The True North strong and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee
When I wrote About Metamodern Wannabes, I had hopes that I would be writing about…
The MOVEMENT
There is no movement, not yet.
But, sadly, with the passing of time, I am becoming increasingly less hopeful that there will emerge a metamodern movement.
However, at the same time I have become more hopeful of meaningful societal change from an unexpected source, Canada.
The Pledge for Canada has published an intriguing article, A needed revolution for social media platforms, and asks important questions.
Should Canada be generating a public infrastructure for social media platforms in order to counter leviathans like Facebook and X? Must rigorous state regulation of the leviathans be rolled out soon?
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I have seen lots of talk about Web 3.0 in the metamodern SPACE. There are a lot of good projects floating around. The results have not been impressive.
However, the Great Canadian Shield (greatcanadianshield.ca) impressed me and I will be exploring other links in the article.
Most of us would not expect that counterweights to Facebook and X will emerge any time soon or, once they emerge, become major players quickly. It will take time for alternatives to take hold and grow, and meanwhile the harms of the dominant players will continue. Government regulation must be addressed, and soon — notwithstanding the newly elected government is not signaling this issue as a priority either in the Prime Minister’s mandate letter to ministers nor in the Throne Speech.
This paragraph reads like it was written by a cautious Canadian. Most people I know hate Facebook and X which signals a lot of energy for another option. An alternative to American based platforms could quickly grow as another part of the boycott. We do not travel to the USA. We do not buy American liquor. And we do not use American social media.
At this point, we imagine many of you have been wondering as you read this post, ‘Doesn’t AI change everything?’ Indeed, AI is a major development that makes effective regulation look like an arm race. Here is a piece by Alexander Martin published a few days ago by Open Canada, to help us ponder: “The AI Threat to Canadian Democracy: Fighting for Digital Sovereignty: AI-driven interference is outpacing regulation efforts and endangering our democracy.”
Yes, AI is a threat. But there are some people who also want to use AI as a force multiplier for good. Pondering is good, but only for little while, and then let’s move into action.