This excellent article by @molly0xfff reminded me of the sci-fi trope where everyone in the future lives in a domed bunker & gets told not to go outside because it's a wasteland filled with Bad People.
Of course the protagonists leave the dome & find that the reality is a bit different: outside can be scary, but it's not the hellscape they were told.
Big Tech walled gardens are the dome; outside them is a risky wonderland that’s ours for the taking.
@angusm@molly0xfff I love Molly, but this article didn't work for me. I quickly got lost among the metaphors.
I was hoping for some acknowledgement of the fact that most people like the walled gardens. They work better for those who don't chuckle at an apt hex code in a username. And unlike e.g. iOS v. Android, no one is trapped in any particular garden. You can join as many as you like.
Plus, there's some benefit to the Eternal September people having a place to go and just be people.
@jordan@angusm@molly0xfff They love the walled gardens just because they don’t know of the alternatives. Sure, the alternatives can be more complex, like driving your own car is harder than taking the bus. But that is basically what they are doing. They are the passengers, not the drivers.
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