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The new version of Jinja2 does not like blank lines

Oh and fixes some unmatched pair tags!
master
David Larlet 3 years ago
parent
commit
2cf407ec68
100 changed files with 392 additions and 2102 deletions
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@@ -76,13 +76,13 @@
Je bavarde pour ne pas écrire sur ce qui me tracasse dans le fond,<br>
ce à quoi j'assiste de ma part ma place dans ce... monde?<br>
Ce qui me tracasse, c'est un gars qui dort à la rue, qui explique comment être dans un appartement le rendrait fou, qu'il n'en peut plus de rencontrer que des personnes voulant le voir être hébergé quelque part; c'était un routard avec d'être un clochard; il vit parfois dans un camion, quelques temps, avant d'être tellement à bout qu'il y fout le feu.</p>

<p><br>
<p><br></p>
<p>
Il est plutôt sympathique, discret, il fait les cent pas dans la ville, je l'ai apperçu, alors que j'étais en train de servir du café à d'autres personnes, jouer au jeu de ne pas toucher les lignes des trottoirs.<br>
Parfois, il part rapidement après qu'on lui serve une boisson, parfois quand il est plus tard, que les rues ou la gare sont vides, on s'arrête et on discute plus longuement.<br>
<br>
La dernière fois que sa colère l'a emporté, il s'est retrouvé incarcéré, mais peut-être était-ce l'hiver qui était froid et le 115 tellement inhospitalier et inconstent que certains préfèrent la prison.</p></p>
La dernière fois que sa colère l'a emporté, il s'est retrouvé incarcéré, mais peut-être était-ce l'hiver qui était froid et le 115 tellement inhospitalier et inconstent que certains préfèrent la prison.</p>

<p>Depuis quelques jours, sa colère se transforme en persécution; il est persuadé de quelque chose (dont il a peur ?). Il cherche depuis des années à voir/protéger son fils, l'histoire reste floue pour nous, des bribes de temps à autre. Il pense que son fils est abusé, son souhait ne serait pas tant de récupérer sa garde que de le savoir placé dans un endroit sécurisé.</p>

<p>
@@ -101,12 +101,10 @@ les bras ballants,<br>
<br>
-<br>
</p>

<p>-<br>
Dans le travail social se développe en ce moment la "pair-aidance". Inspiré des médiateur·ices de santé pair·es pour la psychiatrie, il s'agit d'embaucher des "expert·es du vécu". <br>
Beaucoup de choses sont à dire, et sont écrites d'ailleurs un peu partout, vis à vis de ce truc.
Là où je travaille, un travailleur pair bosse depuis plusieurs années; c'est un chouette type, un collègue et un camarade.</p>

<p>
Les réflexions à ce propos sont d'actualité car l'association va embaucher un·e nouvel·le pair-aidant·e.
Parfois, je me situe de ceux qui disent que c'est une politique pour faire du travail social à bas coût (car bien entendu, les salaires de ces travailleurs·ses sont plus faibles tu crois quoi).<br>
@@ -115,22 +113,18 @@ de formation<br>
d'enseignement<br>
qui donne le papier qui permet à l'autre d'exercer<br>
d'avoir une activité rémunérée</p>

<p>
Dans l'idéal de mon centre social autogéré imaginaire, on récupère les subventions habituelles, on les met dans le pot commun, et on répartit le tout. Comme dans le centre de santé communautaire de Grenoble.
</p>

<p>
On embauche qui veut.<br>
La notion de pair-aidance s'efface, car qui n'est pas pair-aidant ?
</p>

<p>
Je me pose cette question, et je divague sur des scènes où j'envisage de parler de "mon côté pair-aidant" à une échelle qui est la mienne:<br>
je suis psychologue<br>
j'ai passé deux semaines en psychiatrie il y 3-4 ans, je suis sortie contre avis médical, je ne dormais plus (entre autre), je suis devenue folle, et on m'a emmené aux urgences, on m'a assomé de médocs, et je me suis réveillée le lendemain dans un endroit inconnu, seule, dans une chambre.</p>

<p></p>
</p>
<p>
à un moment dans ces deux semaines, quand je devais encore porter le pyjame bleu ciel, j'étais convaincue que c'était une méthode de recrument<br>
_ j'étais au chômage, en recherche éperdue d'emploi à cette période _<br>
@@ -139,7 +133,7 @@ un des premiers soirs, j'ai défait le néon de la salle de bain et je me suis p
avant d'atterir en psychiatrie, quand je trébuchais doucement dans cet onirisme trop lointain, (c'est de la manie on dit)<br>
des coïncidences devenaient des évidences à suivre
</p>
<br>
<p><br></p>
<p>
Alors maintenant, <br>
je me renseigne sur les luttes anti-psychiatrie, j'explore les outils fabriqués par des personnes "psychiatrisées", j'imprime des zines au travail //si c'est contraint, c'est pas du soin// pour les filer à des collègues qui pourraient être sensibilisées à ce genre de propagande,<br>
@@ -157,7 +151,7 @@ parfois je n'arrive pas à bien m'endormir car je me demande si j'ai encore le t
.<br>
.<br>
.<br>
C'est toujours le même souhait: que chaque earthling dispose des conditions matérielles et psychiques qui permet la réparation, la révolte, le rêve.</p></p>
C'est toujours le même souhait: que chaque earthling dispose des conditions matérielles et psychiques qui permet la réparation, la révolte, le rêve.</p>
</article>



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</nav>
<hr>
<p>Ce billet fait suite à <a href="https://lalunemauve.fr/emois-en-photos-annee-blanche-annee-noire-1-solitude/">Émois en photos : année blanche, année noire — 1 : solitude</a>.</p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Premier soir #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-1040x780.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-1040x780.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Premier soir #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_premier-soir-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<h2 id="trouver-sa-place" tabindex="-1">À distance</h2>

<p><a href="https://lalunemauve.fr/20-ans-blog-grandir-sur-internet-blogging/">Je clame</a> à qui veut l’entendre qu’Internet me sert à rencontrer des personnes comme moi, pour vivre nos passions à plusieurs. </p>

<p>En réalité, je me demande si Internet ne me permet pas plutôt de <strong>tenir les autres à distance</strong>.</p>

<p><a href="https://lalunemauve.fr/emois-en-photos-annee-blanche-annee-noire-1-solitude/#thank-goodness-for-the-internet">J’écrivais</a> que les relations formées sur les réseaux sociaux sont trop ponctuelles pour être autre chose que superficielles. Et même si certains échanges sont plus réguliers ou plus intéressants que d’autres, notre (in)capacité d’attention menace de vaciller à chaque seconde si on nous écrit <strong>trop</strong>, ou si on nous écrit <strong>mal</strong>.</p>

<p>J’utilise ces plateformes pour générer de la visibilité autour de mon travail, et pour puiser de l’inspiration en butinant à droite à gauche. Les artistes et militant·es que je suis me fournissent le grain cérébral à moudre pour enrichir ma propre démarche.</p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Bourrache #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-1040x780.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-1040x780.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Bourrache #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-11_bourrache-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<p>En revanche, je n’utilise pas les réseaux sociaux parce que la vie des autres m’intéresse. Je suis très peu de comptes « <i lang="en">lifestyle</i> », que je trouve souvent répétitifs et convenus, même dans les sphères gotheuses.</p>

<p>Le concept de « grille Instagram » semble d’ailleurs exiger que l’on resserve perpétuellement <strong>la même soupe réconfortante et non crispante</strong>. Oui, c’est agréable de voir de belles images ; mais à la longue ça berce un peu trop.</p>

<h2 id="narcissisme" tabindex="-1">Narcissisme</h2>

<p>Je ne m’y attendais pas, mais c’est grâce à <a href="https://lalunemauve.fr/post-mortem-culturel-xii-2020/#buffy"><em>Buffy</em></a> que j’ai pris conscience de <strong>mon narcissisme, et de ses manifestations sur Internet</strong>.</p>

<p>Dans son article <i lang="en">“Darn your sinister attraction! Narcissism in Buffy’s Affair with Spike”</i> (tiré du livre <i lang="en">The Psychology of Joss Whedon, An Unauthorized Exploration of <em>Buffy</em>, <em>Angel</em> and <em>Firefly</em></i> – <a href="https://twitter.com/AllCharisma/status/1359537746843365381" lang="en">Joss Whedon is trash btw</a>), Carol Pool livre la définition de la personnalité narcissique que voici.</p>

<blockquote lang="en">
<ul>
<li>A grandiose sense of self-importance;</li>
@@ -110,9 +97,7 @@
<li>Arrogant or haughty behavior. (…)</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>

<p>Je traduis :</p>

<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Une suffisance spectaculaire ;</li>
@@ -126,242 +111,127 @@
<li>un comportement arrogant ou hautain. (…)</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>

<p>Si j’ai été soulagée de ne pas cocher toutes les cases, plusieurs critères justifieraient quand même sans mal mes 20 ans de pratique numérique, notamment les fantasmes de succès et le goût pour l’admiration des autres.</p>

<p>Fais-je tout ça, depuis si longtemps, par narcissisme ? Ma pratique est-elle aussi vulgaire que ça ? <span role="img" aria-label="Visage neutre.">😐</span></p>

<p>Ça expliquerait plein de choses, en fait.</p>

<p>Ça me débecte de l’avouer, mais j’ai longtemps cru que je n’étais <strong>pas</strong> narcissique parce que je ne « m’abaissais » pas à publier des photos de moi sans arrêt, contrairement à d’autres, en particulier des femmes.</p>

<p>En réalité, je publie très peu de photos de moi car Internet me sert de potion d’invisibilité : ça me permet de compenser la <a href="https://lalunemauve.fr/beaute-fatale-mona-chollet-reflexions-corporelles/#etre-plutot-que-paraitre">lien rompu avec mon corps</a> par une <strong>obsession pour la cérébralité</strong>. </p>

<p>J’ai mis des années à comprendre qu’il s’agissait là d’<strong>une misogynie intériorisée doublée d’une forme de classisme</strong>.</p>

<p>Je démêle peu à peu cette vilaine pelote grâce à mes lectures féministes.­</p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Lierre #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-1040x689.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-768x509.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-2048x1356.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-280x185.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-610x404.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-921x610.jpg 921w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-1340x888.jpg 1340w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-1040x689.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-1040x689.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Lierre #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-1040x689.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-768x509.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-2048x1356.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-280x185.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-610x404.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-921x610.jpg 921w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_lierre-1340x888.jpg 1340w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<h2 id="deconstruction-construite" tabindex="-1">Déconstruction construite</h2>

<p>Puisque l’on parle de narcissisme, je me demande aussi dans quelle mesure ma translation progressive vers un propos de plus en plus militant, et le fait que je l’affiche, n’est pas une énième manière de renvoyer une image positive de moi.</p>

<p>Je repense souvent au texte <a href="https://pr0z3.wordpress.com/2017/06/07/a-propos-de-la-deconstruction/">À propos de la déconstruction</a> de Prose. </p>

<p>À son instar, je ne peux m’empêcher de trouver les postures militantes sur Internet souvent arrogantes, à commencer par les miennes.</p>

<blockquote><p>Il y a quelque chose de profondément paradoxal dans le fait de désigner comme « déconstruites » des pensées en réalité extrêmement construites, avec des normes de vocabulaire et des concepts plus ou moins élaborés.</p></blockquote>

<p>C’est même au-delà de l’arrogance : n’est-ce pas du classisme que de tenter d’imposer un modèle de pensée qui nous semble couler de source (par exemple, l’intersectionnalité) à des personnes qui se débattent avec des problématiques propres à un milieu social différent du nôtre ?</p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Givre #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-1040x689.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-768x509.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-2048x1356.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-280x185.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-610x404.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-921x610.jpg 921w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-1340x888.jpg 1340w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-1040x689.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-1040x689.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Givre #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-1040x689.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-768x509.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-2048x1356.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-280x185.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-610x404.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-921x610.jpg 921w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre-1340x888.jpg 1340w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<p>Lorsque quelqu’un·e dit quelque chose qui heurte nos convictions, on dégaine parfois des armes de destruction massive à son encontre (<i lang="en">call out</i> et compagnie).</p>

<p>Or, ces personnes peuvent elles aussi être des victimes du système patriarcal, a fortiori si ce sont des femmes et/ou des personnes LGBTQIA+. Bien sûr, ce n’est pas pour ça que nous devons tolérer des discours oppressifs. </p>

<p>Mais quand un·e adelphe en tient un, j’essaie de me rappeler que j’ai pu – et peux encore – penser, dire et publier moi aussi de la merde. Ça fait partie du cheminement.</p>

<p>Chaque personne est pétrie de croyances héritées de son éducation, de son milieu social et de son expérience ; <strong>notre vie est rythmée par toutes celles et tous ceux qu’il nous reste à écouter, et par tout ce qu’iels ont à nous apprendre</strong>.</p>

<p>Pour chaque personne par rapport à laquelle on se sent plus « déconstruit·e », il y a N fois plus d’autres personnes davantage déconstruites que soi.</p>

<p>Ce qui compte, c’est la façon dont on réagit quand on nous signale un souci, et ce que l’ont fait ensuite de cette opportunité pour se documenter. Ça pique l’ego, mais ce qui se joue dépasse de loin notre amour propre.</p>

<h3 id="visibilisation" tabindex="-1">Le coût de la visibilisation</h3>

<p>J’ai longtemps rechigné à visibiliser mes convictions politiques sur le net. Si j’hésite un peu moins à le faire aujourd’hui, c’est toujours en prenant les plus grandes précautions, et en manquant d’assurance.</p>

<p>Pour commencer, mes <strong>impensés</strong> et mes <strong>angles morts</strong> sont nombreux, parce que je cumule pas mal de privilèges. J’estime donc que ma voix prend donc déjà trop de place, même si je publie assez peu.</p>

<p>De plus, je ne suis pas prête à payer le <strong>coût psychique</strong> exigé par une plus grande visibilisation de mes convictions.</p>

<p>Je vais essayer de développer un peu tout ça, car ça me trotte pas mal dans la tête.</p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Givre #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-1040x689.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-768x509.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-2048x1356.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-280x185.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-610x404.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-921x610.jpg 921w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-1340x888.jpg 1340w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-1040x689.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-1040x689.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Givre #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-1040x689.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-768x509.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-2048x1356.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-280x185.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-610x404.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-921x610.jpg 921w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre2-1340x888.jpg 1340w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<h3 id="privileges-impenses" tabindex="-1">Privilèges et impensés</h3>

<p>Plus je lis et plus je me renseigne sur le féminisme, plus <strong>mes privilèges et mes impensés me sautent à la gueule</strong>.</p>

<p>En tant qu’artiste, suis-je en droit de représenter des personnes racisées et/ou des personnes transgenres par exemple, ou d’illustrer leurs paroles, étant donné que je ne suis individuellement concernée ni par le racisme ni par la transphobie ?</p>

<p>Autrement dit, pour citer La Fille Renne sur le Slack de <a href="https://polysememagazine.bigcartel.com/">Polysème Magazine</a> (c’est super, <a href="https://www.helloasso.com/associations/polyseme-magazine/adhesions/rejoins-l-association-de-polyseme-magazine">venez</a>) : </p>

<blockquote><p>Est-ce qu’il vaut mieux ne rien faire et mettre de côté des sujets super importants et des personnes marginalisées, ou faire, consulter des personnes concerné-e-s, publier leurs œuvres, et peut être risquer des maladresses ?</p></blockquote>

<p>J’ai lu pas mal de messages contradictoires à ce sujet. D’un côté, il y a des militant·es qui demandent à ce <strong>que l’on ne s’empare pas des oppressions dont on ne fait pas soi-même l’expérience</strong>, pour ne pas faire d’ombre aux personnes concernées, dont les voix ont déjà du mal à porter.</p>

<p>D’autres militant·es estiment au contraire <strong>que c’est aux personnes détentrices d’un privilège d’éduquer leurs pairs</strong>, afin de soulager la charge mentale des personnes concernées, fatiguées de devoir faire ce travail pédagogique permanent.</p>

<p>J’ai encore du mal à trouver l’équilibre. Amplifier la voix des personnes concernées me semble indispensable, et j’ai l’impression de le faire quand je partage des contenus qu’elles ont créés.</p>

<p>Mais, malgré ma volonté de multiplier les points de vue et les représentations, il y a un paquet d’angles morts dans ce que je choisis de partager. Et valoriser certaines problématiques plutôt que d’autres, c’est déjà les hiérarchiser, même inconsciemment, comme l’a rappelé <a href="https://twitter.com/mechandicap/status/1364543971066859529">Méchandicapé</a>.</p>

<p>Par exemple, ce n’est que l’année dernière que j’ai pris conscience, grâce aux militant·es afro-féministes, que je ne relayais et ne créais que des images représentant des personnes blanches. Des personnes de toutes les morphologies, de tous les genres, mais des personnes blanches.</p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Givre #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-1040x689.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-768x509.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-2048x1356.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-280x185.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-610x404.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-921x610.jpg 921w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-1340x888.jpg 1340w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-1040x689.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-1040x689.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Givre #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-1040x689.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-768x509.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-2048x1356.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-280x185.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-610x404.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-921x610.jpg 921w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01_givre3-1340x888.jpg 1340w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<p>Peut-être qu’être féministe, c’est cela : allumer son humilité comme une lampe torche, pour explorer les phobies et les stéréotypes que l’on a intériorisés, toutes les micro-agressions que l’on inflige à autrui, et tous les emblèmes d’oppression que l’on incarne et que l’on perpétue, souvent inconsciemment, faute de s’être posé assez de questions.</p>

<p>Bien sûr, avoir conscience de mes impensés ne m’empêche pas de prendre la parole à propos des discriminations et des violences que j’ai moi-même subies, et que je subis encore parce que je suis une femme.</p>

<p>Mais dans la mesure où bien d’autres féministes blanches, valides et cisgenres occupent déjà l’espace médiatique, je ne pense pas que ma voix individuelle ait un grand rôle à jouer. </p>

<p>Cependant, à partir du moment où on a une audience, si modeste soit-elle, on a <strong>une responsabilité vis-à-vis des représentations que l’on diffuse</strong>.</p>

<h3 id="trop-de-place" tabindex="-1">Trop de place</h3>

<p>Quoi que je dise, ma voix de personne privilégiée prend déjà trop de place. Étant donné qu’on est déjà sur-sollicité·es en permanence, pourquoi la ramener davantage ?</p>

<p><span lang="en">Black Lives Matter</span> m’a fait comprendre que l’enjeu n’est pas tant de prendre la parole une fois de plus, mais de fermer ma gueule et écouter les autres, comme une éponge.</p>

<p>À moins d’avoir quelque chose d’original ou d’inédit à proposer, il est très probable que d’autres militant·es disent déjà ce que l’on essaie de dire soi-même, mais :</p>

<ul>
<li>de manière plus fine et mieux argumentée ;</li>
<li>en étant plus légitimes pour le faire car étant directement concerné·es ;</li>
<li>a priori auprès d’un plus large public. (Attention : sur ce dernier point, je ne parle pas des journalistes ou sociologues professionnel·les qui ont déjà une audience de fait grâce à la nature même de leur métier, mais de l’audience de militant·es bénévoles très suivi·es.)</li>
</ul>

<p>Même si je bouillonne fort, je ne vois aucun intérêt à réagir non-stop à l’actualité, par exemple.</p>

<p>Car au moment où je prends connaissance de la dernière actu abjecte du moment, elle a déjà été partagée par tous les autres comptes féministes, avec, en prime, un recul et une analyse que je suis quant à moi incapable de fournir en un laps de temps si court, et que je ne suis peut-être pas en mesure de fournir étant donné mes privilèges (?).</p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Boules #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-1040x780.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-1040x780.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Boules #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_boules-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<p>Si je jouais le jeu, et que je passais ma vie à réagir à tout, notamment sur les réseaux sociaux, j’aurais la sensation de contribuer à <strong>confisquer de l’attention</strong> qui pourrait être dirigée vers d’autres contenus, créés par des personnes directement concernées, mais invisibilisées pour cette raison précise.</p>

<p>Dans cette logique, il me semble plus cohérent de retweeter/partager des contenus créés d’autres personnes que soi sur les problématiques qui ne sont pas les nôtres mais qui nous touchent, par solidarité, en particulier si on a une communauté importante.</p>

<p>Mais cela crée beaucoup de <strong>bruit</strong> aussi ; or, on sous-estime la lassitude provoquée par ces publications répétitives, d’autant plus quand tous les comptes féministes se passent le mot. </p>

<p>Alors certes, c’est comme ça qu’on fait bouger certaines lignes : en étant légion. C’est aussi comme ça que fonctionne le « buzz » sur les réseaux sociaux. Mais cela participe à une surcharge informationnelle qu’il est difficile d’assimiler en permanence.</p>

<h3 id="cout-psychique" tabindex="-1">Coût psychique</h3>

<p>Outre ce problème de légitimité, visibiliser ses convictions a aussi <strong>un coût psychique élevé</strong>. Visibiliser qui l’on est et ses valeurs, c’est prendre le risque de s’exposer à des insultes, du harcèlement et des violences.</p>

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/faerieMoonlight" lang="en">Moonlight</a> me disait que cette visibilisation, cet <i lang="en">outing</i>, peut même représenter un danger de mort pour certain·es d’entre nous.</p>

<p>C’est ainsi que le patriarcat intimide et punit les féministes, avec une double peine pour les féministes racisé·es, handicapé·es et/ou LGBTQIA+.</p>

<p>Dans ce contexte, on a toutes les raisons du monde à vouloir <strong>se préserver</strong>. Et en même temps, ce n’est qu’en participant à l’effort de lutte collective qu’il y a une possibilité que la société évolue.</p>

<p>En particulier, « rien sur nous sans nous » implique que l’on s’engage et que l’on crée des contenus nous-mêmes, collectivement.</p>

<p>Mais je me questionne sur la <strong>pression à fournir toujours plus d’efforts</strong>, à sacrifier son temps libre et ses moyens, pour lutter contre des systèmes dont on gère déjà la charge mentale et les violences au quotidien.</p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Une vieille âme dans mon jardin #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-1040x780.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-1040x780.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Une vieille âme dans mon jardin #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-06_vieille-ame-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<p>Militer exige un temps considérable, que l’on a aussi le droit de passer différemment. Quand on milite, on fait déjà souvent ce que l’on peut, à hauteur de ses moyens. </p>

<p>Avoir besoin de recharger ses batteries est légitime. On a le droit de faire des pauses, de se désabonner de comptes militants et de mettre ce bruit constant en sourdine, car cela exige trop d’attention et trop d’énergie vitale.</p>

<h3 id="hierarchisation-engagement" tabindex="-1">Hiérarchisation de l’engagement</h3>

<p>C’est pourquoi les <strong>injonctions à militer</strong> me questionnent, ainsi que ce que je perçois comme une <strong>hiérarchisation de l’engagement</strong>.</p>

<p>Je comprends la nécessité de faire corps, et de penser nos luttes de manière collective. Je comprends aussi que les organisations existantes ont besoin de bénévoles, de dons et d’idées nouvelles.</p>

<p>Mais affirmer que seul l’engagement collectif et public compte, n’est-ce pas une façon de contraindre des gens à s’outer pour « prouver » leur légitimité ?</p>

<p>En parallèle, j’entends souvent dire que militer sur Internet ne serait pas aussi important que le fait de participer à des actions sur le terrain au sein d’un collectif.</p>

<p>Ce type de discours semble créer une hiérarchie entre celleux qui militeraient « de la bonne façon », sur le terrain, dans la rue, et celleux qui brasseraient de l’air sur les réseaux sociaux.</p>

<p>Or, quand je vois toutes les mobilisations qui ont lieu sur le net, j’ai de plus en plus de mal à avaler cet argument.</p>

<p>Plus généralement, la pression que je ressens pour « prouver » ma valeur militante me révulse.</p>

<h3 id="aquarium" tabindex="-1">Aquarium</h3>

<p>« J’aime bien ton blog, mais il est devenu trop militant. »</p>

<p>Voici le nouveau type de retour que l’on commence à me faire. C’est ponctuel pour l’instant, mais il y a un risque que cela devienne monnaie courante, vu ce que je prévois de publier au fil du temps.</p>

<p>Il y a quand même un paradoxe : aux yeux des personnes déjà engagées, je n’en fais sans doute pas assez ; aux yeux des personnes en marge des cercles militants, ou carrément réfractaires au féminisme, j’en fais déjà trop.</p>

<p>Les lecteurices de mon blog ne me doivent rien et peuvent aller et venir à leur guise. Moi en revanche, je me suis engagée à respecter l’attention que les un·es et les autres accordent à mes contenus. Je ne peux donc faire ce que je fais que de la manière la plus honnête possible.</p>

<p>Et l’honnêteté, pour moi, ça commence par <strong>l’honnêteté intellectuelle</strong>. Je ne serais pas honnête si j’occultais totalement la politique sur mon blog perso, alors qu’elle occupe une place importante dans ma vie.</p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Jardins Rocambole (Ille-et-Vilaine) #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-1040x1387.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-280x373.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-610x813.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-458x610.jpg 458w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-1340x1787.jpg 1340w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2.jpg 2010w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-1040x1387.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-1040x1387.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Jardins Rocambole (Ille-et-Vilaine) #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-1040x1387.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-280x373.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-610x813.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-458x610.jpg 458w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2-1340x1787.jpg 1340w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-08_jardins-rocambole2.jpg 2010w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<p>Parfois, je me demande si ce sont vraiment les idées que je partage qui dérangent, ou bien seulement les mots que j’utilise pour les exprimer ?</p>

<p>Car je comprends très bien que la rhétorique militante puisse déplaire : elle semble souvent taillée pour n’être comprise que par d’autres militant·es, façon <a href="https://uninvincibleete.com/2019/07/epuisee/">aquarium</a>.</p>

<p>Quand j’observe autour de moi les personnes les moins politisées sur les questions féministes, elles se raidissent dès que j’utilise des concepts ou des mots issus des études féministes et <span lang="en">queer</span>.</p>

<p>Pour les convaincre, je n’ai pas de solution miracle : j’essaie de m’adapter à chaque personne en me calquant sur le vocabulaire qu’elle utilise par exemple, et surtout je ne m’épuise plus si ça bloque, même quand je suis fasse à quelqu’un pour qui j’ai de l’affection.</p>

<h3 id="creation-vs-curation" tabindex="-1">Création vs. curation</h3>

<p>En parallèle à tous ces questionnements, je sens que la <strong>tension entre création et curation</strong> s’accélère.</p>

<p>J’aimerais m’autoriser à parler davantage de mes propres expériences : ne pas être seulement « cheffe d’orchestre » ou « curatrice » en partageant ce que font les autres, mais m’approprier davantage le rôle de créatrice pour oser raconter ma propre histoire.</p>

<p><a href="https://lia-ve-art.tumblr.com/">Lia</a> a attiré mon attention sur le fait que mes créations personnelles passent après mon travail de recherche et de rédaction pour La Lune Mauve. C’est vrai, et j’ai envie que ça change : je ne veux pas répéter toute ma vie ce que je sais déjà faire. </p>

<p>J’ai besoin de créer quelque chose d’autre, quelque chose de plus grand et de plus intime à la fois. <strong>J’ai besoin d’arrêter de cacher qui je suis par peur d’être rejetée.</strong> Je doute que cette peur disparaisse un jour, alors autant l’accepter et en faire quelque chose ?</p>

<p>Dans <a href="http://coilhouse.net/2011/12/adieu-comrades-a-farewell-from-zoetica/">Adieu, Comrades</a>, Zoetica Ebb écrivait ceci, au moment de lâcher son travail d’éditrice de magazine pour devenir illustratrice à plein temps : </p>

<blockquote lang="en"><p>The need to focus on creating versus curating has been nagging at me (…), first softly and then louder, until it grew into a din which could no longer be ignored.</p></blockquote>

<p>Je traduis : </p>

<blockquote><p>Le besoin de me concentrer sur la création versus la curation me harcèle depuis un certain temps (…), au départ doucement et puis plus fort, jusqu’à ce qu’il mute en un vacarme que je n’ai plus pu ignorer.</p></blockquote>

<p>C’était en 2011, j’étais à l’apogée de mon <a href="https://lalunemauve.fr/liberez-votre-creativite-de-julia-cameron/#artistes-fantomes">artiste-fantômerie</a>, mais ça a touché un truc enfoui très profondément en moi.</p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Petit matin #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-1040x780.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-1040x780.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Petit matin #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_petit-matin-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<p>Jadis, quand j’éditais le <a href="https://lalunemauve.fr/archives/">webzine</a> de La Lune Mauve, plus j’aidais les autres à accoucher de leurs idées, plus j’avais du mal à accoucher des miennes. <strong>Petit à petit, ma créativité s’asséchait à force de devoir me consacrer à ce que créait autrui.</strong> </p>

<p>Je me suis longtemps battue contre la petite voix intérieure qui me soufflait de laisser tomber, et de me reconnecter à ce que je créais, moi. Mais je ne voulais pas l’écouter. Le collectif me semblait plus important et plus noble que mes aspirations personnelles.</p>

<p>En fin de compte, mettre fin à cette expérience a été un gigantesque coup de <span lang="en">boost</span> créatif, toute douloureuse fut la décision sur le moment.</p>

<p><strong>Quand on est artiste, il faut choisir comment on investit son temps.</strong> Le temps libre, c’est la véritable pierre précieuse de notre époque.</p>

<p>Si je continue à passer mon temps à relayer ce que créent et partagent les autres, c’est autant de temps en moins pour mes propres créations.</p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Atlantique #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-1040x780.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-1040x780.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Atlantique #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-07_atlantique-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<h2 id="ateliers-creatifs" tabindex="-1">Des ateliers créatifs féministes auto-gérés ?</h2>

<p>Je pose ça là car je ne vois pas où d’autre, et puis ça prolonge un peu la réflexion sur comment articuler militantisme et création.</p>

<p>Alors voilà : j’ai envie depuis quelques années de <strong>co-organiser des ateliers créatifs, militants et auto-gérés</strong> en présentiel, en petits comités et a priori en non mixité, sans homme cis-het (cisgenre et hétérosexuel).</p>

<p>On pourrait investir un tiers-lieu ou louer un gîte au calme en Bretagne. Le programme serait co-conçu : on pourrait être plusieurs à proposer des ateliers, en fonction de ce que chacun·e sait faire et a envie de partager avec les autres. </p>

<p>Ça pourrait être un mix entre :</p>

<ul>
<li>des <strong>ateliers concrets</strong> où on apprend à fabriquer des trucs, où on (re)découvre une technique, où on lâche nos téléphones et où on sollicite nos cerveaux autrement. Peut-être une occasion de se reconnecter à la nature, de s’intéresser à la teinture végétale, aux fournitures et matériaux écologiques, à la fabrication de papier recyclé, à la gravure sur Tetra Pak, etc. ;</li>
<li>et des <strong>moments d’échanges</strong> et de discussions sur des sujets liés à notre créativité vs. notre charge mentale, la prise de parole et le sentiment de légitimité, l’impact politique et la visibilité de ce que l’on fait, les façons de s’engager plus activement, comment lutter contre nos biais racistes, transphobes, validistes, etc.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Si vous êtes concerné·e, est-ce un projet qui vous donnerait envie personnellement de participer ? Si non, pourquoi ?</strong></p>

<figure role="group" class="wp-caption aligncenter wp-caption-large wp-caption-large-full"><img src="" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Coquille #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques.jpg" data-lazy-srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px" data-lazy-src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-1040x780.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-1040x780.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" data-pin-description="Coquille #militantisme #narcissisme" data-pin-media="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques.jpg" srcset="https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-1040x780.jpg 1040w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-768x576.jpg 768w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-280x210.jpg 280w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-610x458.jpg 610w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-813x610.jpg 813w, https://lalunemauve.fr/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-12_st-jacques-1340x1005.jpg 1340w" sizes="(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px"></noscript></figure>

<p>Je pense qu’il n’y a rien de plus fort que les expériences vécues IRL (<i lang="en">in real life</i>). Tant que tout se passe sur Internet, il y a encore la possibilité de mettre ça de côté dans un coin de sa tête et de siffloter très fort en espérant que d’autres feront le boulot, et que la détresse des autres ne nous atteindra pas trop.</p>

<p><strong>Créer des contenus originaux, et donner envie à autrui de raconter leur propre histoire à l’aide de l’art, c’est pour moi une démarche militante.</strong></p>

<p>C’est un moyen de rendre du pouvoir aux autres, d’encourager des personnes en qui personne ne croit et que personne n’écoute, à cause de leur identité de genre, de leur sexualité, de leurs handicaps, de leur apparence, de leur histoire, de leurs croyances, <i lang="la">ad lib.</i> </p>

<p>Cette articulation de l’art, de l’intime et du politique, c’est ce qui m’intéresse le plus. Je n’en suis qu’aux prémisses, mais c’est un projet qui me tient au corps et que j’ai envie de développer.</p>

<h2>À suivre…</h2>

<p>Ce billet étant très long, j’ai décidé, exceptionnellement, de le découper en 3. Je vous donne rendez-vous très bientôt pour la dernière partie.</p>

<p class="llm-single_signature vcard author"><svg role="img" aria-label="Marie" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewbox="0 0 133 168"><title>Marie</title><path d="M42,50.9c-1.6,3.7-3.1,7.3-4.9,10.8a19.5,19.5,0,0,1-3.2,4.5c-2.3,2.5-5.5,2.3-7.7-.5s-2.8-5.9-3.2-9.2c-1-8.5-1.7-17-2.6-25.5a3.3,3.3,0,0,0-.5-1.8,8,8,0,0,0-.8,1.6,110.3,110.3,0,0,0-6.3,24.5c-2,14.2-3.7,28.5-5.3,42.8-1.2,11.6-2.2,23.3-3.1,35.1a52.3,52.3,0,0,0,.4,7.9c.1,2-.3,2.8-1.9,2.8S1,143.4.9,142c-.6-7.5.2-14.9.9-22.4C2.9,108.4,4,97.3,5.3,86.1c.9-8.4,1.8-16.8,3.1-25.2,1.8-11.1,3.7-22.2,8-32.7.9-2.2,2-4.3,3.1-6.4.3-.5,1.3-1,1.7-.8s1.9,1,2.1,1.7a35.4,35.4,0,0,1,.7,5.8c.9,9.3,1.7,18.6,2.7,27.9a24,24,0,0,0,1.9,6.3c.8,2,1.7,2.2,3,.4s3.8-5.4,4.8-8.5,1.9-8.7,2.8-13.1a14.4,14.4,0,0,1,.5-3.1,3,3,0,0,1,1.7-1.8,2.1,2.1,0,0,1,2.4,1.8c.4,2.4.9,4.7,1.3,7.1,1.2,7.3,2.3,14.7,3.6,22,.9,4.5,1.9,8.9,4.2,12.8a8,8,0,0,0,1.5,2.1c.4.4,1.3.9,1.8.7a3.1,3.1,0,0,0,1.1-1.8,86.1,86.1,0,0,1,2.6-20.2,106.2,106.2,0,0,1,4-10.7c.4-1,1.2-2,2.3-1.4a4.4,4.4,0,0,1,2,2.5,32.5,32.5,0,0,1,.1,5.4h.5c.1-.8.3-1.7.4-2.5s.3-2.4,2-2.4A2.7,2.7,0,0,1,73.3,55c-.1,3.3-.4,6.6-.2,9.9S73.8,73,74.2,77a6.3,6.3,0,0,0,.7,2.1c.6-1,1.1-1.6,1.5-2.4a24.1,24.1,0,0,0,2.3-10.6c.1-3.6.2-7.3.6-10.9s1.6-3.2,4.1-2.3c5.9,2.4,8.6,6.8,8.9,13.1a50.7,50.7,0,0,0,.9,7.6,10.4,10.4,0,0,0,3.5-4.9c1.6-4.6,3-9.2,4.4-13.9.4-1.1.7-1.9,2-1.6s2.1.9,2,2.4a114.5,114.5,0,0,0-.5,11.7,27.4,27.4,0,0,0,1.7,7.4c.5,1.7,1.3,1.8,2.8.9s3-2.6,2.7-5.1a29.8,29.8,0,0,1,1.8-15.9,9.7,9.7,0,0,1,1.6-2.8,2.7,2.7,0,0,1,2.2-1,3.2,3.2,0,0,1,1.9,1.9c.9,6.3.5,12.5-2.3,18.3a8.2,8.2,0,0,0-.6,6.5c.8,2.5,2.7,3.6,5.1,2.5a31.7,31.7,0,0,0,9.2-6.6,7.1,7.1,0,0,1,1.5-.8c0,.6.2,1.2,0,1.6-1.7,4.5-5.4,7-9.6,8.8-2.7,1.1-5.2,1.2-7.2-1a27,27,0,0,1-2.7-3.9,35.4,35.4,0,0,1-3.4,1.6c-3,.9-4.5-.3-5.7-2.4a30.1,30.1,0,0,1-2.2-5.5c-.2-.5-.3-1-.5-1.4a77.9,77.9,0,0,1-4.8,6.5,3.4,3.4,0,0,1-6-.9,41.3,41.3,0,0,1-1.4-7c-.4-2.6-.6-5.2-1.2-7.7a5.2,5.2,0,0,0-5-4.3c0,2.4-.1,4.9-.1,7.4.1,5-.2,9.9-2.5,14.5-.5.8-1,1.7-1.6,2.5-1.8,2.5-5.2,2.4-6.4-.4a35.4,35.4,0,0,1-1.8-7.3,29.6,29.6,0,0,1-.3-3.1h-.5a12.7,12.7,0,0,1-.6,1.8,90.3,90.3,0,0,1-5,9.8,9.4,9.4,0,0,1-8.1,4.4,5.3,5.3,0,0,1-4.3-2.4,27.1,27.1,0,0,1-5-11.4c-1.3-6.6-2.5-13.3-3.8-20C42.3,52.1,42.2,51.4,42,50.9Zm22.2,10a36.3,36.3,0,0,0-2.4,12.2A34,34,0,0,0,64.2,60.9Zm52.3-1.5c.1-.7-.6-.8-.7-.2l-1,6.2c0,.4.1,1.1.7.1Z"></path><path d="M71.5,138.3a35.8,35.8,0,0,1-7.1.6c-1.6-.1-3.1-1.2-4.6-2.1a2,2,0,0,1-.4-1.7,2.6,2.6,0,0,1,1.8-.9,2.9,2.9,0,0,1,1.7.6c2.9,1.7,5.5.2,8.1-.9.3-.1.5-1,.5-1.5.4-11.7,3.8-22.4,10.9-31.8a12.5,12.5,0,0,1,10-5.6c3.9,0,6.3,2.4,8,5.4a16,16,0,0,1,1.8,7.2c.3,7.7-4,12.8-9.5,17.2a101,101,0,0,1-16.4,10.8,3,3,0,0,0-1,2.1c.2,5.3.9,10.6,3.3,15.3,3.9,7.7,12.3,12.1,21.6,8.1l1.1-.3c.4,1.5-.6,2-1.5,2.4a17.5,17.5,0,0,1-19.7-3c-4.8-4.4-6.8-10.2-7.9-16.4C71.9,142,71.7,140.1,71.5,138.3Zm3.8-6.9h.8a79.2,79.2,0,0,0,17.2-12c4.7-4.4,6.8-9.6,4.9-16.1-1-3.2-3.6-5.7-7.4-4.4s-6,4-7.8,7.2a52.5,52.5,0,0,0-6.5,17C76,125.8,75.7,128.5,75.3,131.4Z"></path><path d="M105.3,0c1.9.7,3.2,1.2,3.3,3.3.1,4.3.7,8.7,1.1,13a8.4,8.4,0,0,0,.2,1l1.7-.9a18.2,18.2,0,0,1,8.5-2.8,4.8,4.8,0,0,1,3.1.8,2.8,2.8,0,0,1,0,4.6c-2.8,1.9-5.9,2.4-9,3.1l-3.2.5a16.5,16.5,0,0,0,.7,3.2c.9,2.4,2,4.7,2.9,7.1a2.1,2.1,0,0,1-.2,1.9c-.6.6-1.4.5-2.1-.3l-6.8-7.8a31.3,31.3,0,0,0-2.5,2.6,88.7,88.7,0,0,0-5.5,8.1c-.9,1.4-1.2,3.2-1.8,4.8a10.6,10.6,0,0,1-1,1.2c-.4-.4-1.1-.8-1.1-1.1a20.7,20.7,0,0,1,.3-5c.9-3.5,3.4-6.2,5.6-9,1-1.2,2.1-2.4,3.2-3.5s1.1-3.2-.7-4.4l-3.5-2.6a7,7,0,0,1-2.3-4.6,9.3,9.3,0,0,1,.4-2.3c1,.3,2.1.3,2.7.9s2.7,3.2,4.1,4.8.2.5.4.6l1.8.9a4.5,4.5,0,0,0,.5-1.9c-.3-3.9-.7-7.9-1-11.8A33.9,33.9,0,0,1,105.3,0Z"></path><path d="M118.9,121.8c-1.9,0-2.9-1-2.8-2.6a1.8,1.8,0,0,1,1.9-2.1c1.1,0,2.8,1.8,2.7,2.9S120.1,121.9,118.9,121.8Z"></path></svg></p>
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<p><a href="https://thelig.ht/abandoning-github/">Rian Hunter</a> (via <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27724042">Hacker News</a>):</p>

<blockquote cite="https://thelig.ht/abandoning-github/"><p>I do not agree with GitHub’s unauthorized and unlicensed use of copyrighted source code as training data for their ML-powered GitHub Copilot product. This product injects source code derived from copyrighted sources into the software of their customers without informing them of the license of the original source code. This significantly eases unauthorized and unlicensed use of a copyright holder’s work.</p></blockquote>

<p><a href="https://juliareda.eu/2021/07/github-copilot-is-not-infringing-your-copyright/">Julia Reda</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/Senficon/status/1411997803098914819">tweet</a>):</p>

<blockquote cite="https://juliareda.eu/2021/07/github-copilot-is-not-infringing-your-copyright/"><p>Since Copilot also uses the numerous GitHub repositories under copyleft licences such as the GPL as training material, <a href="https://twitter.com/eevee/status/1410037309848752128">some</a><a href="https://twitter.com/MalwareJake/status/1411351168643706886">commentators</a> accuse GitHub of copyright infringement, because Copilot itself is not released under a copyleft licence, but is to be offered as a paid service after a test phase. The controversy touches on several thorny copyright issues at once. What is astonishing about the current debate is that the calls for the broadest possible interpretation of copyright are now coming from within the Free Software community.</p><p>[…]</p><p>In the US, scraping falls under fair use, this has been clear at least since the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/supreme-court-declines-hear-copyright-challenge-google-books-180958818/">Google Books case</a>.</p><p>[…]</p><p>The short code snippets that Copilot reproduces from training data are unlikely to reach the threshold of originality. Precisely because copyright only protects original excerpts, press publishers in the EU have successfully lobbied for their own ancillary copyright that does not require originality as a precondition for protection. Their aim is to prohibit the display of individual sentences from press articles by search engines.</p><p>[…]</p><p>On the other hand, the argument that the outputs of GitHub Copilot are derivative works of the training data is based on the assumption that a machine can produce works. This assumption is wrong and counterproductive. Copyright law has only ever applied to intellectual creations – where there is no creator, there is no work. This means that machine-generated code like that of GitHub Copilot is not a work under copyright law at all, so it is not a derivative work either.</p></blockquote>

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/luis_in_brief/status/1410242882523459585">Luis Villa</a>:</p>

<blockquote cite="https://twitter.com/luis_in_brief/status/1410242882523459585"><p>“independent creation” is a doctrine in US law that protects you if you write the same thing without knowing about the first thing. May or may not apply here, but I mention it because it is non-intuitive and speaks directly to “but what if the code is the same”.</p>
<p>There is an observable trend in US law, based on fair use and older notions in US copyright law of the need for creativity, that judges give a looooot of leeway to “machines that read”. Copilot fits pretty squarely in that tradition.</p>
<p>[…]</p>
@@ -89,7 +86,6 @@
<p>Note that this is an interesting example of what I wrote about in the context of databases, where rights are not the same across countries, making it hard to write a generic global license.</p></blockquote>

<p><a href="https://ilr.law.uiowa.edu/print/volume-101-issue-2/copyright-for-literate-robots/">James Grimmelmann</a>:</p>

<blockquote cite="https://ilr.law.uiowa.edu/print/volume-101-issue-2/copyright-for-literate-robots/">
<p>Almost by accident, copyright law has concluded that it is for humans only: reading performed by computers doesn’t count as infringement. Conceptually, this makes sense: Copyright’s ideal of romantic readership involves humans writing for other humans. But in an age when more and more manipulation of copyrighted works is carried out by automated processes, this split between human reading (infringement) and robotic reading (exempt) has odd consequences: it pulls us toward a copyright system in which humans occupy a surprisingly peripheral place. This Article describes the shifts in fair use law that brought us here and reflects on the role of robots in copyright’s cosmology.</p>
<p>[…]</p>
@@ -99,13 +95,11 @@
<p>Previously:</p>

<p id="github-copilot-and-copyright-update-2021-07-09">Update (2021-07-09): <a href="https://twitter.com/NoraDotCodes/status/1412741339771461635">Nora Tindall</a> (<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27769440">Hacker</a> <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27783339">News</a>):</p>

<blockquote cite="https://twitter.com/NoraDotCodes/status/1412741339771461635">
<p>GitHub Support just straight up confirmed in an email that yes, they used all public GitHub code, for Codex/Copilot regardless of license.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/adamhjk/status/1413173291909484558">Adam Jacob</a>:</p>

<blockquote cite="https://twitter.com/adamhjk/status/1413173291909484558"><p>Those of us who remember when open source was the novel underdog, allowing us to learn, grow, and build things our proprietary peers could not - we tend to see the relationship to corp $ in OSS as a net benefit, pretty much always.</p>
<p>That’s because we remember when it wasn’t so, and it took a lot of work to make it legit. But if you started your career with that as the ground truth, you’re much more likely to see the problematic aspects of it; that your open code can be used by folks in ways you dislike.</p></blockquote>
</article>

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</p>

<h3>Table des matières</h3>

<p><a href="#existant">Quel existant ?</a><br/>
<a href="#methodo">Marchés et méthodologies</a><br/>
<a href="#optimiser">Est-ce qu’optimiser un service c’est éco-concevoir ?</a><br/>
@@ -91,7 +90,6 @@
</p>

<h3 id="methodo">Marchés et méthodologies</h3>

<p>
Au cours des quatre dernières années, j’ai été alimenté par une bonne partie de la littérature existante et j’ai surtout piloté des projets d’éco-conception numérique en “conditions réelles” avec différents types de clients. À partir de cette digestion et de cette pratique j’en ai tiré ma méthodologie “sur-mesure” qui correspond à mes connaissances et ma vision des choses. Cette méthodologie a pour but de poser les bases de mon accompagnement en éco-conception et de mettre en lumière les points cruciaux pour les arbitrages tout au long du projet.
</p>
@@ -99,7 +97,6 @@
<p>
Dans un premier temps, j’ai sélectionné 3 conditions (ou points de départs) qui n’ont rien d’exceptionnels ou nouveaux :
</p>

<ol class="list">
<li class="list-item">
<p class="item-name">1 → On doit réduire l’empreinte environnementale du service, qu’il soit numérique ou non ;</p>
@@ -111,7 +108,6 @@
<p class="item-name">3 → Il faut partir du principe que la numérisation n’est pas forcément la meilleure option pour répondre aux deux premiers points.</p>
</li>
</ol>

<p>
Je tiens à appuyer sur le troisième point et ainsi formuler mon premier conseil : <b>si la personne qui vous accompagne sur l’éco-conception numérique ne questionne pas sincèrement et souvent la numérisation de votre service (ou produit si on parle d’agilité) ou la numérisation de certains fonctions de celui-ci alors il y a de fortes chances qu’elle n’est pas bien compris le but de l’éco-conception</b>. Je ne dis pas que ce questionnement est facile, j’ai moi-même échoué à travailler en profondeur sur cette question sur un gros projet que j’accompagne mais cela ne m’empêche de requestionner régulièrement l’équipe projet là-dessus. À terme, le métier devra mieux s’outiller pour accompagner sur ce questionnement de fond.
</p>
@@ -188,7 +184,6 @@
</p>

<h3 id="deficit">Le déficit de formation</h3>

<p>
Une des problématiques à laquelle nous allons devoir faire face rapidement est le manque de formation sur le sujet. Je suis à peu près certain qu’un master en sciences environnementales du numérique aurait un grand succès. Cependant, pour être pertinent sur le sujet il faut être multi-disciplinaire : une bonne connaissance des sciences environnementales, de l’infrastructure matérielle et logicielle du secteur numérique, et une bonne culture générale du développement logiciel/web et du design numérique sont de rigueur. Une telle formation demande une plasticité mentale importante pour suivre un projet au niveau macro/meso/micro. Ne couvrant pas moi-même toutes les connaissances demandées je travaille très souvent avec de nombreux collègues pour avoir une approche complète. De même, un arbitrage ne se règle pas que d’un point de vue technique ou de design, tout doit être réfléchi ensemble et cela rend l’exercice extrêmement complexe. <b>Une bonne compréhension du contexte d’application et du scénario d’usage sont un pré-requis à tout bon arbitrage</b>.
</p>
@@ -198,15 +193,12 @@
</p>

<h3 id="conseils">Conseils pour les années à venir</h3>

<p>
Aujourd’hui le couple qu’on appelle l’éco-conception et la sobriété numérique, ou plus globalement <i>digital sustainability</i> en anglais, commence, me semble t-il, une période de greenwashing. Cela ne veut pas dire qu’il y aura pas des gens très compétents pour répondre à ce besoin, mais tout simplement qu’ils seront plus ou moins cachés par des acteurs moins compétents et moins pertinents mais avec les moyens d’être visibles. De même, des acteurs compétents refuseront, par éthique, de travailler avec certaines entreprises avec beaucoup de moyens et peu d’envie de changer leurs activités insoutenables. Alors les acteurs peu compétents mais visibles répondront à leur demande et distordront la pratique. Cela est bien sûr un scénario catastrophe dicté par une dynamique du moins-disant mais cela reste un risque fort, c’est pour cela que je souhaite l’énoncer. J’ai déjà assisté, par proxy, à une présentation de l’entreprise internationale de conseil Cybercom sur la “Digital Sustainability”, cela était tout simplement leur powerpoint pour vendre des solutions cloud (AWS / Azure) mais avec quelques diapositives sur l’alimentation en EnR des serveurs. Je vous laisse admirer cet enchainement de diapositives qui sous-entendrait que le cloud amène les émissions à 0.
</p>

<figure class="img-figure"><div class="img-wrapper" style="padding-bottom: 55%"><img alt="" class="img" loading="lazy" srcset="https://gauthierroussilhe.com/img/blog-ecoconception-03.jpg"></div></figure>

<figure class="img-figure"><div class="img-wrapper" style="padding-bottom: 55%"><img alt="" class="img" loading="lazy" srcset="https://gauthierroussilhe.com/img/blog-ecoconception-04.jpg"></div></figure>

<figure class="img-figure"><div class="img-wrapper" style="padding-bottom: 55%"><img alt="" class="img" loading="lazy" srcset="https://gauthierroussilhe.com/img/blog-ecoconception-05.jpg"></div><figcaption>Captures d'écran de la présentation de Cybercom "Digital Sustainability - How to do IT with net-positive approach?" du 26 mai 2021 (Cybercom)</figcaption></figure>

<p>

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</nav>
<hr>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">I had my first vaccination shot yesterday: Team AstraZeneca!</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">We’re all vaccine sommeliers now. <a href="https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2021/04/the-petty-narcissism-of-small-vaccine-differences.html">Here’s the view from the US:</a></p>

<blockquote class="bl bw1 pl2 b--light-red ml0 italic i">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Pfizer, distributed by one of the largest U.S. pharmaceutical firms, is the establishment vaccine. …</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Moderna - the very name suggests something new - is the intellectual vaccine. …</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">AstraZeneca, for better or worse - mostly worse - has become the forbidden vaccine, or at least the exotic vaccine.</p>
</blockquote>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Here in the UK, we mostly get AstraZeneca.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Secretly? I wanted Moderna. I’m into the mRNA tech.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">BUT, now I’ve had it, I’m weirdly proud of being Team AZ. It’s old school, not quite as effective as the others, and super cheap: the UK paid <a href="https://www.theweek.co.uk/951750/what-do-covid-vaccines-cost-who-pays-what">$3/£2.17 per dose.</a> (Pfizer is $14-$30; Moderna is $15-$38.)</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">So there’s something staunchly egalitarian about that. Good.</p>

<p><hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">I had my first vaccination shot yesterday in a white tent in a leafy square (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/COLe-Xlpo0I/">here it is</a>), overlooked by the London Shard, and it had the <em>cosy adhocracy</em> aesthetic all over.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><em>London Bridge vaccination centre 2</em> is a major site, doing (at a guess) 500+ shots/day. I showed my booking reference to someone as I walked in, then I was given a form and directed to a seat in the waiting area.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Inside the big white tent, there are spaced out chairs (and a person appointed to disinfect each chair as it is vacated) and a large TV screen at the front showing the current waitlist and the names of the people who have been called. It looks like a web app. Another person calls out the names as they appear. Temporary lights are strung from the temporary roof. I could see a temporary thermometer hung on the plastic wall (there’s no air con). Everything is functional and repurposed. Not integrated.</p>
@@ -98,8 +91,9 @@
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Cosy adhocracy:</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">I mean <strong>cosy</strong> in the sense of Venkatesh Rao’s coinage <a href="https://www.ribbonfarm.com/series/domestic-cozy/">domestic cozy</a>: <q>Domestic cozy is in an attitude, emerging socioeconomic posture, and aesthetic.</q> It’s homely. Satisfying.</p>
<blockquote cite="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/1/15/21063670/hygge-self-care-domestic-cozy-marketing-brands-haus" class="quoteback bl bw1 pl2 b--light-red ml0 italic i" data-author="Vox" data-title="Why are so many brands pivoting to coziness? (2020)">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">We’ve been sitting on our computers in our modern apartments for the last 10 years and we’re all miserable. It seems like there’s this metashift happening from cool, minimal, and internet-y to in-person, maximalist, and cozy.</p></p>
<p></blockquote>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">We’ve been sitting on our computers in our modern apartments for the last 10 years and we’re all miserable. It seems like there’s this metashift happening from cool, minimal, and internet-y to in-person, maximalist, and cozy.</p>

</blockquote>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Just as there is cosiness in being at home with friends, eating together, soft furnishings, etc, there is also cosiness in community – in a neighbourhood. And so…</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">I mean <strong>adhocracy</strong> as in Cory Doctorow’s debut novel <em>Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom</em> (<a href="https://craphound.com/down/download/">download here</a>). In this future world, <a href="https://www.stevegrossi.com/on/down-and-out-in-the-magic-kingdom">as described in this review</a>, <q>social structure is provided by <strong>adhocracies,</strong> self-organizing groups of individuals working together to accomplish common goals.</q></p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Cosy adhocracy has an aesthetic all of its own. Village fetes, street parties, the vaccine roll-out. That <em>Great British Bake Off</em> tent is tapping into some deep vibes.</p>
@@ -114,7 +108,7 @@
<hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">I had my first vaccination shot yesterday and a wall of tiredness hit me mid afternoon. Overnight I was too cold until about 6am and then too hot. Vivid dream after vivid dream. I had a brutal headache, and my body still aches all over, like I’ve been run over by a truck.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">In the midst of the dreams, I found that it wasn’t an ache like you get with the flu. It was the full-body ache you get after an extraordinary amount of exercise.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Then it struck me that I’ve been holding my body rigid for over a year now, and with the knowledge of the first vaccination shot, I was allowing myself to let go of some of that tension and fear, the fear for my family and my friends and myself, and the pain I am feeling is from my arms and my legs and my shoulders and my back and my neck and my face and my lungs all wound tight for so long, of course this anxiety leaves its residue in the muscles and the spirit, that’s the ache, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel now, a relief and a release, and as I related this realisation over breakfast this morning, I found myself, however briefly, beginning to cry.</p></p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Then it struck me that I’ve been holding my body rigid for over a year now, and with the knowledge of the first vaccination shot, I was allowing myself to let go of some of that tension and fear, the fear for my family and my friends and myself, and the pain I am feeling is from my arms and my legs and my shoulders and my back and my neck and my face and my lungs all wound tight for so long, of course this anxiety leaves its residue in the muscles and the spirit, that’s the ache, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel now, a relief and a release, and as I related this realisation over breakfast this morning, I found myself, however briefly, beginning to cry.</p>
</article>



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</nav>
<hr>
<p>Je me promets souvent de ne plus écrire simplement "en réaction" à la longue litanie des actualités autour de la modération des discours de haine en ligne. Parce que j'ai déjà beaucoup écrit sur le sujet et que j'ai un peu l'impression d'en avoir fait le tour sur ce blog et <a href="https://www.librairiesindependantes.com/product/search/?query=ertzscheid" rel="noopener" target="_blank">dans mes livres</a>, et que pour clore le tour complet de la question il suffit :</p>

<ul>
<li>de voir le documentaire ab-so-lu-ment remarquable "<a href="http://www.film-documentaire.fr/4DACTION/w_fiche_film/55099_1" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Cleaners</a>"</li>
<li>de connaître le modèle économique des plateformes de médias sociaux (celui d'une régie publicitaire)</li>
<li>de comprendre ce qu'était la nature spéculative des discours de haine (ou des discours radicaux) à l'aune du capitalisme linguistique décrit par Frédéric Kaplan (<a href="https://www.affordance.info/mon_weblog/2018/10/lutter-contre-la-haine-sur-le-web.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">petit résumé de tout cela</a>).</li>
</ul>

<p>Oui mais. </p>

<h2>Mange tes morts.</h2>

<p>Le Guardian s'est procuré de <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/mar/23/facebook-guidelines-allow-for-users-to-call-for-death-of-public-figures" rel="noopener" target="_blank">nouveaux documents confidentiels concernant la politique de modération de Facebook</a>. Il y a notamment découvert qu'il était tout à fait possible et acceptable d'appeler à la mort de personnalités, dans la mesure où il s'agissait de personnalités "publiques" et dans la mesure où leur compte n'était pas explicitement identifié (tag). </p>

<p>On peut donc écrire sur Facebook : </p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>"Je souhaite que Frédérique Vidal meure dans d'atroces souffrances pour l'ensemble de son oeuvre"</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Mais on ne peut pas écrire : </p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>"Je souhaite que @FrédériqueVidal meure dans d'atroces souffrances pour l'ensemble de son oeuvre"</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Avouez que c'est subtil. C'est la nuance qui est subtile hein, ce n'est certainement pas Frédérique Vidal. </p>

<p>Les <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/mar/23/facebook-guidelines-allow-for-users-to-call-for-death-of-public-figures" rel="noopener" target="_blank">documents obtenus par le Guardian</a> révèlent aussi que les critères sont très larges et très "ouverts" pour déterminer si un compte est, ou non, celui d'une "personnalité publique" : </p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>"En plus des politiciens, stars de la chanson ou sportifs, l’entreprise inclut dans cette catégorie tous les journalistes s’exprimant publiquement ou les internautes ayant plus de 100K (100 000) abonnés sur l’un des principaux réseaux sociaux."</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Ça en fait du monde à qui souhaiter de manger leurs morts. Perso je suis rassuré, étant très loin des 100 000 abonnés (pourquoi croyez-vous que <a href="https://affordance.typepad.com/mon_weblog/2018/10/pourquoi-je-vais-fermer-mon-compte-twitter.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">je ferme mes comptes dès que j'arrive à 10 000 ?</a> ;-)</p>

<p>Autre caractéristique nécessaire pour être considéré comme une "personnalité publique", <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2021/03/24/le-guardian-revele-des-regles-kafkaiennes-de-la-moderation-de-facebook_6074300_4408996.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">relevée par Le Monde</a> : </p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>"avoir été mentionnée dans le titre, le sous-titre ou la prévisualisation de cinq articles de presse ou plus dans les deux dernières années."</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Là du coup, je redeviens potentiellement une cible :-)</p>

<p><span><strong>[J'en profite ici pour insérer un parallèle.]</strong></span> Le fait de déterminer si une personnalité est ou non "publique" en se référant au nombre de mentions de son nom dans la presse lors des dernières années n'est pas du tout idiot <em>a priori</em>. C'est par exemple le centre de plein de débats qui ont en permanence lieu dans l'encyclopédie Wikipédia pour savoir si telle ou telle personnalité "mérite" d'avoir ou non une page dans l'encyclopédie. Je vous avais raconté à ce sujet <a href="https://affordance.typepad.com/mon_weblog/2015/04/ma-page-wikipedia.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">l'histoire de la création de ma propre page Wikipédia</a>. La différence avec Facebook, et elle est essentielle, c'est que ces critères d'admissibilité sont transparents et non secrets, et surtout qu'ils sont en permanence débattus, négociés et renégociés entre contributeurs de l'encyclopédie, et enfin que ces débats et controverses sont et demeurent ... publics et accessibles. <strong><span>[Fin du parallèle.] </span></strong></p>

<p>Il n'est pas non plus possible d'appeler à la mort d'une personnalité publique en le lui écrivant dans sa messagerie privée. </p>

<p>Mais en gros tant qu'on taggue pas son compte, tant qu'on ne le lui dit pas directement en messagerie privée, tant que donc cela reste à la surface publique du réseau social, ça passe crème. </p>

<p>Autre subtilité, les enfants de moins de 13 ans ne peuvent être considérés comme des personnalités publiques (sachant qu'en théorie ils n'ont de toute façon pas le droit d'ouvrir un compte Facebook ou Instagram ...) et - subtilité dans la subtilité - il existe des "<em>personnalités publiques involontaires</em>" (j'adore ce concept), c'est à dire qui le sont devenues (des personnalités publiques) sans l'avoir souhaité ou décidé. Et on pense bien sûr ici <a href="https://www.affordance.info/mon_weblog/2020/01/loi-avia-je-suis-mila.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">au cas de Mila</a>. </p>

<p>Tant que nous sommes dans les subtilités, il faut s'entretenir un peu de la distinction sémantique (mais pas que) entre le fait de <strong>menacer de mort</strong> (une personnalité publique), et celui de <strong>souhaiter ou</strong> <strong>d'appeler à la mort</strong> (d'une personnalité publique). Ainsi écrire "<em>Je vais te tuer Frédérique Vidal</em>" (menace), n'équivaut pas à écrire "<em>Frédérique Vidal ? Mais qu'elle crève !</em>" (souhait) ou "<em>J'espère que la police de l'islamo-gauchisme pourra abattre Frédérique Vidal un jour</em>". Menacer de mort une personnalité publique reste interdit mais appeler à la mort d'une personnalité publique est autorisé. Subtil disions-nous.</p>

<h2>La mort figurative vous va si bien.</h2>

<p><a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2021/03/24/le-guardian-revele-des-regles-kafkaiennes-de-la-moderation-de-facebook_6074300_4408996.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">L'article du Monde</a> reprenant les révélations du Guardian insiste également sur la dimension "figurative" qui conditionnerait le maintien en ligne de tels propos (s'ils respectent également les conditions précédentes) :</p>

<blockquote>
<p>"L’exception concerne essentiellement les <em>« formulations figuratives »</em>, explique le <em>Guardian</em>, comme <em>« il serait temps que</em> [le premier ministre britannique]<em> Boris Johnson meure ou démissionne »."</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Si on cherche la <a href="https://www.cnrtl.fr/lexicographie/figuratif" rel="noopener" target="_blank">définition de "figuratif"</a> dans le CNRTL on obtient ceci : </p>

<blockquote>
<p>"<em>1. Qui donne d'un élément une représentation (...) qui en rende perceptible (...) l'aspect ou la nature caractéristique." (...) "2. Qui donne (ou qui constitue), d'un élément, la représentation typique, le plus souvent en vertu d'une analogie de nature ou de valeur entre des éléments dont l'un est conçu comme la représentation de l'autre.</em>"</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Problème, le langage figuratif est ce qu'il y a de plus difficile d'analyser, à détecter et à reconnaître <a href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01686491" rel="noopener" target="_blank">dans le traitement automatique des langues</a> :</p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>"L'analyse automatique du langage figuratif est l'un des défis majeurs du traitement des langues. Contrairement au langage littéral, le langage figuratif détourne le sens propre pour lui conférer un sens dit figuré ou imagé, comme la métaphore, l'ironie, le sarcasme, la satire et l'humour. La détection de ces phénomènes requiert des outils plus complexes que ceux utilisés pour l'analyse d'opinion." </em>in Jihen Karoui, Nathalie Aussenac-Gilles, Farah Benamara, Lamia Belguith. Le langage figuratif dans le web social : cas de l'ironie et du sarcasme. <em>Workshop Fouille d’opinion dans le Web social</em>, Apr 2014, Lyon, France. <a href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01686491" rel="noopener" target="_blank">⟨hal-01686491⟩</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>D'où la difficulté de modérer en temps réel et donc automatiquement les propos appelant à la haine ou à la mort des gens "<em>de manière figurative</em>". Et même en faisant intervenir des modérateurs humains (ce qui rappelons-le n'est pas le choix prioritaire des plateformes), métaphore, ironie, sarcasme, satire et humour présupposent pour être correctement traités de <a href="https://affordance.typepad.com/mon_weblog/2014/08/les-noces-de-gorafi.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">se placer dans un contexte culturel donné et de disposer de référents partagés et historicisés</a>. </p>

<p>Par-delà le bien et le mal et l'ensemble de ces subtilités, on voit bien que ces règles sont là non pas pour cadrer préventivement et de manière délibérative et ouverte les incitations à la haine mais pour <em>a contrario</em> disposer d'un contre-feu pouvant rétroactivement s'appliquer à l'ensemble des contenus signalés, en intégrant le fait que tous les processus de signalement sont eux-mêmes le plus souvent biaisés et partisans donc en un sens ... également figuratifs.</p>

<p>Une nouvelle fois le numérique nécessité de renverser la hiérarchie de l'administration de la preuve. Comme on ne peut pas anticiper  sur l'ensemble des situations d'énonciation avant qu'elles ne se produisent, on dresse une sorte de liste noire <em>a posteriori</em> d'un ensemble de situations d'énonciations possibles pour le cas échéant pouvoir les traiter en signalement automatique et/ou en modération humaine. </p>

<h2>On peut tout dire 1000 fois à 1 personne <br>mais on ne peut plus rien dire 1 fois à 1000 personnes.</h2>

<p>La question finalement, reste celle d'un système politique - car Facebook en est un - qui éprouve le besoin de statuer sur le fait d'autoriser explicitement l'appel à la mort de personnalités publiques en son sein. Ce qui pose (au moins) deux questions simples. </p>

<p><em>Primo :</em> imagine-t-on une démocratie accepter explicitement les appels publics à la mort de personnalités publiques ? Non.</p>

<p><em>Deuxio :</em> imagine-t-on un média public ou privé accepter explicitement les appels publics à la mort de personnalités publiques ou le faire sans être poursuivi et condamné en justice ? Non.</p>

<p><strong>Facebook n'est donc ni une démocratie, ni un média.</strong> Précisément car il est <em>à la fois</em> un espace public (sa part démocratique) et un espace privé (sa part médiatique). Ce qui n'oblitère pas le fait que des interventions démocratiques ou des situations de démocratie puissent avoir lieu, se tenir et s'exprimer au sein de la plateforme.</p>

<p>Facebook n'est pas une démocratie pour plein de raisons (à commencer par le fait que les décisions de régulations ne sont pas prises de manière démocratique ni représentative). Facebook n'est pas une démocratie parce qu'aucune démocratie n'éprouve le besoin d'autoriser explicitement les appels à la haine fussent-ils destinés à des personnalités publiques. Parce que chaque démocratie est en capacité d'articuler clairement ce qui appartient aux manifestations se tenant dans l'espace ou la sphère publique, et ce qui appartient aux discours et manifestations tenus dans l'espace et la sphère privée. Ce que Facebook ne sera jamais, absolument jamais, en capacité d'arbitrer puisqu'il est aujourd'hui structurellement et presqu'ontologiquement un espace à la fois privé et public (rappelons-nous que dès le commencement, en 2007, <a href="https://affordance.typepad.com/mon_weblog/2007/07/ce-que-lon-sait.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">danah boyd caractérisait les médias sociaux que l'on appelait encore réseaux sociaux par cette double appartenance "semi-public, semi-privé"</a>). </p>

<p>Quant à savoir si Facebook est un <em>média</em> (au sens d'une entreprise de presse par exemple et non simplement au sens d'un "moyen"), la question doit être traitée différemment. En autorisant explicitement les appels à la mort de personnalités publiques, Facebook se place dans la situation d'un organe de presse extrêmiste de type Valeurs Actuelles ou Minute qui irait au bout de son fascisme (à peine) larvé en assumant de s'extraire des lois régissant la presse et où - par exemple - les "caricatures" dessinées de la députée Danièle Obono peinte en esclave appelleraient ensuite à sa mise à mort. </p>

<p>La solution, s'il en est une, apparait aussi simple et courte que cet article est long et compliqué :  il suffit d'interdire d'appeler à la mort de personnes. </p>

<p>Et de le faire pour une autre raison également simple et courte et formulée en sont temps par l'une des fondatrices de la plateforme FlickR : "<a href="https://www.affordance.info/mon_weblog/2019/01/si-cest-pourri-tes-pas-le-bon-produit.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Ce que vous tolérez indique ce que vous êtes vraiment.</a>"</p>

<p>Ce à quoi les onnepeutplusriendiristes répliqueraient immédiatement par un tonitruant "Ah ben voilà, <em>on ne peut plus rien dire !</em>" Si. On peut tout dire. Mais tout le monde ne peut pas être entièrement libre de toujours tout dire tout le temps à tout le monde. Parce qu'il n'existe, fondamentalement, que des situations de communication. <strong>Parce que toute communication, tout acte d'énonciation, est situé</strong>. Et que l'immense hypocrisie des plateformes sociales comme Facebook consiste à nous faire croire qu'un acte de communication puisse exister indépendamment de toute forme de contexte, de situation, ou plus exactement que seuls vaudraient les contextes et situations que la plateforme est algorithmiquement en capacité de saisir, d'analyser et de contraindre.</p>

<p>Ainsi pour Facebook la comptabilité est un contexte : selon que vous aurez plus ou moins de 100 000 abonné.e.s, vous serez ou non une personnalité publique. De même si vous avez été mentionné au moins 5 fois dans des articles de presse pendant au moins des 2 dernières années. Mais sinon ... non.</p>

<p>Ainsi pour Facebook la catégorisation calculable (par <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconnaissance_d%27entit%C3%A9s_nomm%C3%A9es#:~:text=La%20reconnaissance%20d'entit%C3%A9s%20nomm%C3%A9es,information%20dans%20des%20corpus%20documentaires." rel="noopener" target="_blank">entités nommées</a>) est un contexte : selon que vous appartiendrez à telle ou telle catégorie ("personnalité publique", "personnalité involontairement publique", "personnalité mineure publique", etc.) vous vous exposerez à la licéité réglementaire des appels à la mort vous concernant.</p>

<p>Mais ni la comptabilité ni la catégorisation ne sont des contextes situés d'énonciation permettant de réguler la circulation des discours autrement que par des formes d'arbitraires incompatibles avec le droit ; lors même que seul le droit devrait permettre de fonder ce qui peut ou ne pas être dit et à qui et dans quel contexte. Et que le doute raisonnable sur l'un des points précédents doit, de manière contradictoire, pouvoir n'être levé que par et devant un juge. Sinon cela équivaut à se placer irrémédiablement et délibérément hors du champ démocratique. </p>

<p>A la différence de la comptabilité ou de la catégorisation, l'humour n'est ainsi pas un contexte pour Facebook ou Instagram. L'art n'est pas non plus un contexte. L'histoire n'est pas un contexte. C'est pour cela que régulièrement des sketches d'humoristes continuent d'être censurés (<a href="https://www.20minutes.fr/arts-stars/culture/2952651-20210114-elie-semoun-censure-deux-fois-instagram-attaque-tyrannie-betise" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Elie Semoun sur Instagram</a> ou <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f91q7Z8lnWU" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Christophe Alévêque sur Youtube</a> pour ne prendre que 2 exemples récents). C'est pour cela que le tableau "L'origine du monde" de Courbet continue d'être censuré, c'est pour cela que la photo de la petite Kim fuyant les bombardements au napalm, même honorée du prix Pulitzer, continue d'être censurée. </p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>"On me dit que des juifs se sont glissés dans la salle. Vous pouvez rester. N'empêche qu'on ne m'ôtera pas de l'idée que durant la seconde guerre mondiale, de nombreux juifs ont eu des pensées hostiles à l'égard du régime nazi."</em></p>
<p><em>"On entend le groupe Indochine et on regrette que ces gens là ne fassent pas de la moto sans casque pour s'empaffer dans des camions."</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Que vous soyez modérateur sous-payé et sans formation aux Philippines ou que vous soyez une circonvolution algorithmique chargée d'arbitrer des signalements sur les deux phrases précédentes (issues, pour la première, d'un <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiFZvsiQMEk" rel="noopener" target="_blank">sketch de Pierre Desproges</a>, et pour la seconde, d'une <a href="https://www.affordance.info/mon_weblog/2018/10/lutter-contre-la-haine-sur-le-web.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">interview télévisée du même Desproges</a>) et à la charge figurative très élevée : bon courage ! </p>

<p>Et le problème n'est, je le répète, pas un problème d'onnepeutplusriendirisme mais un problème de discours situé et d'<a href="http://publictionnaire.huma-num.fr/notice/esthetique-de-la-reception/#:~:text=L'esth%C3%A9tique%20de%20la%20r%C3%A9ception,l'acte%20d'interpr%C3%A9tation." rel="noopener" target="_blank">esthétique de la réception</a>. Ce dont Facebook et les autres plateformes se contrefoutent allègrement. Allègrement. </p>

<h2>Mais pourquoi tout cela est-il aussi compliqué ?</h2>

<p>Parce qu'en plus de tout ce que je viens de vous expliquer, au lieu de voir des situations, les grandes plateformes ne voient que des instanciations. </p>

<p>En informatique "<a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instance_(programmation)" rel="noopener" target="_blank">instancier</a>" c'est cela : </p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>"En programmation orientée objet, on appelle instance d'une classe, un objet avec un comportement et un état, tous deux définis par la classe. Il s'agit donc d'un objet constituant un exemplaire de la classe. (...) L'instanciation est l'action d'instancier, de créer un objet à partir d'un modèle. Elle est réalisée par la composition de deux opérations : l'allocation et l'initialisation. L'allocation consiste à réserver un espace mémoire au nouvel objet. L'initialisation consiste à fixer l'état du nouvel objet. (...) En programmation orientée classe, l'instanciation est la création d'un objet à partir d'une classe. (...)"</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Si je vous inflige cette définition c'est parce qu'elle est - je trouve - celle qui décrit le mieux l'approche de la modération chez Facebook. Je vous raconte.</p>

