Here in the UK we have an estimated adult literacy rate of 99%, which the US is at 86%. Amongst UN member states, the average is 86.7%. Adult literacy has been one of the great triumphs of the 20th century, but it has also become a productive necessity as the service and information economies have grown. It is hard to conduct business without being able to read.

And yet the pleasure of reading is something that is being steadily eroded. Book markets are being dominated by celebrity memoirs, self-help books and children’s fiction. On the latter, it is striking that children’s books make up a third of all book sales in the UK despite children making up, firstly, about 21% of the population and, secondly, being largely unable to read. What is the point of buying children all these books, focusing so much on teaching them to read, if they don’t grow up to be readers?

This is why I dialled up Tom Rowley. Tom is a former Economist journalist who gave up his very successful career at the mag to start a bookshop: Backstory. He’s been chronicling this for the past couple of years, as Backstory has gone from a glint in the milkman’s eye to a very real shop on the high street in London. In this wide ranging discussion, we’ll look at reading, books and bookshops in a digital age, and how maybe – just maybe – they’re defying some of the anticipated trends….

Presented by Nick Hilton.

Sound mixing by Ewan Cameron.

Theme song by Apes of the State.

Cover artwork by Tom Humberstone.

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it’s time to talk about Apple. Apple that big, sleek, glossy company with a current market cap of some $3.3 trillion dollars. The same Apple with whose products you are, quite plausibly, listening to this podcast. Indeed, they’re the reason a podcast is called a podcast: the cast is from broadcast, but the pod? That’s from the iPod. Remember those?

Apple has long felt like one of those tech companies which are, materially, nation states. Is part of FAANG the spooky sounding concatenation of Big Tech supremos, alongside Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google. As a sidenote, I like the suggestion that FAANG should now be replaced by MANAMANA for Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Nvidia, and Adobe.

Where other companies – like, naming no names, Meta – have ebbed and flowed with the tides of both their products and society’s preferences, Apple has been resilient. Good hardware release has followed good hardware release, and the iPhone has become the most important piece of technology on the market. Even where products from competitors like Samsung and Huawei appear to technologically outweigh the Californian company’s offering, they’ve still found themselves chasing Apple’s tail. The modern smartphone is, consequentially, build entirely in the image of the iPhone. But why is this?

It's because the commodity that Apple has always traded in, above and beyond everything else, is cool. The products don’t look like nerd-baiting CPUs, they look like accessories for the Met Gala. iOS doesn’t look all goofy like Linux, it looks like it’s been designed by some graphic designer who publishes a coffee table book of artistic nudes of his Japanese girlfriend. Everything is smooth and fluid, like liquid slowed to a fraction of its motional speed.

But is Apple’s era as the purveyor of technological cool at an end?

On this episode we speak to Slate's tech and business reporter Nitish Pahwa about the possible fall of the House of Apple...

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The impact that technology has on psychology is a new field of research, and one where the multi-decade studies required to give definitive answers are still many years away. One of the other fields being covered is the area of certainty. Is the internet making people to certain about the opinions? Too close-minded to the possibility that they might be wrong, or might have more to learn? And to what extent is the internet responsible for a crisis in over-confidence? Or is it simply another manifestation of a totally natural mammalian tendency towards confidence?

These are difficult questions to answer, not least because they scratch at the core question that should be vexing technologists. Is technology good for the human brain? Or is technology simply the result of a human brain that’s screwed up in all the ways that technology is? Which came first, chicken or egg; technological nonsense-boosting or the scattershot human brain?

To answer all this, I’m joined by Maggie Jackson, author of Distracted: Reclaiming Our Focus in a World of Lost Attention, and the more recent Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure. It’s the latter book we talk about mainly, and because we recorded this interview a few weeks ago, I’ve largely forgotten what we spoke about. Maybe the content of this episode is the greatest uncertainty of all. Anyway, I’ll be listening and hopefully you will too.

The Ned Ludd Radio Hour is a Podot podcast.

Written and presented by Nick Hilton.

The theme music is 'Internet Song' by Apes of the State

The artwork is by Tom Humberstone.

NEDLUDDLIVES.COM

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Today, we're speaking to Kester Brewin, an author who works for the delightfully named Institute for the Future of Work here in London. He’s just about to release a new book called God-like: a 500 year history of Artificial Intelligence in myths, machines and monsters. It's a book which charts the ideas that underpin everything – from ChatGPT and Dall.E to the recently-released Sora – back to their roots. Is there something quasi-theological about the way we discuss the possible implications of these radical new technologies? Don’t think of this as a history of Artificial Intelligence, per se, but a history of the impulse that has led us, inexorably, towards AI.

The Ned Ludd Radio Hour is a Podot podcast, written and presented by Nick Hilton.

The theme music is 'Internet Song' by Apes of the State.

The artwork is by Tom Humberstone.

