“Money,” they say, “is the symbol of duty, it is the sacrament of having done for mankind that which mankind wanted. Mankind may not be a very good judge, but there is no better.” quote from Understanding Media… Tim Bouma Oct 14, 2024, 1:28 PM
Just. Wow. Reading Marshall McLuhan's chapter on money. He describes the tradition of potlatch where huge surpluses of food are purposefully destroyed for the purpose of maintaining traditional social order. Rice exposed to rain or elaborate art constructions, involving tremendous effort, smashed. Makes me wonder if the ulterior Tim Bouma Oct 14, 2024, 12:55 PM
"When the Spaniards were besieging Leyden in 1574, leather money was issued, but as hardship increased the population boiled and ate the new currency." Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964… Tim Bouma Oct 14, 2024, 12:44 PM
Everything is an information channel. With most information channels being digital: Claude Shannon showed us how to communicate a digital public signal through noise using redundancy. Whitfield Diffie showed us how to communicate a digital private signal through noise without an intermediary. Together, these two capabilities are the foundation of… Tim Bouma Oct 13, 2024, 7:19 PM
One of the greatest contributors to literature in the 20th century was the ballpoint pen. Still early in the 21st century, but my bet is that the smartphone (not the Google/Apple versions) will be one of the greatest contributors to individual freedom. If you read about the innovation of… Tim Bouma Oct 13, 2024, 12:23 PM