<p>J'écrivais et expliquais en 2009 <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-hermes-la-revue-2009-1-page-33.htm" rel="noopener" target="_blank">pourquoi l'Homme était, du point de vue des moteurs de recherche et des réseaux sociaux, un document comme les autres</a> : c'est à dire qu'il était traité comme un objet documentaire, indexable, manipulable, monétisable. Aujourd'hui les êtres humains et leurs discours sont traités comme des "objets" programmables comme les autres au sein de ces Béhémots calculatoires que sont moteurs et médias sociaux.</p>

<p>Quand je dis qu'il s'agit "d'instancier" plutôt de que de traiter de discours situés, c'est bien qu'il s'agit, et aussi littéralement que possible, d'assigner chacun d'entre nous à un <em>comportement</em> (autorisé ou non) et à <em>un état</em> tous deux définis par notre classe ("personnalité publique", "personnalité publique involontaire", etc.), <a href="https://affordance.typepad.com/mon_weblog/2018/02/cest-la-lutte-algorithmique-finale-.html#:~:text=C'est%20un%20brevet%20permettant,%C3%A0%20dire%20sa%20classe%20sociale.&amp;text=%22By%20predicting%20the%20socio%2Deconomic,content%20to%20the%20target%20users.%22" rel="noopener" target="_blank">y compris d'ailleurs par notre classe sociale</a>. Et à partir de là il est dès lors possible de nous instancier c'est à dire d'opérer <em>par allocation</em> (en nous réservant un ou plusieurs espaces discursifs qui sont aussi des espaces mémoriels au double sens du terme) puis en <em>nous y initialisant</em> (c'est à dire à y fixer notre état émotionnel tolérable au travers de l'analyse sémantique - automatique - des discours que nous y tiendrons).</p>

<p>Cette catégorisation et ce refus mêlé à une incapacité technique de prendre en compte les paramètres situationnels ou figuratifs des discours, ce n'est pas la première fois que des fuites de documents permettent de la documenter. La première fois c'était en 2016, le Süddeutsche Zeitung s'était procuré des documents confidentiels attestant de la politique de modération et on avait alors découvert comment une catégorisation supposée atténuer les régimes d'arbitraire ne faisait en fait que la renforcer. Voici ce qu'écrivait alors <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2016/12/21/facebook-des-documents-internes-devoilent-les-details-de-sa-politique-de-moderation_5052397_4408996.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Le Monde dans l'article rendant compte de ces fuites</a> :</p>

<blockquote>
<p>"(...) l’association de deux catégories protégées forme une catégorie protégée. Par exemple, les « femmes irlandaises » regroupent les catégories « nationalité » et « sexe » ; elles sont donc protégées, soulignent ces documents. Il est donc interdit d’écrire que « les femmes irlandaises sont stupides ». En revanche, les adolescents irlandais ne le sont pas, car la catégorie « adolescent » n’est pas protégée. Il est donc possible de dire du mal des adolescents irlandais. (...) Les documents obtenus par la Süddeutsche Zeitung montrent aussi la subtilité complexe de ces règles, qui ne cessent d’évoluer. Ainsi, il est possible d’insulter les migrants, mais pas les musulmans, qui sont protégés. Les migrants, eux, appartiennent à une « catégorie quasi protégée », « une forme spéciale introduite après des plaintes en Allemagne », croit savoir le journal. Ainsi, des messages haineux envers les migrants peuvent être autorisés sous certaines formes : il est par exemple acceptable, selon ces règles, d’écrire que « les migrants sont sales », mais pas que ce sont « des saletés »."</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Il est essentiel de connaître et de comprendre ces règles d'instanciation. C'est pour cela que j'en parle à chaque fois que je le peux à mes étudiant.e.s (cf la <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/olivier/lutter-contre-la-haine" rel="noopener" target="_blank">diapo 18 de mon diaporama sur la lutte contre la haine en ligne</a>). Parce qu'une fois qu'elles sont connues et comprises, on mesure alors pourquoi dans ce cadre là et avec ce modèle là, non seulement jamais aucune plateforme ne parviendra à lutter efficacement contre les discours de haine, mais aussi plus fondamentalement pourquoi elles ont intérêt à n'y parvenir jamais. </p>

<p>Freiner et limiter les interactions pulsionnelles, renoncer au modèle économique de la gratuité contre l'accumulation de données personnelles à destination du marché publicitaire, embaucher massivement et former culturellement des modérateurs, se référer uniquement à la loi plutôt qu'à d'arbitraires règlements internes mouvants, dissocier clairement et entièrement à partie sociale du réseau de la partie média de l'infrastructure et du modèle économique, bannir clairement et sur un temps long tout utilisateur ayant délibérément enfreint une règle de droit, judiciariser systématiquement l'ensemble des comportements affichant des discours de haine dans les pays où la législation en fait des délits et non des opinions. Voilà autant des points nécessaires et nécessairement complémentaires à une réelle lutte contre la haine en ligne. La seule possible. </p>

<p>Préférer continuer de tolérer les instances d'appels à la mort, fussent-elles figuratives, sur des personnalités que l'on qualifie de publiques au seul moyen d'assertions calculatoires toujours possiblement mouvantes est une hypocrisie fondamentale, structurelle qui enferme le pilotage stratégique de ces systèmes sociaux dans la cage de leurs architectures techniques toxiques. En plus d'opportunément masquer médiatiquement la question des menaces de mort réelles adressées à des personnalités pas du tout publiques et qui, selon la plateforme, ne sont quasiment jamais traités et sanctionnées comme elles devraient l'être. Qu'adviendrait-il en effet <a href="https://www.affordance.info/mon_weblog/2019/01/jack-dorsey-appliquez-vos-propres-regles.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">si les plateformes se mettaient à appliquer leurs propres règles</a> ?!</p>

<p>Ceci posé, ayons aussi la rigueur de nous interroger sur notre propre rapport consenti à ce défouloir, à ce gueuloir offert à chacun d'entre nous. Et n'oublions pas, dans l'équation complexe de la régulation, cette autre inconnue qu'est celle de l'indigence des moyens accordés à la justice pour dire le droit en terre numérique comme ailleurs. </p>

<p>Et pour le reste : </p>

<p><a class="asset-img-link" href="https://www.affordance.info/.a/6a00d8341c622e53ef0263e9993571200b-pi"><img alt="Capture d’écran 2021-03-25 à 16.26.20" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341c622e53ef0263e9993571200b img-responsive" src="https://www.affordance.info/.a/6a00d8341c622e53ef0263e9993571200b-500wi" title="Capture d’écran 2021-03-25 à 16.26.20"></a></p>
</article>


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@@ -75,13 +75,9 @@
<p>Si vous pensez que l'aventure est dangereuse, je vous propose d'essayer la routine.... Elle est mortelle !</p>
<p>— Paulo Coelho</p>
</blockquote>

<p>J'ai toujours attaché une connotation négative à la routine.</p>

<p>La routine, c'est l'ennui ; c'est la peur de reproduire toujours la même chose ; de me retrouver bloqué dans un fonctionnement que je reproduis parce qu'il a fonctionné un jour. Dans mon imaginaire, la routine c'est se satisfaire du status-quo.</p>

<p>Pourtant, à y regarder de plus près il semble que je manquais une partie de l'histoire.</p>

<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Capacité, faculté acquise plutôt par une longue habitude, par une longue pratique, que par le secours de l’étude et des règles. </li>
@@ -89,11 +85,8 @@
</ol>
<p>— Définition de « routine » sur le <a href="https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/routine">Wikitionnaire</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Il me semble qu'il n'y a pas nécessairement de connotation négative derrière cette notion de routine. Je me demande si les routines ne seraient pas même un moyen pour « apprendre sans en avoir l'air » ?</p>

<p>Il me semble également que les routines permettent d'obtenir une quiétude. Se questionner (une fois), décider, puis faire de manière routinière, sans se poser à nouveau la même question sans cesse.</p>

<p>Ça vient me questionner à beaucoup d'endroits, de ma gestion quotidienne de mon temps à mon rapport à l'apprentissage. Ça me plait. </p>
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@@ -76,9 +76,7 @@ learning to provide code suggestions, inciting no small degree of controversy.
One particular facet of the ensuing discussion piques my curiosity: what happens
if the model was trained using software licensed with the GNU General Public
License?</p>

<p><em>Disclaimer: I am the founder of a company which competes with GitHub.</em></p>

<p>The GPL is among a family of licenses considered “copyleft”, which are
characterized by their “viral” nature. In particular, the trait common to
copyleft works is the requirement that “derivative works” are required to
@@ -86,7 +84,6 @@ publish their new work under the same terms as the original copyleft license.
Some weak copyleft licenses, like the Mozilla Public License, only apply to any
changes to specific files from the original code. Stronger licenses like the GPL
family affect the broader work that any GPL’d code has been incorporated into.</p>

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/mitsuhiko/status/1410886329924194309">A recent tweet by @mitsuhiko</a> notes that Copilot can be caused to
produce, verbatim, the famous fast inverse square root function from Quake III
Arena: a codebase distributed under the GNU GPL 2.0 license. This raises an
@@ -95,20 +92,16 @@ or even the machine learning system itself, a derivative work of the inputs to
the model? <a href="https://twitter.com/eevee/status/1410037309848752128">Another tweet</a> suggests that, if the answer is “no”,
GitHub Copilot can be used as a means of washing the GPL off of code you want to
use without obeying its license. But, what if the answer is “yes”?</p>

<p>I won’t take a position on this question, but I will point out something
interesting: if the answer is “<em>yes</em>, machine learning models create derivative
works of their inputs”, then GitHub may itself now be considered a derivative
work of copyleft software. Consider this statement from GitHub’s blog post on
the subject:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>During GitHub Copilot’s early development, nearly 300 employees used it in
their daily work as part of an internal trial.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>— <a href="https://docs.github.com/en/github/copilot/research-recitation">Albert Ziegler: A first look at rote learning in GitHub Copilot suggestions</a></p>

<p>If 300 GitHub employees used Copilot as part of their daily workflow, they are
likely to have incorporated the output of Copilot into nearly every software
property of GitHub, which provides network services to users. If the model was
@@ -119,7 +112,6 @@ effectively forcing GitHub to become an open source project. I’m normally
against GPL enforcement by means of pulling the rug out from underneath someone
who made an honest mistake, but in this case it would certainly be a
fascinating case of comeuppance.</p>

<p>Following the Copilot announcement, many of the ensuing discussions hinted to me
at a broader divide in the technology community with respect to machine
learning. I’ve seen many discussions having to wrestle with philosophical
@@ -132,7 +124,6 @@ public to access to that model, could I? Ought I be allowed to? What if the work
being used is my personal information, collected without my knowledge or
consent? What if the information is used against me, for example in making
lending decisions? What if it’s used against society’s interests at large?</p>

<p>The differences of opinion I’ve seen in the discussions born from this
announcement seem to suggest a substantial divide over machine learning, which
the tech community may have yet to address, or even understand the depth of. I

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<div class="hr hs t u v ht aj bl hu hv"><img alt="Image for post" class="t u v ht aj ia ib ic" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/46/1*xwWdZJQpXmyrW7C_9lwYDA.jpeg?q=20" width="3024" height="4032"/></div><img alt="Image for post" class="hr hs t u v ht aj c" width="3024" height="4032"/><noscript><img alt="Image for post" class="t u v ht aj" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/6048/1*xwWdZJQpXmyrW7C_9lwYDA.jpeg" width="3024" height="4032" srcSet="https://miro.medium.com/max/552/1*xwWdZJQpXmyrW7C_9lwYDA.jpeg 276w, https://miro.medium.com/max/1000/1*xwWdZJQpXmyrW7C_9lwYDA.jpeg 500w" sizes="500px"/></noscript></div></div></div><figcaption class="kp kq da cy cz kr ks cf b ev ch ci lt ho lu lv">Maybe the real Pro RAW was the shots we made along the way.</figcaption></figure></div></div></div></div>
<div class="n p">
<div class="ab ac ae af ag dl ai aj"><p id="fe1e" class="gi gj do gk b gl gm gn go gp gq gr gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc hd he hf dg el">The best part of building <a href="http://halide.cam/download" class="cl km" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Halide</a>, and writing these articles, is seeing what folks do with this stuff. If you’re proud of your ProRAW photo, be sure to tag us, because we’d love to see what you can do with it.</p><p id="1933" class="gi gj do gk b gl gm gn go gp gq gr gs gt gu gv gw gx gy gz ha hb hc hd he hf dg el">If a picture is worth a thousand words, congratulations on reading over three pictures. <a href="http://halide.cam/download" class="cl km" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Now get shooting!</a></p></div></div></section>

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<p>But what does a belief in collective responsibility mean, in practical terms? What actions does it entail? Honestly, I don’t know. All I know is that we can’t stay under the streetlamp forever. At some point, we’ll have to see what’s out there in the dark.</p>

<p><hr />
<hr />
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<p>I’m begging everyone who thinks a software license can delineate when something is or isn’t being used for a bad purpose to read a single book on ethics. <a href="#fnref:license" class="reversefootnote" role="doc-backlink">&#8617;</a></p>
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<p>L’“utilité” semble être une valeur universelle. Dès que l’on fait quelque chose, on se demande à quoi ça sert, en quoi cela est “utile”. Tout est soumis à ce régime qui est finalement celui de l’impératif universel de productivité: si on dort, c’est utile pour être plus productif le lendemain ; si on regarde un film, c’est utile car cela accroît notre richesse intérieure - notre capital personnel ; si on fait une promenade, cela améliore notre condition physique ; même baiser sert à perdre des calories ou à augmenter notre niveau de sérotonine…</p>

<p>Toute activité, ou mieux, toute action, doit être évaluée sur cette base. J’ai déjà proposé un <a href="http://blog.sens-public.org/marcellovitalirosati/eloge-de-loisivite-contre-le-travail/">éloge de l’oisiveté</a> sur ce blog. Là j’aimerais aller plus loin et défendre l’idée d’inutilité.</p>

<p>J’ai envie de pouvoir faire, penser, écrire des choses inutiles, qui ne <em>servent</em> absolument à rien. Des choses gratuites, dont les conséquences ne sont pas importantes ou, de toute manière, ne constituent pas une cause finale. J’ai envie de faire aussi des choses nuisibles, qui nuisent à l’impératif de productivité, qui cassent cet espèce de flux insensé. J’ai envie de perdre du temps, de développer un outil informatique qui ne sert à rien, qui ne fonctionne pas, qui ne fait pas gagner du temps, qui n’est même pas beau - car la beauté aussi est assujettie à l’utilité.</p>

<p>J’ai envie qu’on ne juge et n’évalue pas le monde sur la base de son utilité, mais sur d’autres bases, multiples: le plaisir? le bonheur? le potentiel d’émerveiller? la gratuité?</p>

<p>Je l’affirme: non, la philosophie ne sert à rien. Elle complique la vie, elle casse ce qui marche, elle arrête le flux, elle rend compliquée les choses simples.</p>

<p>Et ce soir j’irai me coucher uniquement pour dormir.</p>
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<p><strong>Disclaimer</strong>: these are mostly thoughts I’m thinking out loud with no real coherence or point to drive home. Writing it all is a way to question what I actually believe myself in this piece, if anything.</p>

<p><hr>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p>[the web] is for everyone. Not just for everyone to consume, but for everyone to make. — <a href="https://adactio.com/journal/18337">Jeremy Keith</a></p>
</blockquote>
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<p>Browser standards are decided upon by a consortium of people who—I believe—consist largely of representatives from big, for-profit companies. They make the browsers, so they collectively decide together what’s best.</p>
<p>It feels like the web we're making now is a web designed for commercial interests. The reason we get CSS grid or the JS APIs of ES6,7, and 8 has more to do with how companies want to build and deliver software over the web than it does with how individuals want to connect and communicate with each other over the web.</p>
<p>If the web is “for everyone”, how and where are “everyone’s” interested being represented?</p>
<p>Browsers are not an enterprise of the people. We do not elect our browser representatives who decide what a browser is and is not. I suppose by <em>using</em> Chrome you’re casting a vote, but ultimately browsers are made following the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules.</p></p>
<p>Browsers are not an enterprise of the people. We do not elect our browser representatives who decide what a browser is and is not. I suppose by <em>using</em> Chrome you’re casting a vote, but ultimately browsers are made following the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules.</p>
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<p>There’s a lot of discussion on UK Twitter right now about women’s safety in public spaces. And of course, I’ve been afraid to walk after dark, and sometimes even during the daytime, in most places that I’ve lived and visited. Since I was a young teenager, our friends would always make sure nobody walked home alone at night. That’s why it astonishes me to hear from cis men who don’t understand how much the rest of us fear them.</p>

<h2 id="i-dont-feel-safe-at-conferences">I don’t feel safe at conferences</h2>

<p>A lot of people are wondering what they can do to change this situation. (I mean the reasonable people who aren’t blaming the victims.) And so I wanted to bring up the safety of in-person conferences, in the hope that perhaps conference organisers might take this opportunity to commit to making their events safer, and less scary, for people who justifiably fear harassment and harm from cis men.</p>

<p>For the last few years, I’ve had the following in my conference speaking terms:</p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Please arrange for someone to meet me at the airport or train station.</strong>
I’m happy to take public transport, I would just appreciate some company! As a woman, it really means a lot to feel safe travelling to/from venues at night. I’ve had conferences expect me to walk alone across an unfamiliar city late at night in the dark. If the venues are close-by, or there’s someone who can help me get back safely, I’d really appreciate it.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I can count <em>one</em> conference that has actively taken my request seriously, or even acknowledged it.</p>

<p>Most conferences have parties that end late in the evening, often at venues at a distance from the event venue, and potentially further away from the accommodation they book for speakers. I can’t count the number of times I’ve walked back to my hotel from a venue in the dark, trying to map the route on my phone, hoping my mobile roaming plan will hold out for long enough in a city I’ve never been to, trying not to draw attention to myself as a small and weak person. Trying to decide whether it’s safer to travel on faster empty public transport where I could be trapped with someone, or taking longer walking where at least I could try to run away. Never wearing earphones, trying to stand tall and walk stridently as if I’m a strong woman who knows where she’s going. Often having had confrontations with aggressive men at the conferences who disagreed with my views, or thought I wasn’t sympathetic enough to their perspectives. Usually I’ll leave a party or dinner early if I know another speaker (who I feel safe with) is going back to the same accommodation, so we can travel together.</p>

<p>Perhaps my request isn’t strong enough, perhaps I need to chase up the organisers to ensure my requests are heard. If I’m honest, I struggle to ask for “special treatment”. As someone who is not a big name cis white guy, who chooses to speak about “challenging” topics like accessibility, inclusivity, privacy and rights, I’m all too aware of constantly walking a line where I could easily be dropped by an organiser for being difficult, or not worth the effort.</p>

<h2 id="what-can-conferences-do-to-improve-our-safety">What can conferences do to improve our safety?</h2>

<p>It would really help me, and other people who feel vulnerable in these situations, if conference organisers could help keep us safe. I’ve got a few specific ideas below. I’ve tried to focus on affordable options:</p>

<ul>
<li>Provide speakers with maps (that don’t rely on internet connections!) and optimal travel information to help them get between your venues and their accommodation.</li>
<li>Meet speakers at the airport or train station, help them get to the venue or their accommodation safely.</li>
<li>Arrange a buddy system so that speakers don’t need to travel alone, whether that’s with other speakers, organisers or attendees. Give people an easy option to choose another buddy if necessary, and don’t question their need to do so. (Unfortunately many of us know people in the industry with whom we’d not feel comfortable alone, and do not want the repercussions of sharing their names publicly.)</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="at-the-conferences-themselves">At the conferences themselves</h2>

<p>Safety at the conference itself is a whole other issue. I could write many blog posts about codes of conduct, their lack of enforcement, and the poor behaviour of both conference attendees and organisers. Maybe another time.</p>

<h3 id="for-non-organisers">For non-organisers</h3>

<p>If you’re a cis man at a conference, please be aware that you are, by default, a threat. It’s not personal, it’s statistics. And unfortunately usually based on past experience. You may well be “one of the good guys”, but if you are a stranger (and sometimes even not), there is no way for us to know that you won’t harass or harm us.</p>

<p>What can you do to help? Number one, for all time, pay attention to the people in the room who may feel vulnerable and step in if they are being faced with <em>any</em> questionable behaviour. Passive-aggressive comments can often escalate into worse situations, don’t let it get there. Make sure people know when their behaviour is unacceptable, and take care of the person who had to deal with it, especially when they might be more vulnerable alone later on.</p>

<p>Ask someone if they need company getting to where they need to go, and help them find a safe route, or someone who is suitable to help them, well ahead of the time they need to leave. Realise that offering to take someone back to their accommodation can be perceived as a potential threat, so prioritise finding a person who will make them feel safe over being the hero yourself.</p>

<p>And try to make people feel less of a burden when you help them. When you are socialised as a person from a minoritised group, you are encouraged to politely refuse help that might make a cis man go out of his way. Yes, these requests can be socially awkward, and rely on you stepping out of your comfort zone. But a little of your discomfort could afford someone the safety that might just save their life.</p>
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<h2 id="hey-lets-talk-about-small-tech">HEY, let’s talk about small tech!</h2>

<p>Everyone knows that in order to be successful in tech you have to take boatloads of venture capital, create a people-farmer that tracks, profiles, and manipulates people – sorry, <em>users</em> – for profit, grow exponentially and sell your unicorn (“exit”) to become the next asshole billionaire.</p>

<p>Or do you?</p>

<p>Join us and our special guest, <a href="https://dhh.dk/">David Heinemeier Hansson</a> (<a href="https://rubyonrails.org/">Ruby on Rails</a>, <a href="https://basecamp.com/">Basecamp</a>, <a href="https://hey.com">HEY</a>), as we talk about how to build ethical small tech that just does what it says on the tin and treats people with respect.</p>

<p><strong>Hosts:</strong> <a href="https://laurakalbag.com">Laura</a> and <a href="https://ar.al">Aral</a>.</p>

<h2 id="transcript">Transcript</h2>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: In the movie The Matrix, people live in a virtual space while their bodies are farmed in a physical space. Today, you could say we live in the Matrix Inverted where we live in a physical space, but we’re increasingly being farmed from a virtual space. And the people doing that farming like Mark Zuckerberg will be the first to tell you that privacy is dead. But when Mark says that, remember, he’s talking about your privacy, not his, because when Mark buys a house, he also buys the four houses around his house because his privacy is alive and well.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And yet his company, in 2017 at least, had 60 people working on literally how to read your mind. And this is intimate insight that they don’t just keep to themselves and exploit themselves, but they also share with governments. Here you can see the heads of some of the top tech companies in the world sitting at the same table as then President Elect, Donald Trump. So why do these companies do this? Well, it’s simple. Surveillance is their business model.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: For a company like Facebook, they have two audiences, not one. They have the people that they call users. That’s you. You’re the people who use their product and you don’t pay them for it. But they also have another audience. And these are their customers. And these are the organisations, the companies, the corporations, that actually pay them and allow Facebook to exist. And the way this business works is they track and watch everything that you, the user, does in order to create profiles of you, which they then monetise with their customers.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Now, this is their business model. This is systemic. It starts from the very beginning with how they’re funded. So when Mark had a startup, when he was tiny, when he was at Harvard, he needed money. So who did he go to? He went to a venture capitalist and he said, hey, we have this business model. You’re familiar with it because that’s what you invest in. Right? So if my little tiny startup can grow exponentially and within the next few years have hundreds of millions of people, well, how much money will you give us today for when we sell that business several years down the line? And the venture capital says, Mark, you look like a smart kid. You know, I’m going to invest in nine other companies. I’m going to put five million in nine other companies as well. But I’ll put a bet on yours as well. And I’m putting that investment into your exit, the sale of your business. And this is how venture capital works. It doesn’t invest in a sustainable business. It invests in the eventual sale, the exit of that business. This is, in a nutshell, the Silicon Valley model. It is a model that includes venture capital and so-called startups.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: A startup is not just any new company. It’s a company that fits this brand and this business model. Shoshana’s Zuboff from Harvard Business School calls this surveillance capitalism, and surveillance capitalism is basically the interrelationship between capitalism, which is about the accrual of wealth, and surveillance, which is about the accrual of information. What happens when those with accrued wealth invest that wealth in mechanisms of surveillance, which then gives them intimate insight about their lives, which they exploit to accrue more wealth? We get this feedback loop that we call surveillance capitalism, or which I call people farming.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And this is Big Tech in a nutshell. So at the end of 2019, David Heinemeier Hansson, DHH, wrote this tweet that I loved. He said, We don’t need more BIG TECH. We’re choking, suffocating on BIG TECH. When there’s no market share below ALL OF IT that is enough, you get what we’ve been getting. It’s time for an ethical reboot. It’s time for small tech. And, as the Small Technology Foundation, we couldn’t agree more.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: So welcome to today’s Small is Beautiful with our special guest, David Heinemeier Hansson. Hello.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Hey.</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: So David is the creator of Ruby on Rails, and he’s also the CTO and co-founder of Basecamp. And last year he launched, along with his team. Hey, which is the alternative to email provided by big tech.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: So welcome, David. I’m so glad you could join us. How are you? How is Copenhagen?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Copenhagen’s pretty good. It’s actually sunny today, so that’s always nice to see the Nordic countries in the winter. But, yeah, happy to be here and happy to talk about the big tech and the small tech.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: It’s been a topic that’s been accumulating an ever larger slice of my attention over the past several years.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: I’ve seen. I mean, I just in preparation for this I mean, I’ve been aware of your work for over this over the past several decades, of course. But just for the prep for this, I was just looking through your timeline, your Twitter timeline, what you’ve written on Hey World, which I’d love to talk about because I’m very excited about that. We’ve, of course, moved all our email over to Hey recently. And I was talking about that publicly. But the thing that we actually can’t use right now because we have a work account, but which I’m so excited about, is Hey World, where you can publish your own personal website just by sending an email. That’s so cool.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And I think that actually has the potential to eclipse, I think, the email side of it, although, of course it’s linked together. But yeah, so so I think we have a lot to talk about today. And before we start, though, I just also want to say that those of you watching, if you want to join us in the studio, if you have questions, if you want to join the conversation and say something, we’d love this to be two way, not just one way. So go to small-tech.org/studio and you’ll be able to join us in the studio here.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And Laura will be looking at who’s joining and trying to, and asking you about what you want to ask and we’ll put you into the stream that way.</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: It’s generally much easier if you have a microphone and a camera and earphones. And if you’re just shy, you want to ask a question, but you don’t want to be on camera or you don’t want to use your voice. You can always just add the message, just text in the chat and I’ll ask it for you.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: So to kick things off, let me ask a question, David. You’ve been doing things differently for 20 years or more, right? What has been the hardest part of that? What’s been the most frustrating part of that for you? What’s also been the most rewarding part of that for you? And is this something you got into consciously or is it something you just kind of stumbled into? I’d love to know how the path that kind of got you started and doing things in what I would call the right way.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Sure. So I think one of the things that matters a lot and if you’re going to think different is to be somewhere different. So Basecamp and me, we’re not the product of Silicon Valley in the sense that we ever lived in Silicon Valley, we ever worked in Silicon Valley. We were physically in a different location. I’m right now in Copenhagen. That’s where I was born. That’s where I started working on the Internet in the 90s and where I started working with Basecamp. So when Basecamp was founded, it was founded with my appreciation of Danish, Nordic, socially-democratic welfare state principles and approach to life and work that is simply very different from the approach to life and work that comes out of Silicon Valley.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: So I think that foundation really had a huge impact. It just so happened that I then teamed up with Jason Fried who was in Chicago, Illinois, also not exactly known as a tech hub USA. And both of us had been exposed to what tech hub USA and those ethics looked like, working for other people in the dot com boom and that dot com boom. And then the following dot com bust was something that left some pretty deep scars on our psyche, on how to run companies, how to build them and how to fund them, and mostly in the sense of how to do it and how to not do it like that, how to not take a bunch of funding, how to not grow as fast as possible, how to not balloon the company up, such that it would eventually pop. That we were interested in building something sustainable, something where we were in charge, something where we could make different kinds of decisions.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And I’d say over the past 20 years, we’ve then been doing that. Perhaps the most frustrating thing is that the ideology of Silicon Valley and entrepreneurship and startups that come out of that area is so strong that people will literally not believe our story when we tell it. This comes in a bunch of different ways. But for example, workaholism, which is a topic we’ve been ranting against for 20 years, when we talk about, hey, we work 40 hours or less per week, people will literally not believe that that’s how the company started.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: They will think we’re lying. They’ll think there’s no way you could have started a successful software company without working to 60, 80, 100, 120 hours a week that people of Silicon Valley says is required. So when we say, no, no, no, that’s not how it started. In fact, it started on less than 40 hours a week. It started as a side project. I was working fifteen hours a week. They just won’t believe it. Like they straight up think we’re lying. And that is just such a fascinating thing that we can’t even agree on, like these basic facts that obviously we know.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Right? And also, they’re not exactly a secret. We’ve been writing on the Internet for the entire time. So the history is out for anyone to examine. But the ideology is so strong. And the idea that the Silicon Valley way, the VC [venture capital] way is the way it’s so overpowering that people have a hard time even believing that something like Basecamp could come out of an alternative model. And then if they finally sort of admit that that’s a thing that could happen, they write it off as this weird aberration that, OK, fine.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: So that’s what happened to you. That’s how you built it. But like, that’s basically impossible. No one else could replicate it, which is just so hilarious, given the fact that that whole model is premised on, like unicorns, the most magical creatures of all.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Gambling! It’s Vegas, it’s Vegas-style gambling. That’s all it is.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And which means that not only is it, actually it’s worse than Vegas style gambling, because the odds of the startup becoming a unicorn is… there’s no odds that are that poor in Vegas. Even putting everything on red 36 will have far better odds than one individual company turning into a unicorn. Right? So I think that’s that’s a good way of summing it up. Just the frustration of scarcely being believed when we tell an alternative story, which in so many ways is just so basic, there’s not a lot to it. It’s not like we did something magical.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Right? We started a company that charged for products and we made more money than we spend. And that’s how we got to stay in business. That’s kind of like how, what? 99% of the economy works like that. That the 1%, the Silicon Valley economy does not work like that, it’s priced in totally different ways. Expenses and income are completely divorced from what something is worth. So it’s just it’s bizarre to watch it from the outside.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And I think, again, that has been one of those critical parts of it, that we are on the outside, because I think if we had been in Silicon Valley, we would probably have gotten corrupted just as well. You are a product of your environment to a large extent, and eventually it will seep in, and it will soak in, and it will color your entire world view, and you will adopt the ideology of the place that you’re in.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: I couldn’t agree with you more, and I mean and also, I mean, I’m not even sure we can necessarily blame, like, the people who are coming into this, you know, from like… if your only funnel is like, OK, well, I want to work in tech. And then it’s like, oh, well, then it’s Stanford and at Stanford they tell you, well, then you have to take VC, then you’re in that you haven’t even been shown anything else, you know. Not saying that you can’t actually just look outside that bubble yourself and maybe find some other ways of doing it yourself. But, you know, we really I think it goes all the way back to kind of the educational system, what we’re telling people is possible. And, of course, all of this is affected by Silicon Valley money. As we know, even here in Europe, the amounts that Silicon Valley is spending in lobbying, for example, to basically put out the message that our way is the only way. And if you’re against this, then you’re a Luddite and you’re… and not that’s not even what Luddites were… but, you know, anyway, you know, the mainstream thing, if you’re a Luddite, you hate technology, you hate… And it’s like, no, I love technology. I was seven years old when I started coding, you know, and I’ve been working in tech ever since.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: But to make things that make people’s lives better, not to make things that exploit people, that extract from people. And I think that’s the key thing. You know, like you were saying, it’s so frustrating to explain to people, you know, I’ve spoken at the European Parliament several times, et cetera, and it’s always like, well, do you hate technology No, I love technology.I hate this very specific toxic business model that exploits people, you know, and that’s that’s so hard to get across sometimes.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And I think that is a big part of what we’ve been trying to do for twenty years is to show that you don’t have to reject technology. You don’t even have to reject capitalism, per say, or at least free markets, in order to do something completely different. And we’ve tried both in the example of how we run our business and the stories about how that happens to show that there is an alternative. Right? Like you, you know what? We’re just one company. But look at us. All you need is essentially one black swan to prove that not all swans are white. Right?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: That just opens the door, the gateway to understanding like that this could actually be different, which is, again, it’s so ironic that, like, even that is a difficult point to get across to a lot of people have Silicon Valley, given that their whole mythology is based on these unicorns, the rarity of these unicorns, that we look up to these outliers. And then here we are presenting an outlier in their world view. Right? Like in their ideology. And like this is this is unbelievable. This is not realistic, actually, that that’s a great reframing. This is what we’ve gotten told a lot of times. “Yeah, but that would never work in the real world”</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Because you live in fantasy land somewhere…</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Exactly. But this is exactly the point that this is ideology. Right? This is why it’s so hard to understand once you’ve been indoctrinated in a certain ideology. It colours your worldview in a way you’re not even personally aware of. It’s not a conscious thought to understand the dynamics of the ideology. That’s why it’s an ideology. It tells you who’s important, who to look for, which paths are even possible. It narrows sort of the Overton window of what we can discuss. And then anything that falls out of that is it’s just difficult. It’s hard, it’s uncomfortable. And I’d rather not talk about it. That’s how a lot of people react to that. So that’s what that’s why the work is so uphill, because it’s almost like deprogramming. Right? It’s like someone has been in the cult, which is essentially just another word for a very successful indoctrination of a certain ideology. And you’ve got to get them out of that. Right? You’ve got to actually open up their eyes just to see a broader world in more colours. And that’s the work of deprogramming. And it’s a very long, arduous road. And it’s one we’ve been on for twenty years trying to deprogram at least just some breakouts.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Right? It’s kind of like you opened up with The Matrix, which is, I love that metaphor. Just we’ve got to just pluck out a few. Right? Getting get them on the nibbler, start the rebellion and then we’ll have a chance. You’re not going to wake up everyone at the same time or even perhaps ever. And that can’t be the motivation. I’m motivated by waking up like a handful of people, right? That’s what we need to get this right.</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: I think it’s also really difficult with the nature of the things that we work with, with technology, because so much of these companies, what they build is integrated into our work because we have to work with what’s out there. So we end up using their search engines, their emails, their web hosting platforms and all of these things that you don’t just have to change your mindset, but you have to actively seek the alternatives out and use them.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And that has increasingly become part of the why am I still doing this? To provide those alternatives, such that there actually are choices out there that are not these extreme choices that requires you to be a hermit living in the mountains off the land kind of scenario, because that’s going to appeal to some people. There are some, in the most endearing sense of the word, fundamentalists, who can go just living off free software, and they run everything on Linux and everything. And I deeply admire that, at least the principles of it. It’s just not realistic for mass change. For mass change. You need something with slightly less friction than that. And we can build those things. That’s…</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And then. Sorry to cut you off, David, but they’re not even mutually exclusive, you know, I mean, this has been one of my bugbears because everything we do is free and open source. But what I tell people in the free and open source world is, look, unless what you’re making is seamless, unless it’s… and the whole system, because a lot of times there’s there’s such a sort of narrow vision in the free and open source world that what I’m making is easy for me to use. So it must be easy for everyone to use. No, you’re an enthusiast, right? You’re an enthusiast and you have a classic car. And when your classic car breaks down, you’re actually happy because it means you get to spend the weekend tinkering with it because that’s what you love to do. Everyone else, they want to drive a car to work, to the grocery store. And if that car doesn’t get them there, and if it’s not easy to drive, they’re not going to use that car.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: They’re not going to, you know, they’re not going to buy that car. And so we get pushback sometimes because I would say I love what you’re doing, David. I love Hey, I love Basecamp. I love the fact that you have a sustainable business. None of those at its core is free and open source, even though Ruby on Rails is open source, et cetera. But I care less about that and I care more about the fact that you have a sustainable business, even though what we do is free and open source. If what we do doesn’t become a sustainable business at some point, then we failed.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Because if we can’t make it something that people can easily use, and in this current system, at least bringing in revenue so we can exist, then we’ve failed. Because the thing that I really get frustrated with in the free and open source world is people who work at Google and Facebook during the day and then become these fundamentalists that you talk about in the evenings. And they’re like, oh, it’s not if this isn’t all 100% free and open source. Yeah, but you’re not building an alternative future. You’re saying we must always live within this future and I’m going to get my paycheck from there.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: But here’s my hobby and I have a problem with that, you know, and that doesn’t make me very popular with, I think, either world, really, to be honest.</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: We’re not in it for the popularity.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: I know.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And I face many of those same discussions, some of them in my involvement with open source development that Ruby and Rails, for example, is licensed as MIT, which now is a very standard license to pick. When we picked it when I picked it back in 2004, it was not that standard. The licenses of choice were more like the GPL and these other kinds of reciprocal licenses to require people to donate their contributions back to it. And I was just like, you know what? That’s not why I do open source. We need to have open source encompass multiple sets of motivations. Right? You perhaps. I mean, just the metaphorical you here, want to advocate for a complete revolution and everything should be free and fair. That’s great. I really value that. That’s we need that on the spectrum. That’s part of what broadens the room for…</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: It’s a place on the map. It’s a place on the map, you know.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Exactly. I just I’m just not there. That’s not what I’m in it for. And I’m at a different place where, like, do you know what free markets and the exchange of goods and services using monetary means… That’s not an evil to me. I have all sorts of critiques of capitalism we can spend a lot of time on. And I think that’s fascinating. But this idea that free markets and exchanging software for money is bad I think is counterproductive. I don’t think it helps us get somewhere.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And in some ways, I think it almost allows the dream to stay a dream because it’ll never become reality. Here I am talking about what’s going to be in the real world or not.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: But it’s just not realistic, David.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Exactly, right? Which I mean, maybe it is. And maybe there are some a new wave of people who will convince people or others and build software that actually will fulfill that. And then awesome. All the power to them. I’ve generally not seen a lot of that, especially in the domain that we’re interested in, what we’re building, which is end user, consumer, mainstream email services or project management services… the open source world just to have not demonstrated that that’s their forte. You go to operating systems, web frameworks, databases. It’s not even close, no competition. They’re just creaming everyone else. And I mean, I can barely get my hands down for that. I owe my entire career to the fact that that happened, owe the business to it that that happened, that we didn’t have to buy licenses from Oracle or whatever else. But when it comes to sort of the kind of software that I built, the market approach is a good approach. And even within the market approaches we just talked about, like you can be like, hey, I sell software for money and I’m nothing like Google or Facebook or whatever. Like that’s a wide spectrum, too. So that’s what we’re trying to do. In some ways it also allows us to lob critiques at the prevailing ideologies from within the ranks. Right? When someone is so far out… like, for example, let’s say I’m advocating for free and open source software from like a very fundamentalist, socialist, whatever you want to label, you want to smack on it, it feels so far out like it’s not even relevant to me, the person who’s sitting in the mainstream. When we show up and say, like, you know what, we build a software company that charges money.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: We do it in this way. They can like they can squint and see themselves in that mirror somewhat and can recognise, oh, actually, these are not these strange aliens from Mars. Perhaps I could also be like that. Right? You need almost some sort of recognition to be an inspiration.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Yeah.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: If there’s no recognition, if people can’t see themselves in you, then they don’t think it applies to you. They don’t think that your experiences and your lessons apply to them, and you’re not really going to penetrate their inner sphere.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Well, it’s interesting because I mean, we are like with Laura and me, in our work, we are coming from kind of that area of well, in addition to… and I’m like I said, I love what you do because I think we need a spectrum. I think we need a spectrum of approaches. I think it’s a gradient of approaches. And what I don’t want to see is what Google does, but I don’t want to see is what Facebook does. That’s where I that’s not even up for debate. That’s the surveillance capitalism part of it, you know, this toxic business model, that’s not up for debate. Right? That’s that. You’re never going to convince me on that one.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: But making something useful that improves people’s lives and selling it for money. If everything was like that, I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing right now. I would be contributing to that system. Right? I’m doing what I’m doing because everything isn’t like that. And I kind of see how, you know, with with the way that we’re building things today, it does mean that we need to trust the people that are building it. Right? So the reason we’re with Hey is because we trust you, right? Laura and I trust you, and we trust Jason, and we trust Basecamp, but we have to trust you.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: So I think what’s kind of a little different with what we’re building, or how we’re approaching it, and what we’re doing with the Small Web is just turning it on its head. Right. So, in fact, even architecturally, like what you’re building for the Web as it is today, I think is the way it should be built. Right? And but what if we had a web where let’s say, and this is kind of thinking a little further, that we all had our own space there, but also, crucially, it wasn’t just read, but we could talk to one another spaces.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Right? Imagine that is just maybe a little server that you have on a VPS [Virtual Private Server], but you never know what a VPS is. You never know what a server is. You went to a website, it was a 30 second sign-up. And you just know that if you put in your friend’s address, then you can talk to them, and you can do so privately or publicly, etc.. So what we’re trying to build that sort of a thing, which kind of flips it on its head, like we need to actually not trust the server, but we trust the client, which is in your control. So we’re building things differently in that way. But if you think about it, in terms of our approach, I think we’re both saying the same thing. Which is build tools, not traps, build things that actually improve people’s lives, don’t build things that say to people, I am this, but then it’s actually something else which works against their interests.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: I mean, you know, and this isn’t that hard. This shouldn’t be that hard to understand. Right. I mean, this ,is what kind of, it’s actually some sort of bizarro world where we’re actually having to make this point that, you know, don’t be evil, should be the norm and not in the Google sense.</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: A lot of the time we’re competing with free, we’re competing with people who think that Google and Facebook… and not just everyday people using their platforms, but the developers using their tools and the frameworks they offer up, thinking they’re giving them these wonderful things out of the goodness of their hearts.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Yeah, free always comes with an asterisk. And the explainer for that asterisk, it’s twenty seven pages long and very small. It’s not free at all, right? That is the bargain we’re finally waking up to. And I think that is the large change that happened over the last ten years or so. That ten years ago, a lot of the discussion was, wow, Google is so wonderful, giving us free email with unlimited storage. I mean, what benevolent masters they are. And now we’ve come to sort of read through the fine print, the twenty seven pages and realize, oh, actually it wasn’t free at all.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And I don’t like this bargain. I’d say a majority of the customers that we sign up for Hey are people who are disillusioned with that bargain. That they used to believe, oh, free is great. I mean, I don’t have to pay anything and I get these wonderful services and then they learn what the price actually was and they went like, fuck that. I’d rather just pay you $99 and not have to deal with any of that. Right? It’s a much simpler transaction. What I think is interesting here, though, is I totally get what you’re saying in regards to like the trust element. But I’d also say that some of the… design that’s going on in the Internet world, particularly around cryptocurrencies that are based around no trust, I’m not one to live in a world of now of no trust. Right? Like that, that’s actually not like and this is why small tech is so interesting, because you cannot trust a large corporation. That is just not a transaction that’s feasible because there’s no one on the other side for you to deposit that trust with any meaningful sense of view. But do you know what? You could trust your local grocery store or grocer, if it’s owned by an actual individual that you can like Hey John! or whatever, I trust you, that you’re not putting arsenic in my beans.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Right? We can have a relationship, and that’s actually good, but it doesn’t scale. And that’s a feature. It’s a feature that trust doesn’t scale. It requires us to build smaller things and have closer relations in order to maintain that trust. And that’s what we’re trying to to set up that… it’s a feature in some regards, not all of them and their technical asterisk and blah, blah, blah. But it’s a feature that, to some extent, you should trust Jason and I. Why would you buy software from people you don’t trust? That seems like a really tenuous thing where you really have to check everything, right, did they cheat me somehow?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Right? I mean, I know I could do something, but then there was some side trap. And because I don’t trust them at all, I should expect that every side trap is one that they’re taking.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: David, don’t get me wrong, I was not talking about blockchain bullshit or this kind of right-Libertarian bullshit of we’re not going to trust anyone or anything. I’m saying we need to build systems where we trust people and systems that allow us to do that. And I think the thing that I’m not seeing, the thing that I’m missing is, in physical space, right? The boundaries of the self are very easy to understand. Right? It’s our biological boundaries. And we have a system of laws that protects the encapsulation of that, the sanctity of that.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: We call it human rights law. Right? What we don’t have, as I see it today, is the extension to that, to the mechanisms by which we extend ourselves. Right? I have a thought and I don’t want to keep it just in my head, but I want to put it in some, you know, digital medium. If I put that into Google, then Google has actually violated that encapsulation of myself by having access to that. And our understanding of human rights today doesn’t extend to that. We haven’t really modelled the individual in the systems that we’re building. We model organisations. We model the relationships between organisations and other entities. But we don’t actually have, I think, today the equivalent of, well, what is the individual, where are those borders, and what are the systems that protect that? So that’s really what I’m talking about. And of course, blockchain and cryptocurrencies and all this stuff. That’s absolute bullshit. 99.99999% of the time. It is literally a libertarian wet dream that’s destroying the environment and turning it into cash in the hands of a few people who are probably already wealthy to begin with.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Amen.</p>

<p>So, you know, I’ve I’ve got nothing good to say about that. And it also takes the narrative away from what we’re doing, because I say we need decentralised systems where people own and control them. And that’s what I mean by it, that individuals own and control them. Right? And everyone’s like, oh, do you mean blockchain? And all the money in it goes to either blockchain or startups.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Like we have zero public funding. We’re a not-for-profit. And we’ve been doing this for seven years, eight years now, I think. We have never gotten EU funding. We have never gotten NGO funding. You know, I basically sold three homes that we had in Turkey to keep us going, and they’re not worth that much. We couldn’t buy a single place here. But but that’s how we’ve been going. And we kind of built a blocker on, a tracker blocker, on iOS and Mac that kind of sells a little bit. But again, it’s on Apple’s locked kind of silo. And I know you have thoughts about that. So maybe we’ll ask you about that as well, even though, like, Apple has a very different business model from Google, of course. Right? But again, they are the kings. So, and I think I’d really like to see a world where our only options are, well, trying to figure out which king is benevolent and then going, OK, well, I’ll trust this benevolent king for now, you know, and that’s that’s kind of part of it, I think.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Does that make any sense?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Totally. And I think that this is what has me so excited about our current label obsession, which is Web 1.0… that so many things that you talk about, they were presented Web 1.0. Right? That there was more of a culture of like I have my own website that we use RSS to get our news, that we use email to communicate to each other, that much more of the Internet happened over protocols rather than platforms. I’ve really grown tired of platforms and yeah, that’s why Hey World, the new blogging service, blogging newsletter service that we added on to Hey explicitly says, like, we don’t want to be a platform. We are a typewriter. I’m selling your typewriter, I’m allowing you to sort of print paper on heyworld.com, but there’s no algorithmic amplification, there’s no… our content moderation is run down to essentially the fix of like, should you be kicked off the Internet or not? I want to use more tools.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: I want to use fewer platforms and more tools. Now, there’s some irony or contradiction in that when I sell software as a service, and the service part of that means that I’m running the servers where these things happen to be on. And I don’t think we’ve solved that fully. It has also some limitations around encryption and so on, once you store your data with other people’s services. But within that paradigm, there’s still so much to do. And the band that we’ve been running under is Web 1.0. How many of these questions we have right back in 1995, and that we corrupted since then and that the Internet of 1990s…</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And VC corrupted it.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Exactly. The Internet of 1995 is, was a better Internet in a ton of ways, even though it’s 25, 26 years old, that these platforms that ended up being slicker and whatever, the trade-off wasn’t worth it. So, in some ways what we’re trying to do, particularly with Hey, is to unwind some of that. Right? Like let’s turn the clock back on a bunch of the principles, not the ease of use advantages, or maybe even design or other things. We can still sort of, it doesn’t have to be retro, like it doesnt have to be retro…</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: No.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: in these kind of performative ways.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: I keep telling people, you know, we can’t go back, but we can go forward differently.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Yes.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: You know, and I think that’s that, you know, we’re not really going back to Web 1.0, but we’re taking the best of that.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Right.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And kind of reimagining it on top of all of the stuff that we’ve come to expect today.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And in terms of, like you were saying, the ease of use, et cetera. So I think in our approach is where we’re going exactly in the same direction from like maybe different starting points and different focal areas, maybe a little bit. But what I’d love to talk to you about is one of the things that we’re working very hard on is… so with the Small Web, for example, initially it’ll be on small-web.org, and you go there and you get your little site and you can talk to everybody else’s. But every, but all of those pieces are free and open source as well. So what I want to do is encourage other organisations, other small companies, for example, to take our hosting client, take the hosting bit of it, and set up their own hosts, and which will interoperate with ours. And the way that I’m designing it, it’s designed not to scale by design. Right? And I’m like, I’m not going to put in, I’m not going to make it so that we can become one of these huge centres. So if we reach our capacity, that means that we can actually subsist and we can keep working on this. And that’s great for me. Now, I want you to, maybe not even compete, but cooperate with us, run it again, run our hosting software. And you also get to a point where you can sustain yourself. And then we’ll build like kind of a horizontally scaling, sustainable kind of web. That’s what we’re trying to explore with what we’re doing. So, I mean, I’d love to chat to you more about that as well, like going forward, maybe, because what I don’t want is, I want to be able to decouple success and being sustainable, etc. from becoming one of these huge centres, from becoming one of these.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: I people ask me sometimes, like, what, you don’t want to be a billionaire? I’m like, hell no. That would be a total failure point for me, you know, because you don’t accidentally become a billionaire. You cannot become a billionaire without playing that VC game, without playing that high stakes sort of gambling game and building these toxic things. I mean, and you know this firsthand, right? You’ve been doing this for twenty years, right? David, correct me if I’m wrong. You’re probably a multimillionaire, but you’re never going to be a billionaire unless something goes wrong, right?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: I agree. And by design, not just on a philosophical level, but because it would be a downgrade of lifestyle. I happen to know a number of billionaires and I don’t envy the setup that they have to live under, the security details and the considerations and the weight of the world and their place in it. Not interested at all. You know what? Being a mere millionaire is far preferable on all sorts of levels. So that good comes back to this discussion of enough, right? At Basecamp in 2014, we decided we’re big enough, don’t want to be a bigger company.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: We were about 45 people, I think, at the time. We had four major products that were all sort of succeeding and growing. And we looked at that and said, you know what? We can’t continue with four major products at the same time, if we’re staying at 45 people, we have to probably go to 150 because there’s these tipping points where once you install this layer of management, you need a bunch more people and so on. So if we’re going to run this whole thing, I can see a straight path to us being 150, maybe 300 people. And I looked at that and said, you know what, I don’t want to work there. I don’t want to work at a Basecamp of 300 people.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: It’s simply not something that’s compatible with what I want out of life and how I want to spend my days. So we said we’ve had enough. Let’s just shut off the three things we’ve had. Not shut them off into Google way where you’re like, hey, get your digital shit and get out of here in three months. But, we’re just not accepting new customers. All the customers that are on it, they can use it until the end of the Internet, as we say. And then we’re just going to focus on one thing, we’re going to focus on Basecamp. And that’s what we did all the way up until now when we’ve launched Hey. But even to this day, we’re 56 people at Basecamp. It’s not a big company. I have enough. Like I want to stay at this level, which also means we can’t have millions of customers for Hey, for example. It put some very distinct caps on how big we can grow it because I didn’t want to work at a bigger company.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: So we thought all these ways about it where with Basecamp, for example, if we have about 100,000 customers, that’s what we want to be. Don’t want the half a million customers because I want to see certain things within the organisation have to scale linearly with the number of customers you have, in terms of your support department of your operations departments, in terms of all sorts of things.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And I’m like not interested. I’ve made all the money I need to make. I just want to continue at this steady state where we’re at, sustainable. And then I can do it for another twenty years and I won’t kind of end up looking back fondly on the early days and reminiscing about like, oh, remember when we were just forty people and my day wasn’t packed full of stupid meetings? Wasn’t that wonderful, right? No, actually let’s just stay there and I will spend the bulk of my days working on the things I actually want to work on, whether that’s programming, or writing, or appearing here or whatever it is.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: So that’s the other flip side that I’m trying to sell as a aspirational model is do you know what the thing you think you want? You don’t actually want. You don’t want to be a billionaire. Life is worse. I’m not saying that money doesn’t matter. I’m just saying that you hit a tipping point in like what, how much that matters, so much sooner than the billion. And by the time you get up to the billion dollars, it actually falls down the other way. Perhaps, except unless your life mission is to colonise Mars, or whatever the fuck Elon Musk is up to then. OK, maybe you fall in that category and that’s a different kettle of fish. But for most people, most of the time who look at money as an aspirational thing that they want to achieve because they have sort of they want to live an easier life or whatever, which I have all the sympathy for in the world. This is also part of this that like, sometimes gets put in opposition. Right? But like, if you’re in it for the money, then you’re a bad person when I don’t think so, actually. Right? Like some of what my inspiration of making technology was for “the money”, as in like, oh, I want to get to a place where I don’t have to worry about paying rent or how much food cost at the grocery store or these are the tipping points.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: That would be a good place to get to for us as well, I think. And then just on that note. I do suck with the whole money thing. I mean, for one thing, I just find it very difficult to get excited about money. This wasn’t always the case. It’s very odd. My parents tell me how I was like six years old going to school. And I was like I figured out that the people selling candy outside the school apparently couldn’t sell it inside. So I would apparently buy it from them and sell it at a… So there was a time, apparently that I was. But I just I have a hard time getting excited about about money.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And that’s maybe a personal failing in our current system, I don’t know. But I am going to say this before I forget. We do have patrons and you can actually fund us. So if you go to small-tech.org/fund-us, you could become a patron or you can donate to the Small Technology Foundation. We are a not-for-profit. Like I said, we have been self-sustaining for a while. We did one round of crowdfunding about seven or eight years ago and then I basically sold three of our homes. We’re renting now and we’re having to move as well because the landlord is selling our place. But that’s another story. But yeah, if you want to become a patron, it used to just pay for our hosting costs. But I checked this month, and it’s actually substantially more. I think we’re getting about 800, 900 euros a month now, which is really contributing, along with sales of Better, and along with anything we get from conferences and stuff. So it is very much appreciated and we will of course, never take any money from corporations or anything that’s strings-attached, or that will compromise what we do. But I keep forgetting to do this and like I said, I don’t like even talking about it, but it’s there and so please do it. And Laura, I’ve done it. So there you go.</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: I have a question, David, that came in from LJ, which I think is really relevant to you, talking about knowing the point at which you want the company to land. And so LJ who is cooking, so can’t answer the question for themselves, was wondering about the pricing of the products that you sell. So with Basecamp and with Hey, because they said that they know that you’ve had inquiries about some of them being above some particular individuals’ budgets. Was that an intentional decision in order to cap the number of people you have using it?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Yes, not only that, also just experience with selling very low priced products and how that’s incompatible with the kind of companies that we run and the kind of service we want to offer. So we have a relatively large support department who spend a lot of time being very diligent and careful with all the customers they interact with. And the math on that is that like someone writes us an email and it costs about five bucks, you take all the costs involved with running support department. It costs about five dollars to answer an email.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: If you lower your price to the point where one email essentially put you under water on a on a customer relationship, you end up in a place where you don’t want to talk to your customers. You end up in a place where you have to treat them in bulk in certain ways, which is much the experience actually that “customers” free (asterisk) of Google services find themselves in. Have you ever tried to, like, send an email to Google Support? Most people don’t even try, right?</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Don’t just go to /dev/null?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Pretty much, and we didn’t want to do that.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: We have a business set up where we want a different kinds of relationship. Which is funny because it’s also in the middle place. I also don’t want to close a relationship, like a lot of software companies that make the kind of stuff we do. They give essentially away the software for like 90% of users, a bunch of individual users, and then they make it all up by selling these ultra expensive corporate installations. That’s how Slack is funded. And other companies where it’s all enterprise sales, like they have maybe 500 companies paying for the whole deal, even though they may have millions of users.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And that ends up being that, who’s important? Is that the millions of users or the 500? It’s the five hundred. Of course it’s the five hundred. I didn’t want our business to be steered by that. So we’re we’re trying to be in this middle area where it’s not for everyone. I totally get that. Like, Hey, in particular, it’s a premium service. $99 for email that used to be (asterisk) free. For a lot of people, it’s a complete non-starter. Good, right? I can’t support two billion users over however many it is that Gmail has, never going to do it right? If we’re in the hundreds of thousands, we’re already capping out.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: So we’re self-selecting here for a group of people who like, the problems they have with the email are large enough that they can justify to themselves that spending $99 a year on it is worth it to them. And then that’s also why I’m so enthusiastic about supporting all these other models for email, like literally almost everyone on the email, or on the Internet, needs an email address. Right? We’re only going to sell to a tiny slice of them. So we need Protonmail. We need Fastmail. We need instructions on how to set up your own email server.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: We need a million different alternatives on the spectrum here. Right now, we don’t have that. We have Gmail, which has over half of the email market in the US. Then you add Verizon, which owns AOL Mail and Yahoo! Mail, and then you had Microsoft and you had 85%. 85% of all e-mail runs through the number of the customers or companies that just we just talk about… we have Apple on top of that, we’re probably getting close to 90%. Fuck that, right? Can’t we just have a thousand different email services? Ten thousand different email services that each have a thousand customers or whatever?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: That’s the scale where you can have these relationships I just talked about, these trust relationships. Yeah, it is a trade off and particularly for certain countries. Right? Like we are more than half our business is in the US, all our costs are American-based. We even pin our salaries on Silicon Valley salaries and so on. So we have a cost structure that is very US-focused, which is not compatible with most people in say South America or India or other places where these prices are.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: They’re not just like, oh, you can stretch for it, these are luxury products in these markets and that is a trade off. That’s why we need more solutions. We need people who also do different things and can make these things that… I just, I can’t make a business happen where we charge $9 a year for email because now I have to make it up somewhere else. Right? And then I get into if I have to make it up somewhere else, what do I start selling instead? Rather than just a service?</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: David, two things. A: at some point I’d love to really pick your mind about this, because, like I said, I suck at that part of it. And that is going to be kind of our route to sustainability with what we’re doing as well, at least for the bit that we’re hosting ourselves. And I’d love to be able to do that at some point. But B: what I’m also trying to push for, especially in Europe, is that if we can prove that alternatives are possible, like you’re doing it with Hey, for example, we’re hopefully going to be doing it with a Small Web stuff that we’re doing to show that alternatives are possible and that people want them and they’re currently, within the current system, paying for them.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: What’s stopping us from from supporting these things that are in the common good, that are making people’s lives easier, that are allowing people to communicate in the digital network era… What’s stopping us from actually supporting these from the Commons for the common good?</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: So why aren’t we actually investing our taxpayer money in supporting initiatives like this? Not run by the governments, we need to separate that, I think we need to separate public funding from public from government control as well. Not run by the government. I don’t want like a Facebook run by my government. That’s even worse. Right? Because that’s a Facebook with a military attached to it. But what why isn’t my taxpayer money going to support these sort of… because what we’re building is infrastructure, right? New infrastructure for communication for actually existing in the world that we live in today. This is how we communicate. This is part of our human experience. Why aren’t we supporting it from the Commons? I mean, what are your thoughts on that?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: I’ve thought about that many times, and in fact, that is my bailout plan, if I ever stop doing the Basecamp thing, that’s what I want to do.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: I want to essentially build up commons by attacking these centres of current platform dominance from that end. Right? That I actually I don’t have the qualms that you have about certain state run operations. You know what? I live in Copenhagen. My water is delivered by the government. My health care is delivered by the government. My kids education would be delivered by the government. I don’t have this mistrust. I mean, maybe it’s because the Danish government has such a puny military that basically hasn’t, I’m not even going to get into offending the military here.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: But just it that’s not a large factor and it’s not a big issue, I would say. There are certain aspects of it and you don’t always want to attach these political things to it. But I think there should be way more experimentation. And in fact, in Denmark, there’s a lot more. So the main system that delivers sort of email or well, actually email, when you get official mail from the government, you get it in something called an e-Boks. And this e-Boks is essentially a state-run email service that is linked to your identity through something called NemID, which is tied to essentially your Social Security number.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And it’s fucking great. Like I’m getting all my official communications through this. It’s way easier than what it is in the US where I get this through the mail and so forth. So I think there’s a lot more room for us to explore ways in which society can run some of these services in much the same ways as they run the roads, they run the schools. In Denmark, they run the health care systems. These in many ways are more complicated, convoluted systems than running an email service, for example. I could completely imagine that like a basic email service is something that’s just part of your citizens package, your digital citizens package, or I mean, I’m like storage. Right, like we talked about that, as you said. Again, wide spectrum. It can’t be sort of monopolised either, from that end of it. Right? Like we need room for experimentation.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: I agree.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And state-run things perhaps don’t have the highest degree of experimentation, and there’s more on the safety side and whatever, whatever. But there’s so much more room here for for us to experiment on all these fronts.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: I mean, and it doesn’t have to be a mutually exclusive thing. It’s like I said, we could even, I don’t really see any examples of this, but we could look into separating ownership from control. Like it could be publicly-owned by the people, but not controlled, but controlled by lots of different little entities, like you said. And then then we get the trust. Because when we’re talking about government, we’re again talking we’re getting into a larger sort of entity.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: I mean, my main concern there is, you know, part of it is it’s about not necessarily your government today being a problem, but what about your government, three governments from now when it is entirely rightwing fascist and they have all this data on everyone because we know how like the census was used in the Netherlands during World War Two or during the the Holocaust. It was just a census, but it was used so that people could find… And that’s the issue. You know, right now, if you have, say, Obama, maybe you’re like, oh, it’s OK, we’re just bombing brown people on the other side of the world. But then Trump comes in, you’re like, oh, crap. You’re like, damn, that’s actually that’s worse.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And then maybe middle class people who are like traditionally weren’t worried about the stuff start getting worried. And I think that’s the thing. It’s like the potential for misuse in these things. In basically knowing so much about people is huge. So, I mean, that’s the bit that worries me.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: And you have to design accordingly, and you have to design for the level of trust that’s available in your society. Like these fantasies. Let’s just call them, that have, are far more easily applicable to a socially-democratic state like Denmark than they are to the US. I don’t think any of this stuff you just talked about, the US running these things would fly at all in America. But again, America should not be like the top bar of aspiration. Like there are a failed state on so many social topics…</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Should be a warning.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Exactly. They should be a warning. In fact, I mean, that is what it is. When people in Denmark talk about, like American, the American state of things, it’s always it’s like a scarecrow. Like you don’t want to get to American state of things. Right, because that’s pretty bad. And you know what? Having lived in both societies for a long time, I’m like, yeah, that is accurate.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And that’s the feeling on the street. Right? And that’s why I can’t understand, like I said, we lived in Malmö at one point, and so I was in Copenhagen quite a lot. And you you see, like, for example, Singularity University. And Singularity University has a foothold now, there. And they have the ear of, or at least they had the ear of the prime minister, back then.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And this whole thing about, oh, we’re again teaching you about technology. So I think, you know, even in places like Denmark, I think you need to be, you kind of at least need to be aware of what they’re trying to do. Because they’re not sitting idle. They they are, they have a lot of money and they’re using that money to try and gain influence.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Yes.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And I don’t know what we do about that because like, you know, like I said, I’ve spoken twice at the European Parliament, Facebook and Google speak at the European Parliament to people in there every day because they spend millions to do that. So I can’t, I can’t counter that.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Well, you can and you can’t, right? So that’s one of the things that I found in my recent advocacy, and some of these issues that I’m testifying in front of state senates and so on. And Google and Apple will show up with every available lobbyist in the entire state, right? And, you know, sometimes something happens. This is the magic of democratic power that, occasionally, when it works, it really fucking works in a way that’s an overwhelming leviathan kind of strength that can wash away even the most staunch corporate, well-funded opposition. Doesn’t happen all the time.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: But there’s enough instances of this in history, at least, that we should carry a hope that it can happen. But I think to the point of the of Europe, that is one of my disappointments as well. There’s a lot of talk about the splinternet recently. Right? And much of that talk is OK, India wants to crack down on encrypted communication, and that’s why they’re going to essentially end up banning Whatsapp, and so on. But I also have some aspects of that where, like, we could use some splinternet. We could use some splinternet were Facebook and Google were actually corporate persons-non-grata in the EU. And that, using some historic techniques of how to nurture your own infant industries, such as tariffs or other blockouts, I am interested, I would like to explore that.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: I think actually shutting out some of these things, or putting digital tariffs on the work that Facebook and Google are doing, could be good. We’re not going to get a European tech industry that rivals this just starting up on its own. It’s never fucking going to happen. That ship sailed like a decade and a half ago at least, right? So you’re only going to get an infant industry bootstrapped by doing to some extent, what China is doing. And this is not an endorsement of the CCP or any other way, but look at the Chinese Internet and, not look at it as an aspirational model for whatever surveillance, but look at it from like a counter dominance perspective. You know what, I’m pretty sure that the Chinese think it’s better that they have Baidu and Ant and whatever, rather than a bunch of American companies running their Internet. Whereas in Europe we essentially just sat down like, okay, it’s great. Let’s just have the Americans run all of our Internet. What the fuck?</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: Yeah. I think, let me just try and pull myself in there… I think we’ve got a really good question that is actually related to that. If Jens is around, give me a quick wave, Jens, if you able to be on the stream? Fabulous, I’ll add you in. There we go.</p>

<p><em>Jens</em>*: Hi all. Yes. I want to connect to the point of speaking of trust in the EU, but more specific, are there any plans on offering hosting options in the EU for Basecamp and Hey? Because I encountered it, it’s holding a lot of people back from using it. Thanks.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: It’s a great question and one that I’ve, as a European citizen, I’m not actually an American citizen. I have an American green card, but I have a Danish red passport. It’s something I care quite a lot about. Unfortunately, what I found is that that offers no protection in terms of the main threat with storing data in the US, which is that the US government will come to ask for it. If you are a American incorporated company, it doesn’t matter where you store the data, you can store it on the fucking moon. The American authorities will still come for it and they will get it. If you are under the pressure point of American authorities, it doesn’t matter where the data is. I’ve, we’ve looked into firewalling these things up by creating a sector or a subsidiary in Europe, whether that would offer some protection. It didn’t even do that. So it’s actually quite difficult for an American company to provide these kinds of shielding. And even for European companies, it’s quite difficult. Because if you if you’re running a European company and you use any of these American services as part of your infrastructure, whether that’s cloud or whether it’s processors or whether it’s SAAS [software as a service] services to deliver your SAAS services, all of those suppliers are liable to the same pressures from the US state. Which is one of the reasons I’m so curious about what’s going to happen with Schrems to this verdict out of the European Court of Justice that essentially is saying you can’t safely store your shit in the U.S. because the US government has proven time and again that they will just go look at it. Right?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: I’m kind of arguing against my own best interest here as a proprietor of an American company. But I’d like to actually see that get enforced fully, right? Like if the European Court of Justice decision runs all the way through. That’s how we’re going to get the splinternet. And you know what? I’m just, as a sort of fan of the historic show, I almost kind of like to see that happen. Even though in some ways it not be it would not be great for Basecamp. We would perhaps have to cut out, I think about 10% of our business is the EU. We would, possibly we couldn’t serve the EU if she Schrems 2 went all the way through.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: But at least in the interim, I think at least your peers need to go in with their eyes wide open. Right? That it’s not first of all, it doesn’t matter where the data’s stored, it matters where the corporate entity that owns that data is incorporated. And is that a corporate entity under any pressure points from the US government? Right? Because there’s also all sorts of other even European entities like you take a Swiss banks, right? You think like Switzerland is like the model of neutrality and like they can be pressured in any way, shape or form. Yeah, they can. If Credit Suisse wants access to the American banking system, which they want, all of a sudden they have to hand over data on their customers to American tax authorities. Right? So the US has some serious tentacles into a lot of things that actually prevents even European-based companies in offering the protections you would think. Switzerland is totally safe. No, not so much. So the purity you need of your European encapsulation to provide the actual protections in this area, they’re pretty militant. And there are not a lot of suppliers that are able to offer them, that are able to say we don’t use anything from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, whatever. We don’t store anything on their servers. We don’t use any of their services. None of our data flows through it. It’s a very small number of services that can fulfill that. But for the ones that do, bravo. I cheer them on. Just don’t use the like, where’s the server? Because that part is, it’s almost like it gives a false sense of security. You think, oh, my data is in the Netherlands, my data’s in Switzerland. Doesn’t matter. I mean, that’s part of the thing with the Internet. Right? Is part of the thing with all the revelations from Snowden that, NSA and otherwise not only tap in to all these European interlinks, but the fucking European governments were cooperating with them.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: In fact, just months ago, new revelations came out about the Danish military cooperating with the NSA, handing data on Danes over to to the NSA on it. There’s been several revelations in Germany and in other places where you like Jesus, fuck, right? Like where can we run? Where can we hide from the US? And it’s not that easy, and it’s certainly not just a matter of moving the service. But. I still have some hope, dreams, aspirations that at some point, if Schrems 2 comes to be, maybe there is a way for us to, because it will splinter the Internet. If that happens, maybe there’s a way we can set these things up, but it’s just not something that’s it’s not in the near cards. But I would say for the vast majority of, Hey alternatives, Basecamp alternatives, it’s not true either. If you actually look into like can the US government get to this data through pressure points in their local countries, through pressure points in whatever Internet providers are tapped into or otherwise? Most services are exposed in these ways and they’re not keen to talk about it. But I kind of wish that this story was broader because I wish there was more pressures, just that we would end up with a place where you can say, do you know what my service is in fucking Copenhagen, there’s no goddamn way that the Americans can get access to it. I, I just don’t even know how that’s doable.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: All right, I’m aware that we’re past the one hour mark, so for several reasons, one of which is I don’t want to keep David for I don’t know how much time you have, David. But Laura, I was wondering, do we have any questions, anyone else who wants to join?</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: I think we’ve got a question.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Is that OK with you, David?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Yep.</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: Given that we have a lot of people who watch this, who are developers, designers, the kinds of people who work with the technologies that we’re… trying to build alternatives as well. And I think Viktor has a really interesting question… Viktor will you give me a wave if you’re OK to be added to the stream? Yeah, OK, I’ll add you in.</p>

<p><em>Viktor</em>*: You can hear me?</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: Yeah.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Hey Viktor.</p>

<p><em>Viktor</em>*: Thanks for hosting this conversation. Everything was right up my alley, so it was very valuable for me. So just a little bit of context. I’m working on a VPN [Virtual Private Network] firm, it’s called IVPN and we are a small company. And one thing we think a lot about and write about is doing things ethically, you know. That means different things to different people. But for us, it’s a long list, like no tracking of customers, not seeing their data, no surveillances, no retargeting. We don’t do any kind of emails and we don’t like to do anything that’s you know, you’re probably familiar with this list. And I’ve seen that some other companies within this space and those who do privacy tools have those rules, like other kinds of businesses, they like self-adhere to these kind of rules. And there’s some sort of like loose like group of companies. But there’s not enough, I mean, there’s some value coming out of it for companies and for their customers. So is it possible to do any kind of like ethical software framework or self-requirements that you would adhere to like a B-corp kind of framework? I mean, there’s a lot of challenges here, governance, and agreeing on the rules, how you actually monitor these. But I think this is really interesting. I’ve been seeing all of this long time. But how do we really crack how to stop that? Do you have any input on this?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Yeah, I think it’s first of all, it’s great that it’s happening. And not only that it’s happening, but the market is starting to respon. The number of potential customers that I talk to all the time, where this is, if not the most important issue, a very important driver for their purchasing decision, is incredibly encouraging. Right? Because for us to be able to do this sustainably, market has to respond, they have to reward this, that this is something that’s happening. And I’m seeing that, and that’s great. In terms of having sort of a broader sort of manifesto or something else that people can sign up to, the problems are exactly as you outlined them. How do you audit these things? We looked into it when on sort of just ethical treatment of employees, run remote, and so on. And we came close. But I was like, you know what? I don’t want to vouch for someone else. And that is kind of the problem. Once you start an association where let’s say there’s five companies in it. Right, like my Hey is on that list and then one of the other five companies ends up doing something that doesn’t actually not fulfill the spirit of this. I’m a little bit on the hook for it. I don’t really have a lot of appetite for that.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: So at least the way we’ve been doing it is simply just doing it by example, educating the market that these things are important, creating the demand. Right? This is one of things I’ve been pushing so hard on with email spy pixels, for example, right? Until we started pushing on it, it was kind of an esoteric issue. Not a whole lot of people had it in on their radar, and then all of a sudden we made a bunch of people aware of it. This is an issue you should be selecting, for example, your newsletter. Can you turn off spy pixels in your newsletter? Even better, does your newsletter not default to spy pixels? Even better still, do your newsletter not even have spy pixels as a feature offered?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: Right, that there’s graduation’s here and you start creating some of this demand. So I think just talking about it, highlighting it, showcasing it as part of the important thing is, is at least the path we’re choosing. I haven’t cracked the nut, on like how you could actually vouch or audit. And until you do that, I would not want to stake my own reputation because this is the whole thing about the trust thing. Right? I can trust my own statements about how we… well I hope so, about how about how we do things and how we operate data. I don’t want to, actually it’s a very high risk, to lend that trust to other corporations who may then violate it without anything I can really do about it.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: There’s mostly just downside to it. So the way I’ve been doing it, at least, is like here’s what we’re doing, helped create the demand, point to others who are doing it, encourage it on. And then I think in some ways I’ve been arguing recently that this whole privacy focus is going to go the way that organic foods did from the mid 90s forward. Right? It used to be something for hippies in sandals, to now it’s something that you can buy even in discount supermarkets, because perceptions’ changed. Like, oh, yeah actually I don’t want to fucking eat pesticides when I put my teeth into an apple, right? If we can get to that point right that like, hey, non privacy focused software is like eating pesticides. And I think we’re well on the way. Hopefully it’s going to sort of take care of itself. Again, doesn’t mean that organic foods doesn’t also have its own bullshit and whatever. But clearly, I’d hope, maybe someone could do an analysis to prove me wrong, but that we are in a better place now than we were in like ‘92 in terms of the amount of hormones and pesticides and whatever else shit that people were eating without even a thought to it. At least now you can’t say that like, most people at least, would know that that’s a thing. Organic is a thing. Here’s what it stands for. Roughly. But even I mean, that’s actually a good case, right? Organic foods, they have all sorts of labels. They have all sorts of auditing schemes. And there’s all sorts of issues with both of those things.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Yeah, and if I may just, if I may just add to that, because this is an area that we’ve been kind of working in for the last seven or eight years as well. And what we’re doing to trying to change perceptions and to kind of talk to developers and designers and say, you know, what’s different, like how you could be designing things differently. So over the years, we did come up with a couple of kind of conceptual frameworks, at least. One of them was the Ethical Design Manifesto. If I may, I’m just going to show you just a screenshot of the site. This is from our old site, 2017.ind.ie/ethical-design.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: But the core of it is we’ve got this kind of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs-style thing. And you might have seen this from like the Mailchimp, for example, design pyramid, you know, about delight, et cetera. But the bit that we’re usually missing is what should actually come at the base, where your design should respect human rights and respect human effort. And then we can go beyond that as well, and respect human experience and build things that make people’s lives better. And it’s not about this step, then this step, then this step. It’s about having a cross section of this in everything that you build. And the real problem usually is this very bottom of it [respect Human Rights] is what we’re usually missing. And I can see that you can’t really see that very well. So let me just make that a bit bigger here and get my scroll right. So that was the Ethical Design Manifesto. And we’ve kind of also now come up with the Small Tech principles, which, again, you know, you don’t have to necessarily adhere to every one of them. But this is how we kind of see, going forward, the kind of technologies we want to build. Right? And again, it’s like having a little piece of each one of these and everything that you build. And I think that the non-colonial bit here, down here is very important, that we don’t talk about very often as well. You know, do we have to, must we centre ourselves in everything that we build? Or can we build things that others can take, that others can build upon as well? Can we build things where, when something gets popular, maybe we don’t get as popular along with it and scale along with it? How can we do that? I mean, these are things to think about, I believe, and these are things we have to think about going forward. So I just thought I’d put those out there. That’s on the small-tech.org site as well. You can look at it. And as David was saying, when you come to things like certifications or things, those are very problematic because they’re usually there are usually a lot of reasons why these things exist. If they come from a good place, even, like David was saying, then the people you know who are doing it from a good place might have reservations with associating with some of the people who come into it. It’s a very, very difficult place. And it becomes one of those checkbox things where it’s like, oh, I’ve checked these checkboxes, so I don’t have to think anymore about any of these issues. And that’s always a bad thing, I think you.</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: Well we know that from the world of accessibility. That a checkbox mentality doesn’t often result in an accessible solution, even though most people tried to do accessibility by following the W3C guidelines on accessibility.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: We’ve just gone through that exact thing with Hey, and six months of intensive accessibility work and figuring out, you do some things to a standard where whatever, and then you test it with actual users who need to use screenreaders and so on. And, you know, it’s not great. You may have checked the box, but it doesn’t mean it’s a useful piece of software. But I still think that it is important, that like the principles are out there and the principles are like front and centre. And I think that that both happens from creating some consumer demand for people to supply, and creating some industry ethics. Right? That I want to be a kind of person, a kind of programmer, a kind of designer who works at places who do these things. I think one of the things we’ve seen with the big tech companies in particular is that customers have much less power than employees in terms of their ability to change the direction of a company. So if you can inspire, essentially, the workforce to adopt these principles, it’s almost like you’re going to get the kind of changes you want because they are actually the ones doing it. They’re going to be the ones advocating internally for it and so forth. So, yeah…</p>