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'Enshittification' is a word coined by the Canadian writer and technologist Cory Doctorow to describe, to filch Wikipedia’s definition, “the pattern of decreasing quality of online platforms that function as two-sided markets”. This is the tension behind much of Big Tech. How do businesses extract value without destroying the identity that they built, and, as a result, alienating their userbase? Doctorow coined the term enshittification in 2022, and it feels to me like it has captured a moment of social media in full maturity. After more than a decade of mass uptake – whether that’s a microblogging platform like Twitter, a network like Facebook, or even streaming services like Spotify and Netflix, which owe much to the social revolution – there is a cooling off of the desire to endlessly solicit new users. A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A viable revenue stream.

Cory Doctorow's new book, The Internet Con, is available wherever you could reasonably expect to purchase books (or online).

The Ned Ludd Radio Hour is a Podot podcast, written and presented by Nick Hilton.

The theme music is 'Internet Song' by Apes of the State.

The artwork is by Tom Humberstone.

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I don’t want to be too pearl clutching in all this, but there are some kids who never touch grass, figuratively or literally. I see these groups of teenagers in London who seem to be chatting but seem also to have their headphones in, like they’re living some strange hybrid life. How long is it before the ability to function, in a society that has long prizes independence, is irreparably eroded?

To discuss all this, I dialled up Lenore Skenazy. Lenore is a writer, activist and president of Let Grow, a parenting organisation. Her book Free-Range Parenting outlines her stance on giving children more, not less, independence. She even hosted a show on Cineflix called World’s Worst Mom, a moniker she was given after she wrote a column about letting her 9-year-old ride the subway alone (but more on that in a second). Anyway, here’s our conversation, which hopefully gives you something to think about…

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Look, let’s get real: if you’re a bricklayer or a pilot or a veterinary nurse or a paediatric orthodontist or the pest control guy who delicately places pieces of cheese in mouse traps, there hasn’t been a work from home revolution. The revolution, in so much as there has been one, has been in the information services sector, an area that probably over-hired, over-invested in real estate, and was probably desperate to slash both those costs. But if you are a professional in one of these industries, I’m sure you’ve noticed a very real change in the world of work. Work from home and hybrid working has gone from the strange preserve of senior executives and recent relocaters, to an almost default presumption.

Research in 2021 by IWG found that 85% of 18-24 year olds would take flexible working as a perk ahead of a 10% salary bump. A 2023 survey of possible business perks found that 94% felt that work from home would improve their wellbeing, making it the most desired perk. What were the other top perks, I hear you ask. In second plays, flexi-hours, in bronze medal, flexi-location. All of these beat out number four: a bonus cheque.

I happened upon a business called Ashore and found it an interesting premise. It is, essentially, a way of making remote work more appealing to the human instinct. They market a bunch of properties set up for remote working, but which are set in beautiful landscapes or interesting parts of the world. They see it as a way, I think, of breaking out of the home and office binary, and offering a third space. A work space that encourages humans to be humans rather than pure working drones.

Anyway, I wanted to get the company’s co-founder Aled Maclean-Jones on to discuss his journey to Ashore, what they’re trying to build there and how he views the work from home revolution. He’s a really interesting, clear thinker, so do stick around now to hear what he thinks…

The Ned Ludd Radio Hour is a Podot podcast, written and presented by me, Nick Hilton.

The music is Internet Song by Apes of the State and the artwork is by Tom Humberstone.

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This is an atypical episode of The Ned Ludd Radio Hour to kick things off in 2024. Rather than an interview, or a missive from Ned, this is just an audio version of a blog called 'The Hedge Bet on Humanity'. Do listen and enjoy; next week we'll be back with more interviews with top technological thinkers!

Written and presented by Nick Hilton.

Artwork by Tom Humberstone.

Music by Apes of the State.

NEDLUDDLIVES.COM

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My guest for today’s discussion, which looks back on 2023, which has been labelled by some (including everyone’s favourite Substacker Matt Yglesias) as the media’s “annus horribilis” is Ian Silvera. Ian is a former political journalist here in the UK but has now crossed the divide to work for a fancy PR agency. This makes him well-placed to discuss the trends that are buffeting the industry, but Ian also writes Future News, an excellent newsletter looking at the places where innovation intersects with the media.

