Note: This post was imported from my old site. There are likely to be format errors and missing images. Exporting from Wix and re-importing to Ghost was not easy, I had to write my own code to do it, and there were various bugs that proved annoying to fix without new bugs appearing. If these issues mean reading this page is too difficult, go to the archive of my old site https://omarsh8.wixsite.com/my-site-1/things-i-think and find this post there, or contact me

A talk I gave at theOxford Internet Institute. Thanks to Vili Lehdonvirta for organising, and all the (physical and digital) attendees.

Update: At the invitation of Vyacheslav Polonski I went back to OII and delivered a second version – similar to above, but with fewer details and some speculative thoughts which have occurred to me following the previous incarnation. Recording availablehere.

For anyone who’d rather read a (similar but somewhat different) written version than listen to my voice for 40min (for which I don’t blame you) – the unfinished script is hereOII Talkand the blog that started all this off is

Update 2: I gave these talks around 2014. If I was to do them again I'd do them a bit differently - in particular, bring more constructive examples and go less heavy on the criticism. In particular, I think the#MeTooand Black Lives Matter movements have been extremely powerful examples of capturing deep systemic problems in very vivid and accessible language; the sight of many women I know tweeting 'Me Too' about experiences of sexual harrassment was an instant and upsetting insight into a really big issue, much more than 'marketisation' or 'capitalism'.