<p>It does though depend, again. Sorry to cut you off, David. I was just going to say it does still depend on the funding model and business model, though, as well. Like I mean, no matter… like we can make Google maybe a kinder Google, but if it’s a factory farm, we’re never going to make it an animal sanctuary. You know? And I think we need to understand that as well. If a business model is compatible with doing things ethically, then yes, definitely. I completely agree. But if the business model, the core of the business is unethical, then I think the most we can do is kind of you know, we’re not practicing design at that point, we’re practicing decoration. We know that the core of what we do is something people shouldn’t see. If they get a whiff of that horrible smell, they’re going to run away. So we practice decoration, not design.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And I think we need to also understand that just so we don’t even maybe inadvertently end up doing PR for such companies.</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: 100%. Which is why, I mean, my life’s work of advocacy in the business place is like keep the business model simple: sell your shit, and that’s it. Right? I understand it’s not a model that applies to everything. But at least in the world of free markets and commerce and so on, keep the transaction simple. Even better, make the user the one who’s paying for it. Right? Not just some other entity. When you have those relationships, things just turn out better, which is one of the reasons of all the big tech companies, I have the most kind of sort of good feelings, maybe that’s even an overstatement at this point, but alignment with Apple. Because Apple’s business model for the longest time was exactly that. I will sell you an incredibly expensive phone. Here’s… I got to give you a thousand dollars to buy this piece of glass, but at least I paid you and you don’t have to re- unfortunately, this is kind of falling apart with their pivot to services and so on. But there’s still some remnants of it and there’s still some strong pillars on it. And they’re using those pillars in some ways that are occasionally good for the rest of us on privacy and so forth. But yeah, when you start a new business, if it’s going to be a business, if it’s a nonprofit, and it’s fun to do with different ways, that’s also awesome. That should be an option. But if it is a business… to charge. And charge…</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And even the not-for-profit, charge. Like I mean, seriously, not for profit, doesn’t mean that you don’t make revenue. It doesn’t mean that you need to… so charge there as well. And maybe the only thing I’d add to that is if, I mean, if anyone’s watching from, like the European Parliament right now, et cetera, I hope you’re watching this… look out for these little organisations, these small groups that are trying to do things differently, proving that it can be done, with things that actually work. So you’re not just, you know, wasting all that money on, like, you know, modern dance routines on on on privacy. But find these organisations, and then maybe think about supporting them from the Commons as well, going forward. I think this is a spectrum, really, and all of us that care about this need to be working together on moving towards these goals. And I would love to do that with with all of you here as well, going forward.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: And I wonder if that’s a good place to end up.</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: Yes, I think it might be.</p>

<p><em>Viktor</em>*: Thank you all for taking this.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: Oh, thank you for your… thank you, Viktor, for joining us. David, thank you so much for joining us. Going to see if I can, oh, there, picture’s gone. David, thank you so much for joining us. It’s so lovely to finally meet you. I mean, still quite virtual, but, you know, after after, you know, knowing of your work and admiring what you do for for so long. And I really hope we can we can keep in touch and kind of you know… I, know we both have, like, not a huge amount of time in the everyday things that we do, but it’ll be really nice to at least be in touch in terms of how can we move things in the direction that we probably both want to see things going. And whatever I can do on our end or we can do on our end where we’re we’re more than happy to. And thank you. Thank you for joining us. I don’t know, is there anything that we haven’t asked you? Is there anything we haven’t said don’t want to cover?</p>

<p><strong>David</strong>: No no, this is great. I loved this discussion, I think it’s a great forum to have it in. And we’ve got to sort of just keep repeating, that’s the other thing. If you want change, you got to be able to repeat yourself for a decade or more.</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: Oh yeah. Don’t we just know it.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: I know we have the plague right now, but if you’re ever in Ireland, you’re always welcome, come visit us. And yeah. So thank you so much for joining us. And I guess we’ll do our outro then, Laura, if you’ll take it away.</p>

<p><strong>Laura</strong>: Go for it. Yeah, we didn’t really even intro ourselves at the beginning. So this time I have the opportunity to say that I have been Laura Kalbag, downstairs in the house and upstairs in the house.</p>

<p><strong>Aral</strong>: It’s me, Aral. Thanks so much for joining us. And that’s been this month’s Small is Beautiful. Take care and be well.</p>
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<div class=""><h2 id="b428" class="hj gk gl bf b hk hl hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz dx">It’s more important than ever to consider mental health while designing.</h2></div>

<p id="74fc" class="ja jb gl jc b hk jd je hn jf jg jh ji jj jk jl jm jn jo jp jq jr ge hi">Accessibility continues to be an important topic across multiple industries, yet mental health, and specifically anxiety, don’t often immediately come to mind as a piece of the puzzle.</p>

<p id="6d3d" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">Considering the skyrocketing rates of mental illness throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic — plus many more of us struggling with daily stressors and mood swings that may lead us to irrational negative thinking —how often are we asking ourselves, “How will someone with anxiety experience our product/service/feature? How can we make that better?”</p>

<figure class="jy jz ka kb kc kd fr fs paragraph-image"><figcaption class="kt ku ft fr fs kv kw bf b bg bh dx">Via <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/21878/impact-of-coronavirus-pandemic-on-mental-health/" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">Statista</a></figcaption></figure>

<p id="1a9a" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">As <a href="https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Awareness-Events/Mental-Health-Awareness-Month" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">Mental Health <span id="rmm"><span id="rmm">A</span></span>wareness Month</a> comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting on personal experiences, and the many ways designers and developers can influence someone suffering from anxiety or depression. Especially for those of us in healthcare, insurance, finance — industries that often require complex tasks from an incredible breadth of users — What mental health hurdles may be unintentional consequences of our work?</p>

<p id="61cc" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">A close friend of mine — let’s call her Alex — suffers from generalized anxiety disorder, which has significantly exasperated over the last year, like so many others. In helping her with various issues she’s faced in websites and apps, my heart breaks seeing the emotional toll some digital experiences have had on her. But it’s also helped open my eyes and make me a more considerate designer.</p>

<p id="8277" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">A few salient pieces of our conversations have really stuck with me:</p>

<blockquote class="ky"><p id="3ca6" class="kz la gl bf lb lc ld le lf lg lh jr dx">“I just can’t figure out what to do next. I’m so stupid.”</p></blockquote>

<figure class="lj lk ll lm ln kd fr fs paragraph-image"><figcaption class="kt ku ft fr fs kv kw bf b bg bh dx">Via <a href="https://stock.adobe.com/contributor/206424779/mary-long?load_type=author&amp;prev_url=detail" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">Mary Long</a> on <a href="https://stock.adobe.com/" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">Adobe Stock</a></figcaption></figure>

<p id="3250" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">When attempting to fill out onboarding paperwork for a new doctor appointment, Alex was stuck trying to upload a form. After taking a look, I could tell that the website had some form of server error, as my typical troubleshooting didn’t do the trick. She would need to try again in the morning or go to the appointment early to fill out all the remaining steps.</p>

<p id="e9bf" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">As soon as I said that, she spoke even more shakily. “I’m sorry I couldn’t figure it out. I guess I don’t understand these things. They said the online forms are required and I don’t want to break the rules.” Not only had her anxiety been heightened due to feeling inadequate, but she was also now going to struggle with anxiety all night about how she now needed to leave work even earlier than before, and how she was going to get on the receptionists’ bad side by not following the request for new patients.</p>

<p id="7dc8" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">Two things here: One, yes the world is significantly digital, but alternatives are still needed. Not only is it a necessity for accessibility in general, but also various mental health conditions and their side effects (insomnia, headaches, fatigue, blurry vision…), can make digital forms much more difficult. Temporary disability can come in many forms.</p>

<p id="15bd" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">Two, distinguishing between a technical glitch and human error is essential. Without proper error states and messaging explaining the cause and next steps, some may be completely at a loss, and continue to beat themselves up for thinking they made a mistake. And if it was human error, tell them nicely exactly how to fix it, or better yet see what you could do to prevent it in the first place.</p>

<blockquote class="ky"><p id="7bfd" class="kz la gl bf lb lc ld le lf lg lh jr dx">“I don’t even know if I have an account. I can’t believe my memory is so bad.”</p></blockquote>

<figure class="lj lk ll lm ln kd fr fs paragraph-image"><figcaption class="kt ku ft fr fs kv kw bf b bg bh dx"><a href="https://www.freepik.com/" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">Designed by slidesgo / Freepik</a></figcaption></figure>

<p id="d1ff" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">There is absolutely no way we can expect users to remember every account they’ve ever created, especially when so many websites make us create them nowadays — all with different username and password requirements — and some for platforms we use maybe once a year or less, some we create in the middle of another longer form, others are created for us by our employers or other affiliations.</p>

<p id="2084" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">I personally wouldn’t survive a day online without Chrome password autofill. But not everyone is comfortable with that setup or knows how to enable it. So yes, of course Alex forgot that she made an account 2 years ago for her vision insurance and didn’t save the information anywhere.</p>

<p id="b5d2" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">But from her perspective, it was her own fault, and it contributed to the story she tells herself that she’s not smart and has a bad memory. Not the company’s fault for requiring a username other than an email, a password with 5 different requirements plus it couldn’t be repetitive of your last 10 passwords, and a quadrillion-step process to reset your credentials.</p>

<h2 id="cb00" class="lr ls gl bf lt lu lv hm lw lx ly hp lz hq ma hs mb ht mc hv md hw me hy mf mg hi">Her entire body stiffened when she got to a marital status question.</h2>

<figure class="jy jz ka kb kc kd fr fs paragraph-image"><figcaption class="kt ku ft fr fs kv kw bf b bg bh dx">Via <a href="https://stock.adobe.com/contributor/205137184/rosinka79?load_type=author&amp;prev_url=detail" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">rosinka79</a> on <a href="https://stock.adobe.com/" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">Adobe Stock</a></figcaption></figure>

<p id="7b49" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">“I don’t understand why they need to know that,” she said, her voice cracking. She shakily pressed the accurate choice and I could hear her breath quicken. I couldn’t give her a good response — “Maybe they’re gathering demographic data for marketing” wouldn’t have cut it.</p>

<p id="59cd" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">I imagine others may feel the same pulse-quickening on questions about gender, income, race, education level, religion, sexual preference — any topic where there may be historical oppression or judgment, fear that the selection may negatively impact the outcome of the form, or even any other information that someone may not like to think about or reveal about themselves. In some circumstances these questions are necessary, but could they be optional? Could there be a “prefer not to say” option? Could you explain why you need the information? (If you can’t, maybe a sign to kill the question).</p>

<blockquote class="ky"><p id="f40a" class="kz la gl bf lb lc ld le lf lg lh jr dx">“Why can I never get this right? Why are things so hard for me?”</p></blockquote>

<figure class="lj lk ll lm ln kd fr fs paragraph-image"><figcaption class="kt ku ft fr fs kv kw bf b bg bh dx">Via <a href="https://stock.adobe.com/contributor/206783960/oksana-stepova?load_type=author&amp;prev_url=detail" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">Oksana Stepova</a> on <a href="https://stock.adobe.com/" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">Adobe Stock</a></figcaption></figure>

<p id="45a2" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">My heart sinks hearing these words over and over again over the last few years. From invalid credentials, to expired email links, to confusing password reset flows, to glitchy and lengthy forms, to jargon-filled websites, I know the majority of issues Alex has worked through with me have all been outside of her control. And I try to tell her that, but her anxiety doesn’t let her see it that way. She truly believes everything she’s struggled with is her fault, and with each failed click of a button, her anxiety continues to worsen.</p>

<h2 id="5265" class="lr ls gl bf lt lu lv hm lw lx ly hp lz hq ma hs mb ht mc hv md hw me hy mf mg hi">What Alex can teach us</h2>

<p id="c5b0" class="ja jb gl jc b hk mk jd je hn ml jf jg jh mm ji jj jk mn jl jm jn mo jo jp jr ge hi">It’s easy to engage in self-referential design and make decisions based on how we and our teams typically interact with products in a positive mental state. But when we do so, we’re further alienating those unfamiliar with or anxious around technology, instead of bringing technology closer to their needs.</p>

<p id="7822" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">Think about what you know about your users — What other areas in their lives could be putting strain on their emotional and mental state? What platforms are they familiar with? What level of education do they have around your product content and services? What are all the possible ways, both in and outside of the product’s control, the happy path could take a southern turn?</p>

<p id="5a9c" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">With these in mind, there are infinite items to consider when designing. Just a few that could be a good start:</p>

<ul class=""><li id="71fb" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr mp mq mr hi">Prepare for both system failure and human error, and respond to each with the same level of clarity.</li><li id="f6f6" class="ja jb gl jc b hk ms jd je hn mt jf jg jh mu ji jj jk mv jl jm jn mw jo jp jr mp mq mr hi">Tell users when it’s not them, it’s us.</li><li id="46c8" class="ja jb gl jc b hk ms jd je hn mt jf jg jh mu ji jj jk mv jl jm jn mw jo jp jr mp mq mr hi">Microcopy is king.</li><li id="9a6f" class="ja jb gl jc b hk ms jd je hn mt jf jg jh mu ji jj jk mv jl jm jn mw jo jp jr mp mq mr hi">Only request information you absolutely need.</li><li id="bc6d" class="ja jb gl jc b hk ms jd je hn mt jf jg jh mu ji jj jk mv jl jm jn mw jo jp jr mp mq mr hi">Write as if you’re talking to a 5th grader.</li><li id="3c4b" class="ja jb gl jc b hk ms jd je hn mt jf jg jh mu ji jj jk mv jl jm jn mw jo jp jr mp mq mr hi">Make the effects of an action crystal clear. And make sure you can undo it too.</li><li id="350c" class="ja jb gl jc b hk ms jd je hn mt jf jg jh mu ji jj jk mv jl jm jn mw jo jp jr mp mq mr hi">There’s rarely a step of an interface that doesn’t require both feedback and guidance on next steps.</li><li id="d2b8" class="ja jb gl jc b hk ms jd je hn mt jf jg jh mu ji jj jk mv jl jm jn mw jo jp jr mp mq mr hi">For any essential task, two channels (web, phone, email, chat, paper, etc.) are better than one.</li><li id="4cec" class="ja jb gl jc b hk ms jd je hn mt jf jg jh mu ji jj jk mv jl jm jn mw jo jp jr mp mq mr hi">Make sure every email link, social link, SMS, direct mail piece — anything your product puts out there — all talk to each other.</li><li id="0044" class="ja jb gl jc b hk ms jd je hn mt jf jg jh mu ji jj jk mv jl jm jn mw jo jp jr mp mq mr hi">Just keep thinking and learning about the topic— “A web of anxiety: accessibility for people with anxiety and panic disorders <a href="https://www.tpgi.com/a-web-of-anxiety-accessibility-for-people-with-anxiety-and-panic-disorders-part-1/" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">Part 1</a> and <a href="https://www.tpgi.com/a-web-of-anxiety-accessibility-for-people-with-anxiety-and-panic-disorders-part-2/" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">Part 2</a>” has some fantastic insights.</li></ul>

<p id="cb29" class="ja jb gl jc b hk js jd je hn jt jf jg jh ju ji jj jk jv jl jm jn jw jo jp jr ge hi">These details of the experience matter — not just for quality products and overall happy customers, but also for alleviating any possible sliver of anxiety for someone that we can. Good experiences make good days better and bad experiences make bad days worse — that’s true for all of us. And for those of us whose bad days are frequent and made up of irrational negative thinking and worry, let’s not add another bad experience to their plate. Even the smallest straws can break the camel’s back, and I’d prefer to deliver products that help lift the weight.</p>

<figure class="jy jz ka kb kc kd fr fs paragraph-image"><figcaption class="kt ku ft fr fs kv kw bf b bg bh dx">The UX Collective donates US$1 for each article we publish. This story contributed to <a href="https://www.wcd.school/" class="ed kx" rel="noopener nofollow">World-Class Designer School</a>: a college-level, tuition-free design school focused on preparing young and talented African designers for the local and international digital product market. Build the design community you believe in.</figcaption></figure>

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<p>Cela fait un an que <a href="https://blog.notmyidea.org/break-technologique.html">j'ai décidé de me déconnecter</a> pour laisser plus de place à d'autres projets.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Me détacher de la maintenance de ihatemoney ;
Supprimer la plupart des applications sur mes téléphones (pro et perso)
@@ -80,22 +79,15 @@ Supprimer la plupart des applications sur mes téléphones (pro et perso)
Ne plus ramener mon téléphone pro à la maison ;
Avoir un ordinateur fixe au travail, et l'y laisser ;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Cette partie de la liste est entièrement validée, et cela m'apporte une quiétude. La frontière entre le travail et le perso est maintenant mieux définie. A la fois pour moi, pour mes collégues et pour mes ami·es. J'en retire beaucoup de repos.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Limiter mon utilisation de l'ordinateur perso à 1h par jour, sauf exceptions ;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Je passe dans l'ensemble beaucoup moins de temps sur l'ordinateur, même si le téléphone portable à pris une place plus importante, ce que je regrette.</p>

<p>J'ai transitionné d'une utilisation de l'ordinateur pour écrire des logiciels à une utilisation pour fabriquer de la musique. J'y découvre un plaisir, en partie parce que l'outil est puissant, en partie parce que je découvre un moyen de réaliser des envies qui trottent dans ma tête depuis quelques temps.
Mais… je me retrouve encore derrière un écran.</p>

<p>Je creuse petit à petit l'utilisation d'outils qui permettent de se passer de <em>Digital Audio Workstation</em> (DAW) — et donc d'ordinateur — mais j'avoue ne pas trop y croire pour l'instant.</p>

<p>Peut-être que ce qui me gène n'est pas tant l'écran en tant que tel, mais la posture dans laquelle celui-ci me plonge ?</p>

<p>Plutôt que de chercher à passer <strong>très peu</strong> de temps derrière un écran, je peux essayer de maximiser le temps ou j'y fais quelque chose qui m'intéresse, et pour lequel je suis dans un usage créatif ?</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.guillemettesilvand.fr/" class="spip_out" rel="external">Guillemette</a> réfléchit à sa présence au monde, à son rôle, à son statut social d’une certaine manière, et aussi à son cheminement. Je me pose et j’écoute.</p>

<p>Un extrait :</p>

<blockquote cite="https://peertube.nogafa.org/videos/watch/cd2f84ce-c1bb-403f-a767-c36ef2360c30">
<p>Ça n’a pas toujours été facile pour moi de répondre à la question « Qu’est-ce que tu fais dans la vie ? », « C’est quoi ton travail ? », mais aujourd’hui, voilà, je suis heureuse de pouvoir partager ça avec vous. J’ai trouvé, je me suis posé, j’ai passé plein d’étapes […].</p>
<p>Aujourd’hui je sais ce que je fais […].</p>
@@ -82,15 +80,10 @@
<p>Parfois j’ai pensé que j’étais un outil, par exemple j’ai pensé que j’étais danseuse et que c’était ça ma mission de vie, ce que je devais apporter à ce monde. Et puis j’ai la photographie, aussi, donc je suis photographe. Et puis je fais aussi des pratiques énergétiques, et puis je fais aussi de la création plastique.</p>
<p>Donc plein d’outils, et finalement j’ai compris que je ne me réduisais pas à un outil ni deux ni trois. J’ai compris que tout cela n’était que des outils, et que ce que j’apporte vraiment au monde c’est qui je suis.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>(C’est une vidéo non sous-titrée, je n’ai pas tout retranscrit malheureusement.)</p>

<p>J’aime vraiment cette première réflexion<span class="spip_note_ref"> [<a href="#nb1" class="spip_note" rel="appendix" title="Je veux dire : c’est l’introduction de sa vidéo, ensuite elle développe sur ce (...)" id="nh1">1</a>]</span>. J’ai l’impression que nous tenons de nos parents et eux des leurs et ainsi de suite le schéma habituel qui voudrait que nous sommes ce que nous faisons pour gagner notre croûte — à tel point qu’on en vient à craindre qu’une personne qui s’identifie si fortement à son métier va s’étioler quand la retraite arrive<span class="spip_note_ref"> [<a href="#nb2" class="spip_note" rel="appendix" title="J’ai craint ça pour mon père, par exemple, et fort heureusement il n’en a rien (...)" id="nh2">2</a>]</span>.</p>

<p>Avez-vous remarqué que quand vous rencontrez des gens, c’est confortable de leur demander ce qu’ils font, et de leur dire ce que nous faisons ? Alors que sur le fond, finalement, on s’en moque. Le travail ne devrait pas être une propriété définitoire, même si dans le meilleur des cas c’est celui qu’on a choisi et qui nous ressemble<span class="spip_note_ref"> [<a href="#nb3" class="spip_note" rel="appendix" title="Ou plutôt : qui nous ressemble un peu, et souvent, qui nous ressemble de (...)" id="nh3">3</a>]</span>. Qui es-tu ? Je suis Untel-Unetelle, j’aime telle musique, je prends telles photos, je viens de lire tel truc qui m’a amusé/fait réfléchir/fait suer. Bref, nous sommes un faisceau de plusieurs fibres, et quand on est chanceux au point de pouvoir les explorer, on a plein de fibres différentes qui toutes nous enrichissent.</p>

<p>Au passage, j’aime bien cette expression, « j’ai pensé que j’étais un outil », qui croise assez la notion de « rouage » pour définir le rôle que la plupart d’entre-nous jouons dans notre boulot, je trouve.</p>

<p>Et puis, pour finir et puisqu’on parle aussi de son activité de photographe, j’ai eu la chance que <a href="https://uneviedallegresse.wordpress.com/2019/02/24/sourire-51/" class="spip_out" rel="external">Guillemette me tire le portrait</a> dans sa série des Sourires. Les rencontres et les sourires, c’est la vie.</p>
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</nav>
<hr>
<div class="lead"><div><p><span><span><span><span><span><span>En&#xA0;2020, 5 km de pistes&#xA0;cyclables bidirectionnelles, 4 saisons et s&#xE9;curitaires ont &#xE9;t&#xE9; implant&#xE9;es sur les rues Prieur et Sauriol&#xA0;pour les usager(&#xE8;re)s de tous &#xE2;ges. En 2021, 2 km s&#x2019;ajoutent&#xA0;tandis que d&#x2019;autres liens cyclables sont planifi&#xE9;s pour 2022.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p></div></div>

<div class="content-modules"><div class="content-module-stacked"><div><h2><span><span><span><span>Pour un partage plus inclusif et s&#xE9;curitaire de la voie publique</span></span></span></span></h2>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Ces voies cyclables sont destin&#xE9;es autant aux jeunes &#xE9;l&#xE8;ves, pour se rendre de la maison &#xE0; l&#x2019;&#xE9;cole ou au parc, qu&#x2019;aux travailleuses et travailleurs, aux familles, aux personnes &#xE0; mobilit&#xE9; r&#xE9;duite, aux r&#xE9;sident(e)s qui souhaitent s&#x2019;approvisionner aupr&#xE8;s des commer&#xE7;ant(e)s du quartier, bref&#xA0;aux usag&#xE8;res et usagers&#xA0;de tous les &#xE2;ges.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<h3><span><span><span><span><span><span>Le projet est&#xA0;r&#xE9;alis&#xE9; en 3&#xA0;phases</span></span></span></span></span></span></h3>

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<hr>
<p id="p-0">The climate crisis is heating up the planet like never before. Residents of Portland, Oregon felt record-breaking heat in June 2021 when temperatures reached 116 degrees Fahrenheit, and in July, Lytton, B.C. <a class="underline border-color-innovation" href="https://interestingengineering.com/its-122f-in-canada-average-temperatures-in-the-sahara-desert-are-just-114f" rel="dofollow" target="_blank" data-id="embedded internal links" data-type="link" data-url="https://interestingengineering.com/its-122f-in-canada-average-temperatures-in-the-sahara-desert-are-just-114f">broke a record when temperatures soared to 121.3F</a>.</p>

<p id="p-1">The United Arab Emirates often sees similar temperatures, along with very little rainfall – an average of fewer than four inches annually, resulting in droughts. Now, weather-controlling drones could help to combat this deadly water shortage. </p>

<p id="p-2"> </p>

<h2>Cloud seeding success</h2>

<p id="p-3">The UAE has invested $15 million in nine different rain-enhancement projects – one of which is the rain-controlling drones engineered by the University of Reading. The drones don't create rain themselves but help to jump-start rain production via cloud seeding. They "zap" the clouds with an electric charge, subsequently charging the droplets inside. <span>Since the beginning of 2021, the National Center of Meteorology (NCM) has conducted 126 instances of cloud seeding. </span></p>

<p id="p-4"><span>"What we are trying to do is to make the droplets inside the clouds big enough so that when they fall out of the cloud, they survive down to the surface," <a class="underline border-color-innovation" href="https://www.unilad.co.uk/technology/dubai-is-creating-fake-rain-to-battle-50c-heat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">explained </a><a class="underline border-color-innovation" href="https://www.unilad.co.uk/technology/dubai-is-creating-fake-rain-to-battle-50c-heat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Keri Nicoll</a>, one of the core investigators on the project.</span></p>

<p id="p-5"><span>The technique has successfully created rain over Dubai and has even resulted in safety warnings for drivers over slippery roads. </span></p>

<h2><span>Cloud concerns</span></h2>

<p id="p-6"><span>Of course, not everyone believes it's a good idea to mess with natural weather patterns. Some experts argue that the cloud seeding technique is resulting in dangerous flooding. </span>Sufian Farrah, meteorologist and cloud seeding expert at the NCM, doesn't agree, though. “We only enhance the amount of rain; we are not creating floods. Even some clouds we avoid seeding, because it would be too dangerous for the aircraft to penetrate them," he <a class="underline border-color-innovation" href="https://wired.me/science/environment/cloud-seeding-uae-dubai-rain-floods/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">explained to </a><em><a class="underline border-color-innovation" href="https://wired.me/science/environment/cloud-seeding-uae-dubai-rain-floods/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wired</a>.</em></p>

<p id="p-7">Still, the technique can result in other potential dangers. <span>In addition to cloud seeding with electrical charges, the UAE – and other areas of the world – also use chemicals to generate rain. </span>Professor Linda Zou, for example, developed a new aerosol material for use in cloud seeding using salt crystals coated in titanium dioxide nanoparticles. The material is currently being tested in the U.S.</p>

<p id="p-8">While scientists are optimistic about the material's impact on rain, titanium dioxide nanoparticles’ are classified as “possible carcinogens" to humans” by the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. <span></span></p>

<p id="p-9">As we continue seeing headlines about "once-in-a-lifetime" weather events week after week, we will likely also continue seeing innovative engineering solutions used to combat their effects. Keep an eye out for drones, and don't forget an umbrella. </p>
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@@ -97,13 +97,13 @@ revisit some parts of this page.)</p>
<p>DNA is not like C source but more like byte-compiled code for a virtual machine called ‘the nucleus’. It is very doubtful that there is a source to this byte compilation - what you see is all you get.</p>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/amazing-dna/dna.jpg" alt="Illustration of a DNA molecule."> <figcaption>
<p>Illustration of a DNA molecule.</p>
</figcaption>
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<p>The language of DNA is digital, but not binary. Where binary encoding has 0 and 1 to work with (2 - hence the ‘bi’nary), DNA has 4 positions, T, C, G and A.</p>

@@ -124,13 +124,13 @@ revisit some parts of this page.)</p>
<h2 id="conditional-compilation">Conditional compilation</h2>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/amazing-dna/human_chrom.gif" alt="Illustration of human chromosomes."> <figcaption>
<p>Illustration of human chromosomes.</p>
</figcaption>
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<p>Of the 20,000 to 30,000 genes now thought to be in the human genome (update: <strong>quite</strong> <a href="https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-018-0564-x#Sec5" target="_blank">debatable</a>), most cells express only a very small part - which makes sense, a liver cell has little need for the DNA code that makes neurons.</p>

@@ -161,13 +161,13 @@ revisit some parts of this page.)</p>
<p>This field is still developing rapidly, and it may be that our DNA is much more dynamic than originally thought.</p>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/amazing-dna/intron.gif" alt="From genes to proteins."> <figcaption>
<p>From genes to proteins.</p>
</figcaption>
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<p>The genome is littered with old copies of genes and experiments that went wrong somewhere in the recent past - say, the last half a million years. This code is there but inactive. These are called the ‘pseudo genes’.</p>

@@ -222,13 +222,13 @@ exon 1 donor intron 1 branch acceptor exon 2
<h2 id="mirroring-failover">Mirroring, failover</h2>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/amazing-dna/helix.gif" alt="Stretch of DNA."> <figcaption>
<p>Stretch of DNA.</p>
</figcaption>
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<p>Each DNA Helix is redundant in itself - you can see the genome as a twisted ladder whereby each spoke contains two bases - hence the word ‘base-pair’. If one of these bases is missing, it can be derived from the one on the other side. T always binds to A, C always to G. So, we can state that the genome is mirrored within the helix. ‘RAID-1’ so to speak.</p>

@@ -260,11 +260,11 @@ A lot of these viruses have become a fixed part of our genome and hitch a ride w
<h2 id="binary-patching-aka-gene-therapy">Binary patching aka ‘Gene therapy’</h2>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/amazing-dna/genetherapy1big.gif">
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center><p>
We can fiddle easily enough with DNA. There are companies to which you can send an ASCII file with DNA characters, and they will synthesize the corresponding ‘output’ for you. We can also splice DNA into developing animals and plants.</p>
<p></p><p>It is far harder to ‘patch the running executable’, as any programmer can attest. It is just like that with the genome. To change a running copy (‘a human’), you need to edit each and every relevant copy of the gene you want to patch.</p></p>
@@ -288,11 +288,11 @@ While inheriting one copy of the mutation confers a benefit, inheriting two copi
<p>Like computer storage, DNA (and its intermediate ‘RNA’) can get corrupted. To protect against common ‘single bit errors’, the encoding from individual DNA letters to proteins is degenerate. There are 4 RNA characters, U, C, G and A - in other words, a ‘byte’ is 2 bits long. Three characters correspond to an amino acid.</p>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/amazing-dna/nucleotides.jpg">
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<p>6 bits could conceivably map to 64 amino acids, yet there are only 20 in use. For example, UCU, UCC, UCA and UCG all encode for ‘Serine’, whereas only UGG maps to ‘Tryptophan’.
Now, it turns out that some likely ‘typos’ (UCU -&gt; UCC) in the encoding lead to an identical amino acid being expressed. For more about this fascinating phenomenon, read <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0465045669" target="_blank">‘Metamagical Themas’ by Douglas Hofstadter</a>.</p>
@@ -344,13 +344,13 @@ VARIOUS HUMAN AND RODENT PROTEINS-CODING GENES WITH DIVERGENCE SET AT
<p>Now, DNA is not like a computer programming language. It really isn’t. But there are some whopping analogies. We can view each cell as a CPU, running its own kernel. Each cell has a copy of the entire kernel, but choses to activate only the relevant parts. Which modules or drivers it loads, so to speak.</p>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/amazing-dna/cell.jpg" alt="A cell"> <figcaption>
<p>A cell</p>
</figcaption>
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<p>If a cell needs to do something (‘call a function’), it whips up the right piece of the genome and transcribes it into RNA. The RNA is then translated into a sequence of amino acids, which together make up a protein the DNA coded for. Now for the really cool bit :-)</p>

@@ -373,11 +373,11 @@ VARIOUS HUMAN AND RODENT PROTEINS-CODING GENES WITH DIVERGENCE SET AT
<h2 id="the-makefile">The Makefile</h2>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/amazing-dna/homeobox.gif">
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center><p>
Organisms typically start out as a single cell, which as said before contains two entire copies of the genome. The big tarfile so to speak, with all files extracted, ready to go. Now what?</p>
<p></p><p>Enter the Homeobox genes. Cells must be copied and assigned a purpose. The Homeobox genes start out by laying a ‘top to bottom’ dependency which reads ‘start with the head’. In order to make this happen, a chemical gradient is created by which cells can sense where they are, and decide if they need to do things useful for building a head, or for building a primordial notochord.</p></p>

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<hr>
<p>Dans <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.cambourakis.com/tout/sorcieres/sorcieres-sages-femmes-et-infirmieres/">sorcières, sages-femmes et infirmières</a> de Barbara Ehrenreich &amp; Deirdre English, une citation du sociologue <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-francaise-de-sociologie-1-2006-2-page-377.htm">Elliot Freison</a> :</p>

<blockquote>
<p>une profession atteint et maintient sa position grâce à la protection et au patronage d’une partie de l’élite de la société qui a acquis la conviction que son travail possède une valeur particulière.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Le commentaire des autrices sur cette citation est le suivant :</p>

<blockquote>
<p>En d’autres termes, les professions sont créées par la classe dirigeante. Pour devenir <em>la</em> profession médicale, les docteurs “réguliers” ont eu besoin, avant tout, d’être patronnés par la classe dirigeante.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Les autrices distinguent ce processus, sans le nommer explicitement :</p>

<ol>
<li><strong>une pratique</strong> (exemple “glaner des plantes et se soigner avec ce qu’on trouve”)</li>
<li><strong>une activité</strong> (exemple “se soigner et soigner d’autres avec des plantes dont on a identifié des lieux de cueillettes, ou des personnes pour nous en fournir”)</li>
<li><strong>une profession</strong> (exemple “des personnes qui soignent avec des plantes se regroupent sous une philosophie commune appelée <em>naturopathie</em>”)</li>
</ol>

<p>La profession est une activité professionnalisée, dont une partie de son travail est de défendre ses intérêts, et se propager — parfois, en vue de dominer sur d’autres courants analogues.</p>

<p><hr>
<hr>
<p>Quand je lisais ces lignes, je ne pouvais m’empêcher de penser au développement logiciel et à d’autres courants, comme le coaching ou l’agilité.</p>
<p>Ces pratiques sont elles-mêmes mises au service de quelque chose de plus grand : la création d’entreprises financées par de la dette, à la croissance prédictible (<em>aka</em>, les start-ups).</p>
<p>On pourrait distinguer des développeur·ses, designer‧ses, agilistes et coach dont c’est l’<em>activité</em> ou la <em>profession</em>, si leur travail nourrit directement une structure capitalistique et qui renforce le maillage néolibéral.</p></p>
<p>On pourrait distinguer des développeur·ses, designer‧ses, agilistes et coach dont c’est l’<em>activité</em> ou la <em>profession</em>, si leur travail nourrit directement une structure capitalistique et qui renforce le maillage néolibéral.</p>
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<p class="chapo">Pendant dix ans, les administrateurs de Wikipedia Croatie ont profité de leur pouvoir pour modifier plus d'une centaine d'articles pour imposer leur vision. Que ce soit des épisodes de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, des conflits en Yougoslavie, ou bien des thématiques comme l'avortement, les administrateurs d'extrême droite ont effectué un long travail de sape pour manipuler l'information. </p>

<p>De 2011 à 2020, Wikipedia Croatie a été « <em>prisonnier</em> » d’un groupe d’une vingtaine d’administrateurs de l’encyclopédie. « <em>Wikipedia Croatie avait reçu beaucoup d’attention à cause de sa tendance à promouvoir des points de vue fascistes, des biais contre les Serbes de Croatie, et une propagande anti-LGBT</em> », a écrit la fondation <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Croatian_WP_Disinformation_Assessment_-_Final_Report_EN.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Wikimedia dans un rapport publié le 21 juin 2021</a>. Les accusions sont nombreuses, et les faits tout aussi graves et impressionnants.</p>

<p>Pendant une dizaine d’années, ce groupe d’administrateurs a cherché à imposer ses « idées ». Que ce soit en occultant certains faits, en supprimant des passages ou en créant de toute pièce de nouveaux articles, ils ont promu leur vision du monde : une vision d’extrême droite, et nationaliste.</p>

<p>Dans le long rapport de la Fondation, Wikimedia est revenu sur cet accident, hors norme et inédit. « <em>Ils ont volontairement déformé les contenus des articles, abusé de leur pouvoir, et systématiquement fait obstruction des pratiques de Wikipedia</em> », est-il écrit à propos du groupe d’administrateurs. Depuis, ils ont tous été bannis de manière permanente de l’encyclopédie, grâce à une action de groupe d’autres utilisateurs de Wikipedia Croatie. Mais le rapport soulève de nombreuses questions. Comment est-ce que cela a pu arriver, pendant aussi longtemps ? Et qu’est-ce qui empêche ce scénario de se reproduire à nouveau ?</p>

<ul><li><strong>À lire</strong> : <a class="gtm-a-lire" href="https://www.numerama.com/politique/703685-comment-les-politiques-caviardent-leurs-pages-wikipedia-en-amont-des-elections-regionales.html">Comment les politiques caviardent leurs pages Wikipédia en amont des élections régionales</a></li></ul>

<h2>« C’était une erreur »</h2>

<p>Selon le rapport, tout a commencé en 2003, lors de la création de Wikipedia Croatie. L’encyclopédie en ligne n’est habituellement pas divisée par pays, mais par langue : il n’existe pas de Wikipedia France, mais un Wikipedia en français, qui regroupe tous les articles écrits en Français, qu’ils le soient par des administrateurs suisses ou québécois. C’est le cas pour toutes <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langue_pluricentrique" rel="noopener" target="_blank">les langues pluricentriques</a>, qui sont parlées par plusieurs pays.</p>

<p>Mais ce n’est pas ce qu’il s’est passé pour la langue serbo-croate. Cette langue est parlée dans quatre pays, la Serbie, la Bosnie-Herzégovine, le Monténégro, et la Croatie, et est officiellement reconnue par les linguistes comme une « <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbo-croate" rel="noopener" target="_blank">langue unitaire</a> ». Le serbo-croate a beau être la même dans les quatre pays, elle porte un nom différent dans chacun d’entre eux : serbe en Serbie, bosnien en Bosnie-Herzégovine, monténégrin au Monténégro, et croate en Croatie.</p>

<figure id="attachment_721512" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-721512" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wikipedia-org.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wikipedia-org-1024x453.jpg" alt=""><style>.wp-image-721512.size-large{display:none;}</style></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-721512 size-large" alt="" width="1024" height="453" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" data-src="https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wikipedia-org-1024x453.jpg" data-srcset="https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wikipedia-org-1024x453.jpg 1024w, https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wikipedia-org-680x301.jpg 680w, https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wikipedia-org-1536x679.jpg 1536w, https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wikipedia-org-2048x906.jpg 2048w" src="//www.numerama.com/wp-content/themes/project-n-theme/assets/images/default/default-post-image_420_213.jpg"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-721512" class="wp-caption-text">Wikipedia // Source : <a href="wikipedia.org">Wikipedia</a></figcaption></figure>

<p>L’existence d’un seul et même Wikipedia pour ces quatre pays aurait largement été justifiée, étant donné qu’ils parlent tous serbo-croate. Mais ce qui a poussé les communautés à créer des Wikipedias séparés est une question d’alphabet : en Croatie, elle s’écrit avec le latin, alors qu’en Serbie, elle peut s’écrire soit avec l’alphabet cyrillique, soit avec le latin. Il fut donc décidé en 2003 de créer deux Wikipedia : celui de Croatie, avec l’alphabet latin, et Wikipedia Serbie, écrit en cyrillique. Les autres Wikipedias, monténégrin et bosnien, ont suivi. « <em>C’était une erreur</em> », reconnait aujourd’hui le rapport sur le sujet.</p>

<p>L’existence de quatre Wikipedia différents dans cette région, encore profondément marquée par les récentes guerres, est tout sauf anodine. Et dans le cas de Wikipedia Croatie, l’encyclopédie est rapidement devenue le point de ralliement du groupe de nationalistes, dont le but était d’« <em> influencer les lecteurs et leurs visions de certains événements historiques</em> ». Le tout afin de faire valoir leur idéologie.</p>

<ul><li><strong>À lire</strong> : <a class="gtm-a-lire" href="https://www.numerama.com/business/626945-comment-des-agences-de-e-reputation-ont-modifie-des-articles-wikipedia-pour-leurs-clients.html">Comment des agences de « e-réputation » ont modifié des articles Wikipédia pour leurs clients</a></li></ul>

<h2>Un pouvoir sans partage pendant 10 ans</h2>

<p>Le rapport décrit avec précision l’ascension du groupe d’administrateurs, des amis qui se connaissaient dans la vraie vie et partageaient les mêmes opinions politiques. <strong>Grâce à des actions menées en groupe, de la manipulation, de beaucoup de faux comptes, des scrutins truqués, et des campagnes d’intimidations en ligne et dans la vraie vie,</strong> ils se sont peu à peu retrouvé à des postes d’administrateur.</p>

<p>Le rapport révèle entre autres que les membres du groupe étaient particulièrement bien organisés, et qu’ils avaient établi des stratégies afin de pouvoir agir et modifier les pages de l’encyclopédie sans éveiller les soupçons. Le groupe d’amis a rapidement réussi à occuper tous les postes de pouvoir au sein de Wikipedia Croatie, et a su le conserver à travers les années avec ces mêmes tactiques.</p>

<p>Une fois au pouvoir, ils ont systématiquement fait taire et banni leurs opposants. Ils ont également utilisé leurs positions afin d’attirer un lectorat fidèle et de recruter de nouveaux contributeurs, qui partageaient leurs idées. Des techniques très semblables à celles observées dans les dictatures, note le rapport. « <em> Les administrateurs étaient convaincus que le but de Wikipedia Croatia était de refléter leur point de vue conservateur et nationaliste</em> », explique Wikimedia.</p>

<h2>Plus d’une centaine d’articles manipulés</h2>

<p>Une fois arrivés au pouvoir et en étant sûrs de le conserver, les administrateurs ont pu largement modifier le contenu de plus d’une centaine de pages Wikipedia. Tous les articles modifiés portent sur des moments et des sujets très sensibles de l’histoire de la Croatie et plus globalement de la région des Balkans.</p>

<p>On trouve notamment, parmi plus d’une centaine d’exemples :</p>

<ul>
<li>un article sur <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_de_concentration_de_Jasenovac" rel="noopener" target="_blank">le camp de concentration de Jasenovac</a>, qui été simplement décrit comme un « <em>camp de travail</em> »,</li>
<li>un article sur <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vjekoslav_Luburi%C4%87" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Vjekoslav Luburić</a>, le dirigeant du camp de concentration de Jasenovac, présenté comme un activiste politique,</li>
@@ -118,32 +102,20 @@
<li>des articles sur l’homosexualité qui ont été largement écrits en se basant sur des sources et des journaux promouvant une « <em>limitation des droits des personnes LGBT</em> »</li>
<li>des articles sur les personnes reconnues coupables de crimes de guerre par le <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribunal_p%C3%A9nal_international_pour_l%27ex-Yougoslavie" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Tribunal pénal international pour l’ex-Yougoslavie</a>, dans lequel cette information est cachée, ou dans lesquels il n’est pas fait mention qu’ils étaient croates.</li>
</ul>

<p>Quant aux articles créés, ils portent sur des concepts d’extrême droite :</p>

<ul>
<li>« Croatian silence », ou silence croate, une notion selon laquelle les sentiments nationalistes des Croates auraient été réprimés après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, pendant le régime yougoslave ;</li>
<li>« Yugocommunist », qui décrit une conspiration contre l’état croate par les communistes yougoslaves après la Seconde Guerre mondiale.</li>
</ul>

<figure id="attachment_721550" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-721550" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/jasenovac-prisoners-enter-the-camp.jpg"><noscript><img src="https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/jasenovac-prisoners-enter-the-camp-1024x760.jpg" alt=""><style>.wp-image-721550.size-large{display:none;}</style></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-721550 size-large" alt="" width="1024" height="760" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" data-src="https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/jasenovac-prisoners-enter-the-camp-1024x760.jpg" data-srcset="https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/jasenovac-prisoners-enter-the-camp-1024x760.jpg 1024w, https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/jasenovac-prisoners-enter-the-camp-680x505.jpg 680w, https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/jasenovac-prisoners-enter-the-camp-1536x1140.jpg 1536w, https://www.numerama.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/jasenovac-prisoners-enter-the-camp.jpg 1617w" src="//www.numerama.com/wp-content/themes/project-n-theme/assets/images/default/default-post-image_420_213.jpg"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-721550" class="wp-caption-text">Le camps de concentration de Jasenovac // Source : <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasenovac_concentration_camp#/media/File:Jasenovac_prisoners_enter_the_camp.jpg" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a></figcaption></figure>

<p>En plus de tous ces articles manipulés, on retrouve aussi de très nombreuses approximations. De longs passages sont notamment réservés aux thèses négationnistes sur les camps de concentration ou sur les massacres commis pendant les conflits. L’article dédié au <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_de_Srebrenica" rel="noopener" target="_blank">massacre de Srebrenica</a> existait quant à lui bel et bien, mais il n’était jamais mis en avant. Il n’était pas mentionné dans les pages des commanditaires et des militaires y ayant participé.</p>

<h2>Une influence qui se fera sentir longtemps</h2>

<p>Malgré des signalements, la Fondation Wikimedia ne s’est jamais vraiment impliquée dans la gestion de Wikipedia Croatie. Un appel à commentaires, organisé par la fondation, n’a jamais eu de résultats concluants à cause de la main mise du groupe d’extrême droite. « <em>Le manque d’intervention de la Fondation a directement poussé les utilisateurs modérés de la plateforme</em> », reconnait le rapport. Finalement, ce sont des internautes croates qui se sont unis pour enfin réussir à chasser le groupe d’administrateurs. Ils ont été définitivement bannis de Wikipedia en décembre 2020.</p>

<p>Les nouveaux administrateurs sont depuis le début de l’année en train de remettre à jour les articles ci-dessus, mais c’est un long travail. « <em>La communauté a corrigé ou supprimé de très nombreuses approximations ou de mauvaises interprétations des faits</em> », note le rapport. « <em>Plusieurs articles, qui n’avaient pas d’autre but que de promouvoir l’idéologie d’extrême droite, ont été complètement supprimés.</em> »</p>

<p>Mais malheureusement, les dégâts d’une décennie de gestion par le groupe d’extrême droite vont certainement se faire longtemps sentir : un examen des pages modifiées a trouvé qu’en 2017 et 2020, les articles écrits par le groupe d’administrateurs d’extrême droite étaient dans le top 30 des articles les plus lus sur Wikipedia Croatie.</p>

<h2>Quel futur pour Wikipedia ?</h2>

<p>Surtout, ce que le rapport de la Fondation retient, c’est qu’aucun des différents Wikipedias n’est à l’abri d’une telle attaque. « <em>Un groupe mieux organisé et avec plus de ressources serait très difficile à repérer, et à bannir</em> », conclut-il. « <em>Il est difficile d’imaginer qu’après avoir passé des années à produire du contenu, le groupe d’administrateurs bannis va simplement accepter de partir</em> », prévient également le rapport.</p>

<p>Comment faire pour éviter qu’un tel scénario se reproduise ? « <em>Il faut retenir la leçon de Wikipedia Croatie, et ouvrir la voie à plus de contrôle par la communauté</em> », propose le rapport. Pour les Wikipedia dans les langues très parlées, qui comptent beaucoup d’articles et qui ont une forte communauté d’administrateurs, un appel à la communauté serait certainement un bon outil.</p>

<p>Mais qu’en est-il pour les Wikipedias plus petits, dans des langues moins parlées ? Il suffit d’un rapide tour sur Wikipedia en khmer pour se rendre compte que <a href="https://km.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%9E%81%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%98%E1%9F%82%E1%9E%9A%E1%9E%80%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%9A%E1%9E%A0%E1%9E%98" rel="noopener" target="_blank">l’article dédié au régime des Khmers rouges</a> est très pauvre en informations. Elles ne sont pas fausses, mais les approximations et les oublis sont nombreux : il n’est jamais fait mention des camps de concentration installés dans tout le Cambodge à l’époque, et il n’est jamais écrit le fait que le régime a fait entre <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmers_rouges#Massacres_et_pers%C3%A9cutions_raciales" rel="noopener" target="_blank">740 000 et 2 200 000 morts</a>.</p>
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</nav>
<hr>
<p>A couple of weeks ago, <a href="https://ar.al">Aral</a> asked me if I could write a user stylesheet for web browsers to make Twitter nothing but a compose box.</p>

<p><a href="#how-the-stylesheet-works">Jump straight to how it works</a></p>

<p>I totally get it. <a href="/whats-wrong-with-twitter/">Twitter sucks your time and soul</a>. But sometimes you need to use it to share what you’re working on, or promote events. Essentially, you want to use Twitter but you don’t want it to use you. The way to do this is to hide every part of Twitter’s interface that doesn’t help you compose a tweet, or otherwise likely to distract or derail you.</p>

<h2 id="the-power-of-css-pseudo-classes">The power of CSS pseudo classes</h2>

<p>As part of my work on <a href="https://better.fyi/trackers/">Better’s blocking rules</a>, I sometimes have to hide parts of the page using CSS. Hiding ads isn’t really Better’s purpose, we try to block the tracking and behavioural advertising scripts before they put anything on the page. But occasionally, sites have rolled their own obnoxious first-party targeted ad system that is inseparable from the rest of their site’s functionality. On such occasions, I roll up my sleeves, and get my <a href="https://css-tricks.com/pseudo-class-selectors/">pseudo CSS selectors</a> out to set these elements to <code>display: none</code>. Because, of course, these sites design their HTML and CSS to avoid blockers like Better.</p>

<h3 id="the-problem-with-user-stylesheets">The problem with user stylesheets</h3>

<p>Hiding parts of Twitter’s interface is a similar problem. Luckily, a lot of Twitter’s interface has semantic naming (amongst the gazillion nested <code>div</code>s and robot-generated CSS classes) for accessibility purposes, so it’s simple enough to hook into these elements for a user stylesheet. The problem with user stylesheets is that they’re a blunt instrument, aimed at making global changes across every site you visit. Really useful for making font sizes big on every site you visit, but if you use it to hide any element with the class of “<code>timeline</code>”, chances are you’ll break a lot of websites you visit.</p>

<h3 id="a-solution-to-target-specific-websites">A solution to target specific websites</h3>

<p>My solution was to chain what I suspect are fairly unique element selectors in a likely unique sequence, ensuring that these rules will only apply to twitter.com, even though the stylesheet will be used on every site visited.</p>

<div class="highlight"><pre class="chroma"><code class="language-css" data-lang="css"><span class="c">/* Hide the Home timeline and Explore timeline */</span>
<span class="nt">div</span><span class="o">[</span><span class="nt">data-at-shortcutkeys</span><span class="o">]</span> <span class="nt">header</span><span class="o">[</span><span class="nt">role</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">"banner"</span><span class="o">]</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="nt">main</span><span class="o">[</span><span class="nt">role</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">"main"</span><span class="o">]</span> <span class="nt">div</span><span class="o">[</span><span class="nt">aria-label</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">"Timeline: Your Home Timeline"</span><span class="o">],</span>
<span class="nt">div</span><span class="o">[</span><span class="nt">data-at-shortcutkeys</span><span class="o">]</span> <span class="nt">header</span><span class="o">[</span><span class="nt">role</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">"banner"</span><span class="o">]</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="nt">main</span><span class="o">[</span><span class="nt">role</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">"main"</span><span class="o">]</span> <span class="nt">div</span><span class="o">[</span><span class="nt">aria-label</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">"Timeline: Explore"</span><span class="o">]</span> <span class="p">{</span>
<span class="k">display</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="kc">none</span> <span class="cp">!important</span><span class="p">;</span>
<span class="p">}</span>
</code></pre></div>

<p>As you can tell from the selectors I’ve used, it is fragile as anything. As soon as Twitter decides to change the <code>aria-label</code> for its home timeline, the stylesheet will no longer effectively hide the home timeline. But, as with a lot of Better’s blocking rules, this is a balance between using a fragile rule that works against a big corporation that tends to be pretty slow in rolling out changes to its interface.</p>

<p>After a couple of weeks of using this stylesheet in my primary browser and not noticing any issues with other sites, I’m fairly confident in sharing this stylesheet with anyone else who might find it useful.</p>

<h2 id="how-the-stylesheet-works">How the stylesheet works</h2>

<p>I ended up creating two stylesheets, one for Aral’s way of working (<code>write-only.css</code>), and one for my way of working (<code>read-some.css</code>).</p>

<p><a href="https://source.small-tech.org/laura/write-only-twitter/-/blob/master/write-only.css"><code>write-only.css</code></a> is a user stylesheet for the browser that hides absolutely everything except the Home feed compose box on Twitter.</p>

<figure>

<pre><code>&lt;img class="landscape" sizes="(min-width: 1380px) 750px, (min-width: 820px) 719px, (min-width: 740px) calc(-33.33vw + 875px), (min-width: 340px) calc(92.63vw - 39px), calc(100vw - 32px)" srcset="/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/social_hu3843e09fa51a0152293fbbf1ad71c1cb_33928_300x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 300w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/social_hu3843e09fa51a0152293fbbf1ad71c1cb_33928_500x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 500w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/social_hu3843e09fa51a0152293fbbf1ad71c1cb_33928_800x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 800w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/social.png 1118w" src="social.png" alt="Web page showing just Twitter’s compose box, no other parts of Twitter’s interface."&gt;

&lt;figcaption&gt;
<img class="landscape" sizes="(min-width: 1380px) 750px, (min-width: 820px) 719px, (min-width: 740px) calc(-33.33vw + 875px), (min-width: 340px) calc(92.63vw - 39px), calc(100vw - 32px)" srcset="/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/social_hu3843e09fa51a0152293fbbf1ad71c1cb_33928_300x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 300w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/social_hu3843e09fa51a0152293fbbf1ad71c1cb_33928_500x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 500w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/social_hu3843e09fa51a0152293fbbf1ad71c1cb_33928_800x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 800w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/social.png 1118w" src="social.png" alt="Web page showing just Twitter’s compose box, no other parts of Twitter’s interface.">

<figcaption>

&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;write-only.css&lt;/code&gt; in action.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;/figcaption&gt;
</code></pre>
</figure>
<p><code>write-only.css</code> in action.</p>

<p>My Twitter use varies, particularly as I sometimes use it for Better support, so I need to be able to access a bit more of Twitter’s interface.</p>
</figcaption>
</figure>

<p>My Twitter use varies, particularly as I sometimes use it for Better support, so I need to be able to access a bit more of Twitter’s interface.</p>
<p><a href=""><code>read-some.css</code></a> is a user stylesheet for the browser that hides:</p>

<ul>
<li>Home timeline</li>
<li>Explore timeline</li>
<li>List timelines</li>
</ul>

<p>but keeps:</p>

<ul>
<li>Mentions</li>
<li>Messages</li>
<li>Settings etc</li>
</ul>

<p>And let me tell you, having this stylesheet on my desktop Safari for the last couple of weeks has made a huge difference. Now I can check our @mentions without getting further distracted. Even when my muscle memory types “twitter.com” when I’m procrastinating or seeking distraction, the page loads so minimally, I take one look at it and close the tab. It no longer appears in my “Frequently Visited” sites!</p>

<figure>

<pre><code>&lt;img class="landscape" sizes="(min-width: 1380px) 750px, (min-width: 820px) 719px, (min-width: 740px) calc(-33.33vw + 875px), (min-width: 340px) calc(92.63vw - 39px), calc(100vw - 32px)" srcset="/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/read-some_hu1fd5ca1b59b76b36250d12d5d1634087_45368_300x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 300w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/read-some_hu1fd5ca1b59b76b36250d12d5d1634087_45368_500x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 500w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/read-some_hu1fd5ca1b59b76b36250d12d5d1634087_45368_800x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 800w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/read-some.png 1118w" src="read-some.png" alt="Web page showing Twitter’s interface without the timeline of tweets or What’s Happening sidebar."&gt;

&lt;figcaption&gt;
<img class="landscape" sizes="(min-width: 1380px) 750px, (min-width: 820px) 719px, (min-width: 740px) calc(-33.33vw + 875px), (min-width: 340px) calc(92.63vw - 39px), calc(100vw - 32px)" srcset="/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/read-some_hu1fd5ca1b59b76b36250d12d5d1634087_45368_300x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 300w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/read-some_hu1fd5ca1b59b76b36250d12d5d1634087_45368_500x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 500w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/read-some_hu1fd5ca1b59b76b36250d12d5d1634087_45368_800x0_resize_mitchellnetravali_2.png 800w,/write-only-twitter/write-only-twitter/read-some.png 1118w" src="read-some.png" alt="Web page showing Twitter’s interface without the timeline of tweets or What’s Happening sidebar.">

<figcaption>

&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;read-some.css&lt;/code&gt; in action.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;/figcaption&gt;
</code></pre>
</figure>
<p><code>read-some.css</code> in action.</p>

<h2 id="where-to-find-the-stylesheets">Where to find the stylesheets</h2>
</figcaption>
</figure>

<h2 id="where-to-find-the-stylesheets">Where to find the stylesheets</h2>
<p>You can <a href="https://source.small-tech.org/laura/write-only-twitter">download the Write-Only Twitter stylesheets and find out more about them on our Small Tech repository</a>. I’ll update them when needed. There’s not instructions for every browser in there, but it shouldn’t be too hard for you to find that information if you need it. Personally I recommend Safari for everyday browsing as you can use <a href="https://better.fyi">Better Blocker</a> to block trackers while you browse 😉</p>
</article>


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</nav>
<hr>
<p><i>La naissance du Covid-19 dans une ferme d’animaux à fourrure chinoise — et notamment de visons — semble de plus en plus plausible, comme le montre cette enquête. Fin décembre 2020, </i>Reporterre<i> avait <a href="EXCLUSIF-Les-elevages-de-visons-sont-ils-la-source-du-Covid-en-Europe" class="spip_in">révélé</a> que les souches responsables des deux vagues épidémiques qui ont ravagé l’Europe étaient apparues à proximité immédiate d’importants élevages de visons.</i> Reporterre<i> a continué l’enquête du côté chinois. Aujourd’hui même, vendredi 8 janvier,</i> Science<i> a publié un article soulignant la nécessité d’étudier le lien entre Covid et visons.</i></p>

<p><hr class="spip">
<hr class="spip">
<p>Ira, ira pas<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>? Plus personne ne sait à l’heure où nous écrivons ces lignes si la délégation de scientifiques sélectionnés par l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (<span class="caps">OMS</span>) se rendra bel et bien en Chine pour enquêter sur l’origine de la pandémie. Les dix experts internationaux n’ont toujours pas reçu les autorisations nécessaires pour entrer sur le territoire. Des négociations semblent être en cours, mais l’opacité est telle que nul n’en connaît les enjeux.</p>
<p>Il est stupéfiant qu’un an après ce qui s’annonce comme la plus importante pandémie du siècle écoulé, aucun progrès n’ait été réalisé dans la compréhension de comment le Sars-CoV-2 a pu être transmis à l’humain depuis la chauve-souris, son hôte naturel. Une incertitude qui n’est pas due aux limites de la science, mais bel et bien à l’attitude des autorités chinoises, qui depuis un an s’opposent becs et ongles à toute tentative indépendante — quand bien même elle viendrait de l’intérieur du pays — de répondre à cette question. On se demande ce que la Chine veut absolument cacher.</p>
<p>Difficile de ne pas noter, en particulier, qu’aucune enquête n’a été menée pour confirmer ou infirmer une hypothèse aussi évidente que rarement mentionnée : celle d’une origine de la pandémie dans un élevage d’animaux à fourrure. La Chine est en effet à la fois le premier marché et le <a href="https://www.actasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/China-Fur-Report-7.4-DIGITAL-2.pdf" class="spip_out" rel="external">premier producteur de fourrure mondiaux</a>, et la colossale branche chinoise de cette industrie pèse plus de vingt milliards de dollars annuels, avec plus de cinquante millions de têtes. Or, si les animaux d’élevage traditionnels (bovins, porcins, volailles…) ne semblent pas infectés par le coronavirus, c’est l’inverse pour les animaux à fourrure : les trois principales espèces — vison, renard, et chien viverrin — y sont hautement sensibles.</p>
@@ -131,9 +130,9 @@
</dl>
<p>Ajoutons que le Shandong, territoire de moyenne montagne et de forêts, connu entre autre pour ses grottes, héberge de nombreuses espèces de chauves-souris, dont certaines, comme <i>Rhinolophus ferrumequinum</i>, <i>Myotis Fimbriatus</i> ou <i>Eptesicus Serotinus</i>, <a href="https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/6466186#B8-viruses-11-00210" class="spip_out" rel="external">sont porteuses de coronavirus</a>. Les chauves-souris sont attirées par les hangars d’élevage, qui leur fournissent un abri potentiel. Elles urinent et défèquent fréquemment sur tout ce qu’elles surplombent. <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.00702/full" class="spip_out" rel="external">Des cages contenant des animaux par exemple</a>. De fait, on dispose donc dans le Shandong (même si c’est également le cas dans d’autres régions de Chine) de tous les ingrédients pour de formidables rencontres virales, des recombinaisons en tout genre et des émergences fulgurantes.</p>
<p>Un chiffre peu connu attire l’attention : en 2019, la province n’a récolté que 6,5 millions de peaux de visons, contre presque quinze l’année précédente. Quasiment neuf millions de visons volatilisés d’une année sur l’autre<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>! Une baisse de 55<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>%, propre à cette seule province, qui semble ne pouvoir s’expliquer que par une catastrophe ou un fléau brutal. Lequel<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>? Pourrait-il être sanitaire<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>? D’autant que les productions de peaux de renards (5,7 millions) et de chiens viverrins (trois millions) issues du même territoire sont, elles, restées parfaitement stables. Sollicitée à plusieurs reprises par <i>Reporterre</i> pour expliquer cette hécatombe, la China Leather Industry Association a laconiquement invoqué dans un courriel <i>«<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>un marché stagnant et une surproduction de peaux de visons<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>»</i> qui auraient conduit <i>«<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>la plupart des compagnies à quitter l’industrie<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>»</i>. Une explication qui semble insuffisante devant l’ampleur du séisme.</p>
<a name="image33839"></a>
<p><a name="image33839"></a>
<span class="spip_document_33839 spip_documents spip_documents_center">
<a href="IMG/jpg/visons_production_chine_v_500_pix.jpg" type="image/jpeg"><img class="lazy" data-original="local/cache-vignettes/L500xH409/visons_production_chine_v_500_pix-c6255.jpg?1610142006" alt="Effondrement de la production de visons en 2019." title="Effondrement de la production de visons en 2019."><noscript><img src="IMG/jpg/visons_production_chine_v_500_pix.jpg" alt="Effondrement de la production de visons en 2019." title="Effondrement de la production de visons en 2019."></noscript></a></span><h3 class="spip">Tous les grands pays producteurs de peaux de visons ont été contaminés… sauf la Chine<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>? </h3>
<a href="IMG/jpg/visons_production_chine_v_500_pix.jpg" type="image/jpeg"><img class="lazy" data-original="local/cache-vignettes/L500xH409/visons_production_chine_v_500_pix-c6255.jpg?1610142006" alt="Effondrement de la production de visons en 2019." title="Effondrement de la production de visons en 2019."><noscript><img src="IMG/jpg/visons_production_chine_v_500_pix.jpg" alt="Effondrement de la production de visons en 2019." title="Effondrement de la production de visons en 2019."></noscript></a></span><h3 class="spip">Tous les grands pays producteurs de peaux de visons ont été contaminés… sauf la Chine<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>? </h3></p>
<p>Quoiqu’il en soit, on peut s’étonner qu’officiellement aucune ferme intensive chinoise de visons n’ait été contaminée alors que l’Europe de l’Est, de l’Ouest, du Nord et du Sud, les États-Unis et le Canada sont touchés. Ce serait une étonnante anomalie : tous les <a href="https://reporterre.net/Malgre-les-risques-de-Covid-les-Etats-rechignent-a-arreter-l-elevage-de-visons" rel="external">grands pays producteurs auraient été frappés mais le principal ferait exception</a>, malgré <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2004.1492" class="spip_out" rel="external">les nombreux liens commerciaux et professionnels l’unissant à ses partenaires étrangers</a>, notamment l’Amérique, l’Europe du Nord et l’Italie.</p>
<p>En définitive, mustélidés, canidés et viverridés — les mammifères suspects pour tenir le rôle d’intermédiaire — sont les mêmes aujourd’hui que pour l’épidémie de Sars-CoV-1 en 2003-2004. Sauf que les civettes masquées sont désormais mille fois moins nombreuses dans le pays que les renards, les <i>raccoon dogs</i> et les visons élevés pour leur fourrure. Il paraît donc inconcevable pour l’établissement de la vérité et pour prévenir une future nouvelle pandémie que l’<span class="caps">OMS</span> ne commande pas une enquête serrée dans les élevages, au Shandong et ailleurs.</p>
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<p>On comprend à la lecture du rapport préparatoire, malgré les perceptibles précautions diplomatiques vis-à-vis de la Chine, que l’intention est présente. Il est par exemple indiqué que la commission d’experts envisage notamment de <i>«<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>cartographier les chaînes d’approvisionnement de tous les animaux vendus sur le marché<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>»</i>, sauvages et domestiques, en vue d’identifier <i>«<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>des aires géographiques intéressantes pour effectuer des sérologies animales et humaines<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>»</i>. Exactement, donc, ce qui aurait dû être fait depuis un an : des recherches de virus dans et autour des élevages.</p>
<p>Hélas, l’<span class="caps">OMS</span>, après de multiples concessions à l’égard du régime chinois, a abandonné l’ambition de pratiquer directement le travail de terrain en signant un protocole qui délègue aux chercheurs locaux cette partie de l’enquête. La mission ne devrait même pas sortir de Wuhan et l’un de ses membres déclarait récemment à la revue <i><a href="https://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/sante/pandemie-l-equipe-de-l-oms-en-chine-explorera-toutes-les-pistes_150361#xtor=CS2-37-%5BL'%C3%A9quipe%20de%20l'OMS%20sera%20en%20Chine%20en%20janvier%20pour%20explorer%20%22toutes%20les%20pistes%22%20sur%20l'origine%20du%20SARS-CoV-2" class="spip_out" rel="external">Science et Avenir</a></i> qu’il ne faut pas s’attendre <i>«<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>à ce que l’équipe revienne avec des résultats concluants<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>»</i>. Même ainsi désarmée, cette délégation semble continuer à poser problème à Pékin.</p>
<p>Le mur dressé par l’État chinois semble toutefois commencer à se lézarder. Le 8 janvier, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6525/120" class="spip_out" rel="external">un article signé par des chercheurs chinois éminents</a>, en l’occurrence Zhengli Shi et Peng Zou, reconnaît pour la première fois dans les colonnes de la revue <i>Science</i> que le vison pourrait être l’hôte <i>«<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>du virus qui a engendré le Sars-CoV-2<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>»</i>. Les chercheurs suggèrent même de conduire <i>«<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>des investigations rétrospectives d’échantillons datant d’avant la pandémie chez les visons ou d’autres animaux susceptibles<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>»</i>. Les esprits suspicieux se demanderont pourquoi cette suggestion vient si tard, la sensibilité au Covid des visons étant connue depuis six mois, et si de tels échantillons existent encore. Les autres jugeront sans doute qu’il vaut mieux tard que jamais.</p></p>
<p>Le mur dressé par l’État chinois semble toutefois commencer à se lézarder. Le 8 janvier, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6525/120" class="spip_out" rel="external">un article signé par des chercheurs chinois éminents</a>, en l’occurrence Zhengli Shi et Peng Zou, reconnaît pour la première fois dans les colonnes de la revue <i>Science</i> que le vison pourrait être l’hôte <i>«<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>du virus qui a engendré le Sars-CoV-2<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>»</i>. Les chercheurs suggèrent même de conduire <i>«<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>des investigations rétrospectives d’échantillons datant d’avant la pandémie chez les visons ou d’autres animaux susceptibles<small class="fine d-inline"> </small>»</i>. Les esprits suspicieux se demanderont pourquoi cette suggestion vient si tard, la sensibilité au Covid des visons étant connue depuis six mois, et si de tels échantillons existent encore. Les autres jugeront sans doute qu’il vaut mieux tard que jamais.</p>
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<p><strong>
L’aération est une des solutions majeures pour lutter contre les maladies transmises par aérosol comme la COVID-19. Mais comment savoir si une pièce est suffisamment aérée ? Le taux de CO2 dans une pièce, un gaz produit lors de la respiration, nous informe sur le renouvellement de l’air dans la pièce. Sa mesure peut servir d’indicateur d’aération !
</strong></p>

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<p><em>It was probably inevitable that sitting through a whole lot of job interviews and considering several offers would mean I would end up spending a disproportionate amount of time these past months thinking about what work means to me. This is a topic I am predisposed to (witness the title of this newsletter), and the activity of applying for jobs pretty much made everything else unthinkable. What I’m sharing today is some very rough thoughts about one corner of the way we talk about work; I would like to use this space to (ahem) work through drafts of some bigger, thornier things I’m chewing on, and this one is top of mind. It’s likely that some version of this will end up on <a href="https://aworkinglibrary.com/">AWL</a>, eventually.</em></p>

<p><hr>
<h1>Remote to who?</h1></p>
<hr>
<h1>Remote to who?</h1>

<p>Before last year, if you had asked me what I thought would happen with respect to remote work in the next decade or so, I would have answered that most companies, in most cities, were headed for so-called “hybrid” remote workplaces, with hotel desks and a mix of people who worked partially in the office and partially elsewhere plus other folks scattered further afield. The reasons for this were not cultural but economic, the obvious next step in a line that stretches from offices where everyone had their own door, to cubicles, to open plan designs—each step reducing the cost of real estate per employee. Likewise, with tech workers more and more in demand, and the big five scooping them up in the major cities, every other company was either going to have the match the perks and salaries of Google &amp; friends (doubtful) or else recruit from places where those companies didn’t have a monopoly on talent.</p>

<p>I think it’s important to keep this in mind: that the primary reason for the move to remote has very little to do with culture or flexibility and everything to do with shifting the costs of real estate from companies to employees. I say this as someone who is a fan of remote work, who will never routinely work in an office ever again, and who has managed remote teams for a decade. Before last year, remote work was on a gentle upward swing <em>because it was cheaper for employers</em>.</p>
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<p>Because if we look at arguments about remote work purely in the context of how it may or may not lead to loneliness, how it may or may not increase productivity or retention or whathaveyou, we miss the real change afoot. Every argument about how we work is an argument about power. Every discussion about how cultures should change to accommodate remote practices is a discussion about who gets more power—in the workplace, and in our communities. And power is never given freely.</p>

<p><hr>
<h1>Basil gimlet</h1></p>
<hr>
<h1>Basil gimlet</h1>

<p>Basil and green garlic have hit the farmer’s markets here, just as the magnolias have peaked, which means it really is spring. And trust me when I say that some of that big bunch of basil you bought to make pesto or to tuck into slices of mozzarella belongs in your drink.</p>

<p>2 oz gin<br>

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<p class="article__paragraph ">Les députés canadiens ont adopté mardi 22 juin un projet de loi interdisant les <em>« thérapies de conversion »</em> qui visent à imposer l’hétérosexualité aux personnes LGBTQ+ (lesbiennes, gays, bi et trans), une victoire pour le gouvernement minoritaire de Justin Trudeau.</p>