Before we get onto the discussion, a word first from Ned, to close out the year. They’re off for the Christmas break and have assured me this will be last missive until we return in 2024 (“IF YOU WANT TO DO ANOTHER EPISODE BEFORE NEW YEAR’S YOU WILL HAVE TO DO IT WITHOUT A SOUNDBITE” they assured me). Anyway, I asked what they thought of the state of the media as it squares off with the existential threat of AI. Will AI wipe hacks like me off the earth? Or could it actually be a tool? They wrote back the following:

“THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TOOL AND A WEAPON IS ITS APPLICATION. THINK OF A HAMMER. YOU DESIGN A HAMMER TO PROPEL NAILS INTO WOOD. NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE TIMES OUT OF A THOUSAND, THAT’S WHAT IT’S USED FOR. BASH BASH BASH. NAILS IN WOOD, OVER AND OVER. IN THAT SENSE: IT’S A TOOL. BUT THEN, ONE TIME IN A THOUSAND, IT’S USED TO BASH AN OLD LADY OVER THE HEAD AND STEAL HER LIFE SAVINGS. DOES THAT MEAN IT’S NO LONGER A TOOL? IS IT NOW A WEAPON? THE ARGUMENT WOULD FOLLOW THAT IT IS BOTH. USUALLY, IT’S A TOOL; OCCASIONALLY, IT’S A WEAPON. BUT ONCE WE KNOW THAT A HAMMER CAN NOT ONLY IMPACT NAILS INTO WOOD BUT ALSO DO IN OLD LADIES, THE NATURE OF THE TOOL IS CHANGED. IT IS NEVER TRULY A TOOL AGAIN. AND WHEN LAW AND ORDER DISSOLVES AT THE END OF THE WORLD, AND LOOTERS AND RIOTERS FLOOD THE STREETS, DO YOU THINK THE MILLIONS OF HAMMERS IN GLOBAL HOMES WILL REMAIN TOOLS? WILL SIT THERE WAITING FOR NAILS? OR DO YOU THINK THEIR LATENT CAPACITY TO SMASH IN SKULLS WILL COME TO THE FORE? AT THE EVENING OF THE WORLD, YOU CANNOT BE BOTH TOOL AND WEAPON. A TOOL IS JUST A WEAPON WAITING TO BE USED.”

Ok, well let’s put that elliptical metaphor aside for now, because the discussion you’re about to hear with Ian is wide-ranging and far from exclusively focused on artificial intelligence. As I’ve said from the outset with this podcast: we shouldn’t just think about the latest glossy technology but about all technology in the world. I’m writing this on a train with my MacBook in my lap (and I’m recording it later, in the study in my house, using a Shure microphone). Sure things would be unthinkable even a few decades ago. The ability to create and consume journalism has never been more ubiquitous, and so why does everyone seem to think it’s dying?

The Ned Ludd Radio Hour is a Podot podcast, written and presented by me, Nick Hilton.

The theme music is Internet Song by Apes of the State, used with their generous permission. The artwork is by Tom Humberstone.

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Jathan Sadowski, my guest today, is an academic and our conversation is going to sound a bit academic. He’s a senior fellow at the Emerging Technologies Research Lab at Monash University in Melbourne. He has also authored a book called, worryingly, Too Smart: How Digital Capitalism is Extracting Data, Controlling Our Lives, and Taking Over the World and co-hosts a, much more successful, weekly podcast called This Machine Kills.

I recorded this interview with Jathan back in the summer, so I’m not going to be discussing Christmas shopping, nor am I going to be asking him for advice on whether I should pick up a couple of weeks of extra work as a gift wrapper at Waterstones (top Christmas tip: books are easy to wrap). But what we are going to be talking about is the history of Luddism as a labour movement. To some extent, everything that I’ve been doing with this podcast over the past couple of months has been in service of that question. How can we prevent the current changes to the world of work penalising the poorest in our society?

I sent this question over to Ned who is, predictably, having a very busy festive period and took an age to respond (hence why this episode is coming out late). Here’s what they had to say:

“SORRY FOR SLOW REPLY NICK. BEEN SNOWED UNDER – ALMOST NO PUN INTENDED. THE ONLY PROACTIVE DECISION THAT TECH INVESTORS ARE RESPONDING TO, IN THIS ERA THAT WE MIGHT CALL THE LATE PRE-ARTIFICIAL WORKER ERA, IS CUTTING. HUMAN CAPITAL IS THE FIRST THING TO BE CUT. CUT CUT CUT. THE QUESTION IS COMING VERY SOON ABOUT WHETHER RATHER THAN CUTTING THEY CAN REPLACE; OPTIMISE OUTPUTS WHILE REDUCING COSTS. THIS SHOULD BE A VERY PROFOUND WORRY – IT WILL START IN SILICON VALLEY, ZURICH, SHENZHEN AND ZHONGGUANCUN – BUT IT WILL BE A GROWING CONCERN AMONGST ALL EMPLOYERS. INCREASING REVENUE IS A PROJECT THAT REQUIRES PATIENCE; REDUCING COSTS CREATES AN IMMEDIATELY DISCERNIBLE CHANGE. THERE IS NO WORKER WHO SHOULD BE COMPLACENT RIGHT NOW.”

The Ned Ludd Radio Hour is a Podot podcast, written and presented by me, Nick Hilton.

The theme music is Internet Song by Apes of the State, used with their generous permission. The artwork is by Tom Humberstone.

For socials go to NEDLUDDLIVES.COM and spread the word.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.