The Internet Has Gone Foul. [Part IV of IV]

“Automation and cybernation can play an essential role in smoothing the transition to the new society… The computer can be used to direct a network of global thermostats to pattern life in ways that will optimize human awareness. Already, it’s technologically feasible to employ the computer to program societies in beneficial ways… There’s nothing at … Read more

The Internet Has Gone Foul. [Part III of IV]

…Now, the story that I want to tell you began in 1971, in the middle of the year. I’d been going around, using this model that I have explained to you, in big companies, in agencies, in all sorts of places. And then I suddenly got a letter which very much changed my life. It … Read more

The Internet Has Gone Foul. [Part II of IV]

Welcome back. For those of you just joining us, I ended Part I where Stafford Beer’s Designing Freedom begins, in a “little house… in a quiet village on the western coast of Chile”. With the benefit of hindsight and history, we now know that Beer was describing the town of Las Cruces — but we’ll … Read more

The Internet Has Gone Foul. [Part I of IV]

“Let me tell you some things I find productive. Positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement. Honesty. I’ll tell you some things I find unproductive: constantly worrying about where you stand based on inscrutable social clues, and then inevitably re-framing it all in a reassuring way so that you can get to sleep at night. No, I do … Read more

Fear and Loathing is the Campaign Trail ’23 (Part II of III)

“Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand,Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatch’d:Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,Unhous’led, disappointed, unanel’d;No reckoning made, but sent to my accountWith all my imperfections on my head.O horrible! O horrible! most horrible!If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not.” — The Tragedy … Read more

Cats Can Be Chonky, Your Website Should Not: Page Weight And Other Common SEO Pitfalls

I’ve been loath to write on the topic of Search Engine Optimization (or “SEO”) since opening my consultancy and starting this blog. In fact, if you flipped through the pages describing Kairos Media’s services, you’d find that they barely mention SEO at all, save for a passing reference when talking about website planning and architecture. There are … Read more

Are Conversions The Ultimate Vanity Metric?

Ahhhh, the “vanity metric”: that all-purpose filler of pitch-decks, scourge of data analysts, and lifeblood of Internet marketing charlatans everywhere. Countless articles have been written warning of the danger they pose to organizational decision-making. Untold volumes of digital ink have been spilled urging marketers to focus less on the numbers that make them feel good … Read more