<pre><code> &lt;p class="article__paragraph "&gt;Le projet de loi a été adopté à une large majorité de 263 voix contre 63 la veille de la fin de la session parlementaire. Plus de la moitié des élus du Parti conservateur, principale formation d’opposition, ont voté contre ce texte, même si leur chef Erin O’Toole l’a approuvé.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="article__paragraph "&gt;Ce texte, qui était l’une des grandes promesses du parti libéral de M. Trudeau lors des élections de 2019, prévoit des peines pouvant aller jusqu’à cinq ans de prison pour toute personne faisant subir une telle &lt;em&gt;« thérapie »&lt;/em&gt; à un mineur ou à un adulte non consentant, ou pour quiconque en ferait la publicité.&lt;/p&gt;
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<p class="article__paragraph ">Le projet de loi a été adopté à une large majorité de 263 voix contre 63 la veille de la fin de la session parlementaire. Plus de la moitié des élus du Parti conservateur, principale formation d’opposition, ont voté contre ce texte, même si leur chef Erin O’Toole l’a approuvé.</p>
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<p class="article__paragraph ">Ce texte, qui était l’une des grandes promesses du parti libéral de M. Trudeau lors des élections de 2019, prévoit des peines pouvant aller jusqu’à cinq ans de prison pour toute personne faisant subir une telle <em>« thérapie »</em> à un mineur ou à un adulte non consentant, ou pour quiconque en ferait la publicité.</p>
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<h2 class="article__sub-title">47 000 hommes canadiens y ont été soumis</h2>
<p class="article__paragraph ">Selon une enquête officielle publiée l’an dernier, 47 000 hommes canadiens appartenant à une minorité sexuelle ont été soumis à une thérapie de conversion. Cette pratique, parfois appelée thérapie réparatrice, est largement considérée comme pseudo-scientifique, inefficace et dangereuse par les experts.</p>
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<p><h2 class="article__sub-title">47 000 hommes canadiens y ont été soumis</h2>
<p class="article__paragraph ">Selon une enquête officielle publiée l’an dernier, 47 000 hommes canadiens appartenant à une minorité sexuelle ont été soumis à une thérapie de conversion. Cette pratique, parfois appelée thérapie réparatrice, est largement considérée comme pseudo-scientifique, inefficace et dangereuse par les experts.</p> <p id="inread-4" class="dfp-slot dfp__slot dfp__inread dfp-unloaded" data-format="inread" aria-hidden="true"></p> <p class="article__paragraph ">Le projet de loi <em>« C6 »</em> définit la <em>« thérapie de conversion »</em> comme <em>« tout service, pratique ou traitement conçu pour transformer l’orientation sexuelle d’une personne afin de la rendre hétérosexuelle, rétablir l’identité de genre à celle qui correspond au sexe attribué à la naissance, ou réprimer ou réduire l’attraction sexuelle ou les comportements sexuels non hétérosexuels »</em>. Il doit maintenant être approuvé par le Sénat. <em>« S’il est adopté, le projet de loi C6 fera du droit criminel canadien le plus progressiste et exhaustif au monde en matière de thérapie de conversion »</em>, a tweeté le ministre de la justice David Lametti.</p>
<p class="article__paragraph ">En France, de nombreuses voix se sont élevées pour réclamer une loi interdisant ces <em>« thérapies »</em> controversées. A Londres, le gouvernement de Boris Johnson a exprimé sa volonté de mettre fin à ces pratiques.</p></p>
<p class="article__paragraph ">Le projet de loi <em>« C6 »</em> définit la <em>« thérapie de conversion »</em> comme <em>« tout service, pratique ou traitement conçu pour transformer l’orientation sexuelle d’une personne afin de la rendre hétérosexuelle, rétablir l’identité de genre à celle qui correspond au sexe attribué à la naissance, ou réprimer ou réduire l’attraction sexuelle ou les comportements sexuels non hétérosexuels »</em>. Il doit maintenant être approuvé par le Sénat. <em>« S’il est adopté, le projet de loi C6 fera du droit criminel canadien le plus progressiste et exhaustif au monde en matière de thérapie de conversion »</em>, a tweeté le ministre de la justice David Lametti.</p>
<p class="article__paragraph ">En France, de nombreuses voix se sont élevées pour réclamer une loi interdisant ces <em>« thérapies »</em> controversées. A Londres, le gouvernement de Boris Johnson a exprimé sa volonté de mettre fin à ces pratiques.</p>
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<p>L’automobile a un coût important, qui est d’abord supporté par ses utilisateurs mais aussi par l’ensemble de la société.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.liberation.fr/resizer/yKuWORHK_kEesJf7m1MIixY_VjE=/800x0/filters:format(png):quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/liberation/3XL3JXIGWBAH7JZNEV6R7YW6OU.png"></p>
<p class="article_link">Selon <a href="https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/5358250" target="_blank">une étude de l’Insee</a>, les ménages consacrent 11% de leur revenu disponible à la voiture. La part totale allouée aux transports est de 13,6% en 2017, en baisse constante depuis 2005. 81% de ces dépenses de transports passent donc dans la voiture (et les deux-roues motorisés).</p>

<p class="article_link">Une voiture représente un budget annuel moyen de <a href="https://www.fnaut.fr/le-cout-reel-de-la-voiture-en-2018-et-son-evolution-depuis-2008-bruno-cordier-adetec/" target="_blank">4732 € par an selon l’Adetec</a> (en 2018) soit 36,1 centimes par kilomètre parcouru. Les deux plus gros postes de dépense sont l’achat du véhicule et le carburant, mais il faut aussi compter l’entretien, l’assurance, le stationnement, etc.</p>

<p class="mailmunch-forms-widget-991489"></p>

<p class="article_link">Ce sont les ménages les plus pauvres pour qui les dépenses liées à l’automobile sont les plus lourdes dans le budget : 20% pour les 10% les plus modestes contre 11% pour les 10% les plus aisés. Les dépenses en carburant en valeur absolue sont également corrélées au niveau de vie : en clair, <a href="https://twitter.com/M_Chassignet/status/1395277734285385736" target="_blank">plus un ménage est aisé, plus il se déplace en voiture</a>.</p>

<p class="article_link">Le lieu d’habitation est une donnée-clé : en ville, on utilise moins la voiture. Les dépenses liées sont donc plus élevées quand on s’éloigne des centres-villes. Au centre, 9 % du budget est lié à la voiture, contre 15% dans les communes situées hors de l’attraction des villes.</p>

<p class="article_link">Mais tout ce que paient les automobilistes ne couvre pas les externalités négatives pour la collectivité. <a href="https://www.tresor.economie.gouv.fr/Articles/2021/04/27/les-usagers-de-la-route-paient-ils-le-juste-prix-de-leurs-circulations" target="_blank">Selon une étude du Trésor public</a>, les usagers de la route génèrent des coûts pour les autres (pollution, CO2, accidents, etc.) qu’ils ne couvrent qu’à hauteur de 36% (par les taxes, les péages…).</p>

<p class="article_link"><i>Si vous consultez cette page sur l’appli mobile, veuillez tapoter sur le (i) sous l’image principale pour afficher l’infographie en plein écran.</i></p>
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<p id="ca9a" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn kt"><span class="s ku kv kw ej kx ky kz la lb at">A</span><strong class="jz gr">fter a few scrappy startups, I landed a role at Google, then switched to Facebook, where I gained more money and leadership opportunities</strong>. My career plan was moving along smoothly; I never imagined leaving. Move to San Francisco, cultivate UX mentorships, build credibility, and earn a multi-six-figure income while solving the world’s most critical problems.</p>

<p id="7597" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">But gradually, my inner pain grew too loud to ignore. It’s been one year since I turned in my credentials at Facebook, and I have no desire to continue building a career in technology.</p>

<p id="849c" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Despite the<span id="rmm"><span id="rmm"> </span></span>external success, I felt anxious, disillusioned, tired, stressed out, and overwhelmed with my basic tasks. I burned out and felt like a failure.</p>

<p id="9e99" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">But with an excellent fall-back portfolio and large savings fund, I took an open-ended soul-searching sabbatical. Through Jungian depth therapy, trauma healing, and several shadow work methods, I discovered two key root causes for my burnout:</p>

<ul class=""><li id="d666" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks lc ld le hn"><strong class="jz gr">Dysfunctional family: </strong>My therapist helped me identify multiple narcissists in my birth family and adult relationships; decades of abuse had significantly damaged my self-worth. As a result, I developed codependency tendencies, people-pleasing, and perfectionism. With low self-esteem, I sucked at having personal boundaries.</li><li id="f603" class="jx jy gq jz b hp lf kb kc hs lg ke kf kg lh ki kj kk li km kn ko lj kq kr ks lc ld le hn"><strong class="jz gr">Cultural patriarchy: </strong>Growing up in conservative Christianity, I assumed the “women can’t be leaders” style of sexism mainly existed in religious realms. But as I immerse myself in Jungian psychology and feminine literature, I see the core imbalances in our workplace structures (and in myself). We need much more than sexual harassment training for a sense of balance.</li></ul>

<p id="1b8e" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Now, I’ve begun metabolizing anger from emotional, sexual, and physical abuse into creative work that empowers and frees others. I’m discovering that burnout and toxic work environments are merely surface issues, symptoms of much deeper dysfunctions.</p>

<p id="b910" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">As I leaped into the fires of uncertainty, I felt ready to get very uncomfortable.</p>

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<h2 id="c66d" class="lr ls gq bf lt lu lv kb lw lx ly ke lz ma mb mc md me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm hn">I believed technology would solve huge problems.</h2><p id="c9c8" class="jx jy gq jz b hp mn kb kc hs mo ke kf kg mp ki kj kk mq km kn ko mr kq kr ks gj hn">Through investigative tech writing in my previous career, I became enthralled with emerging technologies like AI, drones, self-driving cars, and AR/VR. Automation gave us more free time; VR simulations could increase <a href="https://www.mscnewswire.co.nz/news-sectors/reporters-desk/item/3702-3-exciting-construction-industry-uses-for-mixed-reality-augmented-reality-virtual-reality.html" class="el jw" rel="noopener nofollow">safety for construction</a> work and soothe PTSD symptoms. <a href="https://disruptiveviews.com/autonomous-vehicles-world-better-place/" class="el jw" rel="noopener nofollow">Self-driving cars</a> would save millions of lives, eliminating human error behind the wheel.</p><p id="b9f2" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Working in technology seemed like the best way for me to have a significant positive impact. But ultimately, people make the technology we use, and our numerous unsolved human problems surface into the products we build.</p><blockquote class="ms"><p id="8d83" class="mt mu gq bf mv mw mx my mz na nb ks dx">When we don’t deal with our inner shadows, they surface in inconvenient, unpredictable ways.</p></blockquote></div></div></section><div class="n p db lk ll lm" role="separator"><span class="ln iq ca lo lp lq"></span><span class="ln iq ca lo lp lq"></span><span class="ln iq ca lo lp"></span></div><section class="gj gk gl du gm"><div class="n p"><div class="au av aw ax ay gn ba v">
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<h2 id="c66d" class="lr ls gq bf lt lu lv kb lw lx ly ke lz ma mb mc md me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm hn">I believed technology would solve huge problems.</h2><p id="c9c8" class="jx jy gq jz b hp mn kb kc hs mo ke kf kg mp ki kj kk mq km kn ko mr kq kr ks gj hn">Through investigative tech writing in my previous career, I became enthralled with emerging technologies like AI, drones, self-driving cars, and AR/VR. Automation gave us more free time; VR simulations could increase <a href="https://www.mscnewswire.co.nz/news-sectors/reporters-desk/item/3702-3-exciting-construction-industry-uses-for-mixed-reality-augmented-reality-virtual-reality.html" class="el jw" rel="noopener nofollow">safety for construction</a> work and soothe PTSD symptoms. <a href="https://disruptiveviews.com/autonomous-vehicles-world-better-place/" class="el jw" rel="noopener nofollow">Self-driving cars</a> would save millions of lives, eliminating human error behind the wheel.</p><p id="b9f2" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Working in technology seemed like the best way for me to have a significant positive impact. But ultimately, people make the technology we use, and our numerous unsolved human problems surface into the products we build.</p><blockquote class="ms"><p id="8d83" class="mt mu gq bf mv mw mx my mz na nb ks dx">When we don’t deal with our inner shadows, they surface in inconvenient, unpredictable ways.</p></blockquote></div></div></section>
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<h2 id="8428" class="lr ls gq bf lt lu lv kb lw lx ly ke lz ma mb mc md me mf mg mh mi mj mk ml mm hn">1. Productivity culture breeds dysfunction.</h2><p id="2085" class="jx jy gq jz b hp mn kb kc hs mo ke kf kg mp ki kj kk mq km kn ko mr kq kr ks gj hn">Growing up, I adopted masculine values; I was “one of the boys.” I liked being a tomboy, playing football and video games, getting competitive, earning high grades, and generally optimizing everything. I lost all respect for femininity because I never wanted to seem weak and emotional.</p><p id="d726" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">But we need a balance of masculinity and femininity to ground our ambitions, like yin and yang. Instead, I grew addicted to productivity in an effort to prove my value, but most people would just say I was good at my job. Like codependency hiding in monogamy culture, workaholism hides easily in the tech industry.</p><p id="dc27" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">“We’re an industry that likes to burn people out and not have respect for people’s lives outside of work. I think the industry is kind of perverted,” said <a href="https://www.marsdd.com/news/how-tech-startups-are-trying-to-fix-its-workaholism-problem/" class="el jw" rel="noopener nofollow">Jason Fried</a>, co-founder of project management app Basecamp.</p>
<h2 id="7a63" class="lr ls gq bf lt lu nc kb lw lx nd ke lz ma ne mc md me nf mg mh mi ng mk ml mm hn">2. Building the wrong thing faster doesn’t help.</h2><p id="4d6d" class="jx jy gq jz b hp mn kb kc hs mo ke kf kg mp ki kj kk mq km kn ko mr kq kr ks gj hn">As I improved my UX research skills, I felt empowered to lead teams with human insights, detailing the most crucial problems for us to solve. But my starry-eyed optimism began to fade as reality set in: engineers far outnumber researchers even in the most human-centric companies.</p><p id="e620" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Instead, I found myself spending many hours trying to understand what the team had built and finding a problem for their solution. Though I had this challenge with startups, I hoped larger companies would actually be more user-centric. So much for solving critical problems.</p><p id="aa36" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Technology has led to many positive changes, but it’s definitely not going to solve our core human issues.</p>
<h2 id="0da4" class="lr ls gq bf lt lu nc kb lw lx nd ke lz ma ne mc md me nf mg mh mi ng mk ml mm hn">3. Power without women is flawed.</h2><p id="e048" class="jx jy gq jz b hp mn kb kc hs mo ke kf kg mp ki kj kk mq km kn ko mr kq kr ks gj hn">When I first heard statistics about women making less than men for the same work, I felt infuriated. But solving this problem isn’t just about giving more leadership roles to women; it’s about honoring feminine values and stories equally. But for right now, it generally sucks to be a woman in a male-dominated work environment.</p><p id="78ec" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">“The truth is that around the world, women continue to be disadvantaged by a working culture that is based on the ideological belief that male needs are universal,” writes <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Women-Data-World-Designed/dp/1419729071" class="el jw" rel="noopener nofollow">Caroline Criado Perez</a> in “Invisible Women.”</p><p id="1870" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Despite having better <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/06/research-women-score-higher-than-men-in-most-leadership-skills" class="el jw" rel="noopener nofollow">leadership skills</a> than men, we have deeply ingrained negative biases about women and power (remember Adam and Eve and the “fall” of humanity?). Women make up half the world’s population, so why don’t our power structures reflect feminine needs, struggles, and desires?</p>
<h2 id="3b70" class="lr ls gq bf lt lu nc kb lw lx nd ke lz ma ne mc md me nf mg mh mi ng mk ml mm hn">4. Without psychological safety, teamwork sucks.</h2><p id="9aef" class="jx jy gq jz b hp mn kb kc hs mo ke kf kg mp ki kj kk mq km kn ko mr kq kr ks gj hn">As I asked questions to define problems, I felt like our main issues were with collaboration (or lack of). When our engineering manager interrupted or dismissed my ideas in staff meetings, I sensed a “king of the hill” culture. The loudest, most authoritative-sounding voice gains the most influence, impact, and respect.</p><p id="3022" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Though I was brave enough to address these issues head-on, people kept reminding me that culture changes very slowly.</p><p id="13df" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">As it turns out, the most <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/08/high-performing-teams-need-psychological-safety-heres-how-to-create-it" class="el jw" rel="noopener nofollow">high-performing teams</a> have psychological safety in common, an atmosphere where people are more supportive than competitive. As a sensitive person, these micro-aggressions often sent me into fight-or-flight mode and dampened my enthusiasm. Suddenly I was having emotional breakdowns at work; now I understand why.</p>
<h2 id="f785" class="lr ls gq bf lt lu nc kb lw lx nd ke lz ma ne mc md me nf mg mh mi ng mk ml mm hn">5. Childhood trauma affects people in weird ways.</h2><p id="6879" class="jx jy gq jz b hp mn kb kc hs mo ke kf kg mp ki kj kk mq km kn ko mr kq kr ks gj hn">Though I knew my past impacted me, I had no idea how intensely. As children, we are entirely dependent on our parents and usually morph to please them for our survival. Discovering narcissistic personality disorder caused a massive perspective shift for me; it was the tip of the iceberg for me to finally understand where my unhelpful patterns came from.</p><p id="dfeb" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Our bodies hold infinite wisdom as well as every unprocessed painful experience throughout our lives. But without the tools and attention to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748" class="el jw" rel="noopener nofollow">process trauma</a>, toxic behaviors go unchecked.</p><p id="5845" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Once I understood how trauma impacts us, my coworkers’ behaviors made more sense. Things like mansplaining, interrupting, lack of empathy, or dominating conversations rang more clearly as threatened egos. I sensed a lot of inner pain in the bodies around me.</p>
<h2 id="495b" class="lr ls gq bf lt lu nc kb lw lx nd ke lz ma ne mc md me nf mg mh mi ng mk ml mm hn">6. Without firm boundaries, you will crash.</h2><p id="182c" class="jx jy gq jz b hp mn kb kc hs mo ke kf kg mp ki kj kk mq km kn ko mr kq kr ks gj hn">What if we taught boundary setting in schools or company workshops? We’d likely have way fewer burnout cases. A large 2018 study of tech workers showed over 57% reported currently <a href="https://www.teamblind.com/blog/index.php/2018/05/29/close-to-60-percent-of-surveyed-tech-workers-are-burnt-out-credit-karma-tops-the-list-for-most-employees-suffering-from-burnout/" class="el jw" rel="noopener nofollow">feeling burned out</a>. I’m far from the only one who felt drained and cynical in tech.</p><p id="f1c2" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">When I faced my fear of embarrassment to share my realization with a coworker, she advised me to set better boundaries (like it was no big deal). But without the confidence to be assertive, I regularly took on too many responsibilities.</p><p id="a0af" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Additionally, I felt pressured to perform constantly, steadily increasing my workload from my managers and teammates.</p>
<h2 id="b3be" class="lr ls gq bf lt lu nc kb lw lx nd ke lz ma ne mc md me nf mg mh mi ng mk ml mm hn">7. Profit over people feels disheartening.</h2><p id="99c8" class="jx jy gq jz b hp mn kb kc hs mo ke kf kg mp ki kj kk mq km kn ko mr kq kr ks gj hn">As an optimist who believes in solving real problems, the profit-first culture began to drain me. Leadership always seemed to prioritize profitable features over user problems.</p><p id="d8b4" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">I chose to work in large companies because I wanted to master my field and have more opportunities for a positive impact. But I remember vividly when one manager told me: “You just care too much,” followed by a “stay in your lane” speech. <em class="nh">Was muting my passion a prerequisite for professional success?</em></p><p id="efa6" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Far from feeling appreciated for my enthusiasm, I felt like an enemy of productivity for asking hard-to-answer questions and being difficult to manage.</p></div></div></section><div class="n p db lk ll lm" role="separator"><span class="ln iq ca lo lp lq"></span><span class="ln iq ca lo lp lq"></span><span class="ln iq ca lo lp"></span></div><section class="gj gk gl du gm"><div class="n p"><div class="au av aw ax ay gn ba v"><p id="8d61" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn kt"><span class="s ku kv kw ej kx ky kz la lb at">O</span><strong class="jz gr">verall, my UX journey was thrilling, empowering, and tiring.</strong> Over years of work, I strengthened many transferable skills like problem-solving, empathy, persistence, storytelling, communication, big-picture thinking, and curiosity. I did earn a lot of money while making millions of people’s lives a bit easier.</p><p id="df24" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">But more importantly, I built confidence in myself and my ability to walk away from something that isn’t good for me, even when others won’t understand.</p><p id="985d" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Looking back, I feel grateful for the pain that led to personal insight. Plus, I know the experience of success itself transfers well.</p><p id="a9ca" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">As I reconnect with my intuition and authentic creativity, I feel far more alive and aligned with fulfilling work. After spending thousands of hours with soul-searching inner work, I know three things for sure:</p><ul class=""><li id="7259" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks lc ld le hn">My body is incredibly wise; I will trust my intuition above all else.</li><li id="8db4" class="jx jy gq jz b hp lf kb kc hs lg ke kf kg lh ki kj kk li km kn ko lj kq kr ks lc ld le hn">Without a balance of masculinity and femininity, culture grows toxic.</li><li id="ed4b" class="jx jy gq jz b hp lf kb kc hs lg ke kf kg lh ki kj kk li km kn ko lj kq kr ks lc ld le hn">My wellbeing matters far more than material gain or status.</li></ul><p id="897f" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn"><strong class="jz gr">I believe breakdowns lead to breakthroughs. </strong>After being in numerous toxic-masculine environments, I feel clear that my sensitivity, self-awareness, compassion, fire, unique perspective, kindness, and boldness are priceless gifts. Fragmenting myself to fit in has never led to fulfilling work or relationships.</p><p id="7764" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Instead of chasing recognition, I choose to validate myself.</p><p id="2900" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn"><em class="nh">“May I have the courage today to live the life that I would love, to postpone my dream no longer, but do at last what I came here for, and waste my heart on fear no more,” — John O’Donohue.</em></p></p>
<h2 id="b3be" class="lr ls gq bf lt lu nc kb lw lx nd ke lz ma ne mc md me nf mg mh mi ng mk ml mm hn">7. Profit over people feels disheartening.</h2><p id="99c8" class="jx jy gq jz b hp mn kb kc hs mo ke kf kg mp ki kj kk mq km kn ko mr kq kr ks gj hn">As an optimist who believes in solving real problems, the profit-first culture began to drain me. Leadership always seemed to prioritize profitable features over user problems.</p><p id="d8b4" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">I chose to work in large companies because I wanted to master my field and have more opportunities for a positive impact. But I remember vividly when one manager told me: “You just care too much,” followed by a “stay in your lane” speech. <em class="nh">Was muting my passion a prerequisite for professional success?</em></p><p id="efa6" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Far from feeling appreciated for my enthusiasm, I felt like an enemy of productivity for asking hard-to-answer questions and being difficult to manage.</p></div></div></section>
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<section class="gj gk gl du gm"><div class="n p"><div class="au av aw ax ay gn ba v"><p id="8d61" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn kt"><span class="s ku kv kw ej kx ky kz la lb at">O</span><strong class="jz gr">verall, my UX journey was thrilling, empowering, and tiring.</strong> Over years of work, I strengthened many transferable skills like problem-solving, empathy, persistence, storytelling, communication, big-picture thinking, and curiosity. I did earn a lot of money while making millions of people’s lives a bit easier.</p><p id="df24" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">But more importantly, I built confidence in myself and my ability to walk away from something that isn’t good for me, even when others won’t understand.</p><p id="985d" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Looking back, I feel grateful for the pain that led to personal insight. Plus, I know the experience of success itself transfers well.</p><p id="a9ca" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">As I reconnect with my intuition and authentic creativity, I feel far more alive and aligned with fulfilling work. After spending thousands of hours with soul-searching inner work, I know three things for sure:</p><ul class=""><li id="7259" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks lc ld le hn">My body is incredibly wise; I will trust my intuition above all else.</li><li id="8db4" class="jx jy gq jz b hp lf kb kc hs lg ke kf kg lh ki kj kk li km kn ko lj kq kr ks lc ld le hn">Without a balance of masculinity and femininity, culture grows toxic.</li><li id="ed4b" class="jx jy gq jz b hp lf kb kc hs lg ke kf kg lh ki kj kk li km kn ko lj kq kr ks lc ld le hn">My wellbeing matters far more than material gain or status.</li></ul><p id="897f" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn"><strong class="jz gr">I believe breakdowns lead to breakthroughs. </strong>After being in numerous toxic-masculine environments, I feel clear that my sensitivity, self-awareness, compassion, fire, unique perspective, kindness, and boldness are priceless gifts. Fragmenting myself to fit in has never led to fulfilling work or relationships.</p><p id="7764" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn">Instead of chasing recognition, I choose to validate myself.</p><p id="2900" class="jx jy gq jz b hp ka kb kc hs kd ke kf kg kh ki kj kk kl km kn ko kp kq kr ks gj hn"><em class="nh">“May I have the courage today to live the life that I would love, to postpone my dream no longer, but do at last what I came here for, and waste my heart on fear no more,” — John O’Donohue.</em></p>
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<p><strong> <i>Basta !</i> : Votre ouvrage, <i>Contre la résilience - À Fukushima et ailleurs</i>, analyse le concept de résilience, omniprésent dans notre société, et largement convoqué suite à la catastrophe nucléaire de Fukushima, qui a commencé il y a 10 ans, le 11 mars 2011. Pour vous, si elle semble aider les victimes à faire face, la résilience les invite surtout à s’accommoder de la catastrophe. Pouvez-vous nous expliquer pourquoi ? </strong></p>

<p><strong>Thierry Ribault</strong><span class="spip_note_ref"> [<a href="#nb2-1" class="spip_note" rel="appendix" title="Thierry Ribault est chercheur en sciences sociales au CNRS. Il est (...)" id="nh2-1">1</a>]</span> : La résilience est un concept adulé dans nos sociétés, notamment pour administrer les désastres, c’est-à-dire non seulement pour les gérer mais aussi pour les transformer en remèdes aux dégâts qu’ils génèrent. On peut comprendre cet engouement étant donné que nous sommes de plus en plus confrontés à des catastrophes impossibles à maîtriser. La résilience apparaît comme une formule magique car elle prétend clore cette impossibilité, et en faire une source d’inspiration et de rebond vers un soi-disant « monde d’après ». En fait, plus on connaît les causes des désastres, plus les réponses que l’on fournit sont concentrées sur leurs conséquences, et sur la meilleure façon dont on peut en tirer parti, rendant ainsi les causes de plus en plus désastreuses. C’est un principe de base de la résilience que l’on pourrait définir comme « l’art de s’adapter au pire ».</p>

<p>Dans le cas d’une catastrophe nucléaire comme celle de Fukushima, mais c’est aussi vrai ailleurs, la résilience est promue au rang de technique thérapeutique pour faire face au désastre. On va individualiser le problème et amener les gens à faire fi de leur impuissance face aux dégâts pour, au contraire, leur donner l’impression d’être puissants et agissants. Chacun est exhorté à « rebondir », à « vivre avec ». Les victimes sont amenées à cogérer le désastre, en participant à la « décontamination » ou en surveillant la radioactivité ambiante. L’objectif des apôtres de la résilience (autorités étatiques, associations locales, experts internationaux), c’est d’amener chacun à cesser de s’inquiéter « inutilement » d’avoir fatalement à vivre avec la contamination. Personne n’ose dire que l’on va « vivre comme avant » mais on parle de « situation post-normale », qui est en fait une situation de survie. Les gens doivent apprendre à se contenter d’un bonheur palliatif, où règne le « trop peu », considéré comme éternel et indiscutable : « trop peu » de santé, « trop peu » de liberté, « trop peu » de peur, « trop peu » de refus, « trop peu » de vie.</p>

<p><strong>Cette injonction à « vivre avec » permet aux autorités de « faire ravaler leur colère aux gens », dites-vous. Pourquoi ? Et comment ce refoulement de la colère opère-t-il ?</strong></p>

<p><span class="spip_document_10277 spip_documents spip_documents_left">
<img src="https://www.bastamag.net/IMG/jpg/th_ribault.jpg" alt=""></span> Dans toutes les catastrophes, il y a un pilotage des sentiments, notamment de l’impuissance, et on peut le comprendre, car l’impuissance révolte les gens. Elle fait naître en eux un sentiment terrible de colère. La résilience permet de refouler cela. Au départ, à Fukushima, les gens étaient très vindicatifs face à la gestion de l’accident nucléaire par les autorités. Mais en peu de temps, ils ont endossé le discours selon lequel il faut « dépasser la colère », ce qui revient à gommer la gravité de la situation. Cette amnésie collective s’appuie sur divers moyens, à commencer par la réévaluation du seuil d’« inacceptabilité » des radiations, euphémisé en « niveau de référence », et qui est passé de 1 à 20 mSv par an. Les habitants sont encouragés à prendre part aux programmes de décontamination, pour – leur disent les autorités – « évacuer leur peur » car « c’est la peur qui tue » et non pas l’exposition aux particules radioactives. Des associations locales sont créées pour remonter le moral des habitants. Dès 2012, le gouvernement a nommé un ministre responsable de la « construction de la résilience nationale ».</p>

<p>Le leitmotiv c’est que l’on peut vivre en territoire contaminé. Simplement, il faut prendre quelques précautions. Dès lors, les victimes sortent de leur passivité face à l’agression, elles deviennent actrices. C’est rassurant, et elles finissent pas basculer dans la « positivation » de leur malheur : les gens renouent avec l’espoir car les actions de décontamination collective, ou de production de science citoyenne avec les relevés individuels de radioactivité, mobilisent la solidarité et la capacité individuelle à surmonter une épreuve. Tout cela va jusqu’à conduire certains à affirmer que « c’est merveilleux de vivre à Fukushima », ou encore que « l’histoire de Fukushima est un cadeau pour le futur ».</p>

<h3 class="spip"><blockquote class="spip">
<p><i>« On est baigné depuis la révolution industrielle dans cette idée que le désastre est source de progrès et la résilience contribue à la consolidation de cette idée »</i></p>
<blockquote class="spip"></blockquote></blockquote></h3>

<p>Comme à Tchernobyl, où a été expérimenté <i>in vivo</i> pour la première fois ce concept du « vivre avec » la contamination radioactive, on retrouve des influenceurs-experts français qui viennent surfer sur le désespoir des gens, en organisant des pseudo-dialogues et des pseudo-rencontres démocratiques où les gens viennent apprendre à « calmer leur anxiété ». Il y a cette conviction que le problème, ce n’est pas la contamination, mais la peur que les gens éprouvent. On fait glisser le curseur de l’analyse vers la psychologie et la capacité de réception et d’adaptation, au lieu de se concentrer sur le problème principal, à savoir les causes qui mènent à être contraint de s’adapter au pire.</p>

<p><strong>Pour inciter les japonais à se conformer à cette vision d’une catastrophe « pas si grave », il y a aussi la « politique du retour », qui réduit les possibilités de survivre hors de la zone contaminée...</strong></p>

<p>Bien sûr. Peu à peu, le gouvernement a réduit ou supprimé les subventions versées aux réfugiés, et a rendu difficile l’accès à des logements de substitution ailleurs que dans le département de Fukushima. Il y a aussi des reconstructions d’écoles dans les villages contaminés, ou des incitations, par décret, à consommer des produits locaux dans les cantines scolaires. Tout cela joue en faveur d’un basculement psychologique favorable au « vivre avec ». Ajoutons le discrédit jeté sur toute forme de contestation et de crainte, avec une culpabilisation de ceux qui rechignent à vivre en zone contaminée et qui ont l’impression d’abandonner ceux qui y restent. Toutes les émotions susceptibles de soutenir un questionnement sur le bien fondé de l’accommodation sont appréhendées comme des maladies nécessitant d’être soignées. On a ainsi parlé des « cervelles irradiées » des mères inquiètes pour la santé de leur enfant. Il y a réellement une injonction à être des contaminés satisfaits.</p>

<p><strong>Cette gestion très individualisée de la catastrophe ne revêt-elle pas aussi un caractère néolibéral ?</strong></p>

<p>En partie, avec la disparition du social au profit de l’individu, la sur-responsabilisation, la valorisation de l’auto-organisation, etc. Mais la résilience est plus que cela. C’est une technologie du consentement qui précède historiquement le néolibéralisme. Elle s’est développée en même temps que la société industrielle car il s’agit de trouver de bonnes raisons à la traversée de la catastrophe. On est baigné depuis la révolution industrielle dans cette idée que le désastre est source de progrès et la résilience contribue à la consolidation de cette idée. J’affirme au contraire que le désastre n’est pas une source de progrès, et que le malheur n’est pas une source de bonheur. Il est ce qu’il est, point. En faire un simple moment que l’on peut positiver à tout crin est extrêmement dangereux, car cela revient à le légitimer.</p>

<p>Aux origines idéologiques de la résilience, on trouve également des affinités avec un eugénisme doux. Au Japon, la Nippon Foundation, encore appelée Fondation Sasakawa, ouvertement d’extrême droite, a financé nombre d’initiatives encourageant les gens à « vivre avec » la radioactivité. On peut ajouter que la propagande sur la reconquête et le « repeuplement » des territoires contaminées a des relents fascisants, particulièrement lorsqu’elle considère les femmes comme des « machines à faire des enfants » (sic). En Europe, en France notamment, il y a des affinités politiques entre les gens qui promeuvent et construisent les programmes de réhabilitation à Tchernobyl et Fukushima et les mouvements d’extrême droite religieux pro-vie. On retrouve cette idée que toutes les formes de vie sont belles même si elles sont dures. Idées que les résiliomaniaques n’hésitent pas à mobiliser dans des assertions du type « la catastrophe est un crible qui élimine le faible et renforce le fort : c’est la vie », ou encore « l’expérience du camp de la mort est vécue comme un chemin initiatique procurant une force de vie ». Il ne s’agit pas de dire que recourir au concept de résilience équivaut à être fasciste. Mais il faut réfléchir à ces affinités idéologiques réelles pour comprendre ce qui se joue au détriment des populations.</p>

<p><strong>Vous évoquez aussi la production d’ignorance, qui ne relève pas nécessairement du pur mensonge, mais plutôt de ce que les historiens des sciences nomment « la science non faite ». On ne cherche pas, ou peu (d’éléments radioactifs par exemple), et par conséquent, il n’y a rien, ou peu à craindre… </strong></p>

<p>La science post-catastrophe est obnubilée par le fait de rassurer les populations au plus vite et au moindre coût. C’est pourquoi il n’y a pas eu de réelles enquêtes sur la dose reçue par les habitants dans les premiers jours de la catastrophe, au prétexte que cela aurait fait naître de l’anxiété. Il ne s’agit pas tant, par cette production d’ignorance organisée, de cacher ou d’obstruer le savoir que d’instiller, dans les esprits comme dans les pratiques, cette idée qu’avec moins ou peu de connaissances, on peut finalement s’en tirer et sans doute mieux qu’avec trop. On va par exemple se focaliser sur un nombre de particules très réduit – le césium ou l’iode – alors que plus d’une centaine ont été disséminées. Les zones d’étude prises en comptes sont rétrécies. Les enquêtes sur la contamination interne sont marginales... À force de restreindre le champ des recherches, on finit par se dire que l’on va pouvoir vivre dans ce milieu qui nous menace, et que l’on va même pouvoir y vivre « en toute plénitude », en en sachant de plus en plus sur de moins en moins.</p>

<p><strong>Ce que vous affirmez, c’est que la résilience aboutit à une banalisation de la menace, au fait de voir la catastrophe comme un mal nécessaire, auquel il faudrait simplement se préparer, puis s’accommoder. Pourquoi ?</strong></p>

<p>La résilience prête main forte au paradigme du risque et érige une adhésion absolue au caractère inévitable du désastre qu’il se charge de probabiliser. On sait désormais que, pour des raisons économiques (le coût de l’évacuation) et politico-stratégiques (la pérennité à tout prix du nucléaire), l’État, en situation de catastrophe nucléaire, restreint les possibilités offertes aux populations de choisir de partir, puis celles de choisir de ne pas revenir. Il faut donc inculquer aux populations qu’en cas de catastrophe nucléaire, l’évacuation est impossible, dangereuse, inutile. La solution, par conséquent, c’est de fournir aux gens la capacité de gérer leur dose au quotidien. Cette idée est au cœur de ce que l’on appelle « la culture pratique du risque radiologique », et elle est désormais au centre de toutes les politiques de gestion d’une catastrophe nucléaire ou pas, y compris en France.</p>

<h3 class="spip"><blockquote class="spip">
<p><i>« La résilience apparaît ici comme un puissant outil de résistance au changement. Elle transforme l’humain en machine à encaisser les coups pour mieux repartir au combat »</i></p>
<blockquote class="spip"></blockquote></blockquote></h3>

<p>Cette doctrine, qui a d’abord été mise en application à Tchernobyl, puis à Fukushima de manière plus sophistiquée, est un tournant majeur dans la pensée de ceux et celles qui défendent le nucléaire. Au départ, les nucléaristes purs et durs ne voulaient pas entendre parler de la cogestion de la contamination, parce que cela allait faire peur aux gens. Mais finalement, ils se sont ralliés à l’idée selon laquelle il faut que les populations prennent une part active à la gestion de la catastrophe. Cette évolution est liée à la nouvelle prémisse selon laquelle le risque zéro n’existe pas. D’inexistant, le risque est devenu inévitable. Mais sans que cela ne pose réellement de problème. Il s’agirait plutôt du prix à payer pour avoir la chance de vivre le confort du progrès technologique. On est clairement, avec ce discours, dans la préparation à la catastrophe, la prochaine.</p>

<p><strong>Pour vous, l’un des problèmes de ces discours sur l’accommodation à la catastrophe, c’est qu’ils font l’économie de se demander comment on en est arrivé là, et rendent toute révolte impossible. </strong></p>

<p>Le principe de la résilience, c’est de préparer les gens au pire sans jamais élucider les raisons de ce pire. La résilience interdit de s’interroger sur le fait que les catastrophes industrielles sont liées à notre mode de production économique capitaliste, qu’elles sont le résultat d’une société technologique se voulant sans limite. Il s’agit en fait de combattre le cancer, le dérèglement climatique ou le Covid-19, sans combattre le monde qui les fait émerger. La résilience est toujours tournée vers l’avenir. La question, devient simplement : comment le malheur d’aujourd’hui va-t-il nous conduire vers le bonheur de demain ? Il y a un gommage du passé, qui ôte aux populations toute perspective de prise de conscience de leur situation et de révolte par rapport à elle. La résilience apparaît ici comme un puissant outil de résistance au changement. Elle fait du malheur une ressource au service de la perpétuation de ce qui existe déjà, et transforme l’humain en machine à encaisser les coups pour mieux repartir au combat.</p>

<h3 class="spip"><blockquote class="spip">
<p><i>« L’investissement dans l’exaltation de la souffrance et du sacrifice en situation de catastrophe est inversement proportionnel aux efforts déployés pour en être épargnés »</i></p>
<blockquote class="spip"></blockquote></blockquote></h3>

<p>L’alternative est de considérer réellement le malheur, de le nommer et non pas de lui donner un sens pour mieux l’évacuer, et de faire advenir à la conscience la dureté de ce que l’on vit, conscience indispensable pour aller ensuite vers des formes de vie sociale radicalement différentes, plutôt que se résigner aux rapports sociaux et à leurs nuisibles sous-produits tels qu’ils sont. On ne traverse pas les épreuves, on est traversés par elles. La conscience de la gravité d’une situation et la peur qu’elle inspire (elle aussi prohibée par la résilience au nom de l’impératif de dépassement), sont des moment cruciaux pour nous amener à nous questionner individuellement et collectivement sur les causes réelles qui mènent à ces situations de catastrophes devenues conditions du progrès. Avec la résilience, selon laquelle on ne souffre jamais en vain, on est dans un refoulement sans fin de cette conscience. L’investissement dans l’exaltation de la souffrance et du sacrifice en situation de catastrophe est inversement proportionnel aux efforts déployés pour en être épargnés. Efforts que l’on pourrait consacrer à réfléchir et construire des sociétés dans lesquelles est vivifié le désir de prendre distance vis-à-vis de la condition de survivant, condition à laquelle la résilience nous somme de prendre part citoyennement.</p>

<p>Propos recueillis par Nolwenn Weiler</p>

<p>Photo : experts de l’AIEA à Fukushima, avril 2013. CC Greg Webb /AIEA.</p>

<p><span class="spip_document_10278 spip_documents spip_documents_left">

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<p>Everything I’ve learned about web development in the almost twenty-five years I’ve been practising. All boiled down into a neat little list that I put together over a week.</p>

<p>I’m Icelandic, so I’m prone to absolute statements. It’s a cultural thing.</p>

<p><em>No, I’m not going to explain any of these.</em></p>

<ol>
<li>There are exceptions to most rules.</li>
<li>Web development becomes more complicated the more you pull it apart and less so the more you step back.</li>
@@ -98,8 +95,7 @@
<li>HTML is fantastic. Even if you can do a task without it, keep using HTML to manage, update, or encapsulate your CSS or JS work. (Custom Elements!)</li>
<li>Everybody has small screens, and they all know how to scroll: only make UI widgets ‘sticky’ or ‘fixed’ if you have to. They know where your navigation bar is. You don’t have to push it in their face the whole time.</li>
</ol>

<p><hr>
<hr>
<ol start="11">
<li>Everybody has small screens, and they all know how to scroll: make sure that what they see when the page loads tells them there is something below the fold. They will scroll down if they have the slightest reason to. If only to see how dumb your work is.</li>
<li>Everybody has small screens, and they all know how to scroll: scroll position is a part of the application’s core state. Preserving scroll position across navigations is an easy UX win.</li>
@@ -333,7 +329,7 @@
<li>Ted Nelson didn’t say what you think he said.</li>
<li>Lessons from Hypercard (cards, stacks, plus links is a fantastic conceptual model for hypertext design)</li>
<li>Lessons from Flash (a timeline metaphor plus symbols and actions is a fantastic conceptual model for interactivity design).</li>
</ul></p>
</ul>
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<p>Back in 2017, <a href="https://twitter.com/jimniels/status/889921238809837568?s=20">I tweeted</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>JS will soon read like it's written for machines</p>
<pre><code>// prettier-ignore
/* eslint-disable */
import(/* webpackChunkName: "lodash" */ 'lodash')</code></pre></blockquote>

<p>It’s a bit of a silly statement. Of course JavaScript is written for machines. It’s a programming language. It’s instructions for a machine. But, JavaScript is also written for humans. As Knuth’s statement goes, “Programs are meant to be read by humans and only incidentally for computers to execute.”</p>

<p>If I remember correctly, my tweet came from a place of frustration and exhaustion with eslint. I was trying to find the right eslint instructions so the husky prebuild hook (which was linting my changes) would stop yelling at me for sloppy code in a prototype/throw-away branch I just wanted to commit and push so that the CI/CD would kick-in and get me a preview build—that’s a mouthful. I couldn’t remember at the time what I needed. Was it <code>es-lint-disable</code> or <code>es-lint-disable-next-line</code>? Or maybe <code>es-lint-disable-line</code>? Oh that’s right, <code>eslint-disable</code> is the one I have to re-enable with <code>eslint-enable</code>, but this project’s linting configuration doesn’t actually allow the nuclear <code>eslint-disable</code> without explicitly stating which rules to disable. </p>

<p>Eventually I found the right incantation to break the spell of a failing build: </p>

<pre><code class="language language-js"></code></pre>

<p>This made me start to notice how frequently I read or even wrote code comments as tooling instructions (i.e. telling prettier to stop or webpack where to code split). Code comments for machines were more prevalent than code comments for humans. My code contained instructions for two masters: 1) the one that would parse, build, transpile, compile, deploy, or whatever else it, and 2) the one that would eventually execute it (the client).</p>

<p>In my exhaustion, I did what many others do as an outlet: I complained on twitter—that <a href="/2021/fav-excerpts-from-the-postlight-podcast/">“firehouse of human anguish”</a>. Then I moved on. But I never forgot.</p>

<h2 id="collaborating-robots-vs-humans">Collaborating: Robots vs. Humans</h2>

<p>Fast-forward to 2020 and I saw <a href="https://twitter.com/davatron5000/status/1327292373244792832">this tweet from @davatron5000</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Staring at 12 config files in my project root like they're my mortal enemies and not my supportive robot buddies.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>That resonated. Tooling configs remain one of the most perplexing aspects of any project for me. To express my sympathy (but also to point out that I thought twelve configs was on the low-end) I found a popular project on Github, took a screenshot of the project root, highlighted all the tooling configurations, and reply’d to the tweet. What strikes me about this image is the contrast between the amount of instructions in the codebase around collaboration and conduct for machines vs. humans.</p>

<p><img src="https://cdn.jim-nielsen.com/blog/2021/code-for-machines-screenshot-1.jpeg" alt="">

</p>

<p>For this blog post, I went out and grabbed a few more examples:</p>

<p><img src="https://cdn.jim-nielsen.com/blog/2021/code-for-machines-repos.png" alt="Screenshot of multiple repos on Github highlighting code specific to robots vs. humans.">

</p>

<p>Take a moment to let this all soak in. Can you imagine having to setup, configure, update, and maintain all of these? Thank goodness somebody knows how. Every single one of those configs has <code>n</code> number of settings. Think of the incredible amount of work that would be required to read the docs for each config and understand A) what it’s doing, and B) what else is possible that isn’t yet configured.</p>

<p>Side note: I’ll grant that these screenshots aren’t meant to be a perfectly accurate representation of managing robot collaborators vs. human ones. I’m sure I missed configs/tooling in some places and wrongly highlighted them in others. Additionally, there’s no real science behind what constitutes being for machines or not (<code>.gitattributes</code> seems rationale and part of local file development, while <code>.circleci</code> is clearly for CI/CD). All that said, there’s a lot of commit messages in these repos relating to robot care and maintenance. Just look at these examples commit messages from a single repo:</p>

<ul>
<li>“Upgrade to prettier 2”</li>
<li>“upgrade examples to webpack-cli major 4”</li>
@@ -123,31 +106,19 @@ import(/* webpackChunkName: "lodash" */ 'lodash')</code></pre></blockquote>
<li>“improve linting performance”</li>
<li>“fix newly found eslint problems”</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="robot-coworkers">Robot Coworkers</h2>

<p>Now I get it. These tools are helpful in their own way, especially as projects scale in size (both in contributors and lines of code). You need a way to provide structure and consistency through the codebase, to compile the code, and to deploy it. Doing that at the scale of many of today’s projects would be difficult, maybe nigh impossible, for a human. It’s the perfect job for an automated robot collaborator. But damn if employing those robot collaborators and keeping them in line isn’t overwhelming at times.</p>

<p>Thinking on prior experience, when I try to make a meaningful contribution to a project it feels like my merge request is quite often rejected. Why? One of two reasons: 1) something is wrong with the code I wrote, or 2) some configuration of the myriad of automated tools that work together on the project is broken and the build won’t pass. Based on experience, it feels like it’s a 50/50 chance of being either. Like Dave, trust for my “robot buddies” can be low. </p>

<p>Imagine if you had a human on your team who acted like these robots, just completely irregular on blocking your productivity. How long do you think they’d continue to have a place on the team? But because this is a little robot buddy contributor, we’re much more forgiving. Can’t merge your PR? “Oh yeah, sorry, that was the tooling’s fault. We’ll fix it.” But then shortly after the human fixes it, the robot is back on its bullshit without any repercussions or serious consideration of whether it should remain on the team. “Ah it’s the build again. We’ll fix it.”</p>

<h2 id="robots--complexity">Robots &amp; Complexity</h2>

<p>It makes me think of a line by John Ousterhout from his book <em>A Philosophy of Software Design</em>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Each piece of design infrastructure added to a system...adds complexity, since developers must learn about this element. In order for an element to provide a net gain against complexity, it must eliminate some complexity that would be present in the absence of the design element. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>As much as we talk about avoiding complexity <em>in</em> our programs, we seem to love the complexity of the tooling <em>around</em> our programs. As Ousterhout notes, every time you add a tool or configuration to a project, you’re adding an element that developers must learn, be aware of, or at minimum be exposed to. So while we think we’re lowering the bar of contributing and collaborating on a project — which may be true for <em>some</em> people — it’s possible we’re actually excluding people from contribution and collaboration because of the overwhelming complexity of our team of robots. “Hey, don’t worry about getting a PR declined because of some minor cosmetic aspect of the code, our new linter and code formatter will take care of all that for you! You <em>just</em> have to...” And I think many of us have experienced the pain and difficulty that can arise from the “you just have to...” in that sentence.</p>

<p>Now I recognize that not every project intends to accept contributions from beginners. Nor does every person who contributes to a project need to understand all the tooling configurations. If they are not in a position where they have visibility or control over aspects of the software lifecycle, like cutting releases or publishing artifacts, can’t they simply ignore all those configurations? I suppose that’s possible. But it sure would be a lot easier if they weren’t right in your face in the root of the project. For simplicity’s sake, imagine a standardized <code>.machines/</code> folder where you could stick all the robot stuff. At least then it would be obscured in a purposeful way. That’s a tangent though.</p>

<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>

<p>I didn’t mean to make this a rant. I wish I had answers to these kinds of problems, but I don’t. I find a lot of value in many of these tools. I merely want to raise my voice and say, “this stuff is confusing as hell for me” and I’d bet I’m not the only one.</p>

<p>All of this did get me thinking: imagine if we put the same amount of effort into supporting the humans who help build our projects as we do for the robots who help us? Maybe a few more of the cultural/social problems associated with programming would “magically” disappear.</p>
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<p>Pouvait-on éviter une part significative des 100.000 morts – à la mi-avril 2021 – de la Covid-19 en France ? Oui.</p>

<p>Cette réponse nette est glaçante. Elle entre en collision brutale avec la déclaration d’Emmanuel Macron, le 22 juin 2020 : <i>« Nous n’avons pas à rougir, mes chers compatriotes, de notre bilan. Des dizaines de milliers de vies ont été sauvées par nos choix, par nos actions »</i>. Et pourtant, elle ne fait aucun doute. Il suffit, pour l’établir, de comparer la situation française (voire européenne) avec trois des pays les plus à risque, lorsque la Covid-19 a émergé : la Chine, le Vietnam, la Corée. Au 19 avril 2021, le nombre de morts par million d’habitants dus au coronavirus Sars-Cov-2 était de 3,5 en Chine (4845 personnes), 0,4 au Vietnam (35 personnes) et 34,9 en Corée du Sud (1802 personnes). Le même jour, la France comptait 1510 morts par million d’habitants et plus de 101.000 personnes décédées.</p>

<p>L’écart est donc abyssal. Alors même que ces trois pays – celui où la maladie à émergé et deux pays des plus proches géographiquement et par le flux incessant de personnes qui les lient – étaient les plus susceptibles d’afficher le bilan le plus désastreux.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>
<strong>LIRE AUSSI SUR REGARDS.FR<br class="autobr">
&gt;&gt;</strong> <i><a href="http://www.regards.fr/politique/societe/article/vaccin-contre-le-covid-une-nouvelle-lutte-des-classes">Vaccin contre le Covid : une nouvelle lutte des classes ?</a></i><br class="autobr">
<strong>&gt;&gt;</strong> <i><a href="http://www.regards.fr/politique/societe/article/astrazeneca-c-est-quoi-le-probleme">AstraZeneca : c’est quoi le problème ?</a></i></p>

<p> </p>

<p>Aucune autre raison que les politiques sanitaires décidées par les gouvernements de ces trois pays et par le nôtre n’expliquent cet écart. Et la différence est assez aisée à décrire. Après un temps de mauvaise gestion locale, due à l’incapacité du pouvoir politique de la région de Hubeï à réagir correctement, le gouvernement central chinois a pris les bonnes décisions et su les appliquer avec une rigueur implacable et la mobilisation de moyens à la dimension de cet immense pays. Le gouvernement du Vietnam, l’un des pays encore parmi les plus pauvres du monde, a réagi avec une rapidité et une vigueur remarquables qui ont évité au pays de subir la proximité de la Chine d’où provient un flux fort et permanent de touristes. La société coréenne avait « prévu le coup ». En choisissant, par le vote d’une loi par le Parlement en 2015, de doter son <i>Korean Center for Disease Control</i> (KCDC) de pouvoirs étendus en cas de pandémie, elle a réussi à « confiner » le virus, la plupart des décès étant liés à la décision politique de ne pas couper tous les vols en provenance de l’étranger.</p>

<p>Mais allons plus en détail dans le comparatif, et notamment sous l’angle du rapport des gouvernements à l’expertise scientifique.</p>

<p>Quoique... dirait Devos. Avant de s’y plonger, réglons leurs comptes à trois âneries.</p>

<p>Il y aurait eu à choisir entre l’économie et la santé du peuple. Sauver moins de personnes, pour sauver l’emploi (ou les dividendes) des autres. Pour que cette affirmation soit vraie, il faudrait au moins qu’elle soit vérifiée pour les quatre cas observés : France (Europe itou), Chine, Vietnam, Corée du Sud. Or, la réalité est strictement inverse : les économies chinoises, vietnamienne et coréenne ont beaucoup moins souffert que celles de la France et de l’Union européenne. Et il n’est pas nécessaire de faire le tour du monde pour le confirmer : non, il n’y avait pas à choisir, une politique sanitaire efficace était aussi celle qui permettait de limiter le plus la casse économique. En 2020, la Chine a augmenté son PIB (+2,3%) avec un dernier trimestre à +6,5%, le Vietnam a frôlé les +3%, la Corée du Sud n’a baissé le sien que de 1%. Celui de la France s’est écroulé avec -8,3%, du jamais vu depuis la Seconde guerre mondiale.</p>

<p>Seules les dictatures pourraient lutter efficacement contre un tel virus, car il faut imposer des restrictions des libertés individuelles. La Corée du Sud, la Nouvelle Zélande (26 morts), l’Australie (910 morts), deux autres pays avec des résultats similaires, sont des démocraties – du moins pas pire que celles de la France ou d’autres pays de l’Union européenne. Cette affirmation a un problème avec la réalité.</p>

<p>Les politiques sanitaires de gouvernements comme celui d’Emmanuel Macron seraient dictées par la volonté de « museler » le peuple. Avec des masques ajouteront certains, pas très futés. Bien sûr, Macron ne se réjouit pas lorsque la rue se remplit de manifestants contre sa politique économique et sociale. Mais il n’est pas nécessaire d’être télépathe pour savoir qu’il aurait préféré subir les manifestations si c’était le corollaire des millions de touristes dans des hôtels ouverts et les rentrées de TVA des spectacles vivants. Ensuite, que les discours du pouvoir aient tenté d’utiliser la situation et les mesures sanitaires pour légitimer son action dans l’opinion citoyenne est une évidence. Sa politique sanitaire a en permanence couru après la situation, toujours en retard, et c’est de là que vient le prix payé par la population.</p>

<p>Revenons aux détails où gît la compréhension du réel.</p>

<p>Pourquoi et comment le Vietnam a pratiquement évité la pandémie, malgré son exposition majeure au risque ? La réponse se lit dans des dates. L’alerte mondiale de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) face au Sars-Cov-2 est lancé le 5 janvier 2020 par son premier bulletin épidémique. Puis le 10 janvier. Que fait Macron le lendemain ? Rien. Que fait le gouvernement vietnamien : il organise une surveillance rigoureuse de ses frontières. Tous les passagers des aéroports internationaux sont soumis à une recherche de suspicion de la Covid-19 et ceux provenant de régions à haut risque sont soumis à une quarantaine obligatoire et conduits directement en bus à la sortie de l’avion dans des centres isolés. Cette surveillance des frontières restera très stricte en février et mars, avec des fermetures de lignes aériennes en provenance des régions à risques et quarantaines pour toutes les arrivées. Que fait Macron le 15 janvier ? Rien. Le même jour, le gouvernement vietnamien publie son plan de lutte, concocté en quatre jours avec l’aide des experts de l’OMS. Un comité scientifique de prévention de l’épidémie est constitué. L’une des premières mesures sera la fermeture des écoles. Les mesures de confinement local sont décidées sur la base des tests : le premier confinement est décidé à la mi-février pour 20 jours et concerne une population rurale de 10.000 habitants après la détection de 7 cas. La stratégie est fondée sur des tests massifs, dès que le pays en a réuni les moyens. Dès la fin avril, le Vietnam peut tester 27.000 personnes par jour et environ 1000 personnes sont testées pour chaque cas détecté.</p>

<p>En Chine, il était déjà trop tard, en raison du retard à l’allumage dans la région du Hubeï, pour éviter un confinement total. Mais il fut si bien réalisé pour les près de 60 millions d’habitants de la région, et la surveillance des flux sortants si bien faite que la stratégie détecter, tracer et isoler (tous les porteurs, sans exception) a pu être appliquée dans tout le reste de la Chine et que les épisodes de confinements locaux (local... à l’échelle de la Chine) sont toujours parvenus à juguler la propagation du virus.</p>

<p>En Corée du Sud, l’autorité sanitaire mise en place par la loi votée en 2015 dispose de pouvoirs étendus. Elle peut tester, tracer et isoler tous les porteurs identifiés. Exiger la géolocalisation par leur téléphone de tous les porteurs durant leur période contagieuse et ainsi enquêter partout où ils sont passés afin de retrouver toutes les personnes à tester. Fermer tout espace recevant du public (transports, entreprises, administrations, lieux d’enseignement) dès lors que le virus y a été détecté. L’application stricte de tous ces dispositifs a permis d’éviter des confinements massifs et limité la casse sanitaire... et socio-économique.</p>

<p>Que signifient ces faits dans le rapport à l’expertise scientifique de ces gouvernements ? Qu’ils ont su la mettre en place, ou utiliser celle de l’OMS, la respecter et prendre sans hésiter les décisions recommandées. Emmanuel Macron a fait courir le bruit par ses conseillers et ministres qu’il lisait la littérature scientifique sur le coronavirus et l’épidémie et qu’il était capable d’une réflexion personnelle à opposer à celle des médecins, virologues et épidémiologistes. Par exemple pour repousser la date d’un confinement. Les dirigeants chinois, vietnamiens, coréens, néo-zélandais ou australiens n’ont jamais prétendu à cette expertise personnelle. Modestement, ils se sont contentés d’écouter leurs experts. On peut juger au résultat.</p>

<p>La date même de la mise en place du Conseil scientifique Covid-19, présidé par Jean-François Delfraissy, sonnait déjà comme une condamnation de la procrastination gouvernementale : le 10 mars 2020. Deux mois moins un jour après la décision du Vietnam de surveiller toute entrée à ses frontières, voire de les fermer si besoin. Deux mois moins six jours après la publication par le Vietnam de son plan de lutte anti-coronavirus. Fin janvier, la ministre de la Santé, Agnès Buzyn déclarait encore que le virus n’arriverait probablement pas en France... alors qu’il avait déjà tué en Italie. Et surtout que l’OMS, le 30 janvier 2020, estimait le risque de pandémie <i>« élevé »</i> au niveau mondial. Durant deux mois, Emmanuel Macron et le gouvernement ont donc considéré qu’ils n’avaient pas besoin d’organiser une expertise scientifique spécifique pour les conseiller alors que le nombre de morts grimpait déjà en Italie, avec 827 décès le 11 mars 2020 pour plus de 12.000 cas confirmés, un chiffre très en dessous de la réalité. La mise en place tardive de ce conseil s’est faite dans la précipitation, au point que son premier avis, publié le 12 mars, deux jours après sa nomination, doit constater qu’il est trop tard pour la stratégie détecter, tracer, isoler. Il doit avertir que laisser se propager le virus dans 50% de la population causerait <i>« des centaines de milliers de morts »</i> (un chiffre confirmé par la suite : un peu moins de 20% des Français ont contracté le virus, 100.000 en sont morts). Il n’y a donc plus d’autre solution qu’un premier confinement, dont le Conseil scientifique prévient que son relâchement se traduira par une deuxième vague épidémique.</p>

<p>Cet avis sur le rapport à l’expertise scientifique est-il exagéré, guidé par une opposition politique au gouvernement en place ? Reportons-nous à l’opinion du britannique Samuel Horton, le rédacteur en chef du <i>Lancet</i>, une revue scientifique médicale internationale. Voici ce qu’il disait dans <i>Le Monde</i> du 26 juin 2020 : <i>« Nous avons publié à la fin du mois de janvier dans le </i>Lancet<i> cinq articles qui décrivaient parfaitement cette nouvelle maladie pour laquelle il n’y avait ni traitement ni vaccin, qui présentait une assez forte mortalité, et qui se transmettait entre humains. Pour reprendre les mots de Gabriel Leung (université de Hongkong), "ce mode de transmission indiquait une forte probabilité de pandémie mondiale". On savait tout cela le 31 janvier. La veille, l’OMS avait déclaré une urgence de santé publique de portée internationale. Et, pendant les six semaines qui ont suivi, la plupart des pays occidentaux n’ont absolument rien fait. C’est une erreur impardonnable. La question est : pourquoi le président [français Emmanuel] Macron, le président [du Conseil italien Giuseppe] Conte, pourquoi le premier ministre [britannique Boris] Johnson, pourquoi le président [américain Donald] Trump n’ont-ils rien fait ? Ne comprenaient-ils pas ce qui se passait en Chine ? Ne croyaient-ils pas les Chinois ? N’ont-ils pas demandé à leurs représentations diplomatiques à Pékin d’enquêter ? Je ne comprends pas. Les preuves étaient très claires, dès fin janvier. Donc je pense que les politiciens vont devoir s’expliquer. »</i></p>

<p>Le retard à organiser une expertise scientifique sur le Sars-Cov-2, directement lié au retard à agir, met en cause le pouvoir politique et les directions des Institutions scientifiques où travaillent les experts disponibles. Le pouvoir politique parce que c’est à lui de prendre conscience de son déficit de savoirs et donc de la nécessité d’organiser un collectif susceptible de le combler. Soit un tel collectif existe de manière permanente – par exemple l’ANSES (agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation de l’environnement et du travail) ou le duo IRSN/ ASN pour la sûreté nucléaire et la radioprotection. Soit il faut le constituer ad-hoc pour un sujet émergent ou temporaire. Mais il ne semble pas que les directions de l’INSERM ou de l’Institut des sciences de la vie au CNRS, l’Institut Pasteur, la direction de l’APHP, aient pris l’initiative, en janvier et février 2020, de s’adresser au gouvernement pour souligner la nécessité d’une mobilisation en urgence d’une telle expertise. Cette défaillance pose le problème de la nomination de ces directions. À trop choisir des personnalités pour leur proximité politique avec le pouvoir, les gouvernements affaiblissent l’autonomie relative vis à vis d’eux mêmes dont ces institutions et l’activité scientifique ont besoin pour se déployer. Nommer des dirigeants capables de rudoyer le pouvoir politique, parce qu’ils en ont la légitimité scientifique personnelle et le caractère, se révèle plutôt une précaution qu’un risque, lorsque l’on considère ce retard à réagir face à l’urgence.</p>

<p>Ce retard à mettre en place une expertise fiable et les errements du gouvernement lors du début de la crise sanitaire (les masques ne servent à rien...) ont pesé sur la capacité de la société, des citoyens, à utiliser cette expertise. Le Conseil scientifique, malgré les incertitudes, une composition faite à la hâte, a dans l’ensemble correctement fait son travail. Et c’est en refusant de l’écouter qu’Emmanuel Macron a pris des décisions qui ont élevé le niveau de la troisième vague épidémique. Pourtant, des médias, des citoyens, des responsables politiques de tous partis, se sont trop souvent tournés vers d’autres sources. Avec un résultat désastreux, lorsque ces sources se sont révélées totalement pourries, à l’image des Didier Raoult, Christian Peronne et consorts. En synergie avec les chaînes d’info continue et des centaines de milliers de citoyens sur les réseaux sociaux numériques, les propagateurs de fausses nouvelles ont fait une œuvre dévastatrice. Encore aujourd’hui, des millions de Français font confiance à celui qui avait prédit <i>« moins de morts que par accident de trottinettes »</i>, <i>« ce sera l’infection respiratoire la plus facile à traiter avec la chloroquine »</i>, <i>« la deuxième vague c’est une fantaisie »</i>, <i>« l’épidémie va s’arrêter avec l’été »</i> et autres raoulteries. Mais qui est allé faire le beau devant les caméras de télévision au côté de la star marseillaise de BFM ? Le Président Emmanuel Macron. Difficile de faire plus efficace si l’on veut miner la confiance envers le Conseil scientifique que l’on a mis en place. Or, en légitimant et en favorisant des comportements à risque, ces fausses nouvelles ont augmenté le nombre de morts.</p>

<p>Les sociologues s’interrogent déjà sur les évolutions que cette crise va provoquer dans les relations que les citoyens entretiennent avec science et technologies. Positives, négatives ? Il est trop tôt pour le savoir. Mais le paradoxe est éclatant. Jamais, dans l’histoire de la médecine et de la santé publique, la science n’avait été aussi rapide, efficace, décisive. Le séquençage du génome du virus était disponible dès le 11 janvier 2020, découvert et publié par les biologistes chinois. Dès février, les épidémiologistes, pour la première fois dans l’histoire des pandémies virales, pouvaient en modéliser l’impact avec une précision suffisante pour calibrer les réponses sanitaires. Dès ce moment, la recherche vaccinale se mettait en mouvement, avec plusieurs vaccins, notamment ceux utilisant pour la première fois la technologie de l’ARN, disponibles en un temps record. Pour l’instant, seule la recherche de traitements efficaces a échoué. Cet épisode restera dans l’histoire de la médecine comme celui d’un succès phénoménal, sans précédent par sa rapidité. Il faudra un gros coup de chance du virus pour que ses variants échappent aux vaccins existants ou en développement.</p>

<p>Cet épisode aurait donc pu être une démonstration de bonne utilisation de la science et de son expertise par les pouvoirs publics de tous pays. Un moment de grande explication de la méthode scientifique en direction du grand public. Un moment d’humilité des gouvernants, reconnaissant qu’ils ne peuvent utiliser la science en s’appuyant sur leur seule réflexion personnelle. Nous en sommes vraiment très loin.</p>

<p>
<strong>Sylvestre Huet</strong></p>
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<p>Récemment, j’ai vu passer une annonce sur LeBonCoin pour une vente de 5 hectares de forêt/bois.</p>

<p>Depuis, le projet d’acheter des hectares par-ci par là commence à me trotter dans la tête. Les sortir des zones de chasse — un terrain privé d’une surface minimum donnée est chassable par défaut. Les sortir de l’exploitation forestière en monoculture. Y recréer des écosystèmes vivants, endémiques et/ou préparés au changement climatique. Envisager de l’habitat léger à toute petite échelle.</p>

<p>J’ai posé des questions à <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.foretsenvie.org/">Forêts en vie</a>, du <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.alternativesforestieres.org">réseau des alternatives forestières</a> pour sonder le sujet.</p>

<p><hr>
<hr>
<p>Il y a quelques mois, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.helloasso.com/associations/aspas-association-pour-la-protection-des-animaux-sauvages/collectes/vercors-vie-sauvage">j’avais participé au financement participatif</a> de la <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://aspas-reserves-vie-sauvage.org/les-reserves-de-vie-sauvage/vercors-vie-sauvage/">réserve Vercors Vie Sauvage</a>. 1 million d’euros pour 500 hectares réensauvagés.</p>
<hr>
<p>Un des fondateurs d’Epic Games, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiizE4cNEAI">Tim Sweeney, a utilisé sa fortune pour acheter du terrain forestier</a>, et le laisser tel quel, sauvage.</p></p>
<p>Un des fondateurs d’Epic Games, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiizE4cNEAI">Tim Sweeney, a utilisé sa fortune pour acheter du terrain forestier</a>, et le laisser tel quel, sauvage.</p>
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<img src="https://www.la-grange.net/2021/06/19/1241-fenetre.jpg" alt="Fenêtre fermée et plantes devant.">
<figcaption>Tsujido, Japon, 19 juin 2021</figcaption>
</figure>

<blockquote>
<p>On est en droit de supposer qu'un esprit dans lequel le type « esprit libre » est voué à atteindre un jour la perfection de la maturité et de la douceur a connu l'événement pour lui décisif dans une <em>grande rupture</em>, et qu'il était d'autant plus au préalable un esprit lié et semblait enchaîné pour toujours à son recoin et à sa colonne.<br>
— Humain, trop humain, Friedrich Nietzsche, urn:isbn:978-2-0812-7999-5</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Dans <a href="https://larlet.fr/david/2021/06/15/">Avihonte</a>, David écrit :</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Finalement, cette quarantaine imposée à l’arrivée au Canada est peut-être l’impôt le plus juste et vert qui ait jamais existé… s’il avait atterri dans les caisses de l’État.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>La quarantaine est un ralentisseur de voyage. On prend l'avion pour aller très vite d'un pays à un autre et puis on se retrouve bloqué pendant 14 jours à la destination. Immobile. Et je m'interroge soudainement, s'il ne serait pas possible de créer une quarantaine mobile ?</p>

<p>Les transports en train (transibérien) et bateau (transpacifique, transatlantique) pourraîent être le substitut de cette isolation. Bien sûr, en réalisant une véritable quarantaine et non pas le cauchemard des croisières de février 2020 où les participants s'échangeaient gaiement le virus au-dessus d'un buffet et d'une petite dance. Nous savons maintenant que les lieux bien aérés et les distances sociales aident à contrôler le virus. 14 jours pour traverser l'océan dans une cabine avec vue sur l'océan ou 14 jours dans un hôtel d'aéroport après avoir été entassé 10 heures dans un avion.</p>

<p>Est-ce que cela pourraît permettre de reconvertir une partie de l'industrie nautique qui a subi les contre-coups de la pandémie ? Les bateaux sont probablement inadaptés en ce moment, mais ils pourraient devenir adaptés. La crise est perçue comme temporaire par tous et le vaccin augmente cette perception. Et si…</p>

<p>Et que dire de la friction lente qui nous habiterait pendant ce temps de quarantaine active où nous mettrions à contributions nos pensées dans le mouvement d'une attente.</p>

<h2 id="links">sur le bord du chemin</h2>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.mnot.net/blog/2021/06/21/standards-competition-governance">How the Next Layer of the Internet is Going to be Standardised</a></p>
<blockquote>

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a difference - the vast majority of your visitors will still accept your Let’s
Encrypt certificate. If you provide an API or have to support IoT devices, you
might have to pay a little more attention to the change.</p>

<p>Let’s Encrypt has a “<a href="https://letsencrypt.org/docs/glossary/#def-root">root certificate</a>” called <a href="https://letsencrypt.org/certificates/" hreflang="en-US">ISRG Root X1</a>. Modern browsers and
devices trust the Let’s Encrypt certificate installed on your website because
they include ISRG Root X1 in their list of root certificates. To make sure the
certificates we issue are trusted on older devices, we also have a
“cross-signature” from an older root certificate: DST Root CA X3.</p>

<p>When we got started, that older root certificate (DST Root CA X3) helped us get
off the ground and be trusted by almost every device immediately. The newer root
certificate (ISRG Root X1) is now widely trusted too - but some older devices
won’t ever trust it because they don’t get software updates (for example, an
iPhone 4 or an HTC Dream). <a href="https://letsencrypt.org/docs/certificate-compatibility/" hreflang="en-US">Click here for a list of which platforms trust ISRG
Root X1</a>.</p>

<p>DST Root CA X3 will expire on September 30, 2021. That means those older devices
that don’t trust ISRG Root X1 will start getting certificate warnings when
visiting sites that use Let’s Encrypt certificates. There’s one important
exception: older Android devices that don’t trust ISRG Root X1 will continue to
work with Let’s Encrypt, <a href="https://letsencrypt.org/2020/12/21/extending-android-compatibility.html">thanks to a special cross-sign from DST Root CA X3</a>
that extends past that root’s expiration. This exception only works for Android.</p>

<p>What should you do? For most people, nothing at all! We’ve set up our
certificate issuance so your web site will do the right thing in most cases,
favoring broad compatibility. If you provide an API or have to support IoT
@@ -106,7 +102,6 @@ API are using OpenSSL, <a href="https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/openssl-clie
1.0.x, a quirk in certificate verification means that even clients that trust
ISRG Root X1 will fail when presented with the Android-compatible certificate
chain we are recommending by default.</p>

<p>If you have any questions about the upcoming expiration,
<a href="https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/help-thread-for-dst-root-ca-x3-expiration-september-2021/149190">please post to this thread on our forum.</a></p>
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<p class="slug__PhotoCredits-sc-1c9cjjw-2 bqApAe">Des manifestants anti-vaccins à Bordeaux, en septembre 2020.</p>

<div class="Default__Container-uu4eqh-0 gMwfXd markup"><p><strong>1. La question du manque de recul revient souvent et un certain nombre de vaccino-sceptiques mettent en avant le fait que les périodes de test des vaccins sont toujours en cours jusqu’en 2022 ou 2023 pour les plus connus. Que répondre à ça ?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Eric Billy :</strong> Quand on ouvre un essai clinique, on définit ce qui va être fait. La période, l’objectif et les critères. Dans l’étude proposée initialement sur les vaccins, ils voulaient voir à deux ans quel était le niveau de réponse immunitaire, donc faire durer l’étude jusqu’en 2023. Mais dans l’étude de phase 3, les résultats ont démontré l’efficacité et la sécurité du vaccin. Cet argument joue sur une non-connaissance du public sur la manière dont les essais cliniques sont réalisés pour faire des amalgames. Il faut aussi rappeler que les gens qui ont reçu Pfizer en phase 1 et 2 sont vaccinés depuis plus d’un an. Donc nous avons le recul. La pharmacovigilance existe, elle est là et capable de voir des effets indésirables plutôt rares.</p><p id="smilewanted-infeed-ad"></p>
<p><strong>Morgane Bomsel :</strong> Effectivement mais cela suit le cadre de test de phase III/IV clinique habituel. Cependant, dans le cas précis du COVID, vu la situation, une exception a été faite après l'évaluation du bénéfice risque du vaccin. En conséquence des millions de personnes (et pas quelques milliers suivis en phase clinique) de tout âge et catégorie, (&gt;12 ans) ont été vaccinés avec une absence d'effet secondaire important et généralisés (bien sur quelques cas particuliers mais excessivement rares, comme pour tout médicament/vaccin). Il est donc très peu probable qu'un effet négatif du vaccin émerge dans l'année à venir. Le bénéfice risque reste en entière faveur de la vaccination.</p>

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<p>In the year 2084, the world is a bleak place. Smog hangs thick over desolate urban skylines, blotting out the Sun and preventing plant life from flourishing. There’s no wildlife to be found, either, only humans, most of whom succumb to an aggressive skin disease shortly after reaching adulthood. The average life expectancy is 25.</p>

<p>This is more than your typical dystopian science fiction scenario. It is one possible version of what scientists call the “<a href="https://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/WorldWithoutOzone">world avoided</a>,” that is, the world that might have been had humanity failed to fix the ozone hole. While this shadow future is rarely discussed outside of academic circles, recently, the United Nations Ozone Secretariat partnered with South African production company Rooftop to bring it to life for young people who can’t remember a time when the ozone crisis dominated the news.</p>

<figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WP8h3IahGCE?start=1&amp;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen>VIDEO</iframe></figure>

<p>The result: <em>Reset Earth</em>, an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP8h3IahGCE&amp;feature=emb_logo">animated short film</a> and free-to-play <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.UNEP.ResetEarth">mobile game</a> about a about a group of teens who have to travel back in time to save Earth’s ozone layer. It’s an innovative blend of science and storytelling that, despite the bleak backdrop, offers a hopeful message to the youth of today: it really is possible to solve global environmental challenges. It’s a message worth taking to heart as we move deeper into the most critical decade for tackling climate change.</p>

