In Yesterday's IO Keynote Google declared war on the remnants of the Web.
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In Yesterday's IO Keynote Google declared war on the remnants of the Web.
While they packaged it as a lot of "AI" talk what their whole approach of decontextualizing information, of taking away links to sources and instead producing some LLM generated response means is that they want to establish a new abstraction layer on the web. Where Zuckerberg with his Metaverse failed Google is starting the next attack: Your website, your work no longer matters.
Well it matters as (unpaid) raw material for their synthetic text extruders but not as cultural artifact you can share with others.
This is a literal revolution but one against the participatory web, against us: The goal is to take away the web and guide people into Google's abstraction on top of it. An abstraction they control and moderate. It's about monopolizing access to information.
If you care about the web, about people's ability to participate in it as more than mere passive consumers, this needs to be taken seriously. De-Googlifying your mental apparatus becomes more urgent today. Find other search engines, don't use their browser. Or wake up in a slopified AOL kind of environment.
Information and data are the new means of production, and Google and many other Big Tech companies have spent decades building monopolies to act as the paid gatekeeper.
Buy a set of hard copy maps and encyclopaedias before they no longer exist.
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In Yesterday's IO Keynote Google declared war on the remnants of the Web.
While they packaged it as a lot of "AI" talk what their whole approach of decontextualizing information, of taking away links to sources and instead producing some LLM generated response means is that they want to establish a new abstraction layer on the web. Where Zuckerberg with his Metaverse failed Google is starting the next attack: Your website, your work no longer matters.
Well it matters as (unpaid) raw material for their synthetic text extruders but not as cultural artifact you can share with others.
This is a literal revolution but one against the participatory web, against us: The goal is to take away the web and guide people into Google's abstraction on top of it. An abstraction they control and moderate. It's about monopolizing access to information.
If you care about the web, about people's ability to participate in it as more than mere passive consumers, this needs to be taken seriously. De-Googlifying your mental apparatus becomes more urgent today. Find other search engines, don't use their browser. Or wake up in a slopified AOL kind of environment.
@tante welcome to the age of ultra processed web! We already have ultra processed food and it worked out so well (lol)
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@tante I think we can do significantly better than this. But what do I know. Take my advice and do as you please.
@codinghorror Look, I'd love to take your advice into consideration, I just don't fully get what you are going for
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@codinghorror I don't follow that train of thought to be honest. Where does this "humans are the problem" angle come from? I am talking about a specific move by a monopolist and a) the ways that people might try to protect themselves and b) ways of using collective power (as in politics) to protect the greater good
@tante @codinghorror you can't analyze this as a specific move by a monopolist in isolation from everything else happening
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@codinghorror I don't follow that train of thought to be honest. Where does this "humans are the problem" angle come from? I am talking about a specific move by a monopolist and a) the ways that people might try to protect themselves and b) ways of using collective power (as in politics) to protect the greater good
@tante it just depends if you want to be effective or not. See https://infosec.exchange/@codinghorror/116606215038359341 .. I ain't the boss of you, nor do I pretend to be. Do whatever you want.
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@codinghorror corporations aren't humanity jeff
@tante@jackeric @codinghorror @tante Corporations don't act. It's always humans within or behind them.
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@tante @codinghorror you can't analyze this as a specific move by a monopolist in isolation from everything else happening
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@codinghorror Look, I'd love to take your advice into consideration, I just don't fully get what you are going for
@tante pretty sure I made it quite clear here https://infosec.exchange/@codinghorror/116606215038359341 I can definitely keep typing if ya want me to
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@jackeric @codinghorror @tante Corporations don't act. It's always humans within or behind them.
@goedelchen @codinghorror @tante Better to act against the corporation itself if at all possible, rather than the people leading them - we can't all be Luigi
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@tante pretty sure I made it quite clear here https://infosec.exchange/@codinghorror/116606215038359341 I can definitely keep typing if ya want me to
@tante (protip: ya don't, really. KILL META NOW)
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@goedelchen @codinghorror @tante Better to act against the corporation itself if at all possible, rather than the people leading them - we can't all be Luigi
@jackeric @goedelchen @tante only the very best of us can be Luigi.
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@codinghorror I don't follow that train of thought to be honest. Where does this "humans are the problem" angle come from? I am talking about a specific move by a monopolist and a) the ways that people might try to protect themselves and b) ways of using collective power (as in politics) to protect the greater good
@tante Take a look at this - it is heartening
republica 2026 berlin
*1 day ago From 18-20 May 2026, STATION Berlin will once again be hosting talks, panels, workshops, meetups, an expo area, makerspaces and more with over 1,000 speakers on more than 20 stages.* @codinghorror
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@tante switch to a different search enginr. Did thst long ago when google search rrsults started to be crap already.
