrival in Newport. His conclusion was that without slavery as he had known in the south, there can be no wealth.
In the modern world where half of the wealth is owned by 0.1% of the population, where 3 billion live in poverty, where a single country siphons away the resources from most of the third world countries, and where the predominant economic model keeps the masses in a perpetual state of wage dependence and debt peonage, the injustices of slavery persist.