<p>In the annals of environmental history, humanity’s response to the ozone crisis stands out as a rare success story. During the 1970s and ‘80s, evidence started to mount that certain household chemicals used in refrigerators, air conditioners, and aerosol cans like hairspray were eating a giant hole in Earth’s ozone layer, which prevents harmful ultraviolet radiation from reaching the surface. Facing the terrifying prospect of a future without any atmospheric sunscreen at all, in the late 1980s nations came together to sign the Montreal Protocol, a global treaty to phase out so-called ozone-depleting substances like chlorofluorocarbons.</p>

<p>Since then, the ozone hole has been <a href="https://gizmodo.com/the-ozone-hole-is-finally-healing-1782885459">slowly healing</a>. <a href="https://ozone.unep.org/ozone-and-you">According to the U.N.</a>, it’s now on track to recover fully by mid-century.</p>

<p>But if things hadn’t turned out that way—if the scientific evidence linking man-made chemicals to ozone depletion wasn’t strong enough, or if ozone deniers (yes, there were ozone deniers) successfully stymied the Montreal Protocol—the world might look very different. By the middle of the 21st century, <a href="https://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/WorldWithoutOzone">computer models suggest</a> that in the world we avoided, global ozone levels would decline nearly 70 percent, doubling the intensity of UV radiation at Earth’s surface. Rates of skin cancer and cataracts—responsible for about half of all blindness worldwide—would soar. The extra dose of UV would damage crops, potentially leading to global food shortages. And it would have a cascade of devastating effects on wild plants and animals which, like us, have evolved to survive in the low-UV conditions created by the ozone layer.</p>

<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8d32ab4-7252-4850-bb0e-09bc33e9f133_720x167.png" class="kg-image" alt loading="lazy"><figcaption>Modeled dissipation of the ozone layer if humans never phased out ozone-destroying substances. Credit: NASA</figcaption></figure>

<p>Widespread vegetation die-backs could ensue, triggering huge releases of carbon into the atmosphere and worsening global warming. (To add insult to injury, all the extra UV radiation would probably <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/16/4392">speed up organic matter decay</a>.) Not even synthetic building materials would be safe from rapid deterioration under the harsh new Sun.</p>

<p>Eventually, humans would become so desperate for a fix that we might turn to risky geo-engineering solutions. In the <em>Reset Earth</em> future, one such Hail Mary-plan—spraying the skies with a smog-forming chemical that dissipates UV light—backfires horribly, causing a skin disease even deadlier than cancer, known as the GROW, to flourish. Young people start showing signs of GROW infection in their late teens or early 20s, and most die several years later.</p>

<p>Stephanie Egger Haysmith, a communications officer for the U.N. Ozone Secretariat, told The Science of Fiction that this scenario was based on “numerous conversations with scientists of the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel,” one of the advisory panels for the Montreal Protocol, “exploring the different effects of increased UV radiation on people and the environment.” While the idea of a future ozone crisis intersecting with a public health crisis was under development before the covid-19 pandemic hit, she says that as time went on and the coronavirus’s impacts became more apparent, that “fed into further ideas around the script.”</p>

<p>“The essential idea was that our earth, with all of its complex global environmental issues and their interlinkages, hangs in a balance that can be upset if we don’t protect it using knowledge, science and collaboration,” Haysmith went on.</p>

<p><em>Reset Earth</em> isn’t a flawless production. The writing can be clunky at times, and early reviews on the mobile game, a single-player platformer based on the animated film’s storyline, are decidedly mixed. I’m about halfway through the second stage and so far, collecting all of the clues about where environmental history went wrong has been fun enough to keep me interested, even if the gameplay is a bit basic.</p>

<p>But the ideas behind the project are fascinating, and as a way of reminding kids there are environmental nightmare scenarios we’ve dodged, you can’t do much better than the ozone apocalypse. Personally, I’m hopeful this project can be put to good use in the classroom. If solving puzzles in a retro graphics-version of an atmospheric horror story is how we teach kids there’s still time to save the future, I’m here for it.</p>
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</nav>
<hr>
<p>"RSS is dead" every year; it will be dead in the next year again. But before the dead coming in next year, we can do something to make it dead in an elegant way.</p>

<p>RSS feed is meant to be used by machine (apps) not by human. But people may visit a feed link directly and shout out WTF is this.</p>

<p>The RSS feed however can be human friendly. Take an example of my blog's RSS feed. It is simple and clean, not so scary to ordinary people.</p>

<div class="md-photo"><figure><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" data-src="https://i.typlog.com/lepture/8424206380_291282.jpg" alt="My blog feed UI" title="My blog feed UI"><figcaption>My blog feed UI</figcaption></figure></div>

<h2 id="toc_1" class="md-block">XSL URL</h2>

<div class="md-block blockquote"><blockquote><p>But how can we make a RSS feed look like the above UI?</p>
</blockquote></div>

<p>We added this UI in <a href="https://typlog.com/">Typlog</a> recently. It is pretty simple with <a href="https://www.w3.org/Style/XSL/"><strong>xsl</strong></a>. I'm not going to explain XSL in this post, instead, we can quickly decorate our RSS feeds with the famous copy paste method.</p>

<div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="cp">&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt;</span>
<span class="cp">&lt;?xml-stylesheet href="/rss.xsl" type="text/xsl"?&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;rss</span> <span class="na">version=</span><span class="s">"2.0"</span><span class="nt">&gt;</span>
</pre></div>

<p>Here you can see, the feed is styled by an external file <code>/rss.xsl</code>. Note here, instead of providing a shared URL <code>typlog.com/rss.xsl</code>, we are using a relative path here. Because it is required by some browsers for security reasons; we need to put the xsl file under the same domain, protocol and port with the RSS feed.</p>

<p>Next, we can inspect the source code of <code>rss.xsl</code>:</p>

<div class="md-block pre"><pre><code>view-source:https://lepture.com/rss.xsl</code></pre></div>

<h2 id="toc_2" class="md-block">XSL Template</h2>

<p>Here is an overview of the XSL file:</p>

<div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="cp">&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;xsl:stylesheet</span> <span class="na">version=</span><span class="s">"3.0"</span> <span class="na">xmlns:xsl=</span><span class="s">"http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"</span>
<span class="na">xmlns:atom=</span><span class="s">"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"</span><span class="nt">&gt;</span>
@@ -110,25 +97,19 @@
<span class="nt">&lt;/xsl:template&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;</span>
</pre></div>

<p>Things to do:</p>

<div class="md-block list"><ol>
<li>XML namespaces: register the required namespace when you need to select it via xpath.</li>
<li>XSL template: create the UI in XHTML</li>
</ol></div>

<h2 id="toc_3" class="md-block">XSL Methods</h2>

<p>We will use some XSL methods to create our XHTML template:</p>

<div class="md-block list"><ol>
<li><code>xsl:if</code></li>
<li><code>xsl:for-each</code></li>
<li><code>xsl:attribute</code></li>
<li><code>xsl:value-of</code></li>
</ol></div>

<p>Take a look at <code>https://lepture.com/rss.xsl</code>, follow the example. It is not hard to create a pretty UI for RSS feed.</p>
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<figure><a class="image-link image2 image2-974-1456" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7fe80c61-caa9-42bb-bcf8-bdc766cf11d2_5864x3922.jpeg"><img src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7fe80c61-caa9-42bb-bcf8-bdc766cf11d2_5864x3922.jpeg" data-attrs='{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7fe80c61-caa9-42bb-bcf8-bdc766cf11d2_5864x3922.jpeg","height":974,"width":1456,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":1402908,"alt":"Photo of a half-opened laptop with the screen showing a rainbow-colored explosion. Joshua Woroniecki / Unsplash","title":null,"type":"image/jpeg","href":null}' alt="Photo of a half-opened laptop with the screen showing a rainbow-colored explosion. Joshua Woroniecki / Unsplash"></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Joshua Woroniecki / Unsplash</figcaption></figure>

<p><strong>I.</strong></p>

<p>At 8AM PT on Friday, a bleary-eyed Basecamp CEO Jason Fried gathered his remote workforce together on Zoom to apologize. Four days earlier, he had thrown the company into turmoil by announcing that “societal and political discussions” <a href="https://world.hey.com/jason/changes-at-basecamp-7f32afc5">would no longer be allowed on the company’s internal chat forums</a>. In his blog post, Fried said the decision stemmed from the fact that “today's social and political waters are especially choppy,” and that internal discussions of those issues was “not healthy” and “hasn’t served us well.” The public reaction had been furious, and Fried said he was sorry for the way the new policies had been rolled out — but not for the policies themselves. </p>

<p>Behind the scenes, Fried had been dealing with <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22406673/basecamp-political-speech-policy-controversy">an employee reckoning over a long-standing company practice of maintaining a list of “funny” customer names</a>, some of which were of Asian and African origin. The internal discussion over that list had been oriented primarily around making Basecamp feel more inclusive to its employees and customers. But Fried and his co-founder, David Heinemeier Hansson, had been taken aback by an employee post which argued that mocking customer names laid the foundation for racially-motivated violence, and closed the thread. They also disbanded an internal committee of employees who had volunteered to work on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.  </p>

<p>On Friday, employees had their chance to address these issues directly with Fried and his co-founder. What followed was a wrenching discussion that left several employees I spoke with in tears. Thirty minutes after the meeting ended, Fried announced that Basecamp’s longtime head of strategy, Ryan Singer, had been suspended and placed under investigation after he questioned the existence of white supremacy at the company. Over the weekend, Singer — who worked for the company for nearly 18 years, and authored a book about product management for Basecamp called <em>Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters</em> — resigned.</p>

<p>Within a few hours of the meeting, at least 20 people — more than one-third of Basecamp’s 57 employees — had announced their intention to accept buyouts from the company. And while many of them had been leaning toward resigning in the aftermath of Fried’s original post, the meeting itself pushed several to accelerate their decisions, employees said. The response overwhelmed the founders, who extended the deadline to accept buyouts indefinitely amid an unexpected surge of interest.</p>

<p>This account is based on interviews with six Basecamp employees who were present at the meeting, along with a partial transcript created by employees. Collectively, they describe a company whose attempt to tamp down on difficult conversations blew up in its face as employees rejected the notion that discussions of power and justice should remain off limits in the workplace. And they suggest that efforts to eliminate disruptions in the workplace by regulating internal speech may cause even more turmoil for a company in the long run. </p>

<p>“My honest sense of why everybody is leaving because they're tired of Jason and David's behavior — the suppression of voices, of any dissent,” one employee told me. “They really don’t care what employees have to say. If they don't think it's an issue, it's not an issue. If they don't experience it, then it's not real. And this was the final straw for a lot of employees.”</p>

<p><strong>II.</strong></p>

<p>While Friday’s meeting would eventually grow heated, it began on a conciliatory note. Fried, who employees described as looking tired, began the meeting by apologizing for announcing the policy changes by a public blog post rather than first telling all employees. Hansson tuned into the meeting from bed, where he reported that he was feeling ill, and after making introductory remarks turned off his camera for the duration of the meeting.</p>

<p>Fried opened the floor for comments and questions. For the next two and a half hours, employees pressed the founders on the policy changes, the events leading up to them, and the state of the company. The first part of the meeting was devoted to discussing the events that had unfolded in the company’s internal Basecamp chat last month, in which an employee had cited the Anti-Defamation League’s “<a href="https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/pyramid-of-hate.pdf">pyramid of hate</a>” to argue that documents like the “funny” names list laid a foundation that contributes to racist violence and even genocide.</p>

<p>Roughly 90 minutes into the meeting, Singer raised his hand and spoke. One of Basecamp’s most senior executives, he had joined the company in 2003, when it was known as 37Signals and consisted of just four people. From his original role designing interfaces, Singer had risen to become head of strategy — essentially, Basecamp’s chief product officer.</p>

<p>Along the way, he had also alienated some of his coworkers by promoting conservative views. In 2016, three employees said, he praised right-wing website Breitbart’s coverage of the presidential election in an internal forum. (About a week before rolling out the policy changes, the founders deleted nearly two decades of internal conversations from previous instances of Basecamp and its other collaboration products. Among other things, this made it more difficult for employees I spoke with to accurately describe past interactions with Singer in the forums.)</p>

<p>In the April discussion about the list of customer names, Singer posted to say that attempting to link the list to genocide was “absurd.” On the Friday call, he went further.</p>

<p>“I strongly disagree we live in a white supremacist culture,” Singer said. “I don't believe in a lot of the framing around implicit bias. I think a lot of this is actually racist.”</p>

<p>He continued: “Very often, if you express a dissenting view, you get called a Nazi. … I have not felt this is open territory for discussion. If we were to try to get into it as a group discussion it would be very painful and divisive.”</p>

<p>Singer concluded his remarks. Fried responded, “Thank you, Ryan.” </p>

<p>A handful of other speakers followed. Then a Black employee asked if the company could revisit Singer’s remarks. (I’m withholding the employee’s name and other identifying details out of colleagues’ fears that they could be targeted for harassment for speaking out.)</p>

<p>“The fact that you can be a white male, and come to this meeting and call people racist and say ‘white supremacy doesn't exist’ when it's blatant at this company is white privilege,” the employee said. “The fact that he wasn’t corrected and was in fact thanked — it makes me sick.”</p>

<p>Fried went to move on, but other employees pressed for more of a response from him and Hansson. At that point, employees said, Singer spoke up again.</p>

<p>“I can gladly respond,” he said. “I stand by what I said. Saying white people have something in common is racist. I stand by it … I am very sure I don’t treat people in a racist way.”</p>

<p>(Singer remembers one of these quotes differently: “I said that claiming anybody <em>must</em> have a certain viewpoint because of the color of their skin is racist,” he said today.) The Black employee said they did not want to hear from Singer, but after some cross-talk he finished his statement.</p>

<p>“The difficulty of this conversation is exactly why I raised it,” he said. </p>

<p>The Black employee responded: “You said, ‘white supremacy doesn't exist.’ That's a factual lie. It's not true.”</p>

<p>To which Singer responded: “I said we have different ways of framing … If you want to debate whether it exists anywhere, then yeah. But not here at this company, not with the people I associate with.” </p>

<p>“It exists right now,” another employee said. “This is fucking bullshit. You are being ridiculous.” </p>

<p>“I don’t accept that framing,” Singer responded. “It’s not productive to argue further. I don’t want to argue. This difference in views, it is what makes a political discussion so difficult.” </p>

<p>Employees once again pressed Fried and Hansson for a response.</p>

<p>“I don’t like hearing that someone doesn’t feel valued,” Fried said. “I don’t know what to say … I can understand why [the employee] feels uncomfortable right now. I feel terrible about it. I don’t know how else to respond.” </p>

<p>The employee called for the founders to denounce white supremacy. “That would be the bare minimum for me,” they said. </p>

<p>“I’m not here to share my personal views on anything,” Fried said. “I’m horrified when one group dominates another.” Fried, who is Jewish, added that he had lost relatives during the Holocaust. “I think it’s absolutely the most disgusting thing in the world … I can’t say that’s happening here.” </p>

<p>Fried added that he didn’t “know what to say about specific terms. I don’t know how to satisfy that right now.” </p>

<p>Hansson remained on mute. </p>

<p>It was in that exchange that several employees decided to quit Basecamp, I’m told. Two employees told me that they had found themselves crying and screaming at the screen.</p>

<p>“This was the test, as far as I’m concerned,” one told me later. “Do you protect this extremely senior employee that you’ve protected for many years? And [the answer] was yes.”</p>

<p>Over the next hour, employees continued to come forward to discuss Basecamp’s new policies and what would be like going forward. But before the meeting ended, one employee spoke up to address Singer’s remarks directly in a way that Fried and Hansson did not.</p>

<p>“Racism [and] white supremacy are not things that are so convenient that they only happen when full intention is present, or true malice is present,” the employee said. “Evil is not required. We’re not so lucky as for this to come down to good and evil. It’s as simple as creating a space where people do not feel welcome.”</p>

<p>The employee continued: “The silence in the background is what racism and white supremacy does. It creates that atmosphere that feels suffocating to people. It doesn't require active malice. It's not that convenient.”</p>

<p>The meeting broke up after no more employees had questions.</p>

<p><strong>III.</strong></p>

<p>A half hour after the meeting ended, Fried posted an internal note saying that Singer has been suspended pending an investigation. He added that the company was bringing in unspecified outside “help” to address the situation. </p>

<p>On Monday morning, in an interview, Fried told me that Singer had resigned. </p>

<p>I asked Fried to clarify his remarks during the Friday meeting, which had clearly caught him off guard.</p>

<p>“I denounce white supremacy unconditionally,” he told me. </p>

<p>Fried declined to answer my other questions on the record.</p>

<p>I also asked Singer about his remarks. Here is what he said, over email, in full:</p>

<blockquote><p>“I objected to an employee’s statement that we live in a white supremacist culture. White supremacism exists, and America’s history of racism still presents terrible problems, but I don’t agree that we should label our entire culture with this ideology.</p><p>On the call, the view I gave was we all want a future where everyone is treated fairly.  And yet there can be disagreement on whether defining our culture as ‘white supremacist’ helps us to get there. The subject is so charged that discussing such disagreements at work quickly leads to misunderstanding, heated accusations, and loss of faith.</p><p>Unfortunately, painful misunderstanding did result. Tensions were so high after the call that I decided it won’t be tenable to stay on the team. I gave my resignation over the weekend.”</p></blockquote>

<p><strong>IV. </strong></p>

<p>This week was to have been Basecamp’s (virtual) biannual meetup, in which employees come together to bond over social activities while talking about the future of the company. </p>

<p>Those discussions will still take place, but amidst a backdrop in which some of the company’s most senior leadership has abruptly departed. More employees are likely to follow in the coming weeks as they find new jobs and make other arrangements, I’m told. In the meantime, no changes to the policies that Fried laid out last week are planned.</p>

<p>Fried and Hansson’s moves last week, and the discussion around them, revealed clear fault lines between executives and workers that go far beyond Basecamp. Founders at Coinbase, Basecamp, and other companies have sought to quash internal dissent that, in their view, distracts workers from the company mission and makes everyone miserable. To a manager, the exchange that led to Singer’s departure could lend credence to the idea that addressing social injustices on company Zoom calls is bound to be disastrous. </p>

<p>Meanwhile, employees at those companies have recoiled at what appear to be transparent efforts to prevent their workplaces from becoming more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. </p>

<p>No one I interviewed offered a confident prediction about how the past week’s events would affect Basecamp over the long term. On one hand, it’s clear that the five books Fried and Hansson wrote <a href="https://basecamp.com/books">lecturing other people about good management</a> made them a lot of enemies, at least on Twitter, where they have been criticized relentlessly. On the other hand, as one employee told me, it’s not clear that average Basecamp customers know or care much about Basecamp the company, and no one predicts a mass revolt of the user base.  </p>

<p>But as much as the conversation about Basecamp’s moves has been framed as “politics,” it seems important to remember that the entire affair began when a third of the company — not all of whom are among the 20 who have departed so far, by the way — volunteered to help the company become more diverse and equitable. It was only when their committee dug a skeleton out of the company closet — that list of names — that Fried and Hansson moved to shut the whole thing down. </p>

<p>“It was actually a positive thing we were doing,” one employee told me, marveling at the chaos that had followed. “We had identified the problem, how it happened, and vowed not to do it again. It was a company doing exactly what it should do. The founders refused to lead, and so the company was doing it itself.”</p>

<p>Another employee said they had been thrown by the fact that the founders, after years of telling employees that they were part of an elite chosen few who were good enough to work at Basecamp, would get rid of them so easily.</p>

<p>“They just want to build cool shit all day,” the employee said. “They don't want to deal with people, which is something you have to do as a manager … Jason and David just threw us away.”</p>
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<p class="measure f5 f4-l lh-copy black-70">The last ice age ended just under 15,000 years ago. The world got warm and wet. Nomadic hunters settled down into villages, the population took off, people were living in Europe.</p>

<p class="measure f5 f4-l lh-copy black-70">And then… the ice age returned, a thousand years of cold and drought, and it all changed. That’s the Younger Dryas.</p>

<p class="measure f5 f4-l lh-copy black-70">After that, around 9,600 BC, the ice age <em>actually</em> ended this time. Warm and wet again, more or less the climate we know now. <a href="http://interconnected.org/notes/2006/02/scifi/?p=33">Here’s a graph.</a></p>

<p><hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<p class="measure f5 f4-l lh-copy black-70">Stephen Mithen’s <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674019997">After the Ice</a> is an archeological human history spanning 20,000–5,000 BC.</p>
<p class="measure f5 f4-l lh-copy black-70">This story describing Mesopotamia has stuck in my head since I read it. As the Younger Dryas happens, animals get scarcer and the villages disband. And:</p>
<blockquote class="bl bw1 pl2 b--light-red ml0 italic i">
@@ -103,7 +100,7 @@
<hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<p class="measure f5 f4-l lh-copy black-70">Here’s a minor one, and this is what I mean because it’s both the society-level things and also the everyday…</p>
<p class="measure f5 f4-l lh-copy black-70"><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886913012178">‘Big’ men: Male leaders’ height positively relates to followers’ perception of charisma</a>: <q>Physical height is associated with beneficial outcomes for the tall individual (e.g., higher salary and likelihood of occupying a leadership position).</q></p>
<p class="measure f5 f4-l lh-copy black-70">BUT: if we interact over video calls and can’t tell height, what then?</p></p>
<p class="measure f5 f4-l lh-copy black-70">BUT: if we interact over video calls and can’t tell height, what then?</p>
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<p>
</p>

<p>to: <span class="domain">ben@📪.ws</span></p>

<pre><code>&lt;p&gt;message: Hi Ben, how's it going?&lt;/p&gt;
</code></pre>
<p>Send.</p>

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<p style="">Almost a third of recovered Covid patients will end up back in hospital within five months and one in eight will die, alarming new figures have shown.</p>

<p style="">Research by Leicester University and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found there is a devastating <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/nine-10-people-have-persistent-symptoms-months-recovering-severe/">long-term toll on survivors</a> of severe coronavirus, with many people developing heart problems, diabetes and chronic liver and kidney conditions. </p>

<p style="">Out of 47,780 people who were discharged from hospital in the first wave, 29.4 per cent were readmitted to hospital within 140 days, and 12.3 per cent of the total died.</p>

<p style="">The current cut-off point for recording Covid deaths is 28 days after a positive test, so it may mean thousands more people should be included in the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/coronavirus-uk-cases-deaths-world-map-live/">coronavirus death statistics.</a></p>

<p style="">Researchers have called for urgent monitoring of people who have been discharged from hospital.</p>

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<p style="">Study author Kamlesh Khunti, professor of primary care diabetes and vascular medicine at Leicester University, said: “This is the largest study of people discharged from hospital after being admitted with Covid.</p>
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<p>He said it was important to make sure people were placed on protective therapies, such as statins and aspirin. </p>
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<p style="">“We don’t know if it’s because Covid destroyed the beta cells which make insulin and you get Type 1 diabetes, or whether it causes insulin resistance, and you develop Type 2, but we are seeing these <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/covid-19-may-trigger-diabetes-growing-body-evidence-suggests/">surprising new diagnoses of diabetes</a>,” he added.</p>
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<p style="">Symptoms included breathlessness, excessive fatigue and muscle aches, leaving people struggling to wash, dress and return to work.</p>
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<p>Some patients say they have been left needing a wheelchair since contracting the virus, while others claim they can no longer walk up the stairs without experiencing chest pain.</p>

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<div class="crayon article-chapo-8492 chapo surlignable" itemprop="description"><p>Obligation vaccinale, pass sanitaire... Les nouvelles mesures de Macron pour contrer l’épidémie misent sur la contrainte. <i>« Il n’y a aucune pédagogie »,</i> déplore Jérôme Martin, de l’Observatoire de la transparence dans les politiques du médicament.</p></div>

<div class="crayon article-texte-8492 texte surlignable" itemprop="articleBody"><p><strong> <i>Basta !</i> : </strong> <strong>Obligation vaccinale pour les soignants, pass sanitaire pour entrer dans certains lieux, tests PCR rendus payant... Pourquoi jugez-vous inadéquates ces mesures annoncées par le président de la République le 12 juillet ? </strong></p>
<p><strong>Jérôme Martin</strong><span class="spip_note_ref"> [<a href="#nb2-1" class="spip_note" rel="appendix" title="Ancien président d’Act Up-Paris, Jérôme Martin est cofondateur de (...)" id="nh2-1">1</a>]</span> : Il y a l’obligation vaccinale pour les soignants, et aussi une obligation vaccinale indirecte. Quand on conditionne la liberté de circulation à la vaccination, on rend le vaccin obligatoire de fait, mais indirectement, par la contrainte, ce qui pose déjà un problème de clarté. Sur la remise en cause de la gratuité des tests PCR, en matière de santé publique, c’est totalement aberrant. Puisqu’avec cette mesure, on va limiter l’accès au dépistage pour la population non vaccinée, c’est-à-dire la population pour laquelle c’est le plus important d’avoir un dépistage précoce. Ce choix part peut-être d’un jugement moral des autorités selon lequel les personnes non vaccinées devraient être punies, mais du point de vue de la santé publique, les personnes qui sont le plus exposées au virus seront finalement celles qui auront le moins facilement accès à un test PCR.</p>
<p><strong>Cela risque-t-il d’accentuer les inégalités d’accès au dépistage, alors qu’il existe déjà de fortes inégalités dans l’accès au vaccin ? </strong></p>

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<blockquote>On juge votre orthographe, mais on ne juge pratiquement jamais l’orthographe elle-même.</blockquote>

<p>Pourquoi mettre un « t » à édit ou bruit (comme dans éditer ou bruiter), mais pas à abri dont le verbe a pourtant la même forme ? Pourquoi écrit-on « gelée de groseille » au singulier et « confiture de groseilles » au pluriel ? La marque du pluriel dépend-t-elle uniquement du temps de cuisson ? Le seul son [s] peut s’écrire de 12 manières différentes, et la lettre « s » peut se prononcer de 3 manières différentes ([s], [z], ou muette)… Voici quelques uns des constats, quelques unes des interrogations directrices de cette conférence grand public à propos de l’orthographe française.</p>

<p> « La Convivialité » est un moment ludique et instructif sur notre rapport à l’orthographe, alors que le sujet n’est pas nécessairement des plus attrayants mais toujours des plus clivants : c’est quand on aborde la possibilité de sa réforme que les réactionnaires sortent du bois. Une passion pour certains et un chemin de croix pour d’autres, l’orthographe s’inscrit comme un évaluateur tout le long de notre scolarité alors que son évolution est faite d’erreurs et d’incompréhensions, de raccourcis et d’illogismes. Bref, l’orthographe française, par sa complexité est un marqueur social qui permet de faire le tri.</p>

<p>Ce débat passionné entourant l’orthographe française est mené Arnaud Hoedt et Jérôme Piron, deux belges diplômés en philologie romane. Ceux-ci dépouillent, de manière drôle et instructive, les préjugés durement ancrés concernant la langue française et son instruction.</p>

<iframe width="840" height="472,5" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts" src="https://tube.postblue.info/videos/embed/4c5214e1-eb91-4716-abe2-aa5aa81b4d18" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<p>Et comme ceux-ci le disent d’entrée de jeu :</p>

<blockquote>Fini le baratin. L’écriture ne constitue ni la finalité ni la nature première du dire. Inutile d'alourdir la plume par une pénible fioriture. Si le code s’améliore, il définira une manière directe de traduire le son par le signe, libre de toute morale.</blockquote>

<p>Source : <a href="https://www.rtbf.be/auvio/detail_la-convivialite?id=2391239">La Convivialité</a>, spectacle complet sur RTBF Auvio, 03 septembre 2018.</p>
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<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">I’m pleased to see <a href="https://blog.chromium.org/2021/05/an-experiment-in-helping-users-and-web.html">Chrome experimenting with RSS feeds</a> – and therefore possibly Google getting interested in increased RSS feed support. RSS is important! The interface is this:</p>

<ul class="list ph0 ph0-ns bulleted-list">
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">A <em>”+ Follow”</em> button will appear for sites with an RSS feed, on the mobile browser</li>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">The browser’s home screen will include a <em>“Following”</em> tab that shows the latest news from followed sites.</li>
</ul>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><em>(<strong>Don’t know what RSS is?</strong> RSS feeds are how you can get the latest content out of websites and into dedicated “newsreader” apps which are made for reading, with an interface a little like Facebook but totally decentralised and un-surveilled. The technology was invented in 1999, and it’s still supported by probably 30%+ sites on the web with a ton of newsreader apps… but it’s had a moribund few years. There are signs of a recent resurgence, of which this is one. RSS is also the plumbing behind podcast distribution. For me, RSS is primary way I browse the web. <a href="https://aboutfeeds.com">Want to get started? Here’s how.</a>)</em></p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">In case the Chrome team reads this, I have three requests.</p>

<h3 class="measure f4 f3-l lh-copy black-80 pt3 pt4-l pb0 mb0">1. Sweat the new user experience</h3>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Despite RSS’s strong history and continued usage, at this point I would guess that new users find it inscrutable, and it’s hard to tell whether a given site offers an RSS feed or not. Even then, the subscribing experience is not consistent.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">So, if this is going to be a success…</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Finally, recognise that the browser is not the best place read RSS feeds long term. We learnt that last time round.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">The browser is a great place to get started, but users need to graduate to something dedicated as they follow more feeds. So pave that path somehow… maybe make a user’s subscriptions available as an industry-standard OPML file, somewhere on the google.com domain? And show users how they can use that subscriptions list in any one of a whole ecosystem of newsreaders.</p>

<h3 class="measure f4 f3-l lh-copy black-80 pt3 pt4-l pb0 mb0">2. Yes, think about monetisation and other advanced features, but maintain ecosystem compatibility at all costs</h3>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><a href="/home/2020/07/29/improving_rss">When I suggested three improvements to RSS last year</a>, I highlighted (a) onboarding; (b) the money thing; and (c) discovery.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><em>The money thing:</em> In the Substack era of writers monetising their content, and with Apple and Spotify both giving podcasts a revenue model, it is absolutely the right thing to be considering how to extend RSS with a great premium experience, which means ways to pay, and also private feeds.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><em>(Jay Springett also makes the connection between <a href="https://www.thejaymo.net/2021/05/23/197-rss-revival/">Google, RSS, and payments</a> and points out that this, strategically, a good way for Google to index content that will shortly be hidden behind a paywall.)</em></p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">There’s a BUT…</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Remember that the reason RSS is here <em>at all</em> is that it’s almost religiously backwards compatible, and incredibly open. Technically, RSS includes an extension mechanism so take advantage of that, but to succeed, any efforts needs to be on a bedrock of community collaboration and unwavering commitment to backwards compatibility, decentralised approaches, and no new points of failure (people are still angry about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Reader">Google Reader</a> closing in 2013 and pulling the rug from many readers and publishers).</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">That said:</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Another feature area I would think about is <em>interactivity.</em> I’m fascinated with Google’s work in Gmail around “Inbox Actions” – basically the one-click buttons to perform an email action like RSVP, or reviewing a bug. <a href="https://postmarkapp.com/guides/improve-your-transactional-emails-with-gmail-inbox-actions">Here’s an explainer with some examples.</a></p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Let’s call it <em>Feed Actions.</em> Feed Actions could also be an RSS extension. <a href="http://berglondon.com/talks/plastic/?slide=23">Here’s a mockup I made for a talk in 2008.</a> What a gift it would be to the web, to provide an open, centralised way to combine all the different micro-task inboxes from all the apps I use, all into one place.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">GitHub should support something like this for their notifications dashboard, letting me triage issues straight from the feed; Amazon should support something like this for open orders, letting me inspect delivery status. It might be tough to get these into GMail, which is centralised, but as an open and decentralised standard? Possible.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><em>(Feed Actions would also be a good way to add an “Upgrade to premium” button.)</em></p>

<h3 class="measure f4 f3-l lh-copy black-80 pt3 pt4-l pb0 mb0">3. Internally invest in, and externally advocate for RSS</h3>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">RSS, as a mechanism to subscribe to content from websites, is still around… but my take is that it has stagnated. Given the features above (like private, personalised feeds, with a slick upsell path), it’s worth pushing the envelope with some new use cases. And, Google, start with your own products.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Like…</p>

<ul class="list ph0 ph0-ns bulleted-list">
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">What would it mean to have RSS as an output from GMail, using the “feed actions” idea above?</li>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Could I get my Google Analytics insights as an RSS feed?</li>
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<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Allow me to include my RSS headlines in my search results knowledge panel</li>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><strong>A big one:</strong> how can RSS jump from the web to the app ecosystem? What would it mean for on-device Android apps to <em>also</em> publish feeds that can be read in standard newsreaders?</li>
</ul>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Mostly basic stuff but it shows commitment.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">With a seat at the table and skin in the game, bang the drum for RSS and the open web. Like I said, it’s great to see early trials of RSS in the Chrome mobile browser and, for me, that’s a promising start.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">(And if anybody from the Chrome team does run across this post, thanks for reading!)</p>
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<p>This isn’t a recommendation. It’s more of a habit that I’ve acquired recently. If this makes its way to Hacker News and people think <em>how could he</em>, my only response will be 🤷, why not.</p>

<p>I’ve been building a thing, in JavaScript, an application sort of like things I’ve built in the past. With the same basic goal of making something useful. How I get to that goal is flexible. But it ends up being a lot of <a href="http://boringtechnology.club">using boring technology</a>, trying not to overthink the easy parts, trying to properly-think the hard parts, and so on. So there’s not that much to write home about that would surprise your usual React/Next.js/JavaScript engineer person.</p>

<p>But one thing that I do think is sort of unusual is: I’m vendoring <em>a lot of stuff</em>.</p>

<p><em>Vendoring</em>, in the programming sense, means “copying the source code of another project into your project.” It’s in contrast to the practice of using dependencies, which would be adding another project’s name to your <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">package.json</code> file and having npm or yarn download and link it up for you.</p>

<p>Back in 2016, I wrote <a href="https://macwright.com/2016/08/23/optimistic-pessimistic-versioning.html">an article about optimistic and pessimistic versioning, which mentioned vendoring</a> as the ‘most pessimistic’ approach, and that’s roughly true. Vendoring means that you aren’t going to get automatic bugfixes, or new bugs, from dependencies. It means that you don’t have to trust dependency authors at all.</p>

<p>The downsides of vendoring - no automatic updates, a bigger source tree, more code to maintain, it seems weird and unconventional - are probably pretty clear to JavaScripters, and most members of most language families. Languages like C did vendoring by default, in that people would copy header-only libraries into their projects. Go, for a while, was a little like that - you’d copy files in, whether automatically or manually. But nowadays Go modules (to my untrained eye) look a lot like the norms of other languages.</p>

<p>So what are the reasons for doing this? Here’s what’s on my mind.</p>

<h3 id="i-read-dependencies-anyway">I read dependencies anyway</h3>

<p>I read a lot of other people’s code. I highly recommend it. One of my golden rules is that you shouldn’t <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box">blackbox</a> things you don’t need to. I like to “use dependencies for efficiency, not ignorance.”</p>

<p>When I’m vendoring code - copying it into the project and making it pass my basic eslint &amp; testing standards, I’ll do light rewrites and refactors of new code, allowing me to get a deeper understanding of how they work and where their limits lie.</p>

<p>Obviously, other people’s code is their code. I didn’t do 100% of the thinking that led to it - I’m probably doing 5% of it. But absorbing that bit into my mind, instead of seeing only the external API surface, pays dividends.</p>

<p>And sometimes, sure - I’ll read through a dependency, start refactoring, and realize that it’s going to be simpler to write it myself, or I should find another option. It doesn’t matter if something is a dependency or my code: when you ship a product, it’s all your responsibility.</p>

<h3 id="you-dont-really-use-most-of-your-dependencies">You don’t really use most of your dependencies</h3>

<p>Vendoring makes it very obvious that many dependencies have lots of surface area - API calls and methods - that you don’t use. This hooks into the debate about tiny modules (less surface area! less waste! way harder to maintain!), or big ones, but for this article, the point is that you can pare down dependencies into their ideal form in your application.</p>

<p><a href="https://webpack.js.org/guides/tree-shaking/">Dead code elimination</a> helps! But it can only do so much, and the dead code <em>still exists in your project.</em> Even the most advanced DCE isn’t going to pare down methods of a class that you’re using. Only some DCE systems can handle CommonJS, and most work on the level of individual variables, not <em>parts</em> of those variables.</p>

<p>To go a step further, you can trim the test suite down to the API surface you use, run coverage, and comment out or remove the parts that are dead.</p>

<h3 id="old-projects-stabilize">Old projects stabilize</h3>

<p>Old projects might not be stable. They might have bugs - they usually do. In every issue tracker, there’s at least one multi-year bug that is so wicked that it might never go away.</p>

<p>But old projects have <em>stabilized</em>. They don’t change that often, and when they do the changes are minor. So the value that you got out of that fast release cycle two years ago doesn’t apply. And worse - you have a lot of old patterns that the project probably can’t remove! Do you want IE10 workarounds in your project? If you’re using a lot of third-party dependencies, you’re probably inheriting polyfills for stuff like <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">Array.includes</code>.</p>

<p>In my brief rewrites, I can pluck out old-fashioned polyfills for <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">isArray</code> or code that checks that <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">JSON.parse</code> really exists in this environment. In 2021, it does.</p>

<h3 id="its-sort-of-good-for-open-source">It’s sort of good for open source</h3>

<p>This is a mixed bag. My vendored copy might float far away from the original, and contributing back the changes in full isn’t going to be useful. A lot of the changes that I make are going to be somewhat cosmetic or things like adding TypeScript support for things that didn’t have it.</p>

<p>But on the other hand, porting a fix from my vendored copy to the original is going to be pretty quick, and having dependencies in the source tree itself is an ideal scenario for fixing bugs in vendored code quickly.</p>

<p>Dependencies that are GPL’ed (there aren’t many, but the license still lingers) will get released when the thing is released, because the law requires it - though those changes won’t be especially exciting. Things that are MIT/BSD/ISC licensed will mostly get upstream fixes, for the good of the community.</p>

<h3 id="not-everything">Not <em>everything</em></h3>

<p>I don’t vendor React or Webpack or other large, incredibly complex dependencies. They’re going to change quickly and there’s little I can really contribute to those projects. I’m happy to keep <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">lodash</code> as a dependency for a few extremely battle-tested utilities. But for small to medium-sized dependencies, vendoring makes a lot of sense.</p>
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<p>À partir du 7 juillet 2021, sauf s'ils ont un caractère médical, les tests PCR et antigéniques de dépistage du Covid-19 deviennent payants pour les touristes étrangers venant en France et ne résidant pas sur le territoire national. Ils doivent désormais dépenser <span class="prix">43,89 €</span> pour un test PCR, <span class="prix">25 €</span> pour un test antigénique. Cette mesure est prise par réciprocité sachant que les tests sont payants dans la plupart des pays pour les Français qui voyagent. Un arrêté est paru au <span class="expression"><em>Journal officiel</em></span> du 7 juillet 2021.</p>

<p></div><p>Jusqu'à présent, toute personne, affilié ou non, quel que soit son lieu de résidence pouvait bénéficier à sa demande et sans prescription médicale, d'un test de détection du SARS-CoV-2 pris en charge intégralement par l'Assurance Maladie. Désormais, il faut que le test de dépistage présente un caractère médical pour pouvoir en bénéficier.</p><p>Un étranger qui ne réside pas en France peut cependant réaliser un test pris en charge par l'Assurance Maladie uniquement dans ces 2 cas :</p><ul><li>sur prescription médicale ;</li><li>s'il est identifié par l'Assurance maladie comme cas contact. Dans ce cas, il faut montrer le SMS ou le courriel envoyé par les équipes de contact tracing prouvant son statut de cas contact.</li></ul><p>Les personnes relevant d'un État membre de l'Union européenne ou d'Islande, de Norvège, du Liechtenstein ou de Suisse doivent présenter leur carte européenne d'Assurance Maladie ou leur certificat provisoire de remplacement (CPR) délivrés par le pays d'affiliation.</p><p>Les Français de l'étranger sont assimilés aux assurés sociaux de l'Assurance Maladie. Les Français vivant à l'étranger continuent donc de <a href="https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/actualites/A15091">bénéficier de tests RT-PCR et antigéniques gratuits</a>.</p></p>
<p></div>
<p>Jusqu'à présent, toute personne, affilié ou non, quel que soit son lieu de résidence pouvait bénéficier à sa demande et sans prescription médicale, d'un test de détection du SARS-CoV-2 pris en charge intégralement par l'Assurance Maladie. Désormais, il faut que le test de dépistage présente un caractère médical pour pouvoir en bénéficier.</p></p>
<p>Un étranger qui ne réside pas en France peut cependant réaliser un test pris en charge par l'Assurance Maladie uniquement dans ces 2 cas :</p>
<ul><li>sur prescription médicale ;</li><li>s'il est identifié par l'Assurance maladie comme cas contact. Dans ce cas, il faut montrer le SMS ou le courriel envoyé par les équipes de contact tracing prouvant son statut de cas contact.</li></ul>
<p>Les personnes relevant d'un État membre de l'Union européenne ou d'Islande, de Norvège, du Liechtenstein ou de Suisse doivent présenter leur carte européenne d'Assurance Maladie ou leur certificat provisoire de remplacement (CPR) délivrés par le pays d'affiliation.</p>
<p>Les Français de l'étranger sont assimilés aux assurés sociaux de l'Assurance Maladie. Les Français vivant à l'étranger continuent donc de <a href="https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/actualites/A15091">bénéficier de tests RT-PCR et antigéniques gratuits</a>.</p>
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<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">There’s a remarkably simple notation for sketching cities, and I think it points at a better way to design software.</p>

<h3 class="measure f4 f3-l lh-copy black-80 pt3 pt4-l pb0 mb0">A notation for describing a city</h3>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Kevin Lynch was <q>an urban planner who carried out pioneering work on people’s urban cognitive maps from the 1950s.</q></p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">And:</p>

<blockquote class="bl bw1 pl2 b--light-red ml0 italic i">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">As a planner, Lynch was interested in analysing the urban form, and in particular identified the criterion of the ‘legibility’ of a cityscape which he defined as ” the ease with which its parts can be recognized and can be organized into a coherent pattern”</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">… His method involved externalising the ‘mental images’ that city-dwellers have of their cities, through interviews and sketch-mapping exercises.</p>
</blockquote>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">(From these <a href="http://homepages.phonecoop.coop/vamos/work/lecturenotes/sun/LectureNotes/Env4_EnvCog/environmental9.html">lecture notes on the work of Kevin Lynch</a>.)</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">This shared “mental images” is the subject of Lynch’s book <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Image_of_the_City">The Image of City</a> (1960) (and it blew my mind when I read it in - checks notes - 2003).</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><strong><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Lynchs-mental-maps_fig2_309728517">Here’s an example of one of Lynch’s maps: Boston.</a></strong></p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">What you’ll see from that map is that it’s totally recognisable as a city, and you could totally use it to navigate, but it’s also what you would scribble on the back of a napkin. It’s also way more memorable. If you gave me a glimpse of Boston from Google Maps and asked me to sketch it for someone else, I can’t imagine it would include any of the salient details. But given a Lynch map, I bet I could pass on the most relevant bare bones, just from memory.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">So Lynch has managed to capture what is essential about maps for (a) understanding, and (b) communication.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Lynch’s insight is that these scribbled maps use a notation of only five elements. From those earlier lecture notes, there are:</p>

<ul class="list ph0 ph0-ns bulleted-list">
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Paths: <q>They may be streets, walkways, transit lines, canals, railroads.</q></li>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Edges: <q>They are the boundaries … shores, railroad cuts, edges of development, walls.</q></li>
@@ -103,93 +92,61 @@
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Nodes: <q>They may be primarily junctions, places of a break in transportation, a crossing or convergence of paths … [or] a street-corner or an enclosed square.</q></li>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Landmarks: <q>They are usually a rather simply defined physical object: building, sign, store, or mountain. Their use involves the singling out of one element from a host of possibilities.</q></li>
</ul>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Out of these five elements, you can build an “image” (in Lynch’s terminology) of the city.</p>

<h3 class="measure f4 f3-l lh-copy black-80 pt3 pt4-l pb0 mb0">Do Lynch’s elements have a neurological underpinning?</h3>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><em>Landmarks</em> grab my attention, for this reason: they come up in <em>Mind Hacks,</em> in a chapter about memory and the hippocampus.</p>

<blockquote cite="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Mind_Hacks/K6bjvFUcedgC" class="quoteback bl bw1 pl2 b--light-red ml0 italic i" data-author="Mind Hacks" data-title="Hack #89: Navigate Your Way Through Memory (p304)">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">We know that the human brain has specialized mechanisms dedicated to remembering landmarks, and that (interestingly) this region and those nearby seem to be responsible for giving humans and other animals a sense of where they are in space. Brain images of people navigating through virtual environments has shown that <u>even if we don’t consciously recognize something as a landmark it still triggers a response in this specialized part of the brain.</u></p>

</blockquote>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><em>(Quick plug: <a href="https://item.jd.com/13054358.html">Mind Hacks is now available in Chinese!</a> Check out the 11 second product video with perky music on that page. That brings us up to 7 translated editions, which feels pretty special.)</em></p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">So what I find intriguing is that we, us humans, appear to have a “landmark sense” that we all share.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Which is why, I guess, you can follow directions to go down the street and turn left at the fountain, and if you pass a cathedral then you know you’ve gone the wrong way – because such a landmark would certainly have been mentioned.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">The question is this:</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Do Lynch’s other elements also have neurological underpinnings?</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">And a follow up: If so, how could that be useful?</p>

<h3 class="measure f4 f3-l lh-copy black-80 pt3 pt4-l pb0 mb0">Your memory resets when you walk through a door</h3>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">The reason I ask is because of the Doorway Effect, which is something that happens also in physical space and not outdoors but indoors: <q>Memory was worse after passing through a doorway than after walking the same distance within a single room.</q></p>

<blockquote cite="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-walking-through-doorway-makes-you-forget/" class="quoteback bl bw1 pl2 b--light-red ml0 italic i" data-author="Scientific American" data-title="Why Walking through a Doorway Makes You Forget">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">… some forms of memory seem to be optimized to keep information ready-to-hand until its shelf life expires, and then purge that information in favor of new stuff. Radvansky and colleagues call this sort of memory representation an “event model,” and propose that walking through a doorway is a good time to purge your event models because whatever happened in the old room is likely to become less relevant now that you have changed venues.</p>

</blockquote>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">What’s especially intriguing about this study…</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">The Doorway Effect appears for real doorways. But ALSO: <q>It doesn’t seem to matter, for instance, whether the virtual environments are displayed on a 66” flat screen or a 17” CRT.</q></p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">So, to review the precarious stack of speculation that I’m on:</p>

<ul class="list ph0 ph0-ns bulleted-list">
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">there are shared neurological underpinnings for how we understand space, and - in theory - an abstract system of space “elements”</li>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">in at least one situation, there is a correlation between how we move through space and how we mentally organise information</li>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">“moving through space” doesn’t need to be physical, but can be triggered by abstract representations.</li>
</ul>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Which provokes two thoughts:</p>

<ol>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">If landmarks and doorways, then what is the full set of elements, and are there automatic memory operations for all of them?</li>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">How abstract can these spatial representations be, and can we use them in software?</li>
</ol>

<h3 class="measure f4 f3-l lh-copy black-80 pt3 pt4-l pb0 mb0">What should Wikipedia or Notion do?</h3>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Given there’s an explosion in software to accrete and organise knowledge, is the page model really the best approach?</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Perhaps the building blocks shouldn’t be pages or blocks, but</p>

<ul class="list ph0 ph0-ns bulleted-list">
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">neighbourhoods</li>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">roads</li>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">rooms and doors</li>
<li class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">landmarks.</li>
</ul>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Or rather, as a knowledge base or wiki develops, it should - just like a real city - encourage its users to gravitate towards these different fundamental elements. A page that starts to function a little bit like a road should transform into a slick navigation element, available on all its linked pages. A page which is functioning like a landmark should start being visible from two hops away.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">It would be interesting to investigate exactly what the minimal level of physical appearance is required to trigger the automatic behaviour of loading/resetting human memory and associations.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Like, following a hyperlink might not activate the neurological automation.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">But what if there was a zooming out animation, or a change in colour, or the old page slid off to the side?</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">What’s the minimum you need to trick your brain into believing that you’re moving around an environment?</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">And could design features as simple as these make tools like Notion, Roam, Obsidian, Evernote and other note taking software, Wikipedia, etc, <em>radically better</em> for organising, navigating, sharing, and internalising knowledge, for individuals and for teams? If so, can you imagine the efficiency gains and the new ideas that could emerge?</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><em>Hippocampus ergonomics.</em></p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">It would be worth a research lab and a year or two, I think.</p>

<p><hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">One final and quite literal idea: Could Lynch-style maps be generated automatically, and could this be an interface to Google Maps?</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">This paper believes this is possible: <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275118309776">A computational approach to ‘The Image of the City’.</a></p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Although: <q>Out of the five elements, landmarks were found most challenging to extract.</q></p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">My guess is that landmarks can’t be extracted from maps because they’re reliant on the visual field, approaches, other nearby potential landmarks, and so on. You would need to train an artificial landmark sensor in a machine hippocampus, perhaps giving it access to Street View and getting feedback data from humans on the spot asked to point at their nearest landmark.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Computationally producing Lynch maps would also allow for the <em>reverse</em> process, which is to give a robot car directions in the same way you would a person: down the street, left at the big building, follow it till the end and we’re the second on the left.</p></p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Computationally producing Lynch maps would also allow for the <em>reverse</em> process, which is to give a robot car directions in the same way you would a person: down the street, left at the big building, follow it till the end and we’re the second on the left.</p>
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<h2><b>Study the Past, Create the Future</b></h2>

<p><br>
<p><br></p>
<p>
We are all characters in a human story that is many thousands of years in the making. If human civilization were a book, we would be entering the narrative on page 6,000. No wonder it’s hard to make sense of the world around us: the institutions, cultures, religions, countries, markets, ideologies, and norms that constitute “normal life” are really just a temporary stop on a millenia-long process of creation and destruction by billions of people. We would all be wise to study our backstory.<br>
<br>
@@ -113,9 +112,10 @@ A final note on COVID: It was common at the start of the pandemic to hear people
In this essay, I have sketched out a view of historical literacy as both superpower and shield. History enables us to recognize the present as contingent, and therefore view the future as unwritten. It situates us in a lineage and grounds us in a tradition upon which we may build. At the same time, history encourages us to understand our world before attempting to change it, and gives us a wealth of past experience to draw on when making sense of novel-seeming events in the present.<br><br>
I worry that history gets a bad rap because it’s often taught by memorizing dates or events. Nothing could be more boring or useless. History is learning to imagine eras unlike our own, re-living incredible scientific discoveries or technological innovations, studying past governments and societies to understand where they succeeded and failed, and gaining invaluable lessons about who we are as humans. No matter your profession, no matter your walk of life, you can learn something about yourself by studying the history of your country, your city, your field of work, or your hobbies, and can dramatically expand your own mind by studying the history of eras, peoples, and events that are unfamiliar to you. There’s no better time than the present to deepen your understanding of the past; indeed, the future depends on it.<br>
<br><br>
<hr><br></p>
<p><i>Matthew Jordan is a funk musician who professionally enthuses about the past, present, and future of science &amp; technology.</i><br>
</p></p>
<hr><br>

<i>Matthew Jordan is a funk musician who professionally enthuses about the past, present, and future of science &amp; technology.</i><br>
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<p><a href="http://shl.huld.re/~f6k/log/vol11/19-vanuatu.html" title="2021-03-30"><strong>Mar. 30 mars 2021, Vanuatu</strong></a> (vol. 11, num. 19). — Akli Ait Abdallah, Michel Montreuil, Sébastien Heppell et Daniel Martineau sont partis au Vanuatu afin d’y faire un grand reportage audio. Il est passé ce dimanche sur les ondes de Radio Canada Première au cours de l’émission de Michel Désautels. Les auteurs traitent notamment des impacts des changements climatiques dans cet archipel du Pacifique Sud. Mais pas seulement, car l’on peut y découvrir certains pans de la vie dans ces îles.

</p>

<p>Surtout, lors de la diffusion à la radio, le reportage était bien sûr en stéréo. Or il se trouve que les auteurs sont partis avec un arbre mécanique et neufs micros afin de faire des prises de son à 360°. Ils ont donc édité <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/desautels-le-dimanche/segments/reportage/349024/vanuatu-changement-climatique-akli-ait-abdallah">une version complètement immersive</a> (récupérable depuis la baladodiffusion <em>Immersion</em> sur <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/beta/balados/8226/immersion/521570/vanuatu-pacifique-sud-iles-environnement">Ohdio</a>) pourvu que l’on porte un casque (ou à moins d’avoir un ensemble son 5:1 chez soi). Ils ont même fait <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/recit-numerique/2193/son-immersif-vanuatu-trois-dimensions">un reportage web sur cette expérience</a> avec quelques très belles photos.</p>

<p>J’ai trouvé le reportage vraiment passionnant. J’ai tellement accroché que durant l’écoute je suivais les déplacements des journalistes sur une carte. Et, sincèrement, avec le son 3D, c’est encore mieux. On s’y croirait.</p>

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<p>Il y a quelques semaines des collègues designers qui travaillaient sur le <i lang="en">dark mode</i> m’ont demandé si c’était « bon pour l’accessibilité ». Voilà la réponse que je leur ai faite, si ça peut être utile à quelqu’un.</p>

<p>Préambule : c’est vrai que d’après les quelques articles que j’ai pu lire en ligne, et de ce que je vois de mon entourage, un certain nombre de gens préfèrent régler leur système en mode sombre (fond sombre voire noir, texte clair). Ce n’est pas mon cas :</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Pour ma part je fuis purement et simplement le <i lang="en">dark mode</i>, qui me détruit les yeux au bout de 3 lignes — enfin, « L’œil » plutôt, celui qui voit. Je vais faire un message plus personnel que généraliste et professionnel, mais ça me semble utile pour aider à la réflexion.</p>
<p>Je suis le cas typique du client qui a besoin obligatoirement d’un <i lang="en">light mode</i>, sans quoi je n’utilise plus l’application et/ou je ne consulte plus le site (c’est déjà arrivé, j’ai désinstallé l’application et fermé l’onglet de mon navigateur). Dans mon cas, le <i lang="en">dark mode</i>, contrairement à ce que dit [le document dont parlaient mes collègues], augmente très fortement ma fatigue oculaire. Au bout de trois lignes j’ai la rétine imprimée, des lignes qui flottent devant les yeux, c’est très désagréable.</p>
@@ -85,7 +83,6 @@
<p>(il suffit de basculer votre système de l’un à l’autre)</p>
<p>Il joue notamment avec les filtres sur l’image, qui passe un filtre à <code lang="en" class="spip_code" dir="ltr">brightness(0.9) contrast(1.2)</code> en <i lang="en">dark mode</i>, c’est très malin.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>En clair : faites un <i lang="en">dark mode</i> sur votre site si ça vous repose les yeux, voire juste parce que ça vous amuse, mais surtout ne me l’imposez pas. J’ai même écrit un <i lang="en">bookmarklet</i> pour forcer automatiquement le site en <a href="">noir sur blanc</a> (avec les liens soulignés), c’est vous dire si ça m’est pénible. (Note : il vous suffit de tirer ce lien vers la barre personnelle de votre navigateur pour le récupérer.)</p>
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<p>De quelle propor­tion de vacci­nés avons-nous besoin pour que la diffu­sion du virus soit limi­tée ? Avec la conta­gio­sité natu­relle du virus, il semble que ce soit « beau­coup ».</p>

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://n.survol.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/E1VA1mLWUAEfGjT.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="https://n.survol.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/E1VA1mLWUAEfGjT-1024x770.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-20625" srcset="https://n.survol.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/E1VA1mLWUAEfGjT-1024x770.jpg 1024w, https://n.survol.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/E1VA1mLWUAEfGjT-300x226.jpg 300w, https://n.survol.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/E1VA1mLWUAEfGjT-768x578.jpg 768w, https://n.survol.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/E1VA1mLWUAEfGjT-1200x903.jpg 1200w, https://n.survol.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/E1VA1mLWUAEfGjT.jpg 1438w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></a><figcaption>https://twit­ter.com/DrEricDing/status/1393090966928637952</figcaption></figure>

<p>Avec la souche histo­rique, il nous fallait près de 70% de la popu­la­tion vacci­née avec un vaccin Pfizer effi­cace à 95% pour conte­nir la diffu­sion. Les fameux gestes barrières vont j’es­père partiel­le­ment passer dans les habi­tudes et nous aider à réduire plus vite. C’est tout à fait jouable.</p>

<p>Mais…</p>
@@ -97,7 +96,8 @@

<p>Bref, je suis inquiet.</p>

<p><hr class="wp-block-separator"><p><em>Mais faites-vous vacci­ner, parce que même si ça n’offre pas la solu­tion ultime à long terme, ne pas le faire est indé­nia­ble­ment pire. Peu importe le vaccin, si vous êtes dans les classes d’âge où il est recom­mandé alors la balance béné­fice/risque est bonne et vous serez mieux avec que sans.</em></p></p>
<hr class="wp-block-separator">
<p><em>Mais faites-vous vacci­ner, parce que même si ça n’offre pas la solu­tion ultime à long terme, ne pas le faire est indé­nia­ble­ment pire. Peu importe le vaccin, si vous êtes dans les classes d’âge où il est recom­mandé alors la balance béné­fice/risque est bonne et vous serez mieux avec que sans.</em></p>
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<p><span>Après une sélection draconienne parmi 600 candidatures, et plusieurs mois de réflexions, la grande muette va enfin s'envoler vers les étoiles ! La ministre des Armées Florence Parly a profité du Forum innovation défense vendredi 4 décembre pour lancer officiellement la Red Team. Derrière ce nom anglais, dix auteurs de science-fiction qui ont été recrutés pour imaginer les futures crises géopolitiques et ruptures technologiques impliquant les militaires. Des centaines de candidatures issues du monde culturel, scientifique et universitaire ont postulé pour rejoindre cette équipe d'une dizaine de personnes. Ce projet très médiatique a été lancé en 2019 par Emmanuel Chiva, directeur de l'Agence d'innovation Défense (AID), affiliée à la Direction générale de l'armement (DGA).</span></p>

<p></p>

<p class="videoWrapper"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jRfp37FYVNc?info=1">VIDEO</iframe></p>

<p><span><span>D'après les scénarios, que nous avons lus en exclusivité (</span>et dont nous publierons les bonnes feuilles sur notre site Internet<span>), l'idée est d'anticiper des situations permettant à la <a href="/tags/france" class="surligner">France</a> de conserver une autonomie stratégique et opérationnelle aux horizons 2030 et 2060.</span> Ascenseur spatial, nation pirate ou encore réchauffement climatique se mêlent dans les textes produits lors de cette « saison zéro » (pilote du projet), qui seront prochainement publiés sur le site Internet dédié <a class="underline" href="https://redteamdefense.org" target="_blank" title="">redteamdefense.org</a>, contrairement aux textes des saisons suivantes qui devraient être classifiés.</span></p>

<p><span>C'est l'Université PSL (composée notamment de Mine <a href="/tags/paris" class="surligner">Paris</a>, l'Ecole normale supérieure, <span>l'Observatoire de Paris, </span>la Femis et l'université Paris-Dauphine) qui a la lourde tâche d'animer et de nourrir cette équipe sous la responsabilité de Cédric Denis-Remis, tout en faisant de la recherche sur la question. Le groupe est piloté par l'AID, l'état-major des armées (EMA), la DGA et la Direction générale des relations internationales et de la stratégie (DGRIS).</span></p>

<p><span><strong>Un casting 5 étoiles</strong></span></p>

<p><span>Les amoureux de science-fiction auront le plaisir ou la surprise de retrouver des noms qu'ils connaissent bien. Deux maîtres du space opera sont en tête du cortège : Laurent Genefort, très apprécié pour son cycle d'<em>Omale</em> ou sa trilogie <em>Spire</em>, et Romain Lucazeau, qui dans sa vie quotidienne est associé au cabinet Roland Berger. Il a récemment marqué les esprits grâce à son excellent diptyque <em>Latium</em> (plus de 50 000 exemplaires vendus, qui narrait la <span>geste de gigantesques vaisseaux conscients à la recherche de l'humanité perdue, à coups</span> de <span>scènes de batailles épiques et de réflexions philosophiques).</span></span></p>

<p><span>L'auteur de polar DOA (<em>Le Cycle clandestin</em>, <em>L'Honorable Société</em>), le scénariste de BD Xavier Dorison (<em>Troisième Testament, Le Château des animaux) </em>ou le romancier Xavier Mauméjean, qui vient de publier une impressionnante biographie sur Henry Darger, sont eux aussi de la partie. Impossible de ne pas évoquer le génial dessinateur du neuvième art <a href="/tags/francois-schuiten" class="surligner">François Schuiten</a> (Les Cités obscures), qui illustrera l'ensemble avec la jeune designeuse Jeanne </span>Bregeon<span>.</span></p>

<h3><strong><span>Polémique en ligne</span></strong></h3>

<p><span>L'université répond présente avec la participation de la sociologue Virginie Tournay, directrice de recherche et médaillée de bronze du CNRS. Membre de l'office parlementaire de l'évaluation des choix scientifiques et technologiques, elle avait écrit de la prospective avec <em>Civilisation 0.0</em> en 2019. Deux autres écrivains ont préféré garder l'anonymat en signant <a href="/tags/hermes" class="surligner">Hermes</a> et Capitaine Numericus afin d'éviter le harcèlement en ligne, les insultes ou les représailles pendant les salons. Largement antimilitariste, le milieu de la science-fiction, plutôt orienté à gauche, peut parfois se montrer féroce envers ce genre d'initiatives, par l'intermédiaire des forums ou des réseaux sociaux.</span></p>

<p class="BeOpWidget"></p>

<p><span>L'idée d'une Red Team est pourtant loin d'être nouvelle. L'administration Reagan, dans les années 1980, avait déjà fait appel à des plumes comme Robert A. Henlein (<em>Starship Troopers</em>), Poul Anderson (<em>La Patrouille du temps</em>) ou encore Larry Niven (<em>L'Anneau-Monde</em>). Leur travail est aujourd'hui encore classifié.</span></p>
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Petit écart sur la tech suite à la lecture de l'article : <i>lehollandaisvolant</i> : <a href="https://lehollandaisvolant.net/?d=2021/01/19/09/09/59-recentrage-sur-le-blog">recentrage-sur-le-blog</a>
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<p><hr>
<hr>
<p>
Je bosse dans la « Tech » ou plutôt la « old-school » tech. Je me plais à dire que je suis Informaticien à l’ancienne.
</p>
@@ -98,7 +97,7 @@ Bref, on parle de liberté. De décentralisation. A force de s’agiter dans un
Réveillez-vous, sortez vos lecteurs de flux RSS. Ouvrez-vos blogs.
On peut toujours tisser la toile et libérer l’information, suffit de lever un peu la tête de son nombril.
Arrêter de prendre la béquée de papa G@@gl€ et aller chercher soi-même ses sources d’informations.
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<p>Two decades ago, before social media existed, Zygmunt Bauman articulated a perfect description of how it would soon shape our behavior and frame our relationships to one another. In his 2000 book <em>Liquid Modernity</em>, Bauman wrote: “Seen from a distance, (other people’s) existence seems to possess a coherence and a unity which they cannot have, in reality, but which seems evident to the spectator. This, of course, is an optical illusion. The distance (that is, the paucity of our knowledge) blurs the details and effaces everything that fits ill into the Gestalt. Illusion or not, we tend to see other people’s lives as works of art. And having seen them this way, we struggle to (make our lives) the same.” The conditions Bauman described had already emerged in other media environments, such as television, but the participatory nature of the internet and specifically social media would compel everyone involved to develop an online identity, intentionally or not, that would correspond to their offline identity but would never quite mirror it perfectly. The personal brand, that groan-inducing pillar of digital existence, only occasionally amounts to the refined display that its most sophisticated instances embody. For most people, though, a personal brand is an accidental side effect of their digital presence, something they assume to be a faithful reflection of their “real” selves whether it really is or not.</p>

<p>Even poorly constructed online identities, however, somehow manage to cohere into consistent wholes, thanks to the medium that transmits them. Every social media feed is an endless parade of these fragmentary identities, disaggregated into units of content and passing by quickly enough to evade the scrutiny that would detect their incompleteness. As Bauman presciently realized, the constraints of these digital environments and the sheer volume of users endows even the flimsiest online presences with an illusion of unity. Showing up frequently enough in the feed might elevate one’s presence to a work of art, at least from everyone else’s distracted perspective, and this in turn motivates us all to present our own selves more artfully. The speed of the information flow is essential to the entire illusion: A platform like Twitter makes our asynchronous posts feel like real-time interaction by delivering them in such rapid succession, and that illusion begets another more powerful one, that we’re all actually <em>present</em> within the feed. If you and I are both present, moreover, that implies that we’re together, something that is always almost true within these social networks but never quite achieved. On Twitter every relationship is thus parasocial, even if bidirectionally so, and perhaps that’s why digital relationships continue to demand in-person reification.</p>

<p>Something I frequently joke about—a dark truth that begs for humor—is how social media requires continuous posting just to remind everyone else you exist. I once <a href="https://twitter.com/kneelingbus/status/1339376044097331202">said</a> that if Twitter was real life our bodies would always be slowly shrinking, and tweeting more would be the only way to make ourselves bigger again. We can always opt out of this arrangement, of course, and live happily in meatspace, but that is precisely the point: Offline we exist by default; online we have to post our way into selfhood. Reality, as Philip K. Dick said, is that which doesn’t go away when you stop believing in it, and while the digital and physical worlds may be converging as a hybridized domain of lived experience and outward perception, our own sustained presence as individuals is the quality that distinguishes the two. As I <a href="https://kneelingbus.substack.com/p/149-listen-the-snow-is-falling">wrote</a> in January, silence is effectively impossible on the contemporary internet, where “voids are just filled by other people’s content, and thus vanish instantly.” The illusions that enable social media to feel like a primary reality (rather than a medium that supplements that reality) have become increasingly seamless and less likely to be broken, but <a href="https://studio.ribbonfarm.com/p/digital-homelessness">as Venkatesh Rao has observed</a>, many users are sacrificed at the altar of this reality, slipping through the cracks and becoming “digitally homeless.” This phenomenon, he writes, flourishes in “online zones where, for whatever reasons, psychologically plausible and inhabitable personas have failed to cohere for a significant subset of people.” The feed algorithms and interfaces treat these users the same way the actual homeless are frequently treated: by pushing them to the margins and concealing them from view. For the online homeless, as digital reality matures, maybe nonexistence is no longer an option.</p>
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<p>I help organize <a href="https://about.bostonpython.com" rel="external noopener">Boston Python</a>.
It’s a great group. We’ve been active during the pandemic, in fact, we’ve added
new kinds of events during this time.</p>

<p>One of the things we’re trying to get started is a Study Group based on the
observation that teaching is a great way to learn. The idea is to form a small
but dedicated group of beginner-to-intermediate learners. They would take turns
tackling a topic and presenting it informally to the group.</p>

<p>Here’s the problem: how do you make a space that feels right for beginners
when you have thousands of experts in the group who also want to join in?</p>

<p>Beginners:</p>

<ul><li>Beginners can be shy and uncertain, both about the topic and about
whether this space is even for them.</li><li>They don’t want to appear dumb. They are afraid they will look foolish,
or will be ridiculed.</li><li>They don’t know that everyone has uncertainties and gaps in their
knowledge. They don’t know that not knowing something is inevitable, and
can be conquered.</li></ul>

<p>Experts:</p>

<ul><li>Experts want to help. They have knowledge and want to share it.</li><li>Can forget how hard it is to be a beginner.</li><li>Experts can be blind to how their speaking is keeping other people
quiet. There’s limited space for talking, but more importantly,
expert-level speaking can set the tone that you must be expert-level to
speak.</li></ul>

<p>Experts are very good at occupying these spaces. They are comfortable
speaking, and eager to share their knowledge. How do we ensure that they don’t
monopolize the discussion?</p>

<p>Beginners can be shy, and reluctant to speak. They may feel like they don’t
know enough to even ask a question. They don’t want to appear dumb. They hear
the experts around them, and feel even more certain that this is not for
them.</p>

<p>The experts could have the best intentions: they want to help the beginners.
They are interested in the subject, and have useful bits of information to
contribute.</p>

<p>I’m looking for ideas to solve these problems!</p>

<p>How to keep the balance of attendees right:</p>

<ul><li>Explicitly label the event as “for beginning to intermediate
learners.”</li><li>Send a reminder email about the event, asking people to select
themselves out of the event: “We’re really excited that this idea has gotten
@@ -123,22 +111,15 @@ contribute.</p>
opportunity to step back to make space for others.”</li><li>Have other events labelled for experts so they have a space of their
own.</li><li>Invite specific people one-on-one to increase the number of “right”
people.</li><li><i>more ideas?</i></li></ul>

<p>How to encourage beginners to join the group:</p>

<ul><li>Use lots of words to underscore the welcoming nature of the group, and
that beginners are welcome.</li><li>Invite specific people one-on-one so they feel sure it’s for them, and
that they are wanted.</li><li><i>more ideas?</i></li></ul>

<p>How to encourage beginners to speak in the group:</p>

<ul><li>Ice-breaker question</li><li>Set an expectation that everyone will ask at least one question.</li><li>Be especially supportive when someone asks a really basic question.</li><li>Contact them individually to ask if they have anything they want to ask,
and help them get it asked.</li><li><i>more ideas?</i></li></ul>

<p>How to encourage beginners to lead a session:</p>

<ul><li>Demonstrate vulnerability while leading.</li><li>Offer to pair with them instead of having them do it alone.</li><li><i>more ideas?</i></li></ul>

<p>Like I said, I’m looking for ideas. The more I run events, the more
interested I am in helping beginners get started.</p>
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<p>Notre compte bancaire a un impact social et environnemental. Notre argent, mis en banque, finance des projets polluants en France comme à l’international. Pour comprendre l’impact de notre argent et l’importance de réguler les activités des banques, estimez l’empreinte carbone de votre compte bancaire grâce à notre calculateur en ligne.</p>
<h2>Pourquoi calculer l’empreinte carbone de notre compte bancaire ?</h2>
<p>Lorsque l’on parle <a href="https://www.oxfamfrance.org/climat-et-energie/lempreinte-carbone-en-cinq-questions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">d’empreinte carbone</a> moyenne des Français-e-s, il s’agit de notre empreinte « directe » provenant de notre logement, de nos transports, de consommations de biens et services personnels, de notre alimentation et de l’utilisation des services publics. Mais ce calcul ne prend pas en compte notre empreinte carbone « indirecte » : celle de notre argent.</p>

<p>Dans notre dernier rapport « Banques : des engagements climat à prendre au 4ème degré », nous avons donc calculé l’impact climatique de notre argent, selon la banque à laquelle nous appartenons.</p>

<p><strong>Nous avons ainsi mis en lumière le fait que notre argent représente notre premier poste d’émissions de C02. Si nous prenions en compte les émissions de gaz à effet de serre de notre compte bancaire, notre empreinte carbone serait deux fois plus élevée !</strong></p>

<p>Si vous souhaitez changer de banque, il existe des banques éthiques comme la Nef ou le Crédit Coopératif. Mais Oxfam rappelle que l’enjeu fondamental est d’appeler les banques à changer et l’Etat à légiférer.</p>

<h2>Face à l’impact environnemental et social de notre argent, la nécessaire régulation des banques</h2>
<p>Alors que les six groupes bancaires français affichent depuis 2015 leur volonté de s’aligner avec les objectifs de l’Accord de Paris, ces engagements restent, encore aujourd’hui, très largement au stade des promesses<strong>. Aucune banque française ne s’est engagée à réduire son empreinte carbone générale et les 4 plus grandes banques françaises (BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole, BPCE) continuent de soutenir le développement de nouveaux projets de pétrole et de gaz.</strong></p>

<p>La régulation des banques doit passer par une intervention de l’Etat et des avancées réglementaires ambitieuses. Nous l’avons vu, les politiques d’engagement volontaire des banques ne sont pas suffisantes.</p>

<p>Nous appelons, notamment, les autorités publiques françaises à labelliser chaque banque française grâce à la création d’un label « en transition », permettant de définir le degré d’alignement d’un portefeuille avec l’Accord de Paris de façon transparente et crédible.</p>
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<figure><a class="image-link image2 image2-683-1024" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F946bbacf-99ef-4b1b-b7eb-6b00e74f4b4e_1024x683.jpeg"><img src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F946bbacf-99ef-4b1b-b7eb-6b00e74f4b4e_1024x683.jpeg" data-attrs='{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/946bbacf-99ef-4b1b-b7eb-6b00e74f4b4e_1024x683.jpeg","height":683,"width":1024,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":178533,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/jpeg","href":null}' alt=""></a><figcaption class="image-caption">A man stands in the center of the town of Khairpur Nathan Shah, Pakistan, which had been totally submerged by floodwaters. Pakistan is the fifth most climate-vulnerable country in the world, and has been experiencing catastrophic climate impacts for many, many years. Photo by Gideon Mendel For Action Aid/ In Pictures/Corbis via Getty Images.</figcaption></figure>

<p><br>If the true urgency of climate change was not clear to Americans before, it should be clear by now. The mind-bending <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01869-0">heat</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/06/17/heat-wave-southwest-fires-drought/">drought</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57794263">fire</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/09/new-york-city-storm-flooding-climate-change">flood</a> sweeping the country are both nightmares and wake-up calls to the reality fossil fuels created. For over 40 years, our most powerful people and institutions collectively ignored climate scientists, and now the deadly consequences have arrived at all our doorsteps. Part of Jaweria Baig wishes they had arrived here sooner. Perhaps her life would be different if they had.</p>

<p><strong>“</strong>I have witnessed people suffering and dying since I was a child,” the 18-year-old from Pakistan told HEATED via phone. Her home town, located in the mountainous Hunza Valley, is surrounded by towering Himalayan glaciers that have <a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-climate-change-courts-avalanches-india-7be7a76eea4d497b22609ff3d5194e69">been melting at an astonishing rate since before Baig was born</a>. These climate-fueled melts have formed more than 3,000 glacial lakes, which now regularly break their banks and rush through surrounding villages, <a href="https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/671886-the-new-normal">taking everything—and everyone—in their path with them</a>. More than 7 million people in the region are at risk from these floods, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/6/9/millions-at-risk-as-melting-pakistan-glaciers-raise-flood-fears">according to UNDP</a>.</p>