@1024Bytes Changing to a different search engine does not fix our collective issue. At best it delays it for you individually.
This is something Google started a couple years ago even before the AI summary crap and de-contextualising. Specialised websites all over the web have simply vanished* as the people maintaining them did not see any use in that when the sites became effectively invisible.
Unfortunately other search engines do the same.*my example: https://mastodon.online/@Pepijn/111991376150442267
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@tante pretty sure I made it quite clear here https://infosec.exchange/@codinghorror/116606215038359341 I can definitely keep typing if ya want me to
@codinghorror Solid list Jeff, but I really don't understand why you're being a dick to @tante about this. "focus fire" also means minimizing friendly fire against key allies
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@tante pretty sure I made it quite clear here https://infosec.exchange/@codinghorror/116606215038359341 I can definitely keep typing if ya want me to
@codinghorror I am 100% on board with you. I've shot against all those companies, have advised policians and parliaments to take action against them.
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In Yesterday's IO Keynote Google declared war on the remnants of the Web.
While they packaged it as a lot of "AI" talk what their whole approach of decontextualizing information, of taking away links to sources and instead producing some LLM generated response means is that they want to establish a new abstraction layer on the web. Where Zuckerberg with his Metaverse failed Google is starting the next attack: Your website, your work no longer matters.
Well it matters as (unpaid) raw material for their synthetic text extruders but not as cultural artifact you can share with others.
This is a literal revolution but one against the participatory web, against us: The goal is to take away the web and guide people into Google's abstraction on top of it. An abstraction they control and moderate. It's about monopolizing access to information.
If you care about the web, about people's ability to participate in it as more than mere passive consumers, this needs to be taken seriously. De-Googlifying your mental apparatus becomes more urgent today. Find other search engines, don't use their browser. Or wake up in a slopified AOL kind of environment.
@tante I think that this needs to be more widely known and it poses the question: how can you communicate this clearly to lay-people.
Here we are in a kind of echo-chamber with a techie bias. Many valid points are raised about subjects with broad impact, but I realise that a lot of the language and concepts are difficult if you are not experienced in the topic.
Note that this is not a plea to dumb down. If the message is so important, can we amplify it and spread it using language which a non-tech person would get without corrupting the meaning?
This applies to using the fediverse as well - how can it be communicated and made more accessible?
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@tante I think that this needs to be more widely known and it poses the question: how can you communicate this clearly to lay-people.
Here we are in a kind of echo-chamber with a techie bias. Many valid points are raised about subjects with broad impact, but I realise that a lot of the language and concepts are difficult if you are not experienced in the topic.
Note that this is not a plea to dumb down. If the message is so important, can we amplify it and spread it using language which a non-tech person would get without corrupting the meaning?
This applies to using the fediverse as well - how can it be communicated and made more accessible?
Why not having a web site with a curated list of your preferred trusted web sites ?
Or revive the Gopher protocol ?
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Why not having a web site with a curated list of your preferred trusted web sites ?
Or revive the Gopher protocol ?
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@tante ok so we're at war with ... (checks notes) Google? Not Meta? Not Microsoft? Not Amazon? Not Oracle? Not Palantir? Not Apple? Not Tesla? Not X?
@codinghorror @tante
US BT -
In Yesterday's IO Keynote Google declared war on the remnants of the Web.
While they packaged it as a lot of "AI" talk what their whole approach of decontextualizing information, of taking away links to sources and instead producing some LLM generated response means is that they want to establish a new abstraction layer on the web. Where Zuckerberg with his Metaverse failed Google is starting the next attack: Your website, your work no longer matters.
Well it matters as (unpaid) raw material for their synthetic text extruders but not as cultural artifact you can share with others.
This is a literal revolution but one against the participatory web, against us: The goal is to take away the web and guide people into Google's abstraction on top of it. An abstraction they control and moderate. It's about monopolizing access to information.
If you care about the web, about people's ability to participate in it as more than mere passive consumers, this needs to be taken seriously. De-Googlifying your mental apparatus becomes more urgent today. Find other search engines, don't use their browser. Or wake up in a slopified AOL kind of environment.
@tante
"De-Googling" our minds is urgent. They are using the open web as free raw material for AI, turning active participants into passive consumers in a closed, monopolized digital environment. Wake up before we end up in a sloppy AOL-style walled garden.
