Seiler: Twitter goes full dystopia - Times Union

Flynne has go a pawn successful an espionage warfare between klepto-aristocrats: 1 broadside reaching backmost into the past successful bid to play with quality past similar a heedless kid mounting an anthill connected fire, the different trying to undo that harm and possibly ameliorate the jackpot to come. 

There's overmuch drama to beryllium derived from the integer connection betwixt aboriginal and past successful "The Peripheral": The London contingent is capable to determination tremendous pools of wealth astir successful our time, buying up everything from 3-D printing concatenation stores to quick-response mercenaries. They notation to Flynne's world arsenic a "stub," 1 of the infinite fig of branching streams created whenever idiosyncratic mucks with the past. 

There is, of course, immense irony successful the information that the TV bid is being produced by Amazon, whose CEO Jeff Bezos is 1 of the world's richest individuals. 

In the lawsuit of the antheral astatine the apical of that list, Elon Musk, we person a quality who — based connected his sanction unsocial — appears to person walked retired of a Thomas Pynchon caller earlier entering a Gibson novel. Musk's takeover of Twitter is little than 10 days old, and the level has already been thrust into chaos and uncertainty. As I constitute this connected Friday, Musk has begun laying disconnected what could magnitude to fractional of the company's unit arsenic helium attempts to make the profits needed to wage disconnected what's been reported arsenic $1 cardinal a twelvemonth successful indebtedness service.

Musk's archetypal large revenue-generating thought involves charging users who privation the "blue-check" verification level of information — folks often derided arsenic snobby media elites by lower-tier snobby media elites. Speaking arsenic the exertion of a medium-sized broadsheet newspaper, I privation to marque 1 happening perfectly clear: I person for years been ridiculed by my household for refusing to get verified, and if anyone thinks I'm going to wage $8 a period for the privilege, they're bonkers.

To get a crippled constituent from HBO's "Westworld" (a amusement that shares originative endowment with "The Peripheral"): Twitter's concern exemplary has ne'er been built astir providing a product, due to the fact that connected Twitter the idiosyncratic is the merchandise — sharing ephemera, linking to almighty pieces of journalism, oregon posting dingbat disinformation astir COVID-19 quack cures. If Musk wants to merchantability much advertizing astir that heap of worldly to make much revenue, spell for it.

He should, however, carnivore successful caput that less radical volition privation to sojourn the heap if it starts to stink similar salmon connected a sidewalk. Last weekend, I searched Twitter for the N-word and discovered conscionable however galore racists were excited by Musk's arrival, rendering the connection successful coagulated transcript blocks and clever graphic styles similar Jack Nicholson successful "The Shining" typing retired "All enactment and nary play makes Jack a dull boy." I reported a twelve of these accounts for violating Twitter's prohibition connected the usage of racial/ethnic slurs; arsenic of Friday, lone 3 of them had been addressed.

Musk has decided to dainty the trepidation of advertisers successful the mode a teenage thug successful a leather overgarment mightiness respond to a candy store owner's interest for his storefront window. "Twitter has had a monolithic driblet successful revenue, owed to activistic groups pressuring advertisers, adjacent though thing has changed with contented moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists," helium Tweeted. "Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destruct escaped code successful America." Nice ideology ya got determination — it'd beryllium a shame if thing happened to it.

NBC's Ben Collins, whose Twitter bio notes that helium covers the "dystopia beat" (a operation that sci-fi can't outdo), noted connected Friday that Musk's hollowing retired of the institution could person unsafe effects connected Election Day. "The website is built connected sticks, and it mightiness autumn apart," Collins said connected MSNBC, summarizing what shell-shocked employees were telling him. He said if Musk connected Monday starts allowing radical to pony up $8 to get verified, the effect could beryllium a postulation of fake accounts — purporting to beryllium candidates, predetermination officials, journalists oregon conscionable folks — posting garbage arsenic a federation tunes successful for facts.

A jackpot, indeed.