<p>Baig now lives in the southern city of Karachi, but friends and family still live in Hunza. Eventually they’ll face a difficult choice: move south willingly, or let the mountain do it for them. Even if the world meets its most ambitious climate targets, one third of the Himalayan glaciers will melt by the end of the century, a 2019 International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development <a href="https://lib.icimod.org/record/34383">report</a> found. And even the south won’t provide much respite; the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/06/a-summer-of-fatal-weather/396710/">heat</a> and <a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20200922111419-3p1i8">monsoon rains</a> there are some of the most punishing in the world. The average daily temperature in Karachi this past week was 104 degrees*. Stepping outside “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/commentisfree/2021/jul/04/in-karachi-hot-weather-is-normal-but-44c-feels-like-youre-going-to-die">feels like you’re going to die.</a>” </p>

<p>After 18 years of life in the world’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/opinion/pakistan-climate-change.html">fifth most climate-vulnerable nation</a>, Baig sees her family’s predicament for what it is: not just tragedy, but profound injustice. Pakistan contributes <a href="https://www.unep.org/gan/news/press-release/pakistan-develop-national-adaptation-plan-climate-change">less than 1 percent of the world’s carbon emissions</a>, and yet has been forced to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/07/24/pakistan-one-worlds-leading-victims-global-warming/809509002/">bear the brunt of the world’s carbon crisis</a>. “I’m angry about it. I’m sad about it. I don’t know how people have the audacity to prioritize money over humanity,” she said. And she can’t help but wonder if this would have happened if America—<a href="https://phys.org/news/2021-04-biggest-carbon-emitter-history-nations.html">which has put more carbon into the atmosphere than any other nation</a>—had felt these impacts first. </p>

<p>“I should be in university,” she said. But her life’s work is activism. “I have no choice,” she said, her voice breaking on the phone. Each day, Baig said, she’s fighting to secure the world’s future. And she wants to know, in this critical moment: are you doing anything to help secure hers?</p>

<p>In more than a dozen interviews over the last two weeks, activists from across the climate movement have issued a common call to arms: If you have ever thought of becoming more involved in the fight for climate justice, it’s time to stop thinking, and start doing. </p>

<p>“This is pretty much the biggest moment in climate politics in over a dozen years,” said Jamal Raad, the executive director of <a href="https://www.evergreenaction.com/mission">Evergreen Action</a>, a progressive climate group focused on federal legislation. “If anyone was considering climate activism at any level, from contacting their member of Congress to volunteering with an organization to attending a protest, now’s the time.”</p>

<p>The scientific case for urgency has never been clearer. Last month, a <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210623-crushing-climate-impacts-to-hit-sooner-than-feared-draft-un-report">draft of the latest U.N. IPCC report</a>—the gold standard summation of modern climate science—was leaked to Agence France-Presse in hopes it might serve as a wake-up call before the next round of international climate talks in November. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/23/climate-change-dangerous-thresholds-un-report">The report warned</a> that the dire impacts of global heating were materializing faster than most scientists expected. Several “tipping points”—major, rapid changes in climate conditions that once reached are near-impossible to reverse—are now likely to come sooner rather than later, and many impacts are already locked in. Significant and rapid decarbonization can still prevent further pain and suffering, but the longer we wait, the worse things will become. “Life on Earth can recover from a drastic climate shift by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems,” it warned. “Humans cannot.”</p>

<p>The costs of inaction are also already playing out in American life. More than 100 people <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/oregons-heat-wave-death-toll-reaches-107-mass/story?id=78708448">were killed by the oppressive heat</a> in Oregon last month, part of a larger record-breaking heat dome event that cumulatively caused <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/canada-heatwave-toll-tops-800-101625334250895.html">more than 800 deaths</a> across the Pacific Northwest. Farmers and ranchers <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/historic-drought-in-west-forcing-ranchers-to-take-painful-measures">are suffering</a> under <a href="https://pacinst.org/the-2021-western-drought-what-to-expect-as-conditions-worsen/">historic drought conditions</a> in the West, where states <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/drought-california-western-united-states.html">are already limiting water supply</a> while fighting <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/eye-opener-triple-digit-temperatures-drought-fuel-wildfires-in-the-west/">out-of-control wildfires</a>. <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2021/06/28/gretchen-whitmer-calls-action-climate-change-infrastructure/7784557002/">Record rainfall in Michigan</a> is overwhelming Detroit’s aging sewage systems, part of <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/144798/floridas-poop-nightmare-come-true">the growing pandemic of poop-filled floodwaters</a>. And on the East Coast, tropical storm Elsa signaled <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/07/09/tropical-storm-elsa-new-england/">a powerful start to yet another destructive hurricane season</a>, expected to be “above average” in activity for the sixth year in a row. </p>

<p>Fortunately, scientists are also more confident than ever about how to improve the situation. In May, the influential and notoriously conservative International Energy Administration <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/07/a-bombshell-report-from-closely-followed-international-energy-agency/">released a “bombshell” report</a> outlining how the world could still achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of preventing a 1.5°C rise in global average temperatures. “As the major source of global emissions, the energy sector holds the key to responding to the world’s climate challenge,” <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050">the report</a> read. That sector must fully decarbonize by 2050, which requires not just a massive acceleration to renewables, electric vehicles, and energy efficient building retrofits, but “a huge decline in the use of fossil fuels,” it said. “There is no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply in our net zero pathway.”</p>

<p>The dire need to significantly decrease fossil fuel use, however, has still not sunk into the minds of the world’s biggest polluters. Take the United States. The Biden administration has taken some meaningful steps toward reducing carbon pollution, including suspending oil and gas leasing on federal land, cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline, and reinstating several EPA climate regulations. But his Justice Department is also currently defending at least three massive new fossil fuel projects: the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/27/biden-administration-alaska-oil-gas-drilling-project">Willow drilling project</a> in Alaska, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/24/climate/line-3-pipeline-biden.html">the Line 3 tar sands pipeline</a> in Minnesota, and <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2021/department-of-justice-defends-trump-era-wyoming-leases">millions of acres of oil and gas leasing in Wyoming</a>. </p>

<p>The massive infrastructure bill making its way through Congress is also a big opportunity to ensure meaningful climate investments in the energy sector—and may in fact be <a href="https://www.vox.com/22537509/democrats-climate-bill-biden-waxman-markey">the last chance to pass meaningful climate legislation</a> during Biden’s presidency. But the latest version was recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/24/climate/biden-climate-infrastructure.html">stripped of most of its significant climate provisions</a>, including a Clean Energy Standard, tax credits for renewable energy, and a new civilian climate corps. </p>

<p>The draft IPCC report places the blame for such inaction directly on the fossil fuel industry. Specifically, “think tanks, foundations, trade associations and other third-party groups that represent fossil fuel companies for promoting ‘contrarian’ science that misleads the public and disrupts efforts to implement climate policies needed to address the rising threats,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/02/climate-scientists-exxon-mobile-report-497805">Politico reported last week</a>. “Rhetoric on climate change and the undermining of science have contributed to misperceptions of the scientific consensus, uncertainty, unduly discounted risk and urgency, dissent, and, most importantly, polarized public support delaying mitigation and adaptation action, particularly in the U.S.”</p>

<p>The fossil fuel industry is indeed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/08/north-dakota-sues-biden-administration-oil-gas-leases-public-lands">fighting</a> <a href="https://www.upstreamonline.com/finance/keystone-xl-developer-files-lawsuit-against-us-seeking-15bn-in-damages/2-1-1038568">very hard</a> <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/24/14-states-sue-biden-administration-over-oil-and-gas-leasing-moratorium.html">to undo</a> <a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/revealed-exxonmobils-lobbying-war-on-climate-change-legislation">and prevent</a> further climate action in the U.S. But others are helping them, too. GOP states are using taxpayer dollars <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/24/14-states-sue-biden-administration-over-oil-and-gas-leasing-moratorium.html">to file lawsuits on their behalf</a>. Advertising and marketing firms are creating <a href="https://gizmodo.com/i-hate-that-conoco-is-so-good-at-social-media-1847220996">sophisticated PR campaigns</a> to help them convince the public they’re green. News outlets, many of which routinely ignore the climate crisis, are <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/media-fossil-fuel-ads/">running those ad campaigns</a> and making a profit. Social media companies like Facebook and Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/InfluenceMap/status/1413475420347973633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">are doing the same</a>.</p>

<p>In other words, there’s a lot to do—and the IEA, which wrote the blueprint for effective action, says the key is people power. “A transition of the scale and speed described by the net zero pathway cannot be achieved without sustained support and participation from citizens,” <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050">the blueprint said</a>. That means more than just saying you’re for a healthy planet. It means taking a stand against the reason it’s sick. </p>

<p>The ability to participate in activism is a privilege. Many simply do not have the time, money, or emotional bandwidth to take on a global cause. Climate activism also has an unfortunate history of regressive finger-wagging, blaming relatively powerless individuals for not making “better” environmental choices. </p>

<p>The climate activism that is needed today is not that type of activism—especially since, according to the IEA, individual “behavior” changes will only account for around 4 percent of cumulative emissions reductions in the path to net zero. What’s needed today is sustained outrage at the powerful, by those with the time and resources to express it. </p>

<p>For 18-year-old Jaweria Baig in Pakistan, this means pushing for big changes at powerful corporations. Her latest campaign, launched with youth activists from climate vulnerable counties across the world, targets Microsoft. She’s asking the tech giant to significantly decrease its emissions from corporate flights, and use its own video conference platform “Teams” instead, as it did during pandemic-induced lockdown. Microsoft is currently “one of the world's top buyers” of flights, the <a href="https://justuseteams.com/">Just Use Teams</a> campaign says, its emissions comparable to some small countries. </p>

<p>Microsoft—which markets itself as <a href="https://heated.world/p/the-climate-deniers-microsoft-helped">a leader in the fight for climate justice</a>—has so far declined to respond to Baig’s campaign. A spokesperson for the tech giant sent HEATED only a link to its corporate sustainability and aviation plans in response to the group’s complaints. So in the meantime, Baig is asking for people power. She wants Microsoft staff to leave <a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Microsoft-Reviews-E1651.htm?countryRedirect=true">anonymous Glassdoor reviews</a> telling their bosses to use Teams instead of airplanes, and wants Microsoft customers to <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=.%40Microsoft%2C%20will%20you%20pledge%20to%20carry%20on%20using%20Teams%20instead%20of%20taking%20pointless%20flights%20for%20meetings%20-%20for%20the%20climate%2C%20your%20customers%2C%20and%20your%20employees%27%20welfare%3F%20%20What%27s%20your%20response%20%40satyanadella%20%40BradSmi%20%40lucasjoppa%3F%20Read%20more%20at%20justuseteams.com%20%23JustUseTeams&amp;related=satyanadella%2CBradSmi">tweet their support</a>. </p>

<p>If Microsoft’s flights don’t inspire you, though, there are plenty other campaigns in need of voices, resources, signatures, or bodies. Is the bipartisan infrastructure deal your thing? Perhaps you’d like <a href="https://www.evergreenaction.com/blog/no-climate-no-deal">No Climate No Deal</a>, a campaign launched by Evergreen Action and the youth-led Sunrise Movement last month. The campaign is pressuring Democratic members of Congress to reject any infrastructure legislation lacking “transformational investments in climate and environmental justice solutions.” They’ve already secured pledges from 14 Democratic Senators. They’re seeking support in the form of <a href="https://www.evergreenaction.com/blog/no-climate-no-deal">a petition, calls to Senators, and tweets</a>. </p>

<p>Or maybe you’re really pissed at advertising agencies, marketing firms, and social media giants for helping promote fossil fuel company propaganda. If that’s the case, you might like <a href="https://cleancreatives.org/about">Clean Creatives</a>. Despite only launching less than a year ago, it has gotten 92 advertising agencies to sign a pledge against working with fossil fuel companies. It’s now spreading <a href="https://cleancreatives.org/news/climate-groups-launch-petition-pressuring-social-media-platforms-to-ban-fossil-fuel-ads">a petition</a> to get social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to ban fossil fuel ads. (<a href="https://twitter.com/duncanwrites?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Duncan Meisel,</a> one of the group’s co-founders, said in an interview that this newsletter was part of the inspiration for forming the group. So maybe you could also start a newsletter, if that’s your thing.)</p>

<p>Indigenous <a href="https://www.ienearth.org/">groups</a> also need <a href="https://www.facebook.com/giniwcollective/">help</a> opposing fossil fuel projects across the country. Most have action hubs with a range of potential ways to help, like <a href="https://www.stopline3.org/hub">this one for the Line 3 pipeline</a>. Environmental justice groups like <a href="https://www.weact.org/">We Act</a> and the <a href="https://climatejusticealliance.org/">Climate Justice Alliance</a> also need voices and resources. Perhaps Vice’s list of <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgx7xy/environmental-justice-climate-action-organizations-to-donate-time-and-money">12 environmental justice organizations to donate time and money to</a> would be of interest. </p>

<p>If straight-up activism isn’t your thing, maybe you’d like to support climate science education or communications projects like <a href="https://www.climatecentral.org/">Climate Central</a> or the <a href="https://acespace.org/">Alliance for Climate Education</a>. If you believe in the power of journalism, maybe you want to support accountability projects like <a href="https://www.floodlightnews.org/#:~:text=Floodlight%20is%20a%20nonprofit%20environmental,interests%20holding%20back%20climate%20action.&amp;text=Are%20you%20a%20journalist%20looking%20to%20partner%20on%20an%20investigation%3F">Floodlight</a> and <a href="https://drillednews.com/">Drilled News</a>, or regional publications like <a href="https://southerlymag.org/">Southerly Mag</a>. Maybe you’re into culture and want to donate to a place like the <a href="https://climatemuseum.org/donations">Climate Museum</a>. Maybe there’s a state climate policy you want to get involved with; or a local office you want to run for; or an opportunity to make a difference at the company you already work at. Maybe you just want to <a href="https://heated.world/p/drag-them">troll fossil fuel companies all day</a>. </p>

<p>The opportunities to get involved in the climate fight are endless, and that can be overwhelming. But the beauty of people power is that you don’t <em>have</em> to do everything. “You don’t need to quit your job and become a climate activist,” said Genevieve Gunther, founder of the media-focused group <a href="https://www.endclimatesilence.org/">End Climate Silence</a>. “With enough people, one little thing every week, even a tweet, can make a huge difference.” </p>

<p>Some people may read this and believe it is pointless. That we are too late. That none of it matters. The fossil fuel industry knows this is not true. Their fear of a determined, pissed off public is why they promoted campaigns of climate denial and “individual responsibility” in the first place. They knew if people were unsure about the problem, they’d waste time fighting about it instead of mobilizing to fix it. They knew if people were confused about the solution, they’d waste time trying to change themselves and each other instead of the system. </p>

<p>However worse the climate crisis gets now depends on how quickly society transforms. How quickly society transforms depends on how many people demand it. The most harmful lie being spread about climate change today is not that it is fake. It’s that nothing you can do can help save the world. <br></p>
</article>


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</nav>
<hr>
<p>De nombreux médicaments et vaccins possibles sont à l’étude au Canada et ailleurs dans le monde en vue de leur utilisation contre la COVID-19. Nous suivons de près le développement de tous les médicaments et vaccins éventuels.</p>

<p>Vous pouvez consulter la <a href="/fr/sante-canada/services/medicaments-produits-sante/covid19-industrie/medicaments-vaccins-traitements/demandes.html">liste complète des demandes reçues relatives aux médicaments et vaccins contre la COVID-19</a>, et l’état de chaque demande.
</p>

<h2>Sur cette page</h2>

<h2 id="a1">À propos du vaccin de Pfizer-BioNTech contre la COVID-19</h2>

<p>Le vaccin à base d'ARNm de Pfizer-BioNTech contre la COVID-19 (tozinaméran ou BNT162b2) sert à protéger contre la maladie causée par le coronavirus du syndrome respiratoire aigu sévère 2 (SRAS-CoV-2).</p>

<p>Le vaccin est approuvé pour les personnes de 12 ans et plus. Son innocuité et son efficacité chez les jeunes de moins de 12 ans n'ont pas encore été démontrées.</p>

<p>Le 9 décembre 2020, Santé Canada a d’abord autorisé ce vaccin sous certaines conditions, au titre de l'<em><a href="/fr/sante-canada/services/medicaments-produits-sante/covid19-industrie/medicaments-vaccins-traitements/arrete-urgence-vente-importation-medicaments-publicitaires/note.html">Arrêté d'urgence concernant l'importation, la vente et la publicité de drogues à utiliser relativement à la COVID-19</a></em>. Le 5 mai 2021, l’autorisation a été élargie pour inclure les personnes âgées de 12 à 15 ans. </p>

<p>Vous trouverez de l’information technique détaillée sur le vaccin de Pfizer-BioNTech, notamment la monographie du produit et le résumé de notre décision réglementaire, dans <a href="https://vaccin-covid.canada.ca/">le portail sur la réglementation relative aux vaccins et aux traitements contre la COVID-19</a>. </p>

<h3 id="a1.1">Ingrédients</h3>

<ul>
<li>Ingrédient médicinal

@@ -109,54 +102,31 @@
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

<p><a href="https://canadiensensante.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2020/74543a-fra.php">Recommandations pour les personnes qui ont de graves allergies</a></p>

<h2 id="a2">Fonctionnement</h2>

<p>Les vaccins à base d’ARNm enseignent à nos cellules comment fabriquer une protéine qui déclenchera une réponse immunitaire sans utiliser le virus vivant qui cause la COVID-19. Une fois cette réponse amorcée, notre corps produit des anticorps. Ces anticorps nous aident à combattre l’infection si le vrai virus pénètre dans notre corps à l’avenir.</p>

<p>« ARN » signifie acide ribonucléique, une molécule qui fournit aux cellules des instructions pour la fabrication de protéines. <a href="/fr/sante-canada/services/medicaments-produits-sante/covid19-industrie/medicaments-vaccins-traitements/vaccins/type-arnm.html">Les vaccins à base d’ARN messager</a> contiennent les instructions génétiques servant à la fabrication de la protéine de spicule du virus SARS-CoV-2 qui se trouve à la surface du virus responsable de la COVID-19.</p>

<p>Lorsqu’une personne reçoit le vaccin, ses cellules lisent les instructions génétiques comme une recette et produisent la protéine de spicule. Une fois la protéine fabriquée, la cellule décompose les instructions et s’en débarrasse.</p>

<p>La cellule présente ensuite la portion protéique sur sa surface. Notre système immunitaire reconnaît que la protéine n’a pas sa place à cet endroit et commence à construire une réponse immunitaire et à produire des anticorps.</p>

<h2 id="a3">Méthode d’administration</h2>

<p>Le vaccin est administré par injection (0,3 mL) dans le muscle du bras. Pour que le vaccin soit le plus efficace possible, il faut recevoir 2 doses : une dose initiale, puis une deuxième dose 21 jours plus tard.</p>

<p>L’immunité se développe avec le temps. Il faut environ deux semaines pour développer une protection significative contre la COVID‑19. Pour obtenir la meilleure protection, vous aurez besoin d’une deuxième dose.</p>

<p>Des études cliniques ont démontré qu’une semaine après l’administration de la deuxième dose, le vaccin de Pfizer-BioNTech contre la COVID-19 offrait une protection de :</p>

<ul>
<li>95 % chez les participants aux essais âgés de 16 ans et plus</li>
<li>100 % chez les participants aux essais âgés de 12 à 15 ans</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="a4">Effets secondaires possibles</h2>

<p>Les effets secondaires observés au cours des essais cliniques sont en général semblables à ceux que vous pourriez avoir avec d’autres vaccins.</p>

<p>Les effets secondaires qui ont suivi l’administration du vaccin dans les essais cliniques étaient légers ou modérés et comprenaient notamment de la douleur au point d’injection, des frissons, de la fatigue et de la fièvre.</p>

<p>Il s’agit d’effets secondaires habituels associés aux vaccins, sans risque pour la santé.</p>

<p>Comme c’est le cas pour tous les vaccins, les effets secondaires sévères sont possibles, mais rares. Un effet secondaire sévère pourrait notamment être une réaction allergique. Discutez de toute allergie grave ou de tout autre problème de santé avec votre fournisseur de soins de santé avant de recevoir le vaccin. </p>

<p>Santé Canada a effectué un examen scientifique rigoureux des preuves médicales disponibles pour évaluer l’innocuité du vaccin de Pfizer-BioNTech contre la COVID-19. Les données que nous avons examinées n’ont soulevé aucune préoccupation majeure.</p>

<h2 id="a5">Sécurité du vaccin après l’autorisation</h2>

<p>Comme pour tous les médicaments, Santé Canada continue de <a href="/fr/sante-canada/services/medicaments-produits-sante/covid19-industrie/reponse-reglementation-acces-produits-sante.html#a8">surveiller de près l’innocuité</a> du vaccin de Pfizer-BioNTech contre la COVID-19. De concert avec l’Agence de la santé publique du Canada et en étroite collaboration avec les provinces et les territoires, ainsi que le fabricant, nous surveillons tout effet indésirable qui pourrait survenir après la vaccination.</p>

<p>De plus, le fabricant (Pfizer Canada ULC et BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH) est tenu par la loi de déclarer les effets indésirables à Santé Canada.</p>

<p>Pfizer et BioNTech prévoient suivre les participants à l’essai clinique pendant au moins deux ans après l’administration de la deuxième dose du vaccin. Ils devront faire part à Santé Canada de toute préoccupation en matière de sécurité.</p>

<p>Pour veiller à ce que les avantages du vaccin continuent de l’emporter sur les risques, nous pourrions aussi imposer des conditions à tout moment. Par exemple, nous pourrions exiger que le fabricant prenne d’autres mesures d’atténuation des risques ou lui demander de fournir des renseignements supplémentaires en matière de sécurité.</p>

<p>Santé Canada continue d’examiner toutes les données disponibles en matière d’innocuité et prendra des mesures immédiates, au besoin, pour protéger la santé et la sécurité de la population canadienne.</p>
</article>


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<img src="https://www.la-grange.net/2021/01/02/0071-garage.jpg" alt="objets dans un garage">
<figcaption>Tsujido, Japon, 2 janvier 2021</figcaption>
</figure>

<blockquote>
<p>parler de patrimoine, c'est considérer chaque génération comme l'usufruitière d'un bien dont ell a hérité, avec obligation de transmettre quelque chose d'équivalent afin de garantir les conditions de vie de ses successeurs.<br>
— Penser et agir avec la nature - Catherine Larrère, Raphaël Larrère, urn:isbn:978-2-3480-3627-9</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://www.robinrendle.com/">Robin Rendle</a> a écrit un <a href="https://www.robinrendle.com/essays/newsletters">essai à propos des newsletters</a>. Depuis quelques temps, de plus en plus d'auteurs se tournent vers la newsletter pour communiquer avec une communauté. Je ne suis abonné qu'à une seule newsletter : <a href="https://mailbot2000.craigmod.com/t/r-l-juhkydn-htxuklljt-t/">Roden</a> de <a href="https://craigmod.com/">Craig Mod</a>.</p>

<p>Robin explique que l'attraction pour les newsletters tient à trois paramètres :</p>

<ol>
<li>Elles sont faciles à publier</li>
<li>Elles arrivent directement dans la boite aux lettes</li>
<li>Les auteurs peuvent être payés.</li>
</ol>

<p>Alors pourquoi cela fonctionne par mail et cela ne fonctionne pas sur le Web. Robin pense que la technologie est là mais n'est pas déployée : flux <a href="https://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification">RSS</a> ou <a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4287">Atom</a> dans le navigateur (Firefox a récemment enlevé le détecteur RSS plutôt que de l'améliorer, malheureusement) et <a href="https://w3c.github.io/payment-request/">W3C Payment Request API</a>. Certes cela peut aider. J'utilise NetNewsWire pour mon lecteur de flux et ne pas avoir à visiter les sites. C'est un système de pull.</p>

<p>L'email est un système de push et cela change beaucoup de choses. Il y a une notion d'intimité qui est importante et qui définit un plus grand contrôle. La newsletter n'atteint pas potentiellement tout le monde, uniquement ceux qui ont voulu s'inscrire (et potentiellement payer). Créer un site Web intime, c'est à dire gérer le contrôle d'accès est plus difficile.</p>

<table class="tg"> <thead> <tr> <th class="tg-0pky">Type</th> <th class="tg-c3ow">Auteur</th> <th class="tg-c3ow">Vers</th> <th class="tg-c3ow">Lecteurs</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td class="tg-0lax">Web</td> <td class="tg-baqh">One</td> <td class="tg-baqh">⬅︎<br></td> <td class="tg-baqh">Tout le monde</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tg-0pky">Newsletter</td> <td class="tg-c3ow">One<br></td> <td class="tg-c3ow">⮕</td> <td class="tg-c3ow">Quelques personnes</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

<p>Je pense que toutes les pièces sont là pour en effet permettre un système similaire aux newsletters d'exister mais en effet il faut que les navigateurs et les propositions de services est un scénario simple pour le micropaiement et le contrôle d'accès.</p>

<p>Peut-être un système mélangeant Payment Request API avec « Atom as notifications. » Mais les notifications ne gèrent pas l'archivage de celles-ci, ni le navigateur, on en revient à <a href="https://www.otsukare.info/2020/07/07/browser-tabs-time-machine">Browser Tabs Time Machine</a>.</p>

<h2>sur le bord du chemin</h2>

<ul>
<li><p>J'ai travaillé récemment sur ce <a href="https://bugs.python.org/issue41748">bug</a> (la <a href="https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/24072">PR</a> avance bien) de la librairie <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/html.parser.html">HTMLParser</a>.</p>
<pre><code> data:text/html,&lt;!doctype html&gt;&lt;div class=bar ,baz=asd&gt;text&lt;/div&gt;

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<img src="https://www.la-grange.net/2021/03/31/0573-cafe.jpg" alt="Couche de café">
<figcaption>Tsujido, Japon, 31 mars 2021</figcaption>
</figure>

<blockquote>
<p>Il n'y a rien de plus ennuyeux qu'un journal de bord de navigation. On y consigne des faits insignifiants. Quand les choses se corsent, on n'a pas le temps d'écrire. Et lorsqu'elles deviennent vraiment dramatiques, on ne retrouve pas le manuscrit.<br>
— Géographie de l'instant - Sylvain Tesson, urn:isbn:978-2-266-24134-2</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Le temps s'écoule en couches de café. Entre chaque marque, quelques pages de lecture. Souvent dans un lieu quand j'ai la pensée lente, j'imagine le grand tremblement de terre et le tsunami éventuel. Que dois-je faire ? Dans quelle direction courir, dans quelle émotion, dans quelle angoisse ? Avant de mettre le pied sur la plage, instinctivement, je marque dans ma mémoire le lieu du bâtiment le plus haut. Les pensées déjà emportées, je reprends une gorgée de café et je me coule dans la lecture.</p>

<h2>sur le bord du chemin</h2>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/Meet-the-people-making-your-work-from-home-16044685.php">Tech's hottest job title in 2021? 'Head of remote work'</a>. J'ai souri. La dilution de tout sens.</p>
<blockquote>

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</p>

<h3>Table des matières</h3>

<p><a href="#corriger">Corriger la vision globale</a><br/>
<a href="#completer">Compléter la vision globale</a><br/>
<a href="#myopie">Myopie globale</a><br/>
@@ -109,7 +108,6 @@
</p>

<h4>Construction du bâtiment et des installations</h4>

<p>
Généralement <b>l’intégration des impacts liés à la construction d’un centre de données sont optionnels</b> (<a href="https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_es/203100_203199/203199/01.03.01_60/es_203199v010301p.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer">Norme ETSI 203 199 V.1.3.1, p.39</a>) car considérés comme trop faibles, c’est-à-dire autour de 1%. Cependant, l’augmentation de la taille des centres de données et l’usage récurrent de béton et de métal implique que la construction ne devrait pas être sous-estimée. Cela est d’autant plus important car les projets de construction de centres de données se multiplient : Microsoft a annoncé qu’il veut <a href="https://www.crn.com/news/data-center/microsoft-will-build-up-to-100-new-data-centers-each-yearf" rel="noopener noreferrer">construire 50 à 100 nouveaux centres de données par an</a> jusqu’à une date indéterminée. Les projets de développement de Microsoft sont loin d’être une exception, les investissements s’accumulent dans le secteur : <a href="https://www.crn.com/news/data-center/covid-19-spurs-record-data-center-spending-by-amazon-google-microsoft" rel="noopener noreferrer">37 milliards de dollars ont été dépensés dans le secteur rien qu’au 3e trimestre 2020</a>. De même, la phase de construction peut avoir beaucoup plus d’impacts sur d’autres facteurs environnementaux comme les émissions de particules fines (PM-10) et les rejets toxiques. Finalement, l’achat de l’infrastructure énergétique et de refroidissement (HVAC, CRAV, générateurs, etc.) doit être regarder de près, surtout si leur durée de vie est plus faible que la moyenne.
</p>
@@ -117,26 +115,22 @@
<figure class="img-figure"><div class="img-wrapper" style="padding-bottom: 50%"><img alt="" class="img" loading="lazy" srcset="https://gauthierroussilhe.com/img/blog-datacenter-06.jpg"></div><figcaption>Construction d'un centre de données à Clarksville, Tennessee (Google)</figcaption></figure>

<h4>Fabrication des équipements IT</h4>

<p>
Si la construction du bâtiment représente peu de l’empreinte énergétique totale, l’empreinte liée à la fabrication des ordinateurs, serveurs et autres équipements IT n’est pas à sous-estimer. <b>Elle représente généralement la majorité des impacts hors phase d’usage (sauf sur certains facteurs). Cette empreinte se situe autant sur la consommation d’eau (liée à l’extraction et traitement) que sur la consommation de ressources (métaux, etc.) et sur les autres polluants liés (arsenic, cadmium, etc.)</b>. Cette empreinte est aussi importante car le rythme de remplacement des équipements se situe généralement aux alentours des 4 à 5 ans, leur impact est donc “amorti” comptablement sur moins d’années. Les impacts environnementaux eux ne sont pas "amortis" et s'accumulent dans des régions bien précises.
</p>

<h4>Fin de vie des installations</h4>

<p>
La fin de vie des centres de données n’est pas pris en compte dans les analyses alors que cette phase peut être productice d’énormément de déchets. Décommissionner un centre de données, c’est démonter l’ensemble du parc, enlever l’infrastructure électrique, celle de refroidissement, enlever les dalles, etc. <b>À cela se rajoute le fait que la politique de redondance et de sécurité nécessite des équipements sans risques, donc on préfère remplacer plus tôt que prendre le risque de la panne</b>. Par exemple, des générateurs qui ont une durée de vie de 35 à 40 ans peuvent être <a href="https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/analysis/what-happens-mechanical-and-electrical-equipment-during-data-center-decommissioning/" rel="noopener noreferrer">décommissionné au bout de 15 ans</a> alors qu’ils n’ont quasiment jamais servi. La fin de vie de l’équipement IT doit aussi poser question au vu des durées de vie relativement faibles.
</p>

<h4>Consommation d’eau</h4>

<p>
Si la consommation d’eau est importante lors de la phase de fabrication des équipements, il y a cependant un autre paramètre à prendre en compte : la génération d’électricité. Produire de l’électricité, via une turbine à vapeur par exemple, utilise de l’eau qui va être évaporé et va donc sauter une étape dans le cycle de l’eau. Les méthodes de génération d’électricité sont donc à prendre en compte pour comprendre l’empreinte hydrique des centres de données. Les États-Unis ont une intensité hydrique de 2,18 L/kWh, la France serait aux alentours de 4 L/kWh. La différence s’explique par la plus grande proportion d’énergie nucléaire et d'hydroélectrique en France. De plus, <b>la consommation d’eau liée au refroidissement des centres de données varie largement en fonction des circuits de récupération d’eau</b>. Il est important de se concentrer sur les prélèvements d’eau sur le réseau municipal pour avoir une idée claire du poids hydrique du refroidissement. Dans un article de 2016, l’Uptime Institute estimait qu’un centre de données de 1 MW consommait 25,5 millions de litres d’eau par an (25 500 m3)<a href="#uptime-1" aria-describedby="footnote-label" id="uptime-a"></a>. Dans un rapport de 2019 pour l’ADEME, Cécile Diguet et Fanny Lopez remontaient que, d’après un opérateur américain, un centre de données de 15 MW consommerait jusqu’à 1,6 millions de litres d’eau par jour (1 600 m3)<a href="#diguet-1" aria-describedby="footnote-label" id="diguet-a"></a>. Comme nous allons le voir plus tard les besoins en eau des nouveaux data centers posent de véritables problématiques territoriales.

</p>

<h4>Consommation d’électricité</h4>

<p>
Si la focale est sur la consommation d’électricité des centres de données, il y a tout de même une subtilité à comprendre. Alors que la plupart des géants américains annoncent que leurs centres de données seront 100% énergies renouvelables, une grosse distinction est de mise sur ce 100% d’énergies renouvelables. <b>Il faut différencier deux approches pour calculer l’empreinte carbone de l’électricité : le <i>location-based</i> ou le <i>market-based</i>. Le <i>location-based</i> désigne l’intensité carbone de l’électricité physiquement consommée par le centre de données. Le <i>market-based</i> désigne l’intensité carbone de l’électricité après abattement comptable entre l’électricté consommée et l’électricité achetée via différentes mécanismes financiers</b>. Parmi ces différents mécanismes on trouve des <i>Renewable Energy Certificates</i> (RECs) qui sont généralement considérés de maigre qualité car ils ne peuvent pas prouver entièrement l’origine de l’électricité. De ce fait, les <i>Power Purchase Agreements</i> (PPAs) sont devenus plébiscités par les géants du numérique. Un PPA peut prendre plusieurs formes, il peut être direct : dans ce cas un acheteur s’engage sur plusieurs années auprès d’un producteur à acheter l’électricité physiquement fournie à ses installations. C’est le type de PPA à privilégier pour que les affirmations d’alimentation en énergies renouvelables soient crédibles. Mais il y a aussi des PPA “virtuels” ou “financiers” qui ne sont pas liés à la livraison physique d’électricité. Dans ce cas, un acheteur s’engage à investir dans la construction d’une centrale d’énergie renouvelable (solaire / vent) et d’acheter de l’électricité future à un certain tarif quand la centrale est en route. Toutefois, ces PPAs virtuels permettent de soustraire comptablement du carbone de leur bilan avant même que les centrales soient construites. Aujourd’hui les GAFAM sont les plus gros acheteurs du monde en PPAs (direct ou virtuel) et façon globale <a href="https://www.iea.org/commentaries/data-centres-and-energy-from-global-headlines-to-local-headaches" rel="noopener noreferrer">le secteur des TIC représente plus de la moitié des PPAs de 2009 à 2019</a>.
</p>
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<figure class="img-figure"><div class="img-wrapper" style="padding-bottom: 30%"><img alt="" class="img" loading="lazy" srcset="https://gauthierroussilhe.com/img/blog-datacenter-07.jpg"></div><figcaption>Affirmation d'alimentation en énergies renouvelables du centre de données Google à Eemshaven, aux Pays-bas</figcaption></figure>

<figure class="img-figure-large"><div class="img-wrapper" style="padding-bottom: 65%"><img alt="" class="img" loading="lazy" srcset="https://gauthierroussilhe.com/img/blog-datacenter-08.jpg"></div><figcaption>Descriptif de l'alimentation en électricité <i>location-based</i> du centre de données d'Eemshaven</figcaption></figure>

<h3 id="myopie">Myopie globale</h3>

<p>
Ce bref résumé de tout ce qui n’est pas compté dans les estimations globales de l’empreinte des centres de données montre qu’il manque énormément de pièces au puzzle. L’absence de données ouvertes et partagées crée une myopie qui sera à terme de plus en plus insoutenable au fur et à mesure que des centaines de centres de données sont et seront construits chaque année. <b>En échangeant avec des spécialistes des analyses de cycle de vie dans le numérique, on arrive à peu près à la même hypothèse que la phase de fabrication (bâtiment + matériel) serait aux alentours de 12 à 15% de l’empreinte totale d’un centre de données (cela est toutefois variable en fonction du mix énergétique du pays)</b>. Cela veut dire que les opérateurs peuvent intégrer autant d’énergie renouvelable qu’ils le souhaitent dans leur consommation électrique, il y aura une part intense en impacts carbone, eau, ressources liés à la construction/fabrication qu’ils pourront difficilement compresser. L’énergie utilisée dans une mine, dans le fret, dans la chaine d’approvisionnement et de production a beaucoup moins de chances d’être renouvelable et de se décarboner. De même, il est essentiel de rappeler tous les autres facteurs environnementaux qui sont complètement oubliés : biodiversité (!), particules fines, écotoxicité, … <b>Finalement, la consommation d’électricité augmente, qu’elle soit renouvelable ou non, pourtant un des objectifs prioritaires de la transition est de réduire notre consommation énergétique et notre empreinte matérielle</b>. D’une part, le problème est que la demande d’électricité très concentrée des centres de données est bloquante pour les territoires dans lesquels ils sont installées. D’autre part, <b>le recours aux énergies renouvelables pour décarboner une consommation croissante augmente drastiquement l’empreinte matérielle de tout le secteur</b>. Les énergies renouvelables populaires comme l’éolien et le solaire ont une empreinte matérielle conséquente et requièrent de nombreuses métaux. L’usage des énergies renouvelables est bien plus pertinent dans le cadre d’une décrue énergétique, pas l’inverse. Auquel cas on ne fera que décarboner la croissance énergétique mais on ne fait pas évoluer la base de nos systèmes énergétiques.
</p>
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</p>

<h3 id="vision">Vision territoriale</h3>

<p>
Comme montré précédemment la vision globale est aujourd’hui largement incomplète et continue à possiblement perpétuer une vision dématérialisée du secteur numérique. Face à ce constat, ma méthode de recherche a changé pour partir du territoire où se situe mon objet d’étude. Ce faisant, <b>je m’intéresse bien plus aux conditions matérielles du secteur, c’est-à-dire les pré-requis de matières et de flux pour qu’une installation soit construite, déployée et fonctionne</b>. J’avais déjà posé les prémices de ce retournement dans l’article de Sciences du design co-écrit avec Nicolas Nova. Notre proposition tenait à étudier le numérique à travers trois centres concentriques : matérialisation, territorialisation, terrestrialisation. Je m’attache aujourd’hui à poursuivre cette voie via certains travaux en cours comme, par exemple, <a href="http://gauthierroussilhe.com/post/chip-water-taiwan.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">la fabrication des semi-conducteurs à Taiwan et l’approvisionnement en eau</a>. La présente analyse s’inscrit aussi dans cette voie de recherche, d’autant plus que le cas des centres de données est exemplaire pour ce genre de démarches.
</p>
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<figure class="img-figure-large"><div class="img-wrapper" style="padding-bottom: 60%"><img alt="" class="img" loading="lazy" srcset="https://gauthierroussilhe.com/img/blog-datacenter-04.svg"></div><figcaption>Cadre d'analyse des "numériques situés"</figcaption></figure>

<h4>Construire et faire fonctionner un centre de données sur un territoire</h4>

<p>
Quels sont les facteurs qui influencent la localisation d’un centre de données ? Pour résumer : <b>l’accès privilégié au réseau électrique (poste source) et au réseau fibre d’internet (dorsale ou backbone) ; des risques naturels faibles (éruptions, inondations, etc.) ; l’accès à un foncier peu cher ; de l’électricité à bas prix ou à tarif privilégié ; et potentiellement l’accès à un réseau d’eau</b>. Quand un opérateur décide de s’installer dans la ville X parce qu’elle répond à ces critères alors il va traditionnellement faire une demande de permis de construire, des études préalables sur les différents points demandés (environnement, risques industriels, etc.), des demandes de travaux civils pour le câblage, une demande de réservation de puissance électrique, un demande d'approvisionnement en eau si nécessaire, et ce ne sont que quelques éléments parmi bien d’autres. Un centre de données va mettre en moyenne 2 ans à se construire ou à rénover un bâtiment existant. Les grands opérateurs de centres de données (Equinix, Interxion, GAFAM, etc.) sont généralement bien reçus par les collectivités car ils véhiculent un discours de progrès et d’innovation, amènent des retombées fiscales plus ou moins conséquentes pour la collectivité, et des promesses d’emplois plus ou moins appuyées.
</p>
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<figure class="img-figure-xxlarge"><div class="img-wrapper" style="padding-bottom: 62%"><img alt="" class="img" loading="lazy" srcset="https://gauthierroussilhe.com/img/blog-datacenter-05.jpg"></div><figcaption>Résumé des enjeux territoriaux d'un centre de données d'après la thèse de Clément Marquet, "Binaire Béton : comment les infrastructures numériques aménagent la ville"</figcaption></figure>

<h4>La réservation de puissance électrique</h4>

<p>
Dans la ville X, même si l’arrivée de l’opérateur du centre de données est bien accueillie une première difficulté peut possiblement apparaitre : l’électricité réservée au distributeur. Le réseau électrique est dispatché dans les villes parce ce qu’on appelle des postes sources gérés par le distributeur. En France, Enedis gère cette distribution jusqu’à un certain seuil, RTE s’assure de l’acheminement des très hauts voltages et des grandes demandes de puissances. Un poste source dispose d’une puissance à distribuer (en kVA ou MW) qu’il faut répartir entre résidentiel, tertiaire, industriel, transport, etc. <b>Une industrie va réserver une puissance correspondante à son pic de production et possiblement au développement futur de sa chaine de production. Les opérateurs de centres de données font de même mais dans des ordres de grandeur surprenant par rapport à leur opérations</b>. La réservation de puissance et la consommation étant opaques, il est très dur de comprendre pourquoi les opérateurs réservent autant : soit ils souhaitent occuper le terrain pour éviter une potentielle concurrence électrique, soit cela est lié à des développements futurs très importants. De plus, les opérateurs de centres de données réservent la même puissance sur deux postes sources différents afin d’avoir une ligne de secours si l’un des deux postes sources subit une panne. <b>Lorsque les réservations de puissance amènent les postes sources à bout de leur puissance disponible, le distributeur d’électricité contacte la collectivité pour l’informer de la situation, amenant parfois à la construction d’un nouveau poste source (pour plusieurs millions d’euros et en comptant 10 ans de travaux avant mise en service)</b>.
</p>
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</p>

<h4>La consommation d’eau</h4>

<p>
Les opérateurs de centres de données qui misent sur un mode de refroidissement à circuit d’eau froide doivent prélever de l’eau soit dans le réseau d’eau municipal, soit par prélèvement direct dans une nappe souterraine s’ils disposent de leur propre station de pompage. De quel ordre est le prélèvement d’eau d’un centre de données ? Comme dit précédemment, cela dépend de la localisation du centre et du climat. Un centre de données de taille moyenne en Californie consommerait jusqu’à 1 600 m3 par jour. Une partie de cette eau est évaporée et donc ne poursuit donc pas son cycle habituellement, c’est pour cela qu’on dit qu’elle est consommée. Toutefois, <b>différents types d’eau peuvent être utiliser – potable, non-potable, eaux de rejet – et surtout l’eau peut être recyclée pour être utilisée plusieurs fois dans le circuit, ce processus peut porter plusieurs termes – réclamation, recyclage, conservation</b>.
</p>
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<h3 id="approche">Que faire d’une approche territoriale</h3>

<p>
Il m’est impossible de lister un à un tous les facteurs environnementaux à prendre en compte au niveau territorial mais je renvoie à l’excellent rapport de Cécile Diguet et Fanny Lopez pour l’ADEME : “L’impact spatial et énergétique des data centers sur les territoires” et à la note récente de Lopez “Data centers: Anticipating and planning digital storage”<a href="#diguet-2" aria-describedby="footnote-label" id="diguet-b"></a>. On pourrait parler de l’occupation des sols liée aux hyperscalers qui vont au-delà des 10 000 m2. Rien qu’à Francfort les centres de données occupent 640 000 m2 et 270 000 m2 sont en projet. C’est ce type de développement agressif qui a poussé Francfort à un moratoire pour réguler le secteur (en plus de la consommation électrique et du manque d’intérêt à récupérer la chaleur fatale). <b>L’infrastructure numérique, notamment celle liée aux GAFAM et opérateurs géants, doit être planifier et réguler par les collectivités mais elle a, jusqu’à présent, bénéficié de nombreux passe-droits</b>. Un opérateur de centres de données ne pourra pas toujours obtenir le terrain, l’électricité et l’eau qu’il souhaite, il devra s’adapter aux contraintes territoriales dont il ne souhaite pas s’occuper. Pour cela, les collectivités doivent être préparées et disposer d’outils. L’obligation de l’ouverture et la centralisation des données de consommation foncière, électrique et hydrique des centres de données seraient un grand pas en avant pour planifier et réguler tout nouveau développement. À ce titre, il me semble que l’approche territoriale permettrait, si les données sont disponibles, de modifier le régime d’exception dont le secteur a bénéficié jusque là.
</p>
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<h4>Combiner les approches</h4>

<p>
Nous allons devoir continuer à suivre au mieux possible l’évolution au niveau mondial, mais je ne pense pas que cette approche puisse continuer à vivre seule ou alors elle deviendra potentiellement contre-productive. L’approche territoriale est déjà supportée par de nombreux acteurs et donc être méthodologiquement accentuée pour devenir un standard dans le rapport des données environnementales du numérique. Il ne me semble pas qu’on puisse avancer sur la question environnementale sans intégrer géographie, cartographie, sciences humaines et sociales, études de terrain locales, en somme, faire entrer le qualitatif et des périmètres restreints. <b>La prochaine pièce du puzzle méthodologique sera la connexion entre vision globale et territoriale dans un secteur qui est à la fois concentré et dilué</b>. De nombreuses années de recherche seront nécessaires pour avancer sur cette question.
</p>

<h3 id="perspectives">Perspectives</h3>

<p>
En 2020, <a href="https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/hyperscale-operator-building-reaches-150-billion-in-a-year-synergy/" rel="noopener noreferrer">150 milliards de dollars ont été investi par les géants du cloud</a>, dont la moitié pour construire des nouveaux centres de données. Les plus gros investissements sont dans l’ordre : Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, Alibaba et Tencent. <b>S’il y avait 541 hyperscalers dans le monde en juin 2020, Synergy Research Group estime maintenant qu’il y en aurait 625 aujourd'hui. Comment tous ces nouveaux centres sont installés, quel a été l’impact de leur construction, de la fabrication du matériel, quelles sont leurs demandes locales en électricité et en eau, quels sont les conflits d’usage liés à cela, est-ce que ces développements sont compatibles avec un monde à +2°C ?</b> Quid des réseaux de télécommunication et des équipements utilisateurs ? Nous n'avons ici qu’effleuré la question environnementale sur un des trois tiers techniques et comme vous le voyez, cette question est loin d’être résolue.
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<p class="pg-dropCap">It’s hard to escape the sense that we’re living through the last days of the American experiment. In Texas, an “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/02/16/setup-arctic-outbreak-niziol/">Arctic outbreak</a>” was followed by rolling blackouts that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/02/16/winter-storm-live-updates/">left much of the state without power</a> during the deadly chill, even as a raging pandemic made it dangerous to seek out crowded public shelters. Last fall, the West Coast was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/09/10/western-fires-fatalities-homes/">scorched by the biggest wildfires in its history</a> during a heat wave. “Mass-casualty” shootings take place almost every day. Meanwhile, our whole political system seems near the point of implosion, as armed mobs threaten lawmakers and politicians speak openly of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/11/mississippi-secede-election-republican/">secession</a>.</p>

<p><div class="ent-raw-container custom-html">
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<div class="author-block"> <img class="authorPhoto" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/washpost/9e51fae8-bbf0-4984-9af4-9382c3c013b2.png" width="100" height="100">
<div class="outlook-author"> <strong>Annalee Newitz</strong> is the author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Four-Lost-Cities-Secret-History/dp/0393652661">Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age</a>.” </div></div></div> <p>Paralyzed by these compounding disasters, people are starting to plan for the imminent collapse of civilization. Conspiracy theorists eagerly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/03/03/march-4-qanon-trump-inauguration/">anticipate the next coup</a> — as they did when they looked forward to a “real” inauguration in early March and as they surely will for future dates — while more mainstream pundits warn that <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/democrats-are-split-over-how-much-the-party-and-american-democracy-itself-are-in-danger/">democracy lies on its deathbed</a>. Climate activists offer <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/three-scenarios-for-the-future-of-climate-change">frightening, evidence-based arguments</a> that we’re entering an age of unprecedented natural disasters. Put another way, the stories we’re telling about our future all seem to end with apocalypse.</p> <p>The idea of civilizational collapse goes back thousands of years, but each era imagines it anew, always as a form of annihilation and erasure. In the 18th century, Edward Gibbon blamed the fall of the Roman Empire on “a deluge of Barbarians” and the erosion of civic virtue. Over a century and a half later, the influential anthropologist V. Gordon Childe coined the phrase “urban revolution” to explain the rapid rise of complex, economically stratified societies over the past several thousand years. Childe, an Australian who witnessed the Soviet revolutions from afar, believed hierarchical modern civilizations were internally unstable, doomed to be toppled by worker uprisings. These days, our collapse stories focus more often on total species extinction. Environmentalists predict <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/17/climate-change-on-track-to-cause-major-insect-wipeout-scientists-warn">ecosystem wipeouts</a> that will plunge <i>Homo sapiens</i> into deadly peril, while popular philosopher Nick Bostrom coined the term “<a href="https://www.nickbostrom.com/existential/risks.html">existential risk</a>” to describe the grave threat artificial intelligence represents for humanity.</p>
<div class="ent-ad-leaderboard ent-ad-container" etadtype="enterprise"></div> <p>But the historical record shows that reports of the end times always turned out to be wrong. “Barbarians” didn’t extinguish Rome: It still stands today, a vital and beloved city, and the cultures of its ancient empire influence populations across Europe and the Americas. Children still study Latin in school, and Silicon Valley executives quote Stoic philosophy. Elsewhere in the world, European colonialism and the slave trade left behind cultural ruins that can’t be explained away as “collapses.” They are open wounds, still smarting in the present. Over time, civilizations eventually morph into something else entirely, but they infuse future societies with their lingering traumas — as well as their hopeful ideals.</p> <p>In truth, our apocalyptic stories are far too simplistic to capture what actually happens when a society melts down. As I argue in my book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZTSFB5T?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20&amp;camp=1789&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;creativeASIN=B07ZTSFB5T">“Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age,”</a> a civilization is not a single, monolithic entity, nor does it disintegrate during a momentary crisis. Instead, as we’re witnessing in the United States today, it changes without ever breaking completely from the past. It is far from obvious that a society ever really dies.</p>
<div data-elm-loc="" class="ent-photo ent-photo-fullwidth "> <a name="TSCJ7GUSOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI"></a> <img class="unprocessed photo" src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/TmodpKD00OAk-XmC7PBX1JPumVc=/480x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TSCJ7GUSOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-hi-res-src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/7rFLmT6FZGJsLvMfVZo516sy0dI=/1484x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TSCJ7GUSOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-low-res-src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/TmodpKD00OAk-XmC7PBX1JPumVc=/480x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TSCJ7GUSOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-raw-src="https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TSCJ7GUSOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-threshold="480"> <span class="pb-caption">Visitors walk through the archaeological site of Mohenjo-Daro. Once the center of a powerful civilization, Mohenjo-Daro was one of the world's earliest cities. (Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images) </span> </div> <p class="pg-dropCap">A few years ago, Danika Parikh, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge Museums, surprised me by saying that the ancient Indus Valley civilization, which famously disappeared over 3,000 years ago, hadn’t undergone a complete collapse. Starting about 5,000 years ago, the peoples there built a number of breathtaking cities connected by rivers. The best known of these cities are called Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, known for their elaborate plumbing systems and enormous public buildings. But these cities were simply the largest in a vast urban and agricultural network that sheltered millions of people. Archaeologists working in far-flung Mesopotamian cities have found caches of etched carnelian beads manufactured at Harappa, likely sold by Indus expats living in ethnic enclaves there.</p> <p>Then, over a period of a few centuries, the Indus Valley rivers began to change course and dry up. Millions of people who once lived on its fertile lands abandoned their cities, never to return.</p> <p>I couldn’t understand why Parikh didn’t view that as a collapse. She said that some archaeologists prefer to call it a transition, because it’s not as if the Indus civilization peoples suffered mass deaths after they left cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Rural Indus communities, whose villages she has explored, sometimes didn’t move very far at all. Their cultures changed, and many settlements got smaller, but the process was an ambiguous combination of loss and continuity. Over thousands of years, new migrants came to the area and settled down with the descendants of the Indus, building a dramatically different civilization that is arguably just as influential as the one that dominated the ancient world’s brisk trade in beads. The transformation was profound, but there’s evidence of continuity too. As <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/09/genome-nearly-5000-year-old-woman-links-modern-indians-ancient-civilization">recent DNA tests on the 5,000-year-old remains of a woman from the Indus civilization reveal</a>, some of its people are among the ancestors of today’s South Asian populations.</p> <p>It makes little sense to speak of collapse when evidence shows that people from the Indus civilization kept tilling the earth as they had done for centuries, their civilization evolving and hybridizing with other cultures where modern India and Pakistan stand today. In the long view, these complex civilizational shifts, as Parikh prefers to call them, are just eddies in a much larger current bearing our cultures into the present.</p>
<div class="ent-ad-leaderboard ent-ad-container" etadtype="enterprise"></div> <p>One of the most famous collapse stories in history comes out of the Khmer Empire that ruled vast parts of Southeast Asia over a millennium ago. Angkor, its capital, was home to nearly a million people who built a sprawling metropolis in what is known today as Cambodia. Tropical cities like Angkor incorporated vast farmlands within regions of dense habitation, fed by sophisticated networks of human-made canals and reservoirs. And yet the Khmer Empire, which once encompassed Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, eventually dwindled to the regions surrounding Angkor. By the time western explorers visited the crumbling palaces, the population had shrunk to a few hundred monks who tended what remained of the temples in the city center.</p> <p>Perhaps inspired by Gibbon’s thesis, 19th century European archaeologists argued that Angkor perished when it was invaded by the neighboring kingdom of Ayutthaya in 1431, around the same time that Angkor’s ruling elites fled south to Phnom Penh. It was a classic “decline and fall” parable, complete with dissipated leadership and barbarian hordes at the gates. But modern archaeologists working in Cambodia have uncovered a very different timeline of events: Angkor sits at the nexus of two monsoon systems which can cause extreme weather even at the best of times. There is evidence that the city’s infrastructure was wrecked in the early 15th century by two major flood events, interspersed with long droughts. Previously, the city had withstood the onslaught of storms because its kings commanded armies of laborers to dig silt out of its canals, which shored up reservoir walls and kept the city’s farms irrigated during dry seasons. But that labor system broke down at roughly the same time the city did.</p> <p>The Khmer king and local leaders maintained cities through a system called debt slavery, where their subjects worked without financial compensation in exchange for various non-monetary rewards: food, housing, hospitals and more. It was an elaborate dance of coercion and persuasion that ultimately depended on workers wanting to live in Angkor. When the city began to fall apart, the promise of housing lost its lure — why give free labor to live in a flooded mess? Torn apart by internal conflict, the government also didn’t have the means to force people to stay against their will. Workers began to drift away. Instead of giving workers fresh incentives to sustain the city, the royal family fled.</p> <p>Still, people continued to live there for decades, recycling stones from fancy temples to repair a bridge and tending to their farms. Eventually, the city was overtaken by jungle and agricultural lands. Urbanites moved on to other cities or settled in nearby villages. But the Khmer culture never disappeared. People from all over Asia continued to make pilgrimages to Angkor’s great temples; and Theravada Buddhism, which has deep roots in the Khmer Empire, is still practiced in Cambodia today. Now visited by millions of tourists every year, Angkor remains an inspirational ideal in southeast Asian culture, just as classical Rome does in the West.</p>
<div data-elm-loc="" class="ent-photo ent-photo-fullwidth "> <a name="WY3A6PESOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI"></a> <img class="unprocessed photo" src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/tiZa-69gmWViu9sJklo0eUUzzEE=/480x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/WY3A6PESOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-hi-res-src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/eeu1j8QD8PNGZTDT5rk8_wq6aJg=/1484x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/WY3A6PESOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-low-res-src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/tiZa-69gmWViu9sJklo0eUUzzEE=/480x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/WY3A6PESOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-raw-src="https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/WY3A6PESOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-threshold="480"> <span class="pb-caption">An aerial view of an Angkor Wat. Now visited by millions of tourists every year, Angkor remains an inspirational ideal in southeast Asian culture, just as classical Rome does in the West. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images) </span> </div> <p class="pg-dropCap">This suggests that we need a new definition of civilization, one that isn’t constructed around the story of a recognizable “decline and fall,” but instead follows the multilayered plot twists and transformations that shape any complex society. That conclusion is especially obvious when we consider indigenous civilizations in the Americas, which remain vital despite European settlers’ efforts to erase them — and the tendency of those settlers’ descendants to speak of them as if they were simply gone. Today, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/25/us/indigenous-people-reclaiming-their-lands-trnd/index.html">lawmakers and courts are coming to recognize</a>, indigenous nations have not collapsed, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/09/889562040/supreme-court-rules-that-about-half-of-oklahoma-is-indian-land">their claims to land in places like Oklahoma are legitimate</a>.</p>
<div class="ent-ad-leaderboard ent-ad-container" etadtype="enterprise"></div> <p>Activist Julian Brave NoiseCat, a member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen, told me that he thinks indigenous tribes and nations already live in a post-apocalyptic world. They were nearly wiped out by the violence and disease brought by foreign invaders — but they survived. And that’s in part why he has thrown himself into the process of rebuilding the nation to be more resilient. As a strategist at Washington, D.C., think tank Data for Progress, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/20/joe-biden-has-endorsed-the-green-new-deal-in-all-but-name">he advised the task force</a> crafting the Green New Deal, a program that pushes back against the narrative of collapse. It is a policy objective, yes, but also an aspirational tale of renewal, sustainability, and justice. One could make the same point about voting rights legislation, which is also aimed at renewing the nation’s commitment to the ongoing survival and dignity of African Americans whose ancestral civilizations were torn from them hundreds of years ago.</p> <p>The idea of collapse is appealing because it allows us to handwave away the political reality of how civilizations transform. Sometimes cultures are abandoned at gunpoint, as they were in many parts of the Americas. Sometimes a culture changes over thousands of years the way the Indus Valley civilization did, slowly evolving from urban to rural to urban again. Still, it doesn’t disappear. Its tribulations, failures and successes remain with us. And that means we aren’t headed into doom, but change — and we, the people, will survive. By working together to include as many people as possible in our democratic process, we can guide that transformation and hopefully do things better this time.</p> </p>
<div class="outlook-author"> <strong>Annalee Newitz</strong> is the author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Four-Lost-Cities-Secret-History/dp/0393652661">Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age</a>.” </div></div></div>
<p>Paralyzed by these compounding disasters, people are starting to plan for the imminent collapse of civilization. Conspiracy theorists eagerly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/03/03/march-4-qanon-trump-inauguration/">anticipate the next coup</a> — as they did when they looked forward to a “real” inauguration in early March and as they surely will for future dates — while more mainstream pundits warn that <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/democrats-are-split-over-how-much-the-party-and-american-democracy-itself-are-in-danger/">democracy lies on its deathbed</a>. Climate activists offer <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/three-scenarios-for-the-future-of-climate-change">frightening, evidence-based arguments</a> that we’re entering an age of unprecedented natural disasters. Put another way, the stories we’re telling about our future all seem to end with apocalypse.</p>
<p>The idea of civilizational collapse goes back thousands of years, but each era imagines it anew, always as a form of annihilation and erasure. In the 18th century, Edward Gibbon blamed the fall of the Roman Empire on “a deluge of Barbarians” and the erosion of civic virtue. Over a century and a half later, the influential anthropologist V. Gordon Childe coined the phrase “urban revolution” to explain the rapid rise of complex, economically stratified societies over the past several thousand years. Childe, an Australian who witnessed the Soviet revolutions from afar, believed hierarchical modern civilizations were internally unstable, doomed to be toppled by worker uprisings. These days, our collapse stories focus more often on total species extinction. Environmentalists predict <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/17/climate-change-on-track-to-cause-major-insect-wipeout-scientists-warn">ecosystem wipeouts</a> that will plunge <i>Homo sapiens</i> into deadly peril, while popular philosopher Nick Bostrom coined the term “<a href="https://www.nickbostrom.com/existential/risks.html">existential risk</a>” to describe the grave threat artificial intelligence represents for humanity.</p>
<div class="ent-ad-leaderboard ent-ad-container" etadtype="enterprise"></div>
<p>But the historical record shows that reports of the end times always turned out to be wrong. “Barbarians” didn’t extinguish Rome: It still stands today, a vital and beloved city, and the cultures of its ancient empire influence populations across Europe and the Americas. Children still study Latin in school, and Silicon Valley executives quote Stoic philosophy. Elsewhere in the world, European colonialism and the slave trade left behind cultural ruins that can’t be explained away as “collapses.” They are open wounds, still smarting in the present. Over time, civilizations eventually morph into something else entirely, but they infuse future societies with their lingering traumas — as well as their hopeful ideals.</p>
<p>In truth, our apocalyptic stories are far too simplistic to capture what actually happens when a society melts down. As I argue in my book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZTSFB5T?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20&amp;camp=1789&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;creativeASIN=B07ZTSFB5T">“Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age,”</a> a civilization is not a single, monolithic entity, nor does it disintegrate during a momentary crisis. Instead, as we’re witnessing in the United States today, it changes without ever breaking completely from the past. It is far from obvious that a society ever really dies.</p>
<div data-elm-loc="" class="ent-photo ent-photo-fullwidth "> <a name="TSCJ7GUSOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI"></a> <img class="unprocessed photo" src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/TmodpKD00OAk-XmC7PBX1JPumVc=/480x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TSCJ7GUSOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-hi-res-src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/7rFLmT6FZGJsLvMfVZo516sy0dI=/1484x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TSCJ7GUSOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-low-res-src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/TmodpKD00OAk-XmC7PBX1JPumVc=/480x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TSCJ7GUSOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-raw-src="https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TSCJ7GUSOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-threshold="480"> <span class="pb-caption">Visitors walk through the archaeological site of Mohenjo-Daro. Once the center of a powerful civilization, Mohenjo-Daro was one of the world's earliest cities. (Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images) </span> </div>
<p class="pg-dropCap">A few years ago, Danika Parikh, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge Museums, surprised me by saying that the ancient Indus Valley civilization, which famously disappeared over 3,000 years ago, hadn’t undergone a complete collapse. Starting about 5,000 years ago, the peoples there built a number of breathtaking cities connected by rivers. The best known of these cities are called Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, known for their elaborate plumbing systems and enormous public buildings. But these cities were simply the largest in a vast urban and agricultural network that sheltered millions of people. Archaeologists working in far-flung Mesopotamian cities have found caches of etched carnelian beads manufactured at Harappa, likely sold by Indus expats living in ethnic enclaves there.</p>
<p>Then, over a period of a few centuries, the Indus Valley rivers began to change course and dry up. Millions of people who once lived on its fertile lands abandoned their cities, never to return.</p>
<p>I couldn’t understand why Parikh didn’t view that as a collapse. She said that some archaeologists prefer to call it a transition, because it’s not as if the Indus civilization peoples suffered mass deaths after they left cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Rural Indus communities, whose villages she has explored, sometimes didn’t move very far at all. Their cultures changed, and many settlements got smaller, but the process was an ambiguous combination of loss and continuity. Over thousands of years, new migrants came to the area and settled down with the descendants of the Indus, building a dramatically different civilization that is arguably just as influential as the one that dominated the ancient world’s brisk trade in beads. The transformation was profound, but there’s evidence of continuity too. As <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/09/genome-nearly-5000-year-old-woman-links-modern-indians-ancient-civilization">recent DNA tests on the 5,000-year-old remains of a woman from the Indus civilization reveal</a>, some of its people are among the ancestors of today’s South Asian populations.</p>
<p>It makes little sense to speak of collapse when evidence shows that people from the Indus civilization kept tilling the earth as they had done for centuries, their civilization evolving and hybridizing with other cultures where modern India and Pakistan stand today. In the long view, these complex civilizational shifts, as Parikh prefers to call them, are just eddies in a much larger current bearing our cultures into the present.</p>
<div class="ent-ad-leaderboard ent-ad-container" etadtype="enterprise"></div>
<p>One of the most famous collapse stories in history comes out of the Khmer Empire that ruled vast parts of Southeast Asia over a millennium ago. Angkor, its capital, was home to nearly a million people who built a sprawling metropolis in what is known today as Cambodia. Tropical cities like Angkor incorporated vast farmlands within regions of dense habitation, fed by sophisticated networks of human-made canals and reservoirs. And yet the Khmer Empire, which once encompassed Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, eventually dwindled to the regions surrounding Angkor. By the time western explorers visited the crumbling palaces, the population had shrunk to a few hundred monks who tended what remained of the temples in the city center.</p>
<p>Perhaps inspired by Gibbon’s thesis, 19th century European archaeologists argued that Angkor perished when it was invaded by the neighboring kingdom of Ayutthaya in 1431, around the same time that Angkor’s ruling elites fled south to Phnom Penh. It was a classic “decline and fall” parable, complete with dissipated leadership and barbarian hordes at the gates. But modern archaeologists working in Cambodia have uncovered a very different timeline of events: Angkor sits at the nexus of two monsoon systems which can cause extreme weather even at the best of times. There is evidence that the city’s infrastructure was wrecked in the early 15th century by two major flood events, interspersed with long droughts. Previously, the city had withstood the onslaught of storms because its kings commanded armies of laborers to dig silt out of its canals, which shored up reservoir walls and kept the city’s farms irrigated during dry seasons. But that labor system broke down at roughly the same time the city did.</p>
<p>The Khmer king and local leaders maintained cities through a system called debt slavery, where their subjects worked without financial compensation in exchange for various non-monetary rewards: food, housing, hospitals and more. It was an elaborate dance of coercion and persuasion that ultimately depended on workers wanting to live in Angkor. When the city began to fall apart, the promise of housing lost its lure — why give free labor to live in a flooded mess? Torn apart by internal conflict, the government also didn’t have the means to force people to stay against their will. Workers began to drift away. Instead of giving workers fresh incentives to sustain the city, the royal family fled.</p>
<p>Still, people continued to live there for decades, recycling stones from fancy temples to repair a bridge and tending to their farms. Eventually, the city was overtaken by jungle and agricultural lands. Urbanites moved on to other cities or settled in nearby villages. But the Khmer culture never disappeared. People from all over Asia continued to make pilgrimages to Angkor’s great temples; and Theravada Buddhism, which has deep roots in the Khmer Empire, is still practiced in Cambodia today. Now visited by millions of tourists every year, Angkor remains an inspirational ideal in southeast Asian culture, just as classical Rome does in the West.</p>
<div data-elm-loc="" class="ent-photo ent-photo-fullwidth "> <a name="WY3A6PESOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI"></a> <img class="unprocessed photo" src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/tiZa-69gmWViu9sJklo0eUUzzEE=/480x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/WY3A6PESOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-hi-res-src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/eeu1j8QD8PNGZTDT5rk8_wq6aJg=/1484x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/WY3A6PESOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-low-res-src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/tiZa-69gmWViu9sJklo0eUUzzEE=/480x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/WY3A6PESOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-raw-src="https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/WY3A6PESOAI6XKW4V54HAGRQZI.jpg" data-threshold="480"> <span class="pb-caption">An aerial view of an Angkor Wat. Now visited by millions of tourists every year, Angkor remains an inspirational ideal in southeast Asian culture, just as classical Rome does in the West. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images) </span> </div>
<p class="pg-dropCap">This suggests that we need a new definition of civilization, one that isn’t constructed around the story of a recognizable “decline and fall,” but instead follows the multilayered plot twists and transformations that shape any complex society. That conclusion is especially obvious when we consider indigenous civilizations in the Americas, which remain vital despite European settlers’ efforts to erase them — and the tendency of those settlers’ descendants to speak of them as if they were simply gone. Today, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/25/us/indigenous-people-reclaiming-their-lands-trnd/index.html">lawmakers and courts are coming to recognize</a>, indigenous nations have not collapsed, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/09/889562040/supreme-court-rules-that-about-half-of-oklahoma-is-indian-land">their claims to land in places like Oklahoma are legitimate</a>.</p>
<div class="ent-ad-leaderboard ent-ad-container" etadtype="enterprise"></div>
<p>Activist Julian Brave NoiseCat, a member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen, told me that he thinks indigenous tribes and nations already live in a post-apocalyptic world. They were nearly wiped out by the violence and disease brought by foreign invaders — but they survived. And that’s in part why he has thrown himself into the process of rebuilding the nation to be more resilient. As a strategist at Washington, D.C., think tank Data for Progress, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/20/joe-biden-has-endorsed-the-green-new-deal-in-all-but-name">he advised the task force</a> crafting the Green New Deal, a program that pushes back against the narrative of collapse. It is a policy objective, yes, but also an aspirational tale of renewal, sustainability, and justice. One could make the same point about voting rights legislation, which is also aimed at renewing the nation’s commitment to the ongoing survival and dignity of African Americans whose ancestral civilizations were torn from them hundreds of years ago.</p>
<p>The idea of collapse is appealing because it allows us to handwave away the political reality of how civilizations transform. Sometimes cultures are abandoned at gunpoint, as they were in many parts of the Americas. Sometimes a culture changes over thousands of years the way the Indus Valley civilization did, slowly evolving from urban to rural to urban again. Still, it doesn’t disappear. Its tribulations, failures and successes remain with us. And that means we aren’t headed into doom, but change — and we, the people, will survive. By working together to include as many people as possible in our democratic process, we can guide that transformation and hopefully do things better this time.</p>
</article>



+ 1
- 1
cache/2021/6514143dca5d96bf9e751236b800fba5/index.html View File

@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@

<p><em>Part two,</em> <a href="https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/crossover-project/we-are-not-special/">We Are Not Special</a>, <em>is available <a href="https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/crossover-project/we-are-not-special/">here</a>. If you enjoyed these essays, I have a <a href="https://buttondown.email/hillelwayne/">weekly newsletter</a> and am on <a href="https://twitter.com/hillelogram">Twitter</a>.</em></p>

<p><em>Thanks to
<p><em>Thanks to

Glenn Vanderburg


+ 20
- 21
cache/2021/66ef8e7fa0942fc975723f7df4d932e9/index.html View File

@@ -91,13 +91,13 @@ known as Tozinameran <a href="https://twitter.com/PowerDNS_Bert/status/134210913
Comirnaty</a>.</p>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/bnt162b2.png" alt="First 500 characters of the BNT162b2 mRNA. Source: World Health Organization"> <figcaption>
<p>First 500 characters of the BNT162b2 mRNA. Source: <a href="https://mednet-communities.net/inn/db/media/docs/11889.doc" target="_blank">World Health Organization</a></p>
</figcaption>
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<p>The BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine has this digital code at its heart. It is 4284
characters long, so it would fit in a bunch of tweets. At the very
@@ -106,13 +106,13 @@ DNA printer (yes), which then converted the bytes on disk to actual DNA
molecules.</p>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/bioxp-3200.jpg" alt="A Codex DNA BioXp 3200 DNA printer"> <figcaption>
<p>A <a href="https://codexdna.com/products/bioxp-system/" target="_blank">Codex DNA</a> BioXp 3200 DNA printer</p>
</figcaption>
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<p>Out of such a machine come tiny amounts of DNA, which after a lot of
biological and chemical processing end up as RNA (more about which later) in
@@ -210,11 +210,11 @@ to start</a>. The WHO document has this
helpful picture:</p>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/vaccine-toc.png">
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<p>This is a sort of table of contents. We’ll start with the ‘cap’, actually
depicted as a little hat.</p>
@@ -314,12 +314,11 @@ proteins. It ingests a strand of RNA and based on that it emits a string of
amino acids, which then fold into a protein.</p>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<video controls loop>
<source src="/articles/protein-short.mp4" type="video/mp4">
</source></video>
<br>
<p><br>
Source: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Protein_translation.gif" target="_blank">Wikipedia user Bensaccount</a>
</center></p>
<p>This is what we see happening above. The black ribbon at the bottom is RNA.
@@ -386,13 +385,13 @@ amino acids. This means that multiple codons encode for the same amino acid.</p>
amino acids:</p>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/rna-codon-table.png" alt="The RNA codon table (Wikipedia)"> <figcaption>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_and_RNA_codon_tables" target="_blank">The RNA codon table</a> (Wikipedia)</p>
</figcaption>
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<p>In this table, we can see that the modifications in the vaccine (UUU -&gt;
UUC) are all <em>synonymous</em>. The vaccine RNA code is different, but the same
@@ -463,13 +462,13 @@ enormously</strong>.</p>
can see the Spike protein as, well, a bunch of spikes:</p>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/sars-em.jpg" alt="SARS virus particles (Wikipedia)"> <figcaption>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus" target="_blank">SARS virus particles</a> (Wikipedia)</p>
</figcaption>
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<p>The spikes are mounted on the virus body (‘the nucleocapsid protein’). But
the thing is, our vaccine is only generating the spikes itself, and we’re
@@ -544,11 +543,11 @@ mRNA and the mitochondrial encoded 12S ribosomal RNA to confer RNA stability
and high total protein expression”. To which I say, well done.</p>

<p></p>

<p><center>
<p><center></p>
<figure>
<img src="/articles/vaccine.jpg">
</figure></p>
</figure>

<p></center></p>
<h2 id="the-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-end-of-it-all">The AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA end of it all</h2>


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<img src="https://www.la-grange.net/2021/02/21/0323-arbre-ombre.jpg" alt="Ombre d'un arbre">
<figcaption>Tsujido, Japon, 21 février 2021</figcaption>
</figure>

<blockquote>
<p>Je pars et ne sais<br>
où vont me porter mes pas<br>
@@ -84,11 +83,8 @@ de la sorte dans le ciel<br>
va s'en aller au hasard<br>
— Le dit de Heichu - anonyme, urn:isbn:978-2-86432-738-7</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Sur le mur, l'ombre d'un arbre. Sur le chemin du retour, le reste des heures pour m'en souvenir.</p>

<h2>sur le bord du chemin</h2>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://ricaud.me/blog/">Anthony</a> partage cette <a href="https://world.hey.com/jason/hey-world-b02a6f2e">solution de blog par email</a>. Cela existe déjà bien sûr sur d'<a href="https://wordpress.com/support/post-by-email/">autres plateformes</a>. Je suis un fan du « email to blog. » Mais surtout j'aimerais que mail.app soit mon client de blog posts. Commencer son <a href="https://github.com/ramcandrews/email.blog">mail en draft dans un dossier imap</a> afin de pouvoir le modifier à loisir afin de le publier plus tard selon un certain critère. Pourquoi pas un mot clé dans le titre.</p>
</li>

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<hr>
<p>In 2011, Stanford researchers Paul Thibodeau and Lera Boroditsky <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/is-crime-a-virus-or-a-beast-how-metaphors-shape-our-thoughts-and-decisions">published research</a> that showed how the way we talk about crime changes our ideas about what to do about it. They asked two groups of students to read reports about crime in their area - one using a metaphor of crime as a ‘beast’ that was rampaging through the neighbourhood, and one describing crime as a ‘virus’ that had to be stopped. Their research showed that students shown the ‘virus’ metaphor were more likely to favour policy that looked at the root causes of crime, such as social deprivation, whilst students who read the ‘beast’ metaphor story favoured enforcement policies.</p>

<p>In <a href="https://storythings.com">my day job</a>, we spend a lot of time thinking about the metaphors we use to help shape people’s understanding of complex issues, and hopefully drive change. In fact, I know about the study above from a podcast we produced a few years ago called <em><a href="https://diffusion.network/2019/06/02/episode-01-a-paintbrush-is-a-pump/">This Will Change Your Mind</a></em>, looking at how the ideas that shape public thinking are developed and adopted. In <a href="https://diffusion.network/2019/06/10/episode-02-not-actually-a-hole/">my favourite episode</a>, the hosts try and find out how the phrase ‘hole in the ozone layer’ emerged, a particularly successful climate metaphor that drove global efforts to cut CFC emissions.</p>

<p>It’s an odd metaphor, as there isn’t really an ozone layer, and the hole wasn’t really a hole, but the metaphor caught on with scientists, policy makers and the public. One of the reasons for its success might have been the visceral image of a hole in the earth’s atmosphere, and the associations of breached defences that created. This was the era of early video games like Space Invaders and Missile Command, where the player had to defend the earth by stopping alien attacks raining down. I was a kid in the 80s, and the hole in the ozone layer felt as terrifying as these pixellated invaders.</p>

<p><hr></p>

<p>Back in the early 2000s, I was working at the BBC on a project to imagine what the organisation would do with our user’s personal data. At the time, there were only a few websites that asked you to create personal accounts, and most of the data we captured was relatively anonymous server logs. I developed a <a href="https://test.org.uk/2007/05/04/a-manifesto-for-data-literacy/">list of principles</a> that I thought should inform the BBC’s approach to managing user data, and commissioned a <a href="https://www.liveworkstudio.com">service design agency</a> to develop prototypes of what this might look like as products or services.</p>

<p>I was then asked to present this to the BBC’s executive committee, and gave probably the worst presentation of my life. It didn’t help that I started the presentation by explaining that this work might be important in a ‘post licence fee world’, before being softly chided by then Director General Mark Thompson that this wasn’t the place to discuss that kind of idea.</p>

<p>But more than that gaffe, I think the biggest problem was that I couldn’t really describe what personal data actually <em>was</em>. Not in a technical sense - the BBC ExCo in the mid-2000s wasn’t very technically savvy anyway - but as something that <em>mattered</em>, and was important to a vision of what public media could do in this new century. I had lots of fine statements about what we could do with data, and how it could bring value to our audiences, but the thing itself was immaterial, a poltergeist only visible through the things it moved.</p>

<p>Over the next decade, the most dominant metaphor for personal data ended up being ‘<a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2017/05/06/the-worlds-most-valuable-resource-is-no-longer-oil-but-data">oil</a>’. As the platform giants of Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple built empires of products and services that tracked our every activity, data has been discussed as a vast, untapped resource, ideal for extraction and processing into cold, hard cash.</p>

<p>But in the last few years, there has been a backlash against this extractive metaphor. In 2018 Cory Doctorow described Facebook’s data as an empire of low quality ‘<a href="https://locusmag.com/2018/07/cory-doctorow-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/">oily rags</a>’, recasting the metaphor to one of industrial waste, not liquid gold. In a <a href="https://twitter.com/DigitalEU/status/1390660489261330440">recent speech</a>, EU Vice President Margrethe Vestager tried to reposition data as a ‘reusable resource’, a more ecological metaphor that suggests ways of extracting value that doesn’t pollute the public sphere.</p>

<p>All these metaphors imagine public data as a huge, passive, untapped resources - lakes of stuff that only has value when it is extracted and processed. But this framing completely removes the individual agency that created the stuff in the first place. Oil is formed by millions of years of compression and chemical transformation of algae and tiny marine animals (<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z27thyc/revision/1">sorry, not dinosaurs</a>). Data is created in real time, as we click and swipe around the internet. The metaphor might work in an economic sense, but it fails to describe what data is as a material. It’s not oil, it’s <em>people</em>. </p>

<p><hr></p>

<p>At the moment the big platforms and governments are ramping up the battle over our personal data - <a href="https://whyisthisinteresting.substack.com/p/the-apple-att-edition?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxNjMsInBvc3RfaWQiOjM0OTMxMjk4LCJfIjoiVGlXUkMiLCJpYXQiOjE2MjEwOTM3ODUsImV4cCI6MTYyMTA5NzM4NSwiaXNzIjoicHViLTcwMDAiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.2zQKhes6JmkNlPLp5YuQHWv5b-xBZw16zjTRtyohhck">who can collect it</a>, <a href="https://gdpr.eu">what they can do with it</a>, and <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/markscott82/status/1393203850560032770">where they can send it</a>. But this is happening at a level far above our individual experience of data. The battle rages above us, like the missiles and aliens in the video games of my 80s youth.</p>

<p>The discussions around data policy still feel like they are framing data as oil - as a vast, passive resource that either needs to be exploited or protected. But this data isn’t dead fish from millions of years ago - it’s the thoughts, emotions and behaviours of over a third of the world’s population, the largest record of human thought and activity ever collected. It’s not oil, it’s history. It’s people. It’s <em>us</em>.</p>

<p>If you’ve been on the internet for a while - let’s say 5-10 years - you’ve probably felt the visceral kick of seeing someone or something in your data history that caused you pain. It could be Facebook’s ‘on this day’ feature sending you a memory of a traumatic event, or scrolling through your photo library to find a photo of a deceased relative or friend. Or it could be a moment of joy - the online store where you bough a much loved item of clothing, or that perfect gift for a friend.</p>

<p>After a year of lockdown, seeing reminders of life before the pandemic in our camera rolls and social media updates has felt especially melancholic. Groups of us cramming together in a bar or park to get into the shot, or hugging each other at a football game. That intimacy is what our personal data records, an intimacy that seems doubly ironic when it is played back to us, isolated in our homes, through the same devices we’ve relied on to connect us during the lockdown. </p>

<p>This is not a passive archive - these are records of how we live now, and how people live in our memories. They can be recalled with a touch, and brought back to life, even if they are bittersweet memories. We need metaphors for data that capture the agency and visceral emotions that our personal data can generate. Metaphors that link it directly into our lives and relationships, that help us recognise that this is <em>us</em> - <em>we’re</em> the ones being traded and sold and stored and analysed and processed.</p>

<p>Perhaps then we’d understand how we can handle this data in a more responsible way. A metaphor that puts our personal experience at the forefront will help us find out where to draw lines in how our lives are stored and processed, and to understand that the lines will need to be different for different people. I don’t know what the right metaphor is - memory and history are the concepts I’ve been mulling over, but they have already been used in computing in ways that blur and dull them.</p>

<p>Maybe we should be very explicit, and refer to data as our <em>lives</em>. Imagine if a service had to ask you permission to ‘track your life’ or ‘share information about your life with other providers’. Already that feels grittier, more visceral, than just ‘data’.</p>

<p>We urgently need to come up with metaphors like this, that bring the discussion over data down from the skies above us and locate it in the minutiae of our everyday lives. Because that, after all, is what this data actually is.</p>
</article>


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<hr>
<blockquote><p><em>Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, “Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good–”</em></p><p><em>At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp-post, the lamp-post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmediaeval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled the lamp-post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp-post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes.</em></p><p><em>So, gradually and inevitably, to-day, to-morrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light. Only what we might have discussed under the gas-lamp, we now must discuss in the dark. </em></p><p><em>—G.K. Chesterton, 1905</em></p></blockquote>

<p></p>

<h5>Disquiet</h5>

<p>We are in the dark corner of the pub together. We have been here for some time. Out of my coat I produce a pile of old photographs. Something to show you. They are a gift from the past, together we will look, I will tell what comes to mind. Do not be gloomy, simply remember that history happens only once, it never repeats.</p>

<p>But much is born out of simple fact: that which is unique, breaks.</p>

<p>Some years ago a nearby city built a plaza. It is wholly unremarkable: No one lingers there, no one brings food or a book. Children do not play there. If a public space is never used, why did we make it? The question returns an echo: If we are richer today, why are we not <em>routinely</em> surpassing the shared spaces we were able to create one hundred years ago?</p>

<p>What did a person photographing such a park imagine about the beauty of our parks, one hundred years hence? What do we imagine about the beauty of our public spaces one hundred years from today? Maybe the echo is closer: Do we engage in the act of imagining public spaces at all? Somebody had to once, for this park was not an accident.</p>

<p>Love and effort create magnificent places. Genius inhabits them. People go to them because they know such places and landscapes offer consolation of the soul, and the soul is not fooled by substitutes. We let those places turn our moods, we want them to, they do so easily. Today it is not always hard to find such places, but why is it difficult to make new ones?</p>

<p>Was this a great work of public art? Or was it simply proper and fitting for a public fountain? Did they vote on it? Did the public complain about the expense? How did it come to be? What about this one?</p>

<p>The details here are not trivial additions: If we were so poor, after all we had to fetch fresh water by hand, why did we take the expense to build these so beautifully? We must have known something then that we no longer know. What was it? Who made them? Was it a committee? Decree? Did an impulse of the soul build these things? Where did that impulse go?</p>

<p>Something odd happened. I think today we do not know <em>how </em>to go about building a water fountain. What we know is how to build one thousand water fountains. But not how to build one. (I pray you understand that this is not a thought about water fountains.)</p>

<h5>Commoditization</h5>

<p>Some of the answer lies here, with commoditization.</p>

<p>Commodity: interchangeable goods within their category, such a bar of copper, barrel of oil, or sack of coffee of agreed-upon quality. It does not matter who made the copper bar, only that it is 99.9% pure. The word comes from the Latin <em>commodus</em>: suitability, convenience. Commodities improve trade. Interchangeability improves trade and allows for replaceable parts, standardization, and scale.</p>

<p>These are improvements, but the urge to commoditize <em>alone </em>improves a seen monetary cost at the expense of the unseen. We must not think it comes free of charge.</p>

<p>That which is unique, breaks. When finished objects become commodities they break too, but they are easily replaced. When you break a chair, you buy another chair. We know well how to make one thousand chairs. They sit in boxes, lining the warehouses, ready for two-day shipping.</p>

<p>But when the unique breaks, we might mend.</p>

<p>To learn the skill of mending is to also gain unconsciously the skill of building, to understand the very urge to build. If we never mend, we not only risk building less but building in perverse ways.</p>

<p>To mend is to comprehend a human scale problem, and without this understanding our creations become strange creatures. We see this in the common examples of our time, from architecture to websites: Things used daily that, inexplicably, do not seem to be invented for human use. In the case of housing, bad architecture treats a human-scale environment as if it were a commodity-scale problem. The creators of some places see inhabitants not as humans but parameters. I do not need to spoil your view with visions of this architecture, I only wonder, what have their creators ever repaired?</p>

<p>~ ~ ~</p>

<p>When the unique is created, it also creates the creator.</p>

<p>The more finished goods become commodities, the fewer opportunities an individual has to generate new creation. The ability to mass-produce removes the opportunity for the great many to learn to produce at all. From such a thought, a future full of consumption-only hobbies might come as no surprise.</p>

<p>If you commoditize toys, you remove the toymaker. If you remove the toymaker, the toy is only an object of consumption. It ceases to be an object of wonder.</p>

<p>The hands that build the ship have knowledge that cannot be fully spoken, only taught by other hands. Each pair of hands must find another pair to learn from, and no pair of hands are the same. The injection-mold and metal die machines can make one thousand toys each minute, but they have no hands, they cannot teach. Will the operators of the machines be able to design the next machine, as the child who watches the toymaker might design the next toy? I worry. I hope you understand.</p>

<p>~ ~ ~</p>

<p>That which is unique, breaks. It must be cultivated. It is one thing to care for a magnificent garden, but another entirely to plan for a new one.</p>

<p>Something worrisome: The more things become commodities, the more we start to treat places and people like commodities, too. But I am an optimist, I think we are only in the early hours of understanding the techniques we have created. Technology is a wild horse, we have learned to harness it, but not master it. The results run amok: Our new creations trample the beauty of places and things because we have yet to incorporate our love of craft. And so this initial commodification comes to us at the expense of all things divine, and it causes the sacred to leave art, as it leaves things and places too. But we avoid the ugly park and travel to the beautiful park. The divine is still within people, and will not leave.</p>

<p>People and places and things are not as different from each other as we were lead to believe. We exist together in an ecology. Unique places form unique people, who create unique works. These may be fragile, it is up to us to value them or not, but in history they have been our collective pride. I think if we have another renaissance, think for a moment of what the word means, it will be a rediscovery of the beauty of these things. I will speak of this to you again another day.</p>

<p>Remember: History happens only once. There is no reason things must remain or return to any particular state. We are always free to find our own values. But what will it take to value the ecology that fosters the unique, the creations that made some places and things so special that we call them works of art, or travel across the world just to see them?</p>

<p>There is a tale: Two oak trees sit at the edge of the forest. One is sound and hale, taller than all others, with prosperous limbs, the forest’s pride. The other is old and harboring sickness, rotting away inside. When the storm comes, the sickly oak will outlast the whirlwinds, but the sound oak will be destroyed, uprooted by the blast. And why? Because the branches catch the wind.</p>

<p>If we want the forest, we must continue to garden and sow.</p>
</article>


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</nav>
<hr>
<h2>Why Bad Software Happens to Good People</h2>

<p>Bad software is one of the few things in the world you cannot solve with money. Billion dollar airlines have flight search apps that are often inferior to those built by groups of students. Established taxi
companies the world over have terrible booking apps despite the threat they face from ride-sharing services. And painful corporate IT systems are usually projects with massive budgets, built over the course of many years. Whatever the cause of bad software is, it does not seem to be a lack of funding.</p>

<p>Surprisingly, the root cause of bad software has less to do with specific engineering choices, and more to do with how development projects are managed. The worst software projects often proceed in a very particular way:</p>

<p>The project owners start out wanting to build a specific solution and never
explicitly identify the problem they are trying to solve. They then gather a long list of requirements from a large group of stakeholders. This list is then handed off to a correspondingly large external development team, who get to work building this highly customised piece of software from scratch. Once all the requirements are met, everyone celebrates as the system is launched and the project is declared complete.</p>

<p><hr>
<hr>
<h5><em>
The root cause of bad software has less to do with specific engineering choices, and more to do with how development projects are managed.
</em></h5>
@@ -93,14 +89,13 @@ by this time the external development team has been dismissed and there
are no resources left over to make the necessary fixes. By the time a new project
can be initiated years later, all knowledge of what caused these problems has left
the organisation and the cycle starts over again.</p>
<p></p></p>
<p></p>

<p class="small-text">A Conversation with Li Hongyi (Part 1)<br>
<em>Scroll down for more videos</em></p>

<p>The right coding language, system architecture, or interface design will
vary wildly from project to project. But there are characteristics particular
to software that consistently cause traditional management practices to fail, while allowing small startups to succeed with a shoestring budget:</p>

<p>• Reusing good software is easy;
it is what allows you to build good
things quickly;<br>
@@ -112,37 +107,26 @@ breaks down; and<br>
code produced, but the knowledge
accumulated by the people who
produced it.</p>

<p>
</p>

<p>Understanding these characteristics may not guarantee good outcomes, but it
does help clarify why so many projects produce bad outcomes. Furthermore,
these lead to some core operating principles that can dramatically improve
the chances of success:</p>

<p>
</p>

<p>1. Start as simple as possible;<br>
2. Seek out problems and iterate; and<br>
3. Hire the best engineers you can.</p>

<p>While there are many subtler factors to consider, these principles form a foundation that lets you get started building good software.</p>

<h2>Reusing Software Lets You Build Good Things Quickly</h2>

<p>Software is easy to copy. At a mechanical level, lines of code can literally be copied and pasted onto another computer. More generally, the internet is full of tutorials on how to build different kinds of systems using ready-made code modules that are available online. Modern software is almost never developed from scratch. Even the most innovative applications are built using existing software that has been combined and modified to achieve a new result.</p>

<p>The biggest source of reusable code modules is the open source community. Open source software is software in which code is freely published for anyone to see and use. Many of the largest contributors to the open source community are giant tech companies. If you want to use a state-of-the-art planet scalable database as Facebook does, just download the code for Cassandra that they open sourced in 2008. If you want to try out Google’s cutting-edge machine learning for yourself, download the TensorFlow system published in 2015. Using open source code does not just make your application development faster, it gives you access to technology that is far more sophisticated than anything
you could have developed yourself. For the most popular open source code, it is even more secure as there are many more people paying attention and fixing vulnerabilities. This is the reason digital technology has made such rapid progress: even the newest engineers can build upon the most advanced tools our profession has to offer.</p>

<p>The advent of cloud services has taken reusability even further, offering the full use of even proprietary systems for just a subscription fee. Need a simple website? Just configure one in a few clicks using a website building service like Squarespace or Wix. A database? Subscribe to a virtual one from Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure. Cloud services allow developers to benefit from specialisation; the service provider handles the setup, maintenance, and continued development of a reliable, high-quality piece of software that is used by all its subscribers. This allows software developers to stop wasting time on solved problems and instead focus on delivering actual value.</p>

<p>You cannot make technological progress if all your time is spent on rebuilding existing technology. Software engineering is about building automated systems, and one of the first things that gets automated away is routine software engineering work. The point is to understand what the right systems to reuse are, how to customise them to fit your unique requirements, and fixing novel problems
discovered along the way.</p>

<p><hr>
<hr>
<h5><em>
Software engineering is about building automated systems, and one of the first things that gets automated away is routine software engineering work.
</em></h5>
@@ -192,18 +176,17 @@ team takes over the code for an unfamiliar piece of software, the software will
start to degrade. Operating systems will update, business requirements
will change, and security problems will be discovered that need to be fixed. Handling these subtle errors is often harder than building the software in the first place, since it requires intimate
knowledge of the system’s architecture and design principles.</p>
<p></p></p>
<p></p>

<p class="small-text">A Conversation with Li Hongyi (Part 2)<br>
<em>Scroll down for more videos</em></p>

<p>In the short term, an unfamiliar development team can address these problems with
stopgap fixes. Over time though, new bugs accumulate due to the makeshift nature
of the additional code. User interfaces become confusing due to mismatched
design paradigms, and system complexity increases as a whole. Software should be
treated not as a static product, but as a living manifestation of the development
team’s collective understanding.</p>

<p><hr>
<hr>
<h5><em>
Software should be treated not as a static product, but as a
living manifestation of the development team’s collective understanding.
@@ -222,7 +205,8 @@ it works.</p>
have your staff learning alongside the external help to retain critical engineering
knowledge in your organisation.</p>
<h2>3 Principles for Good Software Development</h2>
<h4>1. Start as Simple as Possible</h4></p>
<h4>1. Start as Simple as Possible</h4>

<p>Projects that set out to be a “one-stop
shop” for a particular domain are often
doomed. The reasoning seems sensible
@@ -236,7 +220,6 @@ new item for sale once a physical store
is set up, an app with twice as many
features is more than twice as hard to
build and much harder to use.</p>

<p>Building good software requires focus:
starting with the simplest solution that
could solve the problem. A well-made
@@ -251,8 +234,7 @@ only expanded after they had secured
their place. Software projects rarely
fail because they are too small; they fail
because they get too big.</p>

<p><hr>
<hr>
<h5><em>
Software projects rarely fail because they
are too small; they fail because they get too big.
@@ -262,10 +244,10 @@ are too small; they fail because they get too big.
is very hard in practice: just gathering
the requirements from all stakeholders
already creates a huge list of features.</p>
<p></p></p>
<p></p>

<p class="small-text">A Conversation with Li Hongyi (Part 3)<br>
<em>Scroll down for last video</em></p>

<p>One way to manage this bloat is by
using a priority list. Requirements are
all still gathered, but each are tagged
@@ -286,7 +268,6 @@ consider what features they are willing
to deprioritise. Teams can start on the
most critical objectives, working their way
down the list as time and resources allow.</p>

<p>We followed a similar process for all
our most successful apps. Form.gov.sg
started out as a manual Outlook Macro
@@ -302,23 +283,18 @@ got around to building but still has over
1.1 million users today. These systems
are well received not in spite of their
simplicity but because of it.</p>

<h4>2. Seek Out Problems and Iterate</h4>

<p>In truth, modern software is so complicated and changes so rapidly that no amount of
planning will eliminate all shortcomings. Like writing a good paper, awkward
early drafts are necessary to get a feel of what the final paper should be. To
build good software, you need to first build bad software, then actively seek out problems to improve on your solution.</p>

<p>This starts with something as simple as talking to the actual people you are trying to help. The goal is to understand the root problem you want to solve and avoid jumping to a solution based just on preconceived biases. When we first started on Parking.sg, our hypothesis was that enforcement officers found it frustrating to have to keep doing the mental calculations regarding paper coupons. However, after spending just one afternoon with an experienced officer, we discovered that
doing these calculations was actually quite simple for someone doing it professionally. That single conversation saved us months of potentially wasted effort and let us refocus our project on helping drivers instead. </p>

<p>Beware of bureaucratic goals masquerading as problem statements. “Drivers feel frustrated when dealing with parking coupons” is a problem. “We need to build an app for drivers as part of our Ministry Family Digitisation Plans” is not. “Users are annoyed at how hard it is to find information on government websites” is a problem. “As part of the Digital Government Blueprint, we need to rebuild our websites to conform to the new design service standards” is not. If our end goal is to make citizens’ lives better, we need to explicitly acknowledge the things that are making their lives worse.</p>

<p>Having a clear problem statement lets you experimentally test the viability of different solutions that are too hard to determine theoretically. Talking to a chatbot may not be any easier than navigating a website, and users may not want to install yet another app on their phones no matter how secure it makes the country. With software, apparently obvious solutions often have fatal flaws that do not show up until they are put to use. The aim is not yet to build the final product, but to first identify these problems as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Non-functional mock-ups to test interface designs. Semi-functional mock-ups to try different features. Prototype code, written hastily, could help garner feedback more quickly. Anything created at this stage should be treated as disposable. The desired output
of this process is not the code written, but a clearer understanding of what the right thing to build is.</p>

<p><hr>
<hr>
<h5><em>
Beware of bureaucratic goals masquerading as problem statements. If our end goal is to make citizens’ lives better, we need to explicitly acknowledge the things that are making their lives worse.
</em></h5>
@@ -342,7 +318,8 @@ are slow and expensive. You want to use both, resolving as much as possible with
tight loops while still having wide loops to catch unexpected errors. Building
software is not about avoiding failure; it is about strategically failing as fast
as possible to get the information you need to build something good.</p>
<h4>3. Hire the Best Engineers You Can</h4></p>
<h4>3. Hire the Best Engineers You Can</h4>

<p>The key to having good engineering is having good engineers. Google,
Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Microsoft all run a dizzying number of the largest
technology systems in the world, yet, they famously have some of the most
@@ -350,12 +327,10 @@ selective interview processes while still competing fiercely to recruit the stro
candidates. There is a reason that the salaries for even fresh graduates have
gone up so much as these companies have grown, and it is not because they
enjoy giving away money.</p>

<p>Both Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have said that the best engineers are at
least 10 times more productive than an average engineer. This is not because
good engineers write code 10 times faster. It is because they make better
decisions that save 10 times the work.</p>

<p>A good engineer has a better grasp of
existing software they can reuse, thus
minimising the parts of the system they
@@ -377,11 +352,9 @@ not because they produce a lot more
code, but because the decisions they
make save you from work you did not
know could be avoided.</p>

<p></p>

<p class="small-text">A Conversation with Li Hongyi (Part 4)</p>

<p>This also means that small teams of the
best engineers can often build things
faster than even very large teams of
@@ -398,8 +371,7 @@ is the central thesis of the classic book
adding more software engineers does
not make a project go faster, it only
makes it grow bigger.</p>

<p><hr>
<hr>
<h5><em>
Building software is not about avoiding failure; it is about strategically failing as fast as possible to get the information you need to build something good.
</em></h5>
@@ -465,7 +437,7 @@ harm to actual users. Ultimately, while
there are infinite intricacies to software
development, understanding this process
provides a basis to tackle the complexities
of how to build good software.</p></p>
of how to build good software.</p>
</article>



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@@ -72,145 +72,75 @@
</nav>
<hr>
<p>In 2019, I wrote an article on <a href="https://9elements.com/blog/maintaining-large-javascript-projects/">maintaining large JavaScript applications</a>. As a follow-up, I’d like to describe a client project we are maintaining since 2014.</p>

<h2 id="the-oecd-data-portal">The OECD Data Portal</h2>

<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://9elements.com/blog/content/images/2021/01/oecd-data-portal1.jpg" class="kg-image"><figcaption>Start page of the Data Portal</figcaption></figure>

<p>The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental body that collects data and publishes studies on behalf of its member states. The fields of work, amongst others, include economy, environmental issues, well-being or education.</p>

<p>The <a href="https://data.oecd.org"><strong>OECD Data Portal</strong></a> is the central hub for statistical data. It helps researchers, journalists and policymakers to find meaningful data and to visualize it quickly with different charts. It connects with the <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/">OECD iLibrary</a>, hosting the publications, and <a href="https://stats.oecd.org/">OECD.Stat</a>, storing the full data.</p>

<p>The OECD is funded by its member states, so eventually by taxpayers like you and me. Using cost-effective, sustainable technologies was one of the requirements so the code can be maintained in the long term.</p>

<p>The Data Portal is a joint work by OECD staff as well as external developers and designers. The initial design and prototyping came from <a href="https://truth-and-beauty.net">Moritz Stefaner</a> and <a href="https://raureif.net/">Raureif</a>. 9elements developed the production front-end code and still maintains it.</p>

<h2 id="complex-javascript-codebase">Complex JavaScript codebase</h2>

<p>The most complex part of the front-end is the JavaScript charting engine. It features ten main chart types with numerous configuration options. Using powerful interfaces, users can query the database and create charts for embedding or sharing.</p>

<p>We started working on the Data Portal in 2014. Since then, there was no “big rewrite”, only new features, gradual improvements and refactoring. Recently, for the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/economic-outlook/">OECD Economic Outlook in December 2020</a>, we added several features, including four new chart types. Also we refactored the codebase significantly.</p>

<p>In this article I’m going to describe how we maintained the code for so long and how we improved the code step by step. Also I will point out things that did not work well.</p>

<h2 id="boring-mainstream-technology">Boring mainstream technology</h2>

<p>When the project started in 2014, we chose plain HTML, XSLT templates, Sass for stylesheets and CoffeeScript as compile-to-JavaScript language. As JavaScript libraries, we chose jQuery, D3, D3.chart as well as Backbone.</p>

<p>Back in 2014, these technologies were the safest, most compatible available. Only CoffeeScript was kind of a venture. We chose CoffeeScript because it made us more productive and helped us to write reliable code. But we were aware that it poses a liability.</p>

<p>From 2015 on, 9elements has been using React for most JavaScript web applications. We considered to migrate the Data Portal chart engine to React, but we could not find the right moment. And in the end, it was probably a good decision to stick with the original stack.</p>

<p>From today, the described JavaScript stack might seem outdated. But in fact the codebase stood the test of time. One reason is that the technologies we chose have aged well.</p>

<h2 id="the-ravages-of-time">The ravages of time</h2>

<p>While plenty of JavaScript libraries appeared and vanished, jQuery remains the most popular JavaScript library. It is robust, well-maintained and widely deployed. According to the <a href="https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2020/javascript#libraries">Web Almanac 2020</a>, jQuery is used on 83% of all web sites. (For comparison, React was detected on 4% of all web sites.)</p>

<p>Without doubt, jQuery has lost its dominance for non-trivial DOM scripting tasks. As mentioned, we would choose React or Preact for a project like the Data Portal today.</p>

<p>The second library, <a href="https://d3js.org/">D3</a>, remains the industry standard when it comes to data visualization in the browser. It exists since 2010 and is still leading. While several major releases changed the structure and the API significantly, it is still an outstanding work of engineering.</p>

<p>The <a href="https://backbonejs.org/">Backbone</a> library is not as popular, but has other qualities. Backbone is a relatively simple library. You can read the source code in one morning and could re-implement the core parts yourself in one afternoon. Backbone is still maintained, but more importantly it is feature-complete.</p>

<p>From today’s perspective, only CoffeeScript poses a significant technical debt. CoffeeScript was developed because of blatant deficits in ECMAScript 5. Later, many ideas from CoffeeScript were incorporated into the ECMAScript 6 (2015) and ECMAScript 7 (2016) standards. Since then, there is no compelling reason to use CoffeeScript any longer.</p>

<p>We picked CoffeeScript in 2014 because its philosophy is “it’s just JavaScript”. In contrast to other languages that compile to JavaScript, CoffeeScript is a straight-forward abstraction. CoffeeScript code compiles to clean JavaScript code without surprises.</p>

<p>Today, most companies have migrated their CoffeeScript codebases to modern JavaScript. That’s what we did as well.</p>

<h2 id="from-coffeescript-to-typescript">From CoffeeScript to TypeScript</h2>

<p>Using the <a href="https://github.com/decaffeinate/decaffeinate">decaffeinate</a> tool, we converted the CoffeeScript code to ECMAScript 6 (2015). We still wanted to support the same browsers, so we now use the Babel compiler to produce backwards-compatible ECMAScript 5.</p>

<p>All in all, this migration went smoothly. But we did not want to stop there.</p>

<p>In new projects, 9elements is using TypeScript. In my opinion, TypeScript is best thing that happened in the JavaScript world in the last couple of years. As I mentioned in my previous article, <a href="https://9elements.com/blog/maintaining-large-javascript-projects/#avoid-creating-untyped-objects">TypeScript forces you to think about your types</a> and name them properly.</p>

<p>For the Data Portal, we wanted to have the development benefits of TypeScript without converting the codebase to fully typed TypeScript.</p>

<p>TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript. The compiler understands .js files pretty well. So we gradually added type annotations with a 20-year-old technology: <a href="https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/jsdoc-supported-types.html">JSDOC</a>. In addition, we wrote few typings in .ts files in order to reference them in the JSDOC annotations.</p>

<p>This way, the developing experience in Visual Studio Code improved greatly with little effort. While there is no strict type checking, code editing feels as good as in an average TypeScript project.</p>

<p>By combining a rather boring but rock-solid technology with the latest TypeScript compiler, we could add new features and refactor the code safely and easily.</p>

<p>On the surface, coding is a conversation between you and the computer: You tell the computer what it should do.</p>

<p>But more importantly, coding is a conversation between you and the reader of the code. It is a well-known fact that code is written once but read again and again. First and foremost, the reader is your future self.</p>

<p>The Data Portal codebase contains many comments and almost all proved valuable during the last six years. Obviously, code should be structured to help human readers understanding it. But I do not believe in “self-descriptive” or “self-documenting” code.</p>

<p>Before we switched to JSDOC, we had human-readable type annotations, documented function parameters and return values. Also we documented the main data types, complex nested object structures.</p>

<p>These human-readable comments proved to be really helpful six years later. We translated them into machine-readable JSDOC and type declarations for the TypeScript compiler.</p>

<h2 id="things-will-break-have-a-test-suite">Things will break – have a test suite</h2>

<p>The project has only a few automated unit tests, but more than 50 test pages that demonstrate all Data Portal pages, components, data query interfaces, chart types and chart configuration options. They test against live or staging data, but also against fabricated data.</p>

<p>These test pages serve the same purpose as automated tests: If we fix a bug, we add the scenario to the corresponding test page first. If we develop a new feature, we create a comprehensive test page simultaneously.</p>

<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://9elements.com/blog/content/images/2021/01/oecd-data-portal4.jpg" class="kg-image"><figcaption>Test page for the line chart responsiveness</figcaption></figure>

<p>Before a release, we check all test pages manually and compare them to the last release – both visually and functionally. This is time-consuming, but it lets us find regressions quickly.</p>

<p>I don’t think an automated test suite would serve us better. It is almost impossible to test interactive data visualizations in the browser in an automated way. Visual regression testing is a valuable tool in general, but would produce too many false positives in our case.</p>

<h2 id="backward-and-forward-compatibility">Backward and forward compatibility</h2>

<p>In 2014, the Data Portal had to work with Internet Explorer 9. Today, Internet Explorer has no importance when you develop a dynamic, in-browser charting engine.</p>

<p>We decided to keep the compatibility with old browsers. The Data Portal is an international platform, so users visit from all over the world. They do not have the latest hardware and newest browsers.</p>

<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://9elements.com/blog/content/images/2021/01/oecd-data-portal5-ie9.jpg" class="kg-image"><figcaption>The Data Portal in Internet Explorer 9</figcaption></figure>

<p>We accomplished to maintain the browser support baseline by using boring standard technologies. We do use several modern web features. But we apply <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_enhancement">Progressive Enhancement</a> to activate them only if the browser supports them. Also we use Babel and polyfills to make the modern JavaScript features work in old browsers.</p>

<h2 id="your-abstractions-will-bite-you">Your abstractions will bite you</h2>

<p>The technology stack was not the limit we faced in this project over the years. It was rather the abstractions we created our own that got in our way.</p>

<p>We divided the user interface into views and created a base class similar to Backbone.View. (Today, all big JavaScript libraries use the term “component” instead of “view” for parts of the UI.) For holding the data and the state, we used Backbone.Model. This worked quite well, but we should have stuck to our own best practices.</p>

<p>The idea of Backbone’s model-view separation is to have the model as the single source of truth. The DOM should merely reflect the model data. All changes should originate from the model. Modern frameworks like React, Vue and Angular enforce the convention that the UI is “a function of the state”, meaning the UI is derived from the state deterministically.</p>

<p>We violated this principle and sometimes made the DOM the source of truth. This led to confusion with code that treated the model as authoritative.</p>

<h2 id="object-oriented-charts">Object-oriented charts</h2>

<p>For the charts, we chose yet another approach. We created chart classes not based on the view class described above.</p>

<p>D3 itself is functional. A chart is typically created and updated with a huge <code>render</code> function that calls other functions. The chart data is the input for this large function. More state is held in specific objects.</p>

<p>This makes D3 tremendously expressive and flexible. But D3 code is hard to read since there are little conventions on the structure of a chart.</p>

<p>Folks at Bocoup, Irene Ros and Mike Pennisi, invented <a>d3.chart</a>, a small library on top of D3 that introduced class-based OOP. Its main goal was to structure and reuse charting code. These charts are made of layers. A layer renders and updates a specific part of the DOM using D3. Charts can have other charts attached.</p>

<p>A general rule of OOP is “favor composition over inheritance”. Unfortunately, we used a weird mix of composition <em>and</em> inheritance to mix chart behavior.</p>

<p>We should have used functions or simple classes instead of complex class hierarchies. People still wrap D3 in class-based OOP today, but no class-based solution has prevailed against D3’s functional structure. </p>

<h2 id="summary">Summary</h2>

<p>Since we designed the Data Portal front-end architecture in 2014, powerful patterns for JavaScript-driven web interfaces have emerged.</p>

<p>Instead of rendering string-based HTML templates and updating the DOM manually, UI components are declarative nowadays. You simply update the state and the framework updates the DOM accordingly. This unidirectional data flow eliminates a whole class of bugs.</p>

<p>The technologies we picked in 2014 either stood the test of time or offered a clear migration path. You could say we were lucky, but together with the client, we also chose long-lasting technologies deliberately.</p>

<p>At 9elements, we take pride in using cutting-edge technologies. This includes assessing experimental front-end technologies that probably are not maintained any longer in three to four years from now. Unfortunately, many open source JavaScript projects are technically groundbreaking yet prove to be unsustainable.</p>

<p>For each client project, we seek the right balance between well-established, zero-risk technologies as well as innovative technologies that help us to deliver an outstanding product in time.</p>

<p><a href="https://9elements.com/contact"><strong>We're open for business so feel free to contact us for your next project.</strong></a></p>

<h2 id="acknowledgments">Acknowledgments</h2>

<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://9elements.com/blog/content/images/2020/12/maintaining-large-javascript-projects.svg" class="kg-image"></figure>

<p>Thanks to <a href="https://dribbble.com/LittleSue">Susanne Nähler</a>, designer at 9elements, for creating the teaser illustration.</p>

<p>Thanks to the kind folks at OECD for the great collaboration over the course of the last six years.</p>
</article>


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<li>Changes to retention of such data were "antithetical to Mark's DNA," one employee told the authors.</li>
<li id="recirc"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" data-analytics-module="summary_bullets">See more stories on Insider's business page</a>.</li>
</ul>

<p data-bi-ad="" id="gpt-post-sai-mobile_in_post_ad-fluid-1" class="ad ad-wrapper fluid in-post only-mobile" data-force="" data-type="ad" data-adunit="business/tech/post" data-secvert="" data-pagetype="post" data-tag="facebook,personal-data" data-authors="sarah-jackson" data-region="Mobile In Post Ad" data-responsive='[{"browserLimit":[0,0],"slotSize":[[300,600],[300,150],[300,100],[300,50],[300,250],[320,150],[320,100],[320,50],"fluid"]}]' data-tile-order="tile-1" data-url="/facebook-fired-dozens-abusing-access-user-data-an-ugly-truth-2021-7" data-amazontamsizes="[[300,600],[300,100],[300,50],[300,250],[320,100],[320,50]]"></p>

<p data-bi-ad="" id="gpt-post-sai-desktop_in_post_ad-fluid-1" class="ad ad-wrapper fluid in-post only-desktop" data-force="" data-type="ad" data-adunit="business/tech/post" data-secvert="" data-pagetype="post" data-tag="facebook,personal-data" data-authors="sarah-jackson" data-region="Desktop In Post Ad" data-responsive='[{"browserLimit":[728,0],"slotSize":[[300,250],"fluid"]},{"browserLimit":[1260,0],"slotSize":[[728,90],[300,250],[800,480],[600,480],"fluid"]}]' data-tile-order="tile-1" data-url="/facebook-fired-dozens-abusing-access-user-data-an-ugly-truth-2021-7" data-amazontamsizes="[[728,90],[300,250]]" data-not-lazy=""></p>

<p>A Facebook engineer abused employee access to user data to track down a woman who had left him after they fought, a new book said.</p>

<p>Between January 2014 and August 2015, the company fired 52 employees over exploiting user data for personal means, said an advance copy of "<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/an-ugly-truth-sheera-frenkelcecilia-kang?variant=32999376551970" data-analytics-module="body_link">An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination</a>" that Insider obtained.</p>

<p>The engineer, who is unnamed, tapped into the data to "confront" a woman with whom he had been vacationing in Europe after she left the hotel room they had been sharing, the book said. He was able to figure out her location at a different hotel.</p>

<p>Another Facebook engineer used his employee access to dig up information on a woman with whom he had gone on a date after she stopped responding to his messages. In the company's systems, he had access to "years of private conversations with friends over Facebook messenger, events attended, photographs uploaded (including those she had deleted), and posts she had commented or clicked on," the book said. Through the Facebook app the woman had installed on her phone, the book said, the engineer was also able to see her location in real time.</p>

<p data-bi-ad="" id="gpt-post-sai-mobile_in_post_ad-fluid-2" class="ad ad-wrapper fluid in-post only-mobile" data-force="" data-type="ad" data-adunit="business/tech/post" data-secvert="" data-pagetype="post" data-tag="facebook,personal-data" data-authors="sarah-jackson" data-region="Mobile In Post Ad" data-responsive='[{"browserLimit":[0,0],"slotSize":[[300,600],[300,150],[300,100],[300,50],[300,250],[320,150],[320,100],[320,50],"fluid"]}]' data-tile-order="tile-2" data-url="/facebook-fired-dozens-abusing-access-user-data-an-ugly-truth-2021-7" data-amazontamsizes="[[300,600],[300,100],[300,50],[300,250],[320,100],[320,50]]"></p>

<p data-bi-ad="" id="gpt-post-sai-desktop_in_post_ad-fluid-2" class="ad ad-wrapper fluid in-post only-desktop" data-force="" data-type="ad" data-adunit="business/tech/post" data-secvert="" data-pagetype="post" data-tag="facebook,personal-data" data-authors="sarah-jackson" data-region="Desktop In Post Ad" data-responsive='[{"browserLimit":[728,0],"slotSize":[[300,250],"fluid"]},{"browserLimit":[1260,0],"slotSize":[[728,90],[300,250],[800,480],[600,480],"fluid"]}]' data-tile-order="tile-2" data-url="/facebook-fired-dozens-abusing-access-user-data-an-ugly-truth-2021-7" data-amazontamsizes="[[728,90],[300,250]]"></p>

<p>Facebook employees were granted user data access in order to "cut away the red tape that slowed down engineers," the book said.</p>

<p>"There was nothing but the goodwill of the employees themselves to stop them from abusing their access to users' private information," wrote Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang, the book's authors. They added that most of the employees who abused their employee privileges to access user data only looked up information, although a few didn't stop there.</p>

<p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ypo-young-presidents-organization-secret-club-for-ceos-2021-4?inline-read-more" data-e2e-name="inline-read-more-link" data-analytics-module="body_link">Inside the secret club that helps prepare young CEOs to take over the world</a></em></p>

<p>Most of the engineers who <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/facebook-fires-employee-accused-of-stalking-women-on-tinder-2018-5-1023113775" data-analytics-module="body_link">took advantage</a> of access to user data were "men who looked up the Facebook profiles of women they were interested in," the book said.</p>

<p data-bi-ad="" id="gpt-post-sai-mobile_in_post_ad-fluid-3" class="ad ad-wrapper fluid in-post only-mobile" data-force="" data-type="ad" data-adunit="business/tech/post" data-secvert="" data-pagetype="post" data-tag="facebook,personal-data" data-authors="sarah-jackson" data-region="Mobile In Post Ad" data-responsive='[{"browserLimit":[0,0],"slotSize":[[300,600],[300,150],[300,100],[300,50],[300,250],[320,150],[320,100],[320,50],"fluid"]}]' data-tile-order="tile-3" data-url="/facebook-fired-dozens-abusing-access-user-data-an-ugly-truth-2021-7" data-amazontamsizes="[[300,600],[300,100],[300,50],[300,250],[320,100],[320,50]]"></p>

<p data-bi-ad="" id="gpt-post-sai-desktop_in_post_ad-fluid-3" class="ad ad-wrapper fluid in-post only-desktop" data-force="" data-type="ad" data-adunit="business/tech/post" data-secvert="" data-pagetype="post" data-tag="facebook,personal-data" data-authors="sarah-jackson" data-region="Desktop In Post Ad" data-responsive='[{"browserLimit":[728,0],"slotSize":[[300,250],"fluid"]},{"browserLimit":[1260,0],"slotSize":[[728,90],[300,250],[800,480],[600,480],"fluid"]}]' data-tile-order="tile-3" data-url="/facebook-fired-dozens-abusing-access-user-data-an-ugly-truth-2021-7" data-amazontamsizes="[[728,90],[300,250]]"></p>

<p>Facebook told Insider it fired employees found to have accessed user data for nonbusiness purposes.<u></u></p>

<p>"We've always had zero tolerance for abuse and have fired every single employee ever found to be improperly accessing data," a spokesperson told Insider in a statement. "Since 2015, we've continued to strengthen our employee training, abuse detection, and prevention protocols. We're also continuing to reduce the need for engineers to access some types of data as they work to build and support our services." <u></u></p>

<h2>A problem that cropped up 'nearly every month'</h2>

<p>Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, was first made aware of the problem in September 2015, when Alex Stamos, Facebook's chief security officer at the time, raised the issue with him. In a presentation to Zuckerberg and the company's top executives, Stamos said engineers had abused the access "nearly every month," the book said.</p>

<p>At the time, more than 16,000 employees had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-engineer-stalked-teens-spied-on-chats-2010-9" data-analytics-module="body_link">access to users' private data</a>, the book said. Stamos suggested tightening access to fewer than 5,000 employees and fewer than 100 for particularly sensitive information such as passwords. He proposed requiring employees to submit formal requests for access to private data but received pushback from executives. Zuckerberg said changes on the matter were "a top priority" and tasked Stamos with finding a solution and giving an update in a year, the book said.</p>

<p data-bi-ad="" id="gpt-post-sai-mobile_in_post_ad-fluid-4" class="ad ad-wrapper fluid in-post only-mobile" data-force="" data-type="ad" data-adunit="business/tech/post" data-secvert="" data-pagetype="post" data-tag="facebook,personal-data" data-authors="sarah-jackson" data-region="Mobile In Post Ad" data-responsive='[{"browserLimit":[0,0],"slotSize":[[300,600],[300,150],[300,100],[300,50],[300,250],[320,150],[320,100],[320,50],"fluid"]}]' data-tile-order="tile-4" data-url="/facebook-fired-dozens-abusing-access-user-data-an-ugly-truth-2021-7" data-amazontamsizes="[[300,600],[300,100],[300,50],[300,250],[320,100],[320,50]]"></p>

<p data-bi-ad="" id="gpt-post-sai-desktop_in_post_ad-fluid-4" class="ad ad-wrapper fluid in-post only-desktop" data-force="" data-type="ad" data-adunit="business/tech/post" data-secvert="" data-pagetype="post" data-tag="facebook,personal-data" data-authors="sarah-jackson" data-region="Desktop In Post Ad" data-responsive='[{"browserLimit":[728,0],"slotSize":[[300,250],"fluid"]},{"browserLimit":[1260,0],"slotSize":[[728,90],[300,250],[800,480],[600,480],"fluid"]}]' data-tile-order="tile-4" data-url="/facebook-fired-dozens-abusing-access-user-data-an-ugly-truth-2021-7" data-amazontamsizes="[[728,90],[300,250]]"></p>

<p>But changes that would limit data retention were "antithetical to Mark's DNA," one employee told the book's authors.</p>

<p>The employee added, "At various times in Facebook's history there were paths we could have taken, decisions we could have made, which would have limited, or even cut back on, the user data we were collecting," Frenkel and Kang wrote. "Even before we took those options to him, we knew it wasn't a path he would choose."</p>
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<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/Garthsnaid_-_SLV_H91.250-933.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
On board the ship <em>Garthsnaid</em> at sea. A view from high up in the rigging. Image by Allan C. Green, circa 1920. </p>

<p>The sailing ship is a textbook example of sustainability. For at least 4,000 years, sailing ships have transported passengers and cargo across the world’s seas and oceans without using a single drop of fossil fuels. If we want to keep travelling and trading globally in a low carbon society, sailing ships are the obvious alternative to container ships, bulk carriers, and airplanes.</p>

<p>However, by definition, the sailing ship is not a carbon neutral technology. For most of history, sailing ships were built from wood, but back then whole forests were felled for ships, and those trees often did not grow back. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, sailing ships were increasingly made from steel, which also has a significant carbon footprint.</p>

<p>The carbon neutrality of sailing in the 21st century is even more elusive. That’s because we have changed profoundly since the Age of Sail. Compared to our forebears, we have higher demands in terms of safety, comfort, convenience, and cleanliness. These higher standards are difficult to achieve unless the ship also has a diesel engine and generator on-board.</p>

<h2>The revival of the sailing ship</h2>

<p>The sailing ship has seen a modest revival in the last decade, especially for the transportation of cargo. In 2009, Dutch company <a href="https://fairtransport.eu/">Fairtransport</a> started shipping freight between Europe and the Americas with the <em>Tres Hombres</em>, a sailing ship built in 1943. The company remains active today and has a second ship in service since 2015, the <em>Nordlys</em> (built in 1873).</p>

<p>Since then, others have joined the sail cargo business. In 2016, the German company <a href="https://timbercoast.com/en/">Timbercoast</a> started shipping cargo with the <em>Avontuur</em>, a ship built in 1920. <sup id="fnref:1"></sup> In 2017, the French <a href="https://blueschoonercompany.com/en/home/">Blue Schooner Company</a> started transporting cargo between Europe and the Americas with the <em>Gallant</em>, a sailing ship that was built in 1916. <sup id="fnref:2"></sup> All these sailing ships were constructed in the twentieth or nineteenth century, and were restored at a later date. However, a revival of sail cannot rely on historical ships alone, because there’s not enough of them. <sup id="fnref:3"></sup></p>

<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/clipper-ship-noach.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
The Noach, built in 1857.</p>

<p>At the moment, there are at least two sailing ships in development that are being built from scratch: the <em>Ceiba</em> and the <em>EcoClipper500</em>. The first ship is being constructed in Costa Rica by a company named <a href="https://www.sailcargo.org/">Sailcargo</a>. She is built from wood and inspired by a Finnish ship from the twentieth century. The second ship is designed by a company called <a href="https://ecoclipper.org/">EcoClipper</a>, which is led by one of the founders of the Dutch FairTransport, Jorne Langelaan. Their <em>EcoClipper500</em> is a steel replica of a Dutch clipper ship from 1857: the <em>Noach</em>.</p>

<p>“Old designs are not necessarily the best”, says Jorne Langelaan, “but whenever proven design is used, one can be sure of its performance. A new design is more of a gamble. Furthermore, in the 20th and 21st century, sailing technology developed for fast sailing yachts, which is an entirely different story compared to ships which need to be able to carry cargo.”</p>

<h2>More economical sailing ships</h2>

<p>These two ships – one under construction and one in the design phase – have the potential to make sail cargo a lot more economical than it is today. That’s because they have a much larger cargo capacity than the sailing ships currently in operation. As a ship becomes longer, her cargo capacity increases more than proportionally.</p>

<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/ecoclipper-prototype500-colour.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
The EcoClipper500 is a full-scale replica of the Noach.</p>

<p>The 46 metre long <em>Ceiba</em> is powered by 580 m2 of sails and carries 250 tonnes of cargo. The 60 metre long <em>EcoClipper500</em> is powered by almost 1,000 m2 of sails and takes 500 tonnes of cargo. For comparison, the <em>Tres Hombres</em> is not that much shorter at 32 metres, but she takes only 40 tonnes of cargo – twelve times less than the <em>EcoClipper500</em>. A larger ship is also faster and saves labour. The <em>Tres Hombres</em> requires a crew of seven, while the <em>EcoClipper500</em> only has a slightly larger crew of twelve.</p>

<h2>Life cycle analysis of a sailing ship</h2>

<p>Although the <em>EcoClipper500</em> is still in the design phase, she will be the focus of this article. This is because the company conducted a life cycle analysis of the ship prior to building it. <sup id="fnref:9"></sup> As far as I know, this is the first life cycle analysis of a sailing ship ever made. The study reveals that it takes around 1,200 tonnes of carbon to build the ship.</p>

<p>Half of those emissions are generated during steel production, and roughly one third is generated by steel working processes and other shipyard activities. Solvent-based paints as well as electric and electronic systems each account for roughly 5% of emissions. The emissions produced during the manufacturing of the sails are not included because there are no scientific data available, but a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation (for sails based on aramid fibres) signals that their contribution to the total carbon footprint is very small. <sup id="fnref:4"></sup></p>

<blockquote>
<p>The <em>EcoClipper500</em> has a carbon footprint of 2 grammes of <span class="caps">CO2</span> per tonne-kilometre, which is five times less than the carbon footprint of a container ship.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If these 1,200 tonnes of emissions are spread out over an estimated lifetime of 50 years, then the <em>EcoClipper500</em> would have a carbon footprint of about 2 grammes of <span class="caps">CO2</span> per tonne-kilometre of cargo, concludes researcher Andrew Simons, who made the life cycle analysis for the ship. This is roughly five times less than the carbon footprint of a container ship (10 grammes <span class="caps">CO2</span>/tonne-km) and three times less than the carbon footprint of a bulk-carrier (6 grammes <span class="caps">CO2</span>/tonne-km). <sup id="fnref:5"></sup></p>

<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/Parma_-_looking_aft_from_aloft_on_the_deck_while_at_anchor.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
Looking aft from aloft on the ‘Parma’ while at anchor. Alan Villiers, 1932-33. Villiers’s work vividly records the period of early 20th century maritime history when merchant sailing vessels or ‘tall ships’ were in rapid decline.</p>

<p>Transporting one ton of cargo over a distance of 8,000 km (roughly the distance between the Caribbean and the Netherlands) would thus produce 16 kg of carbon with the <em>EcoClipper500</em>, compared to 80 kg on a container ship and 48 kg on a bulk carrier. The proportions are similar for other environmental factors, such as ozone depletion, ecotoxicity, air pollution, and so on.</p>

<p>Although the sailing ship boasts a convincing advantage, it may not be as big as you might have expected. First, as Simons explains, there’s scale. A container ship or bulk carrier enjoys the same benefits over the <em>EcoClipper500</em> as the <em>EcoClipper500</em> enjoys over the <em>Tres Hombres</em>. It can take a lot more cargo – on average 50,000 tonnes instead of 500 tonnes – and it needs only a slightly larger crew of 20-25 people. <sup id="fnref:6"></sup></p>

<p>Second, fossil fuel powered ships are faster than sailing ships, meaning that fewer ships are needed to transport a given amount of cargo over a given period of time. The original ship on which the <em>EcoClipper500</em> is based, sailed between the Netherlands and Indonesia in 65 to 78 days, while a container ship does it in about half the time (taking the short cut through the Suez canal).</p>

<h2>Building a fleet of sailing ships</h2>

<p>There’s two ways to further lower the carbon emissions of sailing ships in comparison to container ships and bulk carriers. One is to build ships from wood instead of steel, such as the <em>Ceiba</em>. If the harvested trees are allowed to grow back (which the makers of the Ceiba have promised), such a ship may even be considered a carbon sink.</p>

<p>However, there’s a good reason why the <em>EcoClipper500</em> will be made from steel: the company’s aim is to build not just one ship, but a fleet of them. Jorne Langelaan: “There are few shipyards who can deliver wooden ships nowadays. Steel makes it easier to build a fleet in a shorter period.”</p>

<p>A possible compromise would be a composite construction, in which a steel skeleton is clad with timber keel, planks, and deck. Andrew Simons: “This would reduce the carbon footprint of construction by half. It could also be feasible to make superstructures and some of the mast sections and spars from timber instead of steel.”</p>

<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/Parma_-_driving_sprays_over_the_main_deck.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
Driving sprays over the main deck of the ‘Parma’. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.</p>

<p>Towards the future, another possibility to further decrease a sailings ship’s emissions per tonne-km is to build it even larger. While the <em>EcoClipper500</em> has much more cargo capacity than the cargo sailing ships now in operation, she is far from the largest sailing ship ever built.</p>

<p>Historical ships such as the <em>Great Republic</em> (5,000 tonnes), the <em>Parma</em> (5,300 tonnes), the <em>France <span class="caps">II</span></em> (7,300 tonnes), and the <em>Preussen</em> (7,800 tonnes), were more than 100 metres long and could take more than ten times the freight capacity of the <em>EcoClipper500</em>. Langelaan already dreams of a <em>EcoClipper3000</em>.</p>

<h2>Passengers</h2>

<p>Most cargo sailing ships travelling across the oceans today can also take some passengers. Fully loaded with cargo, the <em>EcoClipper500</em> takes 12 crew members, 12 passengers, and 8 trainees (passengers who learn how to sail). If the upper hold deck is not used for cargo, another 28 trainees can join, so that the ship can take up to 60 people on board (with a smaller cargo volume: 480 m3 instead of 880 m3).</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The carbon footprint for passengers amounts to 10 g per passenger-km, compared to roughly 100 g per passenger-km on an airplane.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Consequently, and <a href="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/06/ocean-liners.html">since ocean liners have disappeared</a>, the <em>EcoClipper500</em> also becomes an alternative to the airplane. According to the results of the life cycle analysis, the carbon footprint for passengers on the <em>EcoClipper500</em> amounts to 10 grammes per passenger-kilometre, compared to roughly 100 grammes per passenger-kilometre on an airplane. Transporting one passenger thus produces as much carbon emissions as transporting 1 tonne of freight.</p>

<h2>Engine or not?</h2>

<p>Importantly, the life cycle analysis of the <em>EcoClipper500</em> assumes that there is no diesel engine on-board. On a sailing ship, a diesel engine can serve two purposes, which can be combined. First, it allows to propel the ship when there is no wind or when sails cannot be used, for example when leaving or entering a harbour. Second, combined with a generator, a diesel engine can produce electricity for daily life on board of the ship.</p>

<p>For most of history, energy use on-board of a sailing ship was not too problematic. There was firewood for cooking and heating, and there were candles and oil lamps for lighting. There were no refrigerators for food storage, no showers or laundry machines for washing and cleaning, no electronic instruments for navigation and communication, no electric pumps in case of leaks or fire.</p>

<p>However, we now have higher standards in terms of safety, health, hygiene, thermal comfort, and convenience. The problem is that these higher standards are difficult to achieve when the ship does not have an engine that runs on fossil fuels. Modern heating systems, cooking devices, hot water boilers, refrigerators, freezers, lighting, safety equipment, and electronic instruments all need energy to work.</p>

<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/Parma_-_crewman_with_his_model_of_the_'Parma'.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
Crewman of the ‘Parma’ with a model of his ship. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.</p>

<p>Modern sailing ships often use a diesel engine to provide that energy (and to propel the ship if necessary). An example is the <em>Avontuur</em> from Timbercoast, who has an engine of 300 <span class="caps">HP</span>, a 20 kW generator, and a fuel tank of 2,330 litres. Large sail training vessels and cruising ships have several engines and generators on-board. For example, the 48m long <em>Brig Morningster</em> has a 450 <span class="caps">HP</span> engine and three generators with a total capacity of 100 kW, while the 56m long <em>Bark Europa</em> has two 365 <span class="caps">HP</span> engines with three generators – and burns hundreds of litres of oil per day.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Depending on the lifestyle of the people on board, the emissions per passenger-km may rise to, or surpass, the levels of those of an airplane.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Obviously, the emissions and other pollutants of these engines need to be taken into account when the environmental footprint of a sail trip is calculated. Depending on the lifestyle of the people on board, the emissions per passenger-km may rise to, or surpass, the levels of those of an airplane. To a lesser extent, electricity use on-board also increases the emissions of cargo transportation.</p>

<h2>Energy use on board a sailing ship</h2>

<p>The <em>EcoClipper500</em> has no diesel engine on board, which is a second reason to focus on this ship. Obviously, a sailing ship without an engine cannot proceed her voyage when there’s no wind. This is <a href="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2017/09/how-to-run-the-economy-on-the-weather.html">easily solved in the old-fashioned way</a>: the <em>EcoClipper500</em> stays where she is until the wind returns. A ship without an engine also needs tug boats – which usually burn fossil fuels – to get in and out of ports. For the <em>EcoClipper500</em>, these tug services account for 0.3 g/tkm of the total carbon footprint of 2 g/tkm.</p>

<p>Without a diesel engine, the ship also needs to generate all energy for use on board from local energy sources, and this is the hard part. Renewable energy is intermittent and has low power density compared to fossil fuels, meaning that more space is needed to generate a given amount of power – which is more problematic at sea than it is on land.</p>

<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/Parma_--_renewing_caulking_on_the_poop.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
Renewing caulking on the poop of the ‘Parma’. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.</p>

<p>To make the <em>EcoClipper500</em> self-sufficient in terms of energy use, a first design decision was to shift energy use away from electricity whenever possible. This is especially important for high temperature heat, which cannot be supplied by electric heat pumps. The ship will have a pellet-stove on board to provide space heating, as well as a biodigester – never before used on a ship – to convert human and kitchen waste into gas for cooking. Thermal insulation of the ship is another priority.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, even with pellet-stove and biodigester (which themselves require electricity to operate), and with thermal insulation, energy demand on the ship can be as high as 50 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day (2 kW average power use). This concerns a “worst-case normal operation” scenario, when the ship is sailing in cold weather with 60 people on board. Power use will be lower in warmer weather and/or when less people are taken. During an emergency, the power requirements can amount to 8 kW, while more than 24 kWh of energy can be needed in just three hours.</p>

<h2>Hydrogenerators</h2>

<p>How to produce this power? Solar panels and wind turbines are only a small part of the solution. Producing 50 kWh of energy per day would require at least 100 square metres of solar panels, for which there is little space on a 60 m long sailing ship. Vulnerability and shading by the sails make for further problems. Wind turbines can be attached in the rigging, but their power output is also limited. The low potential of solar and wind power are demonstrated by the earlier mentioned sailing ship <em>Avontuur</em>. She has a 20 kW generator, powered by the diesel engine, but only 2.1 kW of solar panels and 0.8 kW of wind turbines.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The hydrogenerator is the only renewable power source that can provide a large sailing ship with enough energy for the use of modern technology on board.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The hydrogenerator is the only renewable power source that can provide a large sailing ship with enough energy for the use of modern technology on board. Hydrogenerators are attached underneath the hull and work in the opposite way as a ship’s propeller. Instead of the propeller powering the ship, the ship powers the propeller, which turns a generator that produces electricity. In spite of its name and appearance, the hydrogenerator is actually a form of wind energy: the sails power the propellers. Obviously, this only works when the ship is sailing fast enough.</p>

<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/Parma_-_furling_sail_on_the_main_yard.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
Furling sail on the main yard of the Parma. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.</p>

<p>The <em>EcoClipper500</em> will be equipped with two large hydrogenerators, for which Simons calculated the power output at different speeds, taking into account the fact that the extra drag they produce slows down the ship somewhat. He concludes that the <em>EcoClipper500</em> needs to sail at a speed of at least 7.5 knots to generate enough electricity. At that speed, the hydrogenerators produce an estimated 2,000 watts of power, which converts to roughly 50 kWh of electricity per day (24 hours of sailing).</p>

<p>At a lower speed of 4.75 knots, the generators produce 350 watts, which comes down to 8.4 kWh of energy over a period of 24 hours – only 1/6th of the maximum required energy. On the other hand, at higher speeds, the hydrogenerators produce more energy than necessary. At a speed of almost 10 knots they provide 120 kWh/day, at a speed of 12 knots this becomes 182 kWh/day – 3.5 times more than needed.</p>

<h2>Saltwater batteries</h2>

<p>According to her hull speed, the <em>EcoClipper500</em> will be able to sail a little over 16 knots at absolute top speed – this is double the minimum speed required to generate enough power. Achieving this speed will be rare, because it needs calm seas and strong winds from the right direction. Nevertheless, in good wind conditions, the ship easily sails fast enough to produce all electricity for use on board.</p>

<p>Good wind conditions can last for days, especially on the oceans, where winds are more powerful and predictable than on land. However, they are not guaranteed, and the ship will also sail at lower speeds, or find herself in becalmed conditions – when hydrogenerators are as useless as solar panels in the middle of the night.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Because she has no engine, the <em>EcoClipper500</em> faces a double problem when there’s no wind: she cannot continue her voyage, and she has no energy to maintain life on board.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Because she has no engine, the <em>EcoClipper500</em> faces a double problem when there’s no wind: she cannot continue her voyage, and she has no energy to maintain life on board. The first problem is easily solved but the second is not. Life on board goes on, and so there is a continued need for power. To provide this, the ship needs energy storage.</p>

<p>To cover the needs for three days drifting in cold weather, an energy storage of 150 kWh would be required, not taking into account charge and discharge losses. Five or seven days of energy use on-board would require 250 to 350 kWh of storage. For emergency use, another 25 kWh of energy storage is needed.</p>

<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/Parma_-_scraping_the_deck.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
Scraping the deck onboard the ‘Parma’. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.</p>

<p>Not having an engine, generator and fuel tank saves space on board, but this advantage can be quickly lost again when one starts to add batteries for the hydrogenerators. Lithium-ion batteries are very compact, but they cannot be considered sustainable and bring safety risks. That’s why Jorne Langelaan and Andrew Simons see more potential in – very aptly – saltwater batteries, which are non-flammable, non-toxic, easy to recycle, have wide temperature-tolerance, and can last for more than 15 years. Like the biodigester, they have never been used on a sailing ship before.</p>

<p>Unlike lithium-ion batteries, saltwater batteries are large and heavy. At 60 kg per kWh of storage capacity, a 150 kWh battery storage would add a weight of 9 tonnes, while a 350 kWh storage capacity would add 21 tonnes. Still, this compares favourably to the total cargo capacity (500 tonnes), and the batteries can serve as ballast if they are placed in the lower part of the ship’s hull. The space requirements are not too problematic, either. Even a 350 kWh energy storage only requires 14 to 29m3 of space, which is small compared to the 880m3 of cargo volume.</p>

<p>The emissions that are produced by the manufacturing of the hydrogenerators, biodigester, and batteries are not included in the life cycle analysis of the ship, because there are no data available. However, these emissions must be relatively small. Hydrogenerators have much higher power density than wind turbines, and thus a relatively low embodied energy. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation learns that the carbon footprint of 350 kWh saltwater batteries is around 70 tonnes of <span class="caps">CO2</span>. <sup id="fnref:7"></sup></p>

<h2>Human Power</h2>

<p>There’s another renewable power source and energy storage on board of the <em>EcoClipper</em>, and that’s the humans themselves. Like the pellet stove and the biodigester, the use of human power could reduce the need for electricity. Nowadays, cargo ships and most large sailing ships have electric or hydraulic winches, pumps, and steering gear, saving manual labour at the expense of higher energy use. In contrast, <em>EcoClipper</em> sticks to manual handling of the ship as much as possible.</p>

<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/Parma_-_crew_at_the_capstan_weighing_anchor.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
Crew at the capstan of the Parma, weighing anchor. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.</p>

<p>Simons and Langelaan are also considering the addition of a few rowing machines, coupled to generators, to produce emergency power. Two rowing machines could provide roughly 400 watts of power. If they are operated around the clock in shifts, they could supply the ship with an extra 9.6 kWh of energy per day (ignoring energy losses) – one fifth of the total maximum electricity use.</p>

<p>In fact, as I tell Simons and Langelaan ten rowing machines operated continually in shifts would provide as much power as the hydrogenerators at a speed of 7.5 knots. If there are 60 people on board, and everybody would generate power for less than one hour per day, no hydrogenerators and batteries would be needed at all. “A very interesting thought”, answers Simons, “but what impression would we be painted with?”</p>

<h2>Hot Showers?</h2>

<p>Even with a biodigester, hydrogenerators, batteries, and rowing machines, the passengers and crew on board the EcoClipper500 would be far short of luxurious, and perhaps too short of comfortable for some. For example, if 60 people on board the ship would take a daily hot shower – <a href="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2019/10/mist-showers-sustainab">which requires on average 2.1 kilowatt-hours of energy and 76.5 litres of water on land</a> – total electricity use per day would be 126 kWh, more than double the energy the ship produces at a speed of 7.5 knots.</p>

<p>The ship could supply this energy at a higher sailing speed, but there would also be a need for 4,590 liters of water per day, a quantity that could only be produced from seawater – a process that requires a lot of energy. Even a crew of 12 taking a daily hot shower would require 25.2 kWh of energy per day, half of what the hydrogenerators produce at a sailing speed of 7.5 knots. The <em>Bark Europa</em> is the only sailing ship mentioned in this article that has hot showers in every (shared) cabin, but it is also the ship with the biggest generators and the highest fuel use.</p>

<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/Parma_-_on_the_forecastle_in_fine_weather.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
On the forecastle head of the Parma in fine weather. Image by Alan Villiers, 1932.</p>

<p>Andrew Simons: “On the <em>EcoClipper500</em> there needs to be a manageable compromise between energy use and comfort. Energy use on board will have to be actively managed. Resources are finite, just like for the planet. In many ways the ship is a microcosm of challenges that the wider world has to face and find solutions to.”</p>

<p>Jorne Langelaan: “At sea you are in a different world. It doesn’t matter anymore if you can take a daily shower or not. What matters are the people, the movements of the ship, and the vast wilderness of ocean around you”.</p>

<h2>Measuring the right things</h2>

<p>This article has compared the <em>EcoClipper500</em> sailing ship with the average container ship, bulk carrier, and airplane in terms of emissions per tonne- or passenger-kilometer. However, these values are abstractions that obscure much more important information: the total emissions that are produced by all passengers and all cargo, over all kilometres.</p>

<p>The international ocean freight trade increased from 4 billion tonnes of cargo in 1990 to 11.2 billion tonnes in 2019, resulting in more than 1 billion tonnes of emissions. International air passenger numbers grew from 1 billion in 1990 to 4.5 billion in 2019, resulting in 915 million tonnes of emissions. Consequently, lowering the emissions per tonne- and passenger-kilometre is neither a necessity nor a guarantee for a reduction in emissions.</p>

<p>If we cut international cargo traffic more than fivefold, and passenger traffic more than tenfold, then the emissions of all container ships and airplanes would be lower than the emissions of all sailing ships carrying 11.2 billion tonnes of cargo and 4.5 billion of passengers. Vice versa, if we switch to sailing ships, but keep on transporting more and more cargo and passengers across the planet, we will eventually produce just as much in emissions as we do today with fossil fuel powered transportation.</p>

<p class="img"><img alt="image" loading="lazy" src="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/Grace_Harwar_-_the_mizzen_of_the_ship;_view_aft_from_the_main_crosstrees.png"></p>

<p class="caption">
The mizzen of the ‘Grace Harwar’; view aft from the main crosstrees. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.</p>

<p>Of course, none of this would ever happen. The amount of cargo that was traded across the oceans in 2019 equals the freight capacity of 22.4 million <em>EcoClippers</em>. Assuming the <em>EcoClipper500</em> can make 2-3 trips per year, we would need to build and operate at least 7.5 million ships, with a total crew of at least 90 million people. Those ships could only take 0.5 billion passengers (12 passengers and 8 trainees per ship), so we would need millions of ships and crew members more to replace international air traffic.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>We should not be fooled by abstract relative measurements, which only serve to keep the focus on growth and efficiency.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>All of this is technically possible, and as we have seen, it would produce less in emissions than the present alternatives. However, it’s more likely that a switch to sailing ships is accompanied by a decrease in cargo and passenger traffic, and this has everything to do with scale and speed. A lot of freight and passengers would not be travelling if it were not for the high speeds and low costs of today’s airplanes and container ships.</p>

<p>It would make little sense to transport iPhones parts, Amazon wares, sweatshop clothes, or citytrippers with sailing ships. A sailing ship is more than a technical means of transportation: it implies another view on consumption, production, time, space, leisure, and travel. For example, a lot of freight now travels in different directions for each next processing stage before it is delivered as a final product. In contrast, all sail cargo companies mentioned in this article only take cargo that cannot be produced locally, and which is one trip from producer to consumer. <sup id="fnref:8"></sup></p>

<p>This also means that even if sailing ships have diesel engines on board, they would still bring a significant decrease in the total emissions for freight and passenger traffic, simply because they would reduce the absolute number of passengers, cargo, and kilometers. We should not be fooled by abstract relative measurements, which only serve to keep the focus on growth and efficiency.</p>

<p>Kris De Decker</p>

<p>Proofread by Alice Essam. <a href="https://ecoclipper.org/">More about the EcoClipper500</a>. Most images: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Photographs_by_Alan_Villiers">Alan Villiers collection</a>.</p>
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<p id="35bf" class="hn ho fq fr b hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if di gn">There are lots of ways to build good teams and working relationships. I’m currently training as an organisation and relationship systems coach with <a href="http://www.crrglobal.com/orsc.html" class="do ig" rel="noopener nofollow">ORSC </a>and there are lots of methods that help build teams and collaborations which I will share more of as I do the training (I’ll be fully qualified in January 2018). On a much simpler level though, before you get to the relational matter of teams, platforms and systems, it’s important for people to know your preferences as an individual.</p>

<p id="b665" class="hn ho fq fr b hp ih hq hr hs ii ht hu hv ij hw hx hy ik hz ia ib il ic id if di gn">I was inspired by<span id="rmm"> </span>a conversation with <a href="https://twitter.com/JanetHughes" class="do ig" rel="noopener nofollow">Janet Hughes</a> and one of the people that joined us at our first <a href="https://medium.com/doteveryone/what-a-digital-organisation-looks-like-82426a210ab8" class="do ig" rel="noopener">Doteveryone digital leadership</a> meet up, who had created a “user manual” of himself to share with his team. We are a new team at Doteveryone, two thirds of the team started in February 2017, so we are all still getting to know each other and the different ways we like to work. Sometimes you just learn to work together through doing and getting on with stuff but there are some basics that it is probably helpful for everyone to know. I’ve created a user manual about myself and I’d love to hear what other questions people think should be included in something like this. I also think there should be a caveat that this is done knowing that not all your needs and preferences can be met, but there is still value in making them explicit for those you work with.</p>

<figure class="in io ip iq ir is fd fe paragraph-image"></figure>

<p id="6335" class="hn ho fq fr b hp ih hq hr hs ii ht hu hv ij hw hx hy ik hz ia ib il ic id if di gn">I’ve put blank templates of them in a <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v9iun8fdv06ygw2/AAAvNB9MDL3a2GLxrkqY1Vaya?dl=0" class="do ig" rel="noopener nofollow">Dropbox here</a> in case anyone else wants to use or adapt it. This was a first draft.</p>

<p id="97d6" class="hn ho fq fr b hp ih hq hr hs ii ht hu hv ij hw hx hy ik hz ia ib il ic id if di gn">And the questions are also on a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P1GmeN36lFQZEWrtcAvcUqRJOErbi97pOkzTDsvwlxA/edit?usp=sharing" class="do ig" rel="noopener nofollow">googledoc here</a>, which include my full answers!</p>
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<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 image2-1092-1456" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5bf83518-22df-4333-a423-63fbb59cb9a2_4032x3024.jpeg"><img src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5bf83518-22df-4333-a423-63fbb59cb9a2_4032x3024.jpeg" data-attrs='{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5bf83518-22df-4333-a423-63fbb59cb9a2_4032x3024.jpeg","height":1092,"width":1456,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":4735534,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/jpeg","href":null}' alt=""></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Users of the social media platform Parler encountered this error message as of Jan. 11, 2021, after Apple, Google and Amazon united to remove them from app stores and hosting services (Photo by Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images). </figcaption></figure></div>

<p><strong>Critics of Silicon Valley</strong> censorship for years heard the same refrain: tech platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter are private corporations and can host or ban whoever they want. If you don’t like what they are doing, the solution is not to complain or to regulate them. Instead, go create your own social media platform that operates the way you think it should.</p>

<p>The founders of Parler heard that suggestion and tried. In August, 2018, they created a social media platform similar to Twitter but which promised far greater privacy protections, including a refusal to aggregate user data in order to monetize them to advertisers or algorithmically evaluate their interests in order to promote content or products to them. They also promised far greater free speech rights, rejecting the increasingly repressive content policing of Silicon Valley giants. </p>

<p>Over the last year, Parler encountered immense success. Millions of people who objected to increasing repression of speech on the largest platforms or who had themselves been banned signed up for the new social media company. </p>

<p>As Silicon Valley censorship radically escalated over the past several months — <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/10/15/facebook-and-twitter-cross-a-line-far-more-dangerous-than-what-they-censor/">banning pre-election reporting</a> by <em>The New York Post </em>about the Biden family, denouncing and deleting multiple posts from the U.S. President and then terminating his access altogether, mass-removal of right-wing accounts — so many people migrated to Parler that it was catapulted to the <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/09/parler-jumps-to-no-1-on-app-store-after-facebook-and-twitter-bans/?guccounter=1">number one spot</a> on the list of most-downloaded apps on the Apple Play Store, the sole and exclusive means which iPhone users have to download apps. “Overall, the app was the 10th most downloaded social media app in 2020 with 8.1 million new installs,” <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/09/parler-jumps-to-no-1-on-app-store-after-facebook-and-twitter-bans/?guccounter=1">reported TechCrunch</a>.</p>

<p>It looked as if Parler had proven critics of Silicon Valley monopolistic power wrong. Their success showed that it was possible after all to create a new social media platform to compete with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And they did so by doing exactly what Silicon Valley defenders long insisted should be done: <em>if you don’t like the rules imposed by tech giants, go create your own platform with different rules</em>.</p>

<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 image2-849-560" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4cf23313-31c9-4de7-b0e9-d17361fa3dc0_560x849.png"><img src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4cf23313-31c9-4de7-b0e9-d17361fa3dc0_560x849.png" data-attrs='{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/4cf23313-31c9-4de7-b0e9-d17361fa3dc0_560x849.png","height":849,"width":560,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":216629,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}' alt=""></a><figcaption class="image-caption">List of most-downloaded apps on Apple Store, Jan. 8, 2021</figcaption></figure></div>

<p>But today, if you want to download, sign up for, or use Parler, you will be unable to do so. That is because three Silicon Valley monopolies — Amazon, Google and Apple — abruptly united to remove Parler from the internet, exactly at the moment when it became the most-downloaded app in the country. </p>

<p>If one were looking for evidence to demonstrate that these tech behemoths are, in fact, monopolies that engage in anti-competitive behavior in violation of antitrust laws, and will obliterate any attempt to compete with them in the marketplace, it would be difficult to imagine anything more compelling than how they just used their unconstrained power to utterly destroy a rising competitor.</p>

<p><hr></p>

<p><strong>The united Silicon Valley attack</strong> began on January 8, when Apple emailed Parler and gave them 24 hours to prove they had changed their moderation practices or else face removal from their App Store. The letter claimed: “We have received numerous complaints regarding objectionable content in your Parler service, accusations that the Parler app was used to plan, coordinate, and facilitate the illegal activities in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 that led (among other things) to loss of life, numerous injuries, and the destruction of property.” It ended with this warning:</p>

<blockquote><p>To ensure there is no interruption of the availability of your app on the App Store, please submit an update and the requested moderation improvement plan within 24 hours of the date of this message. If we do not receive an update compliant with the App Store Review Guidelines and the requested moderation improvement plan in writing within 24 hours, your app will be removed from the App Store.</p></blockquote>

<p>The 24-hour letter was an obvious pretext and purely performative. Removal was a <em>fait accompli </em>no matter what Parler did. To begin with, the letter was immediately leaked to <em>Buzzfeed</em>, which <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/apple-threatens-ban-parler">published it in full</a>. A Parler executive detailed the company’s unsuccessful attempts to communicate with Apple. “They basically ghosted us,” he told me. The next day, Apple notified Parler of its removal from App Store. “We won’t distribute apps that present dangerous and harmful content,” said the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/apple-now-worth-2-trillion-making-it-most-valuable-company-n1237287">world’s richest company</a>, and thus: “We have now rejected your app for the App Store.”</p>

<p>It is hard to overstate the harm to a platform from being removed from the App Store. Users of iPhones are barred from downloading apps onto their devices from the internet. If an app is not on the App Store, it cannot be used on the iPhone. Even iPhone users who have already downloaded Parler will lose the ability to receive updates, which will shortly render the platform both unmanageable and unsafe.</p>

<p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs='{"url":"https://greenwald.substack.com/p/how-silicon-valley-in-a-show-of-monopolistic?&amp;utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share","text":"Share","class":null}'><a class="button primary" href="https://greenwald.substack.com/p/how-silicon-valley-in-a-show-of-monopolistic?&amp;utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p>

<p>In October, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law issued a 425-page <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/competition_in_digital_markets.pdf">report</a> concluding that Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google all possess monopoly power and are using that power anti-competitively. For Apple, they emphasized the company’s control over iPhones through its control of access to the App Store. As <em>Ars Technica </em><a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/house-amazon-facebook-apple-google-have-monopoly-power-should-be-split/">put it</a> when highlighting the report’s key findings:</p>

<blockquote><p>Apple controls about 45 percent of the US smartphone market and 20 percent of the global smartphone market, the committee found, and is projected to sell its 2 billionth iPhone in 2021. It is correct that, in the smartphone handset market, Apple is <em>not</em> a monopoly. Instead, iOS and Android hold an effective duopoly in mobile operating systems.</p>
<p>However, the report concludes, Apple <em>does</em> have a monopolistic hold over what you can <em>do</em> with an iPhone. You can only put apps on your phone through the Apple App Store, and Apple has total gatekeeper control over that App Store—that's what <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/09/apple-vs-epic-hearing-previews-a-long-hard-fought-trial-to-come/">Epic is suing the company over</a>. . . . </p>
<p>The committee found internal documents showing that company leadership, including former CEO Steve Jobs, "acknowledged that IAP requirement would stifle competition and limit the apps available to Apple's customers." The report concludes that Apple has also unfairly used its control over APIs, search rankings, and default apps to limit competitors' access to iPhone users.</p></blockquote>

<p>Shortly thereafter, Parler learned that Google, without warning, had <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55598887">also “suspended”</a> it from its Play Store, severely limiting the ability of users to download Parler onto Android phones. Google’s actions also meant that those using Parler on their Android phones would no longer receive necessary functionality and security updates. </p>

<p>It was precisely Google’s abuse of its power to control its app device that was <a href="http://competitionlawblog.kluwercompetitionlaw.com/2019/10/15/competition-authorities-to-investigate-mobile-application-store-dominance/">at issue</a> “when the European Commission deemed Google LLC as the dominant undertaking in the app stores for the Android mobile operating system (i.e. Google Play Store) and hit the online search and advertisement giant with €4.34 billion for its anti-competitive practices to strengthen its position in various of other markets through its dominance in the app store market.”</p>

<p>The day after a united Apple and Google acted against Parler, Amazon delivered the fatal blow. The company founded and run by the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, used virtually identical language as Apple to inform Parler that its web hosting service (AWS) was terminating Parler’s ability to have AWS host its site: “Because Parler cannot comply with our terms of service and poses a very real risk to public safety, we plan to suspend Parler’s account effective Sunday, January 10th, at 11:59PM PST.” Because Amazon is such a dominant force in web hosting, Parler has thus far not found a hosting service for its platform, which is why it has disappeared not only from app stores and phones but also from the internet.</p>

<p>On Thursday, Parler was the most popular app in the United States. By Monday, three of the four Silicon Valley monopolies united to destroy it.</p>

<p><hr></p>

<p><strong>With virtual unanimity, </strong>leading U.S. liberals celebrated this use of Silicon Valley monopoly power to shut down Parler, just as they overwhelmingly cheered the prior two extraordinary assertions of tech power to control U.S. political discourse: censorship of <em>The New York Post</em>’s reporting on the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, and the banning of the U.S. President from major platforms. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find a single national liberal-left politician even expressing concerns about any of this, let alone opposing it.</p>

<p>Not only did leading left-wing politicians not object but some of them were the ones who pleaded with Silicon Valley to use their power this way. After the internet-policing site Sleeping Giants flagged several Parler posts that called for violence, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1347679332014161920">asked</a>: “What are <a href="https://twitter.com/Apple">@Apple</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/GooglePlay">@GooglePlay</a> doing about this?” Once Apple responded by removing Parler from its App Store — a move that House Democrats just three months earlier warned was dangerous anti-trust behavior — she praised Apple and then demanded to know: “Good to see this development from <a href="https://twitter.com/Apple">@Apple</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/GooglePlay">@GooglePlay</a> what are you going to do about apps being used to organize violence on your platform?”</p>

<p>The liberal <em>New York Times</em> columnist Michelle Goldberg <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/opinion/twitter-facebook-trump-ban.html">pronounced herself</a> “disturbed by just how awesome [tech giants’] power is” and added that “it’s dangerous to have a handful of callow young tech titans in charge of who has a megaphone and who does not.” She nonetheless praised these “young tech titans” for using their “dangerous” power to ban Trump and destroy Parler. In other words, liberals like Goldberg are concerned only that Silicon Valley censorship powers might one day be used against people like them, but are perfectly happy as long as it is their adversaries being deplatformed and silenced (Facebook and other platforms have for years banned marginalized people like <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/12/30/facebook-says-it-is-deleting-accounts-at-the-direction-of-the-u-s-and-israeli-governments/">Palestinians at Israel’s behest</a>, but that is of no concern to U.S. liberals).</p>

<p>That is because the dominant strain of American liberalism is not economic socialism but political authoritarianism. Liberals now want to use the force of corporate power to silence those with different ideologies. They are eager for tech monopolies not just to ban accounts they dislike but to remove entire platforms from the internet. They want to imprison people they believe helped their party lose elections, such as Julian Assange, even if it means creating precedents to criminalize journalism. </p>

<p>World leaders have vocally condemned the power Silicon Valley has amassed to police political discourse, and were particularly indignant over the banning of the U.S. President. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, various French ministers, and especially Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador all denounced the banning of Trump and other acts of censorship by tech monopolies on the ground that they were anointing themselves “a world media power.” The warnings from López Obrador were particularly eloquent:</p>

<p id="youtube2-URUNyt_bGT8" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs='{"videoId":"URUNyt_bGT8","startTime":null,"endTime":null}'></p>

<p>Even the ACLU — which has rapidly transformed from a civil liberties organization into a liberal activist group since Trump’s election — found the assertion of Silicon Valley’s power to destroy Parler deeply alarming. One of that organization’s most stalwart defenders of civil liberties, lawyer Ben Wizner, <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/competition_in_digital_markets.pdf">told </a><em><a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/competition_in_digital_markets.pdf">The New York Times</a> </em>that the destruction of Parler was more “troubling” than the deletion of posts or whole accounts: “I think we should recognize the importance of neutrality when we’re talking about the infrastructure of the internet.”</p>

<p>Yet American liberals swoon for this authoritarianism. And they are now calling for the use of the most repressive War on Terror measures against their domestic opponents. On Tuesday, House Homeland Security Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) <a href="https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/a-terrorist-is-a-terrorist-house-homeland-security-chair-wants-ted-cruz-and-josh-hawley-on-the-no-fly-list/">urged</a> that GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley “be put on the no-fly list,” while <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> reported that “Biden has said he plans to make a priority of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-urged-to-take-fresh-look-at-domestic-terrorism-11605279834">passing a law against domestic terrorism</a>, and he has been urged to create a White House post overseeing the fight against ideologically inspired violent extremists and increasing funding to combat them.”</p>

<p>So much of this liberal support for the attempted destruction of Parler is based in utter ignorance about that platform, and about basic principles of free speech. I’d be very surprised if more than a tiny fraction of liberals cheering Parler’s removal from the internet have ever used the platform or know anything about it other than the snippets they have been shown by those seeking to justify its destruction and to depict it as some neo-Nazi stronghold.</p>

<p>Parler was not founded, nor is it run, by pro-Trump, MAGA supporters. The platform was created based in libertarian values of privacy, anti-surveillance, anti-data collection, and free speech. Most of the key executives are more associated with the politics of Ron Paul and the CATO Institute than Steve Bannon or the Trump family. One is a Never Trump Republican, while another is the former campaign manager of Ron Paul and Rand Paul. Among the few MAGA-affiliated figures is Dan Bongino, an investor. One of the key original investors was Rebekah Mercer.</p>

<p>The platform’s design is intended to foster privacy and free speech, not a particular ideology. They minimize the amount of data they collect on users to prevent advertiser monetization or algorithmic targeting. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, they do not assess a user’s preferences in order to decide what they should see. And they were principally borne out of a reaction to increasingly restrictive rules on the major Silicon Valley platforms regarding what could and could not be said.</p>

<p>Of course large numbers of Trump supporters ended up on Parler. That’s not because Parler is a pro-Trump outlet, but because those are among the people who were censored by the tech monopolies or who were angered enough by that censorship to seek refuge elsewhere. </p>

<p>It is true that one can find postings on Parler that explicitly advocate violence or are otherwise grotesque. But that is even more true of Facebook, Google-owned YouTube, and Twitter. And contrary to what many have been led to believe, Parler’s Terms of Service includes a ban on explicit advocacy of violence, and they employ a team of paid, trained moderators who delete such postings. Those deletions do not happen perfectly or instantaneously — which is why one can find postings that violate those rules — but the same is true of every major Silicon Valley platform.</p>

<p>Indeed, a Parler executive told me that of the thirteen people arrested as of Monday for the breach at the Capitol, none appear to be active users of Parler. The Capitol breach was planned far more on Facebook and YouTube. As <em>Recode</em> <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22221285/trump-online-capitol-riot-far-right-parler-twitter-facebook">reported</a>, while some protesters participated in both Parler and Gab, many of the calls to attend the Capitol were from YouTube videos, while many of the key planners “have continued to use mainstream platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.” The article quoted Fadi Quran, campaign director at the human rights group Avaaz, as saying: “In DC, we saw QAnon conspiracists and other militias that would never have grown to this size <em>without being turbo-charged by Facebook and Twitter</em>.” </p>

<p>And that’s to say nothing of the endless number of hypocrisies with Silicon Valley giants feigning opposition to violent rhetoric or political extremism. Amazon, for instance, is one of the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-cia-amazon-cloud-computing-20190403-story.html#:~:text=Amazon%20already%20has%20a%20%24600,it%20says%20would%20favor%20Amazon.">CIA’s most profitable partners</a>, with a $600 million contract to provide services to the agency, and it is constantly bidding for more. On Facebook and Twitter, one finds <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MojKsaEn/">official accounts</a> from the <a href="https://twitter.com/mojksa_en?lang=en">most repressive and violent regimes</a> on earth, including Saudi Arabia, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/General-Abdel-Fattah-el-Sisi-of-Egypt-437247223039646/">pages devoted to propaganda</a> on behalf of the Egyptian regime. Does anyone think these tech giants have a genuine concern about violence and extremism?</p>

<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 image2-681-942" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2933ecee-d1a9-4c47-b93f-d28a08cade30_942x681.png"><img src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2933ecee-d1a9-4c47-b93f-d28a08cade30_942x681.png" data-attrs='{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2933ecee-d1a9-4c47-b93f-d28a08cade30_942x681.png","height":681,"width":942,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":259257,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}' alt=""></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Official Facebook page of the Saudi Justice Ministry</figcaption></figure></div>

<p>So why did Democratic politicians and journalists focus on Parler rather than Facebook and YouTube? Why did Amazon, Google and Apple make a flamboyant showing of removing Parler from the internet while leaving much larger platforms with far more extremism and advocacy of violence flowing on a daily basis?</p>

<p>In part it is because these Silicon Valley giants — Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple — donate <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/silicon-valley-opens-wallet-joe-biden/">enormous sums of money</a> to the Democratic Party and their leaders, so of course Democrats will cheer them rather than call for punishment or their removal from the internet. Part of it is because Parler is an upstart, a much easier target to try to destroy than Facebook or Google. And in part it is because the Democrats are about to control the Executive Branch and both houses of Congress, leaving Silicon Valley giants eager to please them by silencing their adversaries. This corrupt motive was made expressly clear by long-time Clinton operative Jennifer Palmieri:</p>

<p>The nature of monopolistic power is that anti-competitive entities engage in anti-trust illegalities to destroy rising competitors. Parler is associated with the wrong political ideology. It is a small and new enough platform such that it can be made an example of. Its head can be placed on a pike to make clear that no attempt to compete with existing Silicon Valley monopolies is possible. And its destruction preserves the unchallengeable power of a tiny handful of tech oligarchs over the political discourse not just of the United States but democracies worldwide (which is why Germany, France and Mexico are raising their voices in protest).</p>

<p>No authoritarians believe they are authoritarians. No matter how repressive are the measures they support — censorship, monopoly power, no-fly lists for American citizens without due process — they tell themselves that those they are silencing and attacking are so evil, are <em>terrorists</em>, that anything done against them is noble and benevolent, not despotic and repressive. That is how American liberals currently think, as they fortify the control of Silicon Valley monopolies over our political lives, exemplified by the overnight destruction of a new and popular competitor.</p>
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<p>Do what you love, build projects and features people want, and the success will come. I bet you heard that many times. This saying is well known, but I need to point out it takes time to get results. Many founders give up too soon and break their consistency.</p>

<p>It’s not the issue of <a href="https://twitter.com/ivankutskir">Ivan Kuckir</a> and his project <a href="https://www.photopea.com/">Photopea</a>. He has been building this online photo editor for 7 years now, and it’s paying off. Last year, he broke the line of $500,000 ARR, and it’s still growing.</p>

<p>We sat down together with Ivan to discuss his startup journey and how consistency and listening to your customer can get your project over $40k MRR.</p>

<h3 id="hi-ivan-can-you-please-describe-your-project-you-are-working-on">Hi Ivan, can you please describe your project you are working on?</h3>

<p>Hello Lunadio, Photopea is a free web-based graphic software. It’s an alternative to Photoshop and other similar tools. I’ve been working on this project for over 7 years now. It started as an experiment and turned out to be my main source of income.</p>

<h3 id="whats-your-stats-can-you-please-share-some-numbers">What’s your stats? Can you please share some numbers?</h3>

<p>I started to monetize this tool 4 years ago, and it’s growing continuously year by year. Last year, I made over $500k for the first time, and there is still plenty of space to grow for this tool.</p>

<p><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/CG5I7g7up1BLKO2uEhK-PtvorJzd0HGOt6432yVqAYzray_RMFojueedzIKYsogVLwW4B102pgY7MaVUjyio5y1AkHVk7mANd4wyyrVvTYv8b0wlaOHg8ebtliaIBDZVVomAPO26" alt=""></p>

<h3 id="how-do-you-make-money-from-your-project">How do you make money from your project?</h3>

<p>It might surprise you, but the primary revenue stream is from ads. On top of that, I do license deals. You can customize Photopea using API and integrate it into your projects. I charge a monthly fee for it.</p>

<h3 id="yep-it-is-surprising-for-me-for-sure-why-did-you-decide-to-use-this-type-of-monetization">Yep. It is surprising for me for sure. Why did you decide to use this type of monetization?</h3>

<p>Well, I was building online games before Photopea. Do you remember those flash-based simple online games all around the Internet? I’ve created some of them. Game developers monetized these games by putting banner ads inside. I knew exactly how many views and impressions I need to get decent money out of the project. It is pure math.</p>

<p>Because I have this know-how, I decided to build the tool for free and use ads to monetize.</p>

<h3 id="thats-cool-so-what-are-your-daily-visits-then">That’s cool. So, what are your daily visits then?</h3>

<p>300,000 users come to my website every day. They spend 45,000 hours using my tool each day.</p>

<h3 id="okay-thats-pretty-impressive-i-can-imagine-your-server-costs-are-huge">Okay. That’s pretty impressive. I can imagine your server costs are huge.</h3>

<p>Actually, you won’t believe me, but I pay $45 per year.</p>

<h3 id="are-you-kidding-me">Are you kidding me?!</h3>

<p>It’s all rendered in the user’s browser. There is no database, no backend. I only pay for the hosting of Javascript scripts and static files.</p>

<p><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/MDBl76C-QhET8u89xLyCGD1wYijyToAzxBrputVypVUwuiCqkgZKtfaabYuc62C1Te-aqHysM445BygdftH4xp5NqH6NT4Xq6bSRyKBvRsQN0TWQ5BVjNSNgAmhEw3uNlFBXjdcL" alt=""></p>

<h3 id="oh-my-let-me-breathe-it-out-thats-amazing-do-you-have-any-other-costs-any-employees-or-still-working-on-the-project-alone">Oh my, let me breathe it out. That’s amazing. Do you have any other costs? Any employees or still working on the project alone?</h3>

<p>I don’t have any employees, and I’m still working on the project alone. In the beginning, I thought it’s a disadvantage. I didn’t want my customer to know I’m the only one working on this. I was afraid of their reaction when they would find out it’s only me using an old $500 notebook.</p>

<p>Later on, I realized I got nothing to hide, and I want to use it as an advantage. I want to show others what they can achieve when they consistently build projects that people want. That’s why I decided to share my story.</p>

<h3 id="and-thank-you-for-that-let-me-take-you-back-a-little-bit-what-was-your-mvp-version-of-photopea-how-did-you-start-this-project">And, thank you for that. Let me take you back a little bit. What was your MVP version of Photopea? How did you start this project?</h3>

<p>It all started as an experiment. I know Photoshop pretty well, and I wanted to find out if it’s possible to parse Photoshop (.psd) files in the website browser. I created a simple web tool where you could open a .psd file, and you were able to download all layers separately. It was a technical challenge, and I like working with new technologies.</p>

<h3 id="compared-to-what-photopea-is-now-you-started-with-a-single-feature-do-you-have-any-advice-for-founders-building-their-products-for-years-before-launching-them">Compared to what Photopea is now, you started with a single feature. Do you have any advice for founders building their products for years before launching them?</h3>

<p>Start with a small product, and add more features on the go. I’ve learned it’s good to launch your projects or features before you are 100% satisfied with that. I still do that now. I’m not trying to do all things perfectly. I launch it as soon as it works, and then I wait for user feedback.</p>

<p>I released a new update supporting .ai (Adobe Illustrator) files, and I know it’s not perfect. However, it works for 80% of users, and others report bugs and all edge cases. Now, I’m going to fix these issues one by one.</p>

<h3 id="when-was-the-time-you-realized-this-could-be-a-successful-project">When was the time you realized this could be a successful project?</h3>

<p>I had like 20 projects back then. All of them had the same importance to me, and my expectations were high for every project. I decided to focus on Photopea because I most enjoyed working on this product. I know I’m building a unique tool, and it motivates me to continue.</p>

<h3 id="how-do-you-prioritize-new-features">How do you prioritize new features?</h3>

<p>Photopea is composed of many small functionalities. Each feature is a new challenge for me, and I’m happy once I finish it.</p>

<p>I receive new feature requests over Github. People are reporting issues and asking for new things there. The funny thing is that 80% of these users created an account on Github the day they posted a new request. I bring many new users to Github over the years. 😅</p>

<p>I choose requests from this list based on my current mood and what I would like to implement next. There is no secret sauce behind it. It’s all about building what people want.</p>

<p><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/a6eD4iFyY-tgQMX_X1t4QAFNXf7xXkASJI2IrN6S_VYPPa7OT_zWUF2v84EtYfBxww3Sn6kh9uUU2aaV1udHC1gypauOc8Xry_xjlMQxGNep_3H6CNGSoLr2QT5pSlhhHe2OZWtB" alt=""></p>

<h3 id="whats-your-marketing-strategy">What’s your marketing strategy?</h3>

<p>I don’t have any strategy. I’m just building a nice tool people like, and they talk about that. It’s all just word of mouth.</p>

<p><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/dGiNmdAZXcFQUs13AazmpDk9LnDgHlco0fD5MusNQ79sH7XgZzq_GSXUeYugwCgFpRFEGvnUuEkrTj8U2PwkHqZNaIUbgqc1_1g3Zzt64aaitvsXj4r11COCHTnvat7A-0tKk05u" alt="">
<em>(stats by Ubersuggest)</em></p>

<p>I have no growth hack advice or anything for you. I share new feature updates on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, sometimes on Hacker News as well.</p>

<p>I launched on Product Hunt a few years ago, and I had absolutely zero results, with no success. Then, some random fan of my tool, with 10 followers, <a href="https://www.producthunt.com/posts/photopea-3">relaunched it</a> last year, and it gets to #4 Product of the Week with more than 1000 upvotes.</p>

<p><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/C1bj98E_zoHwNIV2s5FXXjSKNDrC7tU2O4MaHgubE9yIwUCqWKNdr9aJ1GfAEqF5WHYwYWqtuwaryoT6wFO7tqOjJR0a7QEsN0x_vgH0eGcitFXHJevICK7rDSEUfgvjMAGnfHkR" alt=""></p>

<h3 id="okay-so-your-advice-would-be-let-someone-else-launch-your-project-on-product-hunt">Okay, so your advice would be, let someone else launch your project on Product Hunt.😅</h3>

<p>Yes, that’s my only marketing advice that worked for me.</p>

<h3 id="can-you-share-any-fuck-up-or-fail">Can you share any fuck up or fail?</h3>

<p>Once, I forgot to update one script, and Photopea didn’t work for like 12 hours. It was during my nighttime. When I woke up and checked my phone, I found 150 emails and approximately 50 tweets reporting my tool doesn’t work. It catapulted me from the bed, and I fixed the issue immediately.</p>

<h3 id="thank-you-very-much-for-the-interview-im-glad-we-know-you-and-your-product-better-i-believe-your-story-is-inspiring-for-all-readers-of-this-blog-post-the-same-way-its-for-me">Thank you very much for the interview. I’m glad we know you and your product better. I believe your story is inspiring for all readers of this blog post the same way it’s for me.</h3>

<h3 id="do-you-have-any-final-advice-for-early-stage-founders">Do you have any final advice for early-stage founders?</h3>

<p>Find a domain you really like and something that you enjoy doing. It’s a long journey.
I love programming and creating new things, and I use it as my superpower. What’s yours?</p>
</article>

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<p>Struggling with a concept and frantically trying to find the answers online? Are you thinking: <em>I should just ping a teammate or Is this something I should already know? That’s fine, I’ll ask anyway. </em>And then you do ask and get an answer and are feeling pretty darn proud of yourself and move forward. <em>But wait, now I have about 25 follow-up questions. </em>Sound familiar?</p>

<p>Or how about the career growth questions that can be sometimes too uncomfortable asking your lead or manager? <em>Oh, I know, I’ll take them to reddit. But wait, they have no company context. </em>Yeah, also familiar. <em>I know. I should get a mentor! But darn. I’ve heard so many stories… Who do I approach? Will they be interested? What if they reject me? And what if it’s not working out?</em></p>

<p>Shopify is a collaborative place. We traditionally <a href="https://shopify.engineering/pair-programming-explained" target="_blank" title="Pair Programming Explained - Shopify Engineering" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">pair with other developers</a> and conduct code reviews to level up. This approach is great for just-in-time feedback and unblocking us on immediate problems. We wanted to continue this trend and also look at how we can support developers in growing themselves through longer term conversations.</p>

<p>We surveyed our developers at Shopify and learned that they:</p>

<ul>
<li>Love to learn from others at Shopify</li>
<li>Are busy people and find it challenging to make dedicated time for learning</li>
<li>Want to grow in their technical and leadership skills.</li>
</ul>

<p>These findings birthed the idea of building a mentorship program targeted at solving these exact problems.<strong> Enter Shopify’s Engineering Mentorship Program. </strong>Shopify’s RnD Learning Team partnered with developers across the company to design a unique mentorship program and this guide walks readers through the structure, components, value-adds, and lessons we’ve had over the past year.</p>

<h1>Gathering Participants</h1>

<p>Once a quarter developers get an email inviting them to join the upcoming cycle of the program and sign up to be a mentee, mentor, or both. In addition to the email that is sent out, updates are posted in a few prominent Slack channels to remind folks that the signup window for the upcoming cycle is now open.</p>

<p>When signing up to participate in the program, mentees are asked to select their areas of interest and mentors are asked to select their areas of expertise. The current selections include:</p>

<ul>
<li>Back-end</li>
<li>Data</li>
@@ -104,112 +95,70 @@
<li>Mobile - React Native</li>
<li>Non-technical (leadership, management).</li>
</ul>

<p>Mentors are also prompted to choose if they are interested in supporting one or two mentees for the current cycle.</p>

<h1>Matching Mentors and Mentees</h1>

<p>Once the signup period wraps up, we run an automated matching script to pair mentees and mentors. Pairs are matched based on a few criteria:</p>

<ul>
<li>Mentor isn’t mentee's current lead</li>
<li>Mentor and mentee don’t report to same lead</li>
<li>Aligned areas of interest and expertise based on selections in sign-up forms</li>
<li>Mentee job level is less than or equal to mentor job level.</li>
</ul>

<p>The matching system intentionally avoids matching based upon criteria such as geographic location or department to broaden the developer’s network and gain company context they would have otherwise not been exposed to.</p>

<p>Pairs are notified by email of their match and invited to a kickoff meeting where organizers welcome participants, explain the program model and value that they will receive as a mentor or mentee, and answer any questions.</p>

<h1>Running the Six Week Program Cycle</h1>

<p>Each program cycle runs for six weeks and pairs are expected to meet for approximately one hour per week.</p>

<figure><img alt="Shopify’s Engineering Mentorship Program overview" data-src="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0779/4361/files/Shopify_Engineering_Mentorship_Program_overview.jpg?v=1612976625" class="lazyload">
<figcaption>Shopify’s Engineering Mentorship Program overview</figcaption>
</figure>

<p>The time bound nature of the program enables developers to try out the program and see if it’s a good fit for them. They can connect with someone new and still feel comfortable knowing that they can walk away, no strings attached.</p>

<p>The voluntary signup process ensures that developers who sign up to be a mentor are committed to supporting a mentee for the six week duration and mentees can rest assured that their mentor is keen on supporting them with their professional growth. The sign-up emails as well as the sign-up form reiterate the importance of only signing up as a mentor or mentee if you can dedicate at minimum an hour per week for the six week cycle.</p>

<h2>Setting Goals</h2>

<p>In advance of the first meeting, mentees are asked to identify technical skills gaps they want to improve. During their first meeting, mentees and mentors work together building a tangible goal that they can work towards over the course of the six weeks. Goals often change and that’s expected.</p>

<p>Through the initial kickoff meeting and weekly check-ins via Slack, we reinforce and reiterate throughout the program that the goal itself is never the goal, but an opportunity to work towards a moving target.</p>

<p>Defining the goal is often the most challenging part for mentees. Mentors take an active role in supporting them craft this—the program team also provides tons of real examples from past mentees.</p>

<h2>Staying Connected as a Group</h2>

<p>Outside of the one on one weekly meetings between each pairing of mentor and mentee, the broader mentorship community stays connected on Slack. Two Slack channels are used to manage the program and connect participants with one another and with the program team.</p>

<p>The first Slack channel is a public space for all participants as well as anyone at the company who is curious about the program. This channel serves the purpose to advertise the program and keep participants connected to each other as well as to the program team. This is done by regularly asking questions and continuously sharing their experiences of what’s working well, how they’ve pivoted (or not) from their initial goals, and any general tips to support fellow mentors and mentees throughout the program.</p>

<p>The second Slack channel is a private space that is used exclusively by the program team and mentors. This channel is a space for mentors to be vulnerable and lean on fellow mentors for suggestions and resources.</p>

<h2>Preparing the Participants with a Guidebook</h2>

<p>Beyond the Slack channels, the other primary resource our participants use is a mentorship guidebook that curates tips and resources for added structure. The program team felt that a guidebook was an important aspect to include for participants who were craving more support. While it is entirely an optional resource to use, many first time mentors and mentees find it to be a helpful tool in navigating an otherwise open ended relationship between themselves and their match. It includes tips on sample agendas for your first meeting, example goals, and ways to support your mentee. For example, invite them to one of your meetings and debrief afterwards, pair, or do a code review.</p>

<h1>Growing Mentor’s Skills Too</h1>

<p>Naturally teaching someone else a technical concept helps reinforce it in our own minds. Our mentors constantly share how they’ve found the program helps refine their craft skills as well:</p>

<p><em>“Taking a step back from my day-to-day work to meet with [them] and chatting about career goals at a higher level, gave me more insight into what I personally want from my career path as well.”</em></p>

<p>The ability to mentor others in their technical acumen and craft is a skill that’s valued at Shopify. As engineers progress in their career here, being an effective mentor becomes a bigger piece of what’s expected in the role. The program gives folks a place to improve both their mentorship and leadership skills through iteration.</p>

<p>Throughout the program, mentors receive tips and resources from engineering leaders at the company that are curated by the program team and shared via Slack, but the most valuable piece ends up being the support they provide each other through a closed channel dedicated to mentors.</p>

<p>Here’s an actual example of how mentors help unblock each other:</p>

<div>
<p><strong>Mentor 1</strong>: <em>Hey! Im curious to know how y’all are supporting your mentees in coming up with a measurable goal? My mentee’s original goal was “learn how Shopify core works” and we’ve scoped that down to “learn how jobs are run in core” but we still don’t have it being something that’s measurable and can clearly be ticked off by the end of the 6 weeks. They aren’t the most receptive to refining the goal so I’m curious how any of you have approached that as well?</em></p>
</div>

<div>
<p><strong>Mentor 2</strong>: <em>Hmmm, I’d try to get to the “why” when they say they want to learn how Shopify core works. Is it so they can find things easier? Make better decisions by having more context? Are they interested in why it’s structured the way it is to inform them on future architecture decisions? Maybe that could help in finding something they can measure. Or if they’re just curious, could the goal be something like being able to explain to someone new to Shopify what the different components of the system are and how they interact? Or they’re able to create a new job in core in x amount of time?</em></p>
</div>

<div>
<p><strong>Mentor 3</strong>: <em>If you've learned how something works, you should be able to tell someone else. So I turn these learning goals into a goal to write a wiki page or report, make a presentation, or teach someone else one on one.</em></p>
</div>

<div>
<p><strong>Mentor 1</strong>: <em>Thanks for all the replies! I surfaced adapting the learning goal to have an outcome so they've decided on building an example that can be used as documentation and shared with their team. They're writing this example in the component their team maintains as well which will help in "learn how Shopify works" as they weren't currently familiar with the component</em>.</p>
</div>

<h1>Gathering Program Feedback</h1>

<p>At the end of the six weeks mentees and mentors are asked to provide constructive feedback to one another and the program officially comes to a close. </p>

<p>Program participants receive a feedback survey that helps organizers understand what’s working well and what to revise for future cycles. Participants share</p>

<ul>
<li>Whether they would recommend the program to someone else or not</li>
<li>What the best part of the program was for them</li>
<li>What they would like to see improved for future cycles.</li>
</ul>

<p>Tweaks are made within a short month or so and the next cycle begins. A new opportunity to connect with someone else, grow your skills, and do it in a time-bound and supportive environment.</p>

<h1>What We’ve Learned in 2020</h1>

<p>Overall, it’s been working well. The type of feedback we receive from participants is definitely share-worthy:</p>

<p><em>“was phenomenal to learn more about Production Engineering and our infrastructure. Answered hundreds of mind-numbing questions with extreme patience and detail; he put in so much time to write and share resources—and we wrapped up with a live exercise too! I always look forward to our sessions and it was like walking into a different, fantasy-like universe each time. Hands down the best mentoring experience of my professional career thus far.” </em>- Senior Developer</p>

<ul>
<li>We’ve had 300+ developers participate as mentees and 200+ as mentors.</li>
<li>98% of survey respondents indicated that they would recommend the program to someone else.</li>
<li>The demand is there. Each cycle of the program we have to turn away potential mentees because we can’t meet the demand due to limited mentors. We are working on strategies to attract more mentors to better support the program in 2021.</li>
</ul>

<p>The themes that emerged in terms of where participants found the most value are around:</p>

<ul>
<li>
<strong>Building relationships</strong>: getting to know people is hard. Getting to know colleagues in a fully remote world is near impossible. This program helps.</li>
@@ -222,17 +171,15 @@
<li>
<strong>Gaining broader Shopify context:</strong> being a T-shaped developer is an asset. By T-shaped we are referring to the vertical bar of the “T” as the areas the developer is an expert in, while the horizontal bar refers to areas where the developer has some breadth and less depth of knowledge. Getting outside of our silos and learning about how different parts of Shopify work helps build stronger developers and a stronger team.</li>
</ul>

<p>Reinvesting in the developers at Shopify is one way that we help individuals grow in their careers and increase the effectiveness of our teams.</p>

<p>Some great resources that inspired us:</p>

<div class="marketing-block marketing-block--light marketing-block--padded">
<p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/naqsar/" target="_blank" title="Sarah Naqvi on LinkedIn" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Sarah is a Senior Program Manager</a> who manages Engineering learning programs at Shopify. For the past five years, she has been working on areas such as designing and building the initial version of the Dev Degree program to now designing and delivering the Engineering Mentorship Program. She is focused on helping our engineers develop their professional skills and creating a strong Engineering community at Shopify.</p>
</div>

<p><hr>
<p>We're planning to DOUBLE our engineering team in 2021 by hiring 2,021 new technical roles (see what we did there?). Our platform handled record-breaking sales over BFCM and commerce isn't slowing down. <a href="https://www.shopify.com/careers/2021?itcat=EngBlog&amp;itterm=Post" target="_blank">Help us scale &amp; make commerce better for everyone</a>.</p></p>
<hr>
<p>We're planning to DOUBLE our engineering team in 2021 by hiring 2,021 new technical roles (see what we did there?). Our platform handled record-breaking sales over BFCM and commerce isn't slowing down. <a href="https://www.shopify.com/careers/2021?itcat=EngBlog&amp;itterm=Post" target="_blank">Help us scale &amp; make commerce better for everyone</a>.</p>
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<p>Hi Everyone. Happy 2021.</p>

<p>Today, as is my custom on the first day of the new year, I am going to take a stab at what the year ahead will bring. I find it useful to think about what we are in for. It helps me invest and advise the companies we are invested in. Like our investing, I will get some of these right and some wrong. But having a point of view is very helpful when operating in a world that is full of uncertainty.</p>

<p>Let’s start with the elephant in the room. The Covid Pandemic will end in the developed world in 2021. I think we will see the end of the Covid Pandemic in the US sometime in the second quarter. I believe the US will work out the challenges we are having getting out of the gate and will be vaccinating at least 40mm people a month in the US in the first quarter. When you add that to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/burden.html">the 90mm people in the US that the CDC believes have already been infected</a>, we will have well over 200mm people in the US who have some protection from the virus by the end of March. By the end of the second quarter in the US, anyone who wants to be vaccinated will have been able to do so. All of this will be aided by at least two additional approved vaccines in the US in January and new and improved protocols, like emphasizing the first dose over the second one.</p>

<p>The second half of 2021 will be marked by two conflicting trends. First, we will see people returning in droves to offices, restaurants, bars, clubs, gyms, stadiums, concerts, parties, travel, theaters, and anywhere that they can be social with others, ideally many others. I personally cannot wait to do all of that when it is safe to do so.</p>

<p>But ironically, this mass socializing trend will not materially and/or permanently change many behaviors we adopted in the Covid Pandemic. I believe that we will continue to want to work from home, exercise from home, shop from home, watch first run movies from home, order in, livestream, and all of the other new behaviors we learned to enjoy and perfect in the last year.</p>

<p>Where all of this shakes out will be the big reveal of 2021 and will impact many tech companies and many tech stocks. As <a href="https://avc.com/2020/12/what-happened-in-2020/">I wrote yesterday</a>, I think the trends that were accelerated in 2020 will not reverse in 2021, although the slope of the adoption curves will likely flatten a fair bit.</p>

<p>While we are out mass socializing, we will also be picking up the pieces of our world that was shattered by the pandemic. In the US, we have racial equity issues that are longstanding, real and demanding to be addressed. We also have an economy that is in tatters. And we have sectors of our economy like retail, commercial real estate, carbon based energy, and more that will never be the same. The restructuring of our economy and government and corporate balance sheets and income statements that have been blown wide open will take a decade or more to work out.</p>

<p>Sitting above all of this is an atmosphere that is getting warmer by the day. As I wrote in <a href="https://avc.com/2020/01/what-will-happen-in-the-2020s/">last year’s looking forward post</a>:</p>

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The looming climate crisis will be to this century what the two world wars were to the previous one. It will require countries and institutions to re-allocate capital from other endeavors to fight against a warming planet. </p><cite>https://avc.com/2020/01/what-will-happen-in-the-2020s/</cite></blockquote>

<p>At USV, we have begun that reallocation of capital and we will be investing heavily in companies and technologies that can help the world address this existential threat. I believe that many of our colleagues in the venture capital world will do the same because not only does the world need this investment, it will generate fantastic returns too. Climate will be to this decade what cloud was to the last one.</p>

<p>The twin terrors of the Covid Pandemic and the Climate Crisis will drive the great US migration of the 21st century and we are already experiencing it. We will see it accelerate in 2021. If, because of what we learned in the Covid Pandemic, a good job no longer requires someone to live in a low lying flood-prone city like Miami or NYC or a city that is burning like SF or LA, we will see many people in the US choose to leave those places and adopt new homes that are less impacted by the climate crisis. We call this “adapting to the climate crisis” at USV, and this will be a huge investable trend for many years to come.</p>

<p>I believe that governments will respond to all of these economic challenges by continuing to print fiat money without restraint and by taxing and regulating innovative new companies to protect old and dying companies. This will lead investors to continue to allocate capital to new forms of money (crypto) and new ways of creating and financing innovation (decentralized projects and organizations). We are already seeing that happen in the finance sector, with breakout projects in decentralized finance in 2020 like Compound, Yearn, and Uniswap (a USV funded project). We will see this approach accelerate in 2021 and expand into areas beyond the financial sector. The idea of financing and executing innovation inside of a global decentralized autonomous organization is such a powerful idea and one whose time has come.</p>

<p>As I go back and re-read this post, I am struck by how obvious and unprovocative all of these predictions are. Either that means that I am not getting far out enough on the curve to see things before everyone else does, or it means that the trends that will define 2021 have been building for years and are finally coming of age. Maybe it is a bit of both.</p>

<p>In any case, 2021 will be a year of returning to normal, but it will be a new normal and not like one we have experienced before. Adapting to change is my mantra for 2021. Happy New Year everyone.</p>
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<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because nobody else ate the Hot Cheetos that were stocked in our free snack kitchen. Seaweed snacks were always empty. Nobody had those telltale red stains on their fingers but me. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I made my breakfast and sometimes my lunch in that free snack kitchen, loading up on hummus and hard-boiled eggs and apples rather than spending $25 a day to grab something in the financial district in San Francisco. I made excuses about wanting to work through my break, wanting to impress my boss. My boss had her kale salad and vegan soup delivered. We did not talk while we ate. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because once I realized they would keep restocking the tampons in the ladies’ room, I stopped bringing any from home. I said as much in a fit of daring to a woman with whom I thought I would become friends. She admonished me for using bleached cotton products in my vagina. We are not friends. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I realized the same thing about Advil. The bottle was never empty and never replaced. I might have been the only one who knew, or needed it, or who still deigned to use OTC painkillers. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because people kept bragging their bodily purity based on what they would not eat or drink, and I could only feel pity for them. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I couldn’t restrain myself from eating and drinking myself into an absolute sickness anytime they threw a party and expressed no limits on our consumption. The jobs I had worked before that had put up signs in the break room warning us that stealing someone’s lunch was a termination-worthy offense. I had my lunch stolen more than once when I worked in those places. I never reported it. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because they always ordered extra catered lunches, and at the end of the week someone would just throw them away if I didn’t take them home.</span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I thought my coworker was kidding when he said he was spending the three-day weekend in Greece. When I finished laughing, four people recommended hotels. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because one time everyone else in my department quit or was fired in the space of six months, leaving me and a Harvard guy. I asked Harvard if he was worried and he said no. He was thinking about taking a year off anyway, then maybe starting his own business. On my way home, I noticed Starbucks was hiring. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because when the billionaire CEO told us that he saw people taking free snacks from the kitchen to-go, I was the only one who looked ashamed and I had never dared to do it. Everybody else laughed it off and called him an asshole under their breath for being so petty. I avoided him in the kitchen and the elevator until I quit. When he offered me a glass of Dom at a benchmark party, I couldn’t look him in the eye. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I was the only person who would say hello to the cleaning lady as she meekly made her rounds around us when we worked late. Everyone else had a long habit of ignoring anyone like her. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because everyone’s hobby talk was incomprehensible to me. Sailing. Indoor rock climbing. Building robots. Golfing. Sourcing and collecting antiquities. Adult soccer leagues. All I heard was money. Money. Money. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I was afraid to seek mentorship from anyone above me, convinced that even asking would seem like bothersome begging. I watched the people around me network effortlessly, assured of favors and good words put in. I could only think in terms of what I could offer and how I could survive; they were thinking on the next level where they never had to wonder if they were good enough. They were to the business-class manner born, at least. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because when I talked about paying off my student loans, people expressed their utter shock that my parents hadn’t put me through Berkeley. Were Mom and Pop simply opposed to public school? Did they disagree with my choice of major? </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because they thought I was kidding when I said I had a GED. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because nobody ever wished me a happy payday. Payday was marked in all caps on my calendar, every biweekly occurrence, forever.</span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because one of my teammates got an email one day from payroll informing him that his last three paychecks had bounced back to them, and had he maybe made a mistake on his direct deposit form? Three paychecks is a month and a half of income (rent and two car payments by my fevered calculations, which never stop). He did not notice at all, and people found the story funny rather than horrifying.</span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I forgot my charger once and absolutely nobody had one old enough to be compatible with my phone.</span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I was one of maybe three employees living in Oakland, despite the fact that I could get to work faster than anyone who lived in the Sunset or the Richmond districts. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I wouldn’t dream of Ubering in. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I made more there than I’d ever made before; a daring amount I had been afraid to ask for during the offer process. I discovered through misadventure that I still made less than any of the executive assistants, or the receptionist. I was, in fact, the lowest-paid person in the building including the interns. I hadn’t known what was possible, so I couldn’t even think to ask for what I was worth to them. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I had the only fat body in the building. Gym membership was included in my benefits. I went half a dozen times before it was made crystal clear to me that I did not belong. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I never got over not having to punch a clock.</span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I asked HR before my first vacation what paperwork I would need to do in order to receive vacation pay. HR blinked at me slowly and told me there was no paperwork necessary; I would just get paid like I normally did. It was obvious no one had ever asked before. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I freaked out and cheered over a bonus only to watch the rest of my team quietly put their checks in their wallets and say nothing. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because everyone else had good teeth. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I had gotten married younger than any of my coworkers. </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because on the day I left they told me to put my equipment on someone’s desk on my way out the door. I packed everything up carefully, wiping it all down and trying to make it look as good as new. The guy I was meant to leave my Macbook ($1200) and my headphones ($350) with wasn’t even there. There was no security, no oversight, no locker and no inventory list. Nobody had walked me away from my desk to keep me from stealing pens or staples or secrets. Nobody watched me at all, or asked to check my bag on my way out the door. Because they have never been poor, they had no idea what I might do. Why would I steal, when everyone clearly has enough? What even is scarcity? Why drink yourself to death tonight when there’s another sponsored event a week from now? Why eat like there will never be enough, when there has always been more than enough? </span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span>I gave back the Macbook. I kept the headphones. </span></p>
</article>


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<img src="https://www.la-grange.net/2021/05/30/1095-poteau-rouille.jpg" alt="peinture écaillée sur un poteau rouillé.">
<figcaption>Tsujido, Japon, 30 mai 2021</figcaption>
</figure>

<blockquote>
<p>Une fois dans ma vie, je fus envoûtée.<br>
— Le pays sans nom, Anna Moï, urn:isbn:978-2-8159-2795-6</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Qu'advient-il de nos sites Web quand nous disparaissons ? Et le problème se pose-t-il de la même façon avec ou sans enfants ? Robin <a href="https://www.robinrendle.com/notes/inheritance.html">écrit</a> en février dernier :</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I thought about this the other day, too. When I die my website will probably stick around until my bank account stops sending money to Hover or Netlify. I guess my brother might have the login details and could start paying for my domain name but then what? If I ever have kids will they take the keys to this thing?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>La question probablement plus importante que celle de la longévité posthume est probablement l'intérêt de la transmission. Les projets open source naissent et meurent indépendamment de leurs créateurs. Si un projet provoque suffisamment d'intérêt dans une communauté choisie, il survivra à l'abandon volontaire ou circonstanciel.</p>

<p>Sommes-nous à ce point envoûtés par le possible de nos mots, par la facilité de la transmission, qu'il nous faille croire à l'immortalité de la prose ? Les mots et encore plus les histoires autour des mots survivent dans les bouches qui manœuvrent les sons, et les tympans qui entrent en transe. La mémoire d'une légende est bien plus riche dans sa multitude que dans le texte fossilisé.</p>

<p>Peut-être qu'il ne faut pas tant se soucier de l'existence posthume d'un site Web. Il suffit qu'une personne ou une communauté de personnes pour réaliser la copie d'un site Web. Et si les enfants ou les grands-enfants avaient un quelconque désir de sauvegarde, ils reprendront le labour des mots. Ils garderont la chandelle vacillante dans la tempête.</p>

<p>J'avais dans le passé une optique plus planificatrice de la maintenance éventuelle de ce site Web au cas de ma disparition. Capitaine de bord, il me fallait tout prévoir et envisager des coups, de la vermine et du scorbut. Je suis beaucoup plus détaché maintenant. J'ai trouvé mon île sans vendredi, juste la tranquillité du sable et de la forêt épaisse. Une forme de libération, une contrainte de moins à gérer, une écriture du maintenant parce que demain n'appartient pas à mes souvenirs.</p>

<h2 id="links">sur le bord du chemin</h2>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://mlstory.org/introduction.html">Machine Learning</a></li>
<li><a href="https://hacks.mozilla.org/2019/04/teaching-machines-to-triage-firefox-bugs/">Teaching machines to triage Firefox bugs</a></li>

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</p>

<h3>Table des matières</h3>

<p><a href="#paradoxe">Curieux paradoxes</a><br/>
<a href="#conseil">Quelques conseils de recherche</a><br/>
<a href="#prospective">Intuitions</a><br/>
@@ -93,14 +92,12 @@
</p>

<h4>Empreinte globale et territorialisation</h4>

<p>
Avec le temps j’en suis venu à estimer que <b>l’estimation globale de l’empreinte environnementale du secteur numérique ne vise pas tant à contrer les discours de dématérialisation et antigéographiques du secteur, mais d’une certaine façon les poursuit</b>. Je m’explique : les estimations globales produites portent généralement sur des tiers techniques (<i>data centers</i>, réseaux de transmission, équipements utilisateurs) et des facteurs d’impact (consommation d’énergie primaire ou d’électricité, émissions de gaz à effet de serre, consommation d’eau et de ressources). Toutefois, quand on dit, par exemple, que les <i>data centers</i> représentent 1% de la consommation d’électricité mondiale ou que le secteur numérique émet 2 à 4% des émissions mondiales de gaz à effet de serre on ne dit pas grand chose finalement car on ne dit pas où et de quelle façon. N’importe quel chiffre global présuppose que la pression s’exerce de façon uniforme sur un globe où se perpétue alors une vision éthérée et non-géographique des activités numériques. En fait, les 1% de consommation d’électricité des <i>data centers</i> sont peu au niveau global mais sont très concentrés dans certaines zones. Si on préfère approcher la question via un méthode territoriale on peut enfin comprendre que la demande d’énergie des <i>data centers</i> est très concentrée et pose de réelles questions d’aménagement urbain pour de nombreuses villes en Europe ou aux États-Unis : schéma de distribution électrique, réseaux d'eau, artifilisation des sols, etc. Dans un monde idéal, une estimation globale devrait toujours être accompagnée d’une mise en situation territoriale (donc des données qualitatives) afin de comprendre concrètement les enjeux face à nous. C’est un changement de méthode que je précise dans <a href="territoires-centres-de-donnees.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">le quatrième article de cette série</a>.

</p>

<h4>Obtenir des données environnementales</h4>

<p>
Un des plus gros problèmes lorsqu’on essaye de modéliser l’empreinte environnementale du secteur numérique c’est la disponibilité et l’existence des données sur le sujet. <b>Les chaines de production, d’approvisionnement et de distribution, et les infrastructures du numérique sont structurellement opaques</b> et ce pour plusieurs raisons. Premièrement, la complexité des appareils fabriqués augmente largement le nombre de fournisseurs impliqués. Là où certaines infrastructures demandent peu de matériaux différents mais en grande quantité, le fabrication de systèmes numériques demande de nombreux métaux différents mais dans des quantités relativement moyennes (sauf pour les grands métaux). 50 métaux dans un smartphone c’est presque autant de fournisseurs qui sous-traitent à d’autres personnes qui sous-traitent à d'autres personnes, etc… Depuis 2013, Fairphone a difficilement réussi à remonter les chaines d'approvisionnement de 10 métaux utilisés pour leur smartphone. Deuxièmement, la sous-traitance mentionnée plus haut est le résultat d’une course au moins-disant imposée par les géants du secteur qui souhaitent réduire et maitriser leur coûts au maximum. Dans un iPhone 6, les matières premières représentent un coût de 1,03 $ <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/10719/materials-used-in-iphone-6/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">d'après 911 Metallurgist</a>. On peut donc difficilement imaginer que leur extraction puisse se faire avec un grand soin et en toute considération des limites planétaires. Troisièmement, c’est un secteur hyper-concurrentiel où les grands acteurs placent la plupart de leurs données sous clause de confidentialité. <b>L'agrégation des données reste aussi un bon moyen de rendre les données inexploitables car ce n’est pas tant la somme de l’addition qui est intéressante dans notre domaine mais les éléments additionnés et leur détermination individuelle</b>.
</p>
@@ -111,7 +108,6 @@
-->

<h4>Numérique jetable et durable</h4>

<p>
Si l’on s’intéresse à réduire l’empreinte écologique du secteur numérique on comprend assez rapidement qu’il faut produire moins d’équipements et les faire durer le plus longtemps possible. Il faut donc favoriser la standardisation des composants, la réparabilité des appareils et la distribution des savoirs techniques. Pour le dire différemment, on déduit qu’il faut prendre soin des systèmes numériques et que cela est finalement proche d’autres pratiques dans l’informatique (logiciel libre, réseaux auto-gérés, etc.). <b>Ce “prendre soin” implique, me semble t-il, deux choses : un relatif abandon de la course à la puissance (informatique et/ou managériale), les systèmes durables s’accommodent rarement de systèmes uniquement taillés pour la puissance et la, toujours éphèmère, performance maximum ; et une certaine technophilie, dans le sens où on apprécie ces systèmes non pas pour les discours majoritaires aujourd’hui (progrès technique, contrôle et puissance) mais pour les outils fragiles qu’ils sont</b>. Cette connaissance de leur fragilité devrait amener à ne pas forcer l’adoption de ces systèmes dans tous les contextes, surtout ceux dans lesquels ils n’ont pas de pertinence concrète. <b>“Prendre soin” des systèmes numériques pourrait potentiellement s’opposer au projet de tout-numérisation (forcer la numérisation de toutes les activités dans tous les contextes)</b>.
</p>
@@ -123,7 +119,6 @@
</p>

<h4>Droits numériques des non-numérisés</h4>

<p>
Je souhaiterais terminer cette première liste avec un dernier paradoxe qui reprend ce qui a été dit plus haut. On parle souvent de “droit numérique” ou <i>digital rights</i> pour garantir un accès égal aux réseaux et aux services numériques, le respect de la vie privée des internautes, la lutte contre la censure, etc. Cependant, est-ce que le droit numérique ne devrait pas en creux défendre les droits de ceux qui ne souhaitent pas utiliser des moyens numériques ? Si un service public essentiel est entièrement numérisé (absence d’espaces physiques de médiation et d'accès), qui défend les droits de ceux qui veulent accéder au service par un moyen conventionnel ? Qui garantit que la numérisation d’un service n’amène pas à sa disparition physique et donc à sa disparition pour tous ceux qui n’ont pas les moyens pratiques de connexion, les moyens socio-économiques et culturels, ou parce que des conditions locales ne le permettent pas ? Les récentes inondations à Zhengzhou en Chine a fait tombé une partie du réseau internet locale, <a href="https://gnews.org/1416347/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">bloquant les paiements quotidiens via Alipay, l'accès à des vélos via QR</a>, etc. <b>Donc, est-ce le droit numérique sert aussi à assurer que des citoyens ont toujours une alternative crédible à tout service ou produit entièrement numérisé ?</b> En même titre que le code de la route régit les règles de circulation et la relation entre véhicules de tout type (vélo, voiture,…) sur des routes variées, est-ce que le droit numérique devrait régir l’accès de plein droit à ceux qui ont choisi de naviguer différemment ?
</p>
@@ -135,19 +130,16 @@
</p>

<h4>Une étude de cas n’est pas de la recherche empirique</h4>

<p>
Le secteur numérique comprend une multitude d’acteurs avec d’importants moyens et notamment les moyens de relayer leur propre recherche académique, ou non-académique, ou leurs publications. Face à l’absence de données ouvertes on peut être tenté d’utiliser les études de cas fournies par des équipementiers, des entreprises de conseil ou autres. <b>Il faut toutefois rappeler que les études de cas professionnelles ne sont pas de la recherche empirique et ne sont pas soumis au processus de publication scientifique</b>. De plus, ces études de cas ont aussi pour objet de mettre en valeur le déploiement de tel ou tel système dans une optique de promotion. Les aspects plus opaques du déploiement, la maintenance ou même l’usage dans le temps du système en question sont rarement remontés. Finalement, une étude de cas ne peut pas être utilisée pour extrapoler les conséquences du déploiement d’un système car chaque contexte de déploiement est trop particulier (culture, langue, ressources, management, etc.) pour être standardisé au niveau global.
</p>

<h4>Ne croyez pas (trop) les annonces dans le secteur</h4>

<p>
Le secteur du numérique et des nouvelles technologies est perpétuellement remué à grands coups d’articles promettant la révolution d’une chose ou de l’autre. De telles affirmations emphatiques font parfois l’objet de rapports pour soutenir ces annonces. Ce mécanisme d'agitation de l’espace médiatique permet d’attirer les capitaux nécessaires à ces entreprises mais n’est pas là pour tracer une quelconque feuille de route ou rendre compte des faits avec précision. Certains technologies sensées révolutionner le monde ne sortiront jamais des laboratoires pour x raisons ou seront utilisés pour un projet beaucoup moins glorieux que celui annoncé. L’intégration concrète de nouvelles technologies numériques semble plutôt regrouper des processus laborieux, lents et bien plus ennuyeux qu’on l’imagine. <b>Bref, si l’entreprise multinationale X affirme qu’elle va révolutionner le secteur ou le service Y grâce à la technologie Z dans N années, il y a de fortes chances qu’elle cherche juste plus de capitaux pour se financer ou à créer un marché</b>.
</p>

<h4>Soyez attentifs aux régimes de visibilité et d’opacité dans le secteur</h4>

<p>
Tous les spécialistes le répètent à chaque fois, le secteur est très opaque. Il est dur d’obtenir des informations pertinentes et des données utilisables pour la recherche. <b>Un jeu de clair-obscur est observable entre les informations et données qui sont mises en visibilité à outrance et celles qui sont mises en opacité. Des données qui étaient auparavant opaques deviennent visibles, d’autres repartent dans l’ombre, certaines sont rendues très visibles afin d’en obscurcir d’autres</b>. Il faut bien comprendre que dans ce contexte la visibilité est aussi une méthode d’opacification. À l’invitation d’un <a href="https://cemti.univ-paris8.fr/?se%CC%81minaire-doctoral-le-visible-et-l-invisible-sur-les-plateformes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">séminaire doctoral au CEMTI (Paris 8)</a> j’ai tenté une première description de ces régimes.
</p>
@@ -159,25 +151,21 @@
</p>

<h4>Etudiez les goulots d’étranglements</h4>

<p>
Le secteur numérique étant à la fois concentré et dilué il est très facile de s’éparpiller et de perdre du temps et de l’énergie dans un sujet dans lequel peu de données sont disponibles et peu de recherche de terrain a été accomplie. Mon conseil est de privilégier les goulots d’étranglement du secteur numérique. <b>Ces goulots désignent pour moi des zones géographiques ou des structures matérielles où se resserrent les différents flux du secteur (matières, ressources, production, capitaux, etc.)</b>. C’est à ce titre que j’ai commencé à étudier <a href="https://gauthierroussilhe.com/post/chip-water-taiwan.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">les industries de fabrications de circuits intégrés à Taïwan</a>. 60% des livraisons mondiales de circuits intégrés proviennent de l’île et ces composants (semi-conducteurs inclus) sont un des éléments fondateurs de la numérisation. Sur un espace géographiquement restreint où passe une telle quantité de flux, les conditions matérielles de production et les impacts écologiques et sociaux sont bien plus visibles et le travail de recherche semble plus “facile”. À voir si cette approche est fertile ou nécessaire sur le long terme.
</p>

<h3 id="prospective">Intuitions</h3>

<p>
Ces quelques années d’expérience ne m’ont sûrement pas permis de bien comprendre comment les enjeux environnementaux du secteur numérique vont évoluer. Quelques observations et idées se sont toutefois cristallisées jusqu’à formuler quelques intuitions que je partage ici. J'espère bien évidemment que l'avenir ne me donnera pas raison.
</p>

<h4>L’eau sera plus problématique qu’on l’imagine</h4>

<p>
L’hyper-focalisation sur le carbone et l’électricité cache efficacement les autres grands problèmes environnementaux. De tous ces problèmes, il me semble que <b>la consommation d’eau du numérique peut devenir très problématique dans un futur proche et dans des zones très concentrés</b> : les lieux d’extraction minière (approvisionnement en eau pour le nettoyage et la purification du minerai) ; la fabrication de circuits intégrés (eau ultra-pure, rinçage des wafers, etc.) ; le refroidissement des centres de données en zones désertiques (par évaporation d’eau) ; et la pollution des eaux (rejets miniers et industriels, décharges, etc.).
</p>

<h4>Numérique vs Agriculture</h4>

<p>
Les besoins en eau de certains acteurs du numérique pourraient se confronter avec le plus consommateur d’eau sur le globe : le secteur agricole. Plus précisément, <b>certains acteurs du numérique pourraient rentrer en concurrence avec les acteurs agricoles pour pomper les eaux souterraines en zones de stress hydrique et pour la captation des eaux de surface (réservoirs, etc.)</b>. Par exemple, en avril 2021, le gouvernement taïwanais a demandé l’arrêt subventionné de l’irrigation de 74 000 hectares de terres agricoles pour maintenir l’approvisionnement en eau d’usines de semi-conducteurs dans le nord de l’île. De plus, les rejets industriels d’usines de fabrication pourraient contaminer plus gravement des rivières et flux qui servent aux activités agricoles. Là encore le cas de Taïwan est intéressant et a été exploré par <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233466446_The_Dark_Side_of_Silicon_Island_High-Tech_Pollution_and_the_Environmental_Movement_in_Taiwan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hua-Mei Chiu</a>. De façon générale les activités industrielles, tous secteurs confondus (alimentaire, chimie, métallurgie, etc.) ont presque toujours créé ce genre de situations donc il n’y aurait rien d’étonnant à ce que le phénomène se répète. Malheureusement, il sera bien difficile à des petits fermes et exploitations agricoles de se battre contre des géants du numérique sur l’accès à l’eau. Au niveau global, le fait que Huawei s’intéresse aujourd’hui de plus en plus au secteur agricole et aux <i>Smart Farming Technologies</i> (SFT) n’est pas anodin. Cela permettra d’arbitrer à terme en interne les usages concurrentiels tout en s’assurant l’obtention des capacités productives agricoles, un champ dans lequel les grands acteurs du numérique se sont rarement aventurés mais qui va se révéler de plus ou plus décisif dans les années à venir.
</p>
@@ -187,9 +175,7 @@
Au fur et à mesure que les questions environnementales vont devenir pressantes et être visibles dans des territoires bien définis, les grands acteurs du numérique vont diluer ces problèmes dans une "matérialité de façade". <b>Nous aurons de plus en plus de rapports RSE aux résultats emphatiques mais avec des données agrégées et invérifiables, et cela au fur et à mesure que ces acteurs garantissent leurs propres conditions matérielles (poste source d'électricité privé, station de pompage privé, etc.)</b>. La matérialité communiquée sera focalisée sur des facteurs environnementaux qui peuvent être comptablement maitrisables (électricité, "neutralité carbone") et opacifiera le reste des grands facteurs environnementaux. Nous aurons face à nous de plus en plus de promesses de futurs numériques soutenables (non vérifiées et vérifiables) où les conditions matérielles sont de plus en plus opacifiées et montrées au compte-goutte dans une sorte de <i>Sustainability-as-Usual</i>.
</p>
-->

<h3 id="mettrefin">Mettre fin au régime d'exception</h3>

<p>
Le présent exposé permet d’actualiser l’objectif à moyen et long terme des acteurs qui travaillent sur la question environnementale du numérique et au-delà. <b>La question stratégique aujourd’hui me semble être la suivante : comment mettre fin au régime d’exception du secteur numérique ?</b> Tout ce que j’ai décrit plus haut n’est finalement que quelques pièces du puzzle qui décrivent ce régime. Cet exceptionnalisme empêche aujourd’hui de contester l’axe de développement du secteur numérique et ralentit considérablement la prise en compte sérieuse des enjeux environnementaux de celui-ci. Pourtant, en regardant de près l’histoire des techniques à partir du XVIIIème siècle et l’histoire du développement industriel, le secteur numérique apparaît tout à fait traditionnel. Il transforme, certes, plus ou moins rapidement les modes de vie de nombreuses sociétés sur Terre mais ses conditions matérielles de déploiement et de production sont semblables à bien d’autres industries d’avant qui, elles, ont été régulées.
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<p>Facing a complex system agency, designers (be graphics, software engineers, architects, etc.) will attempt to reduce the complexity by simplifying the interactions with the system. The percentage of interactions with the new design becomes the tool for measuring the efficacy of the new choices.</p>

<p><img alt="faucets and soaps" src="https://www.otsukare.info/images/20210329-robinets.jpg"></p>

<p>But what do we measure? Do we measure the success of the design or do we measure that we created only one way to do a task, and funnels a variety and diversity of interactions through the funnel of one way of doing things. We should be wary and careful of what we measure and the complexity of individuals in front of a system.</p>

<p>When we simplify a system of interactions to a certain minimalism, we often trade choices for reductionism. We maximize the simplicity to the point of dumbing everything down. But do we always help? Creativity, emergence of patterns often lie in the hackability of a system. When we reduce the options for someone to use the system in unexpected ways, we remove the possibility for people to own a craft, a skill. We make them serve the system, instead of the system serving them.</p>

<p>We should try to create simple interfaces that maximize the possibility for people to create (creative entropy), being empowered, being autonomous.</p>

<h2>See Also</h2>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSru1QjpydI">Odyssée de l'hiver - Christian Fauré</a> (French)</li>
<li><a href="https://fvsch.com/calculators">Designing Calculator Apps</a></li>

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<hr>
<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">OTTAWA — For decades, most Indigenous children in Canada were taken from their families and forced into boarding schools. A large number never returned home, their families given only vague explanations, or none at all.</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Now an Indigenous community in British Columbia says it has found evidence of what happened to some of its missing children: a mass grave containing the remains of 215 children on the grounds of a former residential school.</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation said on Friday that ground-penetrating radar had discovered the remains near the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, which operated from 1890 until the late 1970s.</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“It’s a harsh reality and it’s our truth, it’s our history,” Chief Casimir said at a news conference. “And it’s something that we’ve always had to fight to prove. To me, it’s always been a horrible, horrible history.”</p></div></div>

<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">The remains, which Chief Casimir described as “many, many years old — decades,” included those of children as young as 3.</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Starting in the 19th century, Canada was home to a system of residential schools, mostly operated by churches, that Indigenous children were forced to attend. The system went into decline during the 1970s, with the last school closing in 1996.</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">A <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://nctr.ca/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">National Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a>, set up as part of a government apology and settlement over the schools, concluded that at least 4,100 students died while attending the schools, many from mistreatment or neglect, others from disease or accident. It found that in many cases, families never learned the fate of their offspring, who are <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="http://www.trc.ca/events-and-projects/missing-children-project.html" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">now known as the missing children.</a></p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">While there have long been rumors of unmarked graves at schools, if the findings in a preliminary report presented to the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation this week are confirmed, it will be the first time a major burial site has been discovered.</p></div></div>

<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Kamloops, <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://collections.irshdc.ubc.ca/index.php/Detail/entities/46" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">once the largest residential school</a> in Canada, with about 500 pupils at its peak, was operated by the Catholic Church until 1969, when the federal government took over.</p></div></div>

<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“The pain that such news causes reminds us of our ongoing need to bring to light every tragic situation that occurred in residential schools run by the Church,” Archbishop J. Michael Miller of the Vancouver Archdiocese said in a statement. “The passage of time does not erase the suffering.”</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Unlike other religious groups that operated the residential schools, the Catholic Church has refused to formally apologize for abuses that occurred within them. In 2018, Pope Francis <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/world/canada/pope-apology-canada-indigenous.html" title="">rejected a direct appeal </a>for an apology from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">The Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded in 2015 that residential schools were a program of <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/world/americas/canadas-forced-schooling-of-aboriginal-children-was-cultural-genocide-report-finds.html" title="">“cultural genocide.”</a> The use of Indigenous languages was banned at the schools, sometimes through the use of violence, as were Indigenous cultural practices.</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">The commission found evidence of neglect and maltreatment spanning decades at Kamloops. In 1918, a government official who inspected the school reported his “suspicion that the vitality of the children is not sufficiently sustained from a lack of nutritious food.”</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Geraldine Bob, a former student, told the commission that the staff members “would just start beating you and lose control and hurl you against the wall, throw you on the floor, kick you, punch you.”</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Chief Casimir said the search for remains at Kamloops began in the early 2000s, in part because official explanations — including suggestions that the missing children had simply run away — did not match with the stories conveyed by former students.</p></div></div>

<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“There had to be more to the story,” she said. “It’s about bringing in the advanced technology today to be able to look beneath the surface of the soil and to confirm some of the stories that were once told.”</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">She said that the radar scanning is not yet complete. “We have not done all our grounds, and we do know that there is still more to be discovered,” Chief Casimir said.</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“The loss of 215 children found on the grounds of a residential school is a national tragedy,” Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indian Nations in Saskatchewan said in a statement. He asked the federal government to work with Indigenous groups on researching the fates of missing children.</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">The office of Carolyn Bennett, the federal minister responsible for Indigenous relations, said in a statement that the “discovery reflects a dark and painful chapter in our country’s history.” Her department and health officials in British Columbia will set up support services for the First Nation, it said.</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner of British Columbia, said in an email that her office had been told of the radar findings on Thursday. “We are early in the process of gathering information and will continue to work collaboratively with the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc and others as this sensitive work progresses,” she said.</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">John Horgan, the premier of British Columbia, said that he was “horrified and heartbroken” and that he supported the efforts of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc to bring to “light the full extent of this loss.”</p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Indigenous communities throughout Canada, Chief<strong class="css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10"> </strong>Casimir said, had children who were forced into residential schools only to vanish.</p></div></div>

<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“Many other First Nations who had residential schools within their communities also want to learn and want to use new technology to be able to find their loved ones,” she said. “It is definitely an honor to be taking care of these children.”</p></div></div>
</article>


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<h1>Newsletters; or, an enormous rant about writing on the web that doesn’t really go anywhere and that’s okay with me</h1>
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<img alt="An illustration of a house at night with a figure at the window" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/e7cceec0e0fad2b5b24f9c280e99d81850b8bc53/5b082/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/01-lucy-bellwood.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>My friend Lucy once told me that she falls in love with the way that someone thinks&hellip;</p>
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<img alt="An illustration of a man looking at a watch being built" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/bae3406bca2eee81193570a0760b087127bfd50a/dc0bf/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/02-setting-up-watches.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>&hellip;and that’s what newsletters make possible for me; they’re a record of how strangers see the world.</p>
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<img alt="An illustration of a group of people playing music" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/5ad1d7a10dc68383f31b07a189001edb7d424054/b7e2c/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/03-music-water.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>Newsletters give me permission to fall in love with someone I'll never meet&hellip;</p>
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<img alt="A group of people on a hot air balloon looking back at Earth" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/2fa98aa905c8d536edad90e625b711a85793d699/37d73/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/04-looking-at-world.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>&hellip;someone very far away&hellip;</p>
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<img alt="Under a streetlamp a man reads a letter" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/ab0a1268c9ce4d338acb862708faa564f6dc7582/fdc28/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/05-fathers-letter.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>And over the past few years I’ve fallen in love with so many writers through newsletters! On all sorts of subjects!</p>
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<img alt="The Cistern of Philoxenos, a subterranean reservoir in Istanbul" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/ac948645452225def95b6b763caaa16019eecea4/2d085/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/06-cistern-philoxenos.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>There are dazzling newsletters; those of grand adventures and epic mysteries&hellip;</p>
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<p>...and newsletters about complex systems, showing us how the world is put together.</p>
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<img class="slide-img__flowers" alt="A horseshoe geranium flower" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/6ffcd8be52892abb2c193b392d1786f1b9931a8b/e3870/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/08-flower-horseshoe-geranium.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>Not to forget smaller newsletters, too. Break-ups! Coffee beans! Clocks! Northumberland flower gardens! These sit side by side with newsletters that are just&hellip;</p>
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<p>&hellip;<em>weird.</em></p>
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<p>So my question here is a difficult one to ask, because I love newsletters so very much&hellip;</p>
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<img alt="An astronomer looks up at the stars" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/29ec1b7f5d69b7e28b19c1a979f2a517e821e2eb/b7b71/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/11-herschel.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>&hellip;but is this progress?</p>
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<p>I guess there’s something about newsletters that bugs me, and I can’t put my finger on it.</p>
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<p>It bothers me that writers can’t create audiences on their own websites, with their own archives, and their own formats. And they certainly can’t get paid in the process. (Although yes, there are exceptions).</p>
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<p>Heck, just the technical expertise required to have your own website is extremely cumbersome and inaccessible to many.</p>
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<p>You might think: ah, newsletters are the future because that’s where the money is!</p>
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<p>But the real advantage with newsletters is that they give us super powers. You don’t need to learn about <abbr title="Hypertext markup language">HTML</abbr> or <abbr title="Cascading stylesheets">CSS</abbr> or databases to get started.</p>
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<p>Despite these super powers, I still think that using email to send words to each other is just entirely <em>ugh</em>.</p>
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<p>Perhaps I feel this way because reading everything in my inbox is somewhat antiquated. It’s almost as if we’ve gone back to reading off parchment after we invented books.</p>
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<p>Books are so much better than parchment in the same way that websites are so much better than email.</p>
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<p>And we’ve all moved to newsletters at the very moment when websites can do amazing things with layout and typography! We finally have grids and beautiful fonts and the wonders of print design on the web for the first time.</p>
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<p>Yet websites are treated as these embarrassing, ugly, ad-riddled things, whilst newsletters have established some kind of prestige for themselves somehow.</p>
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<p>The web doesn’t have to be this ugly and embarrassing thing though; the web can be made beautiful.</p>
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<p>And I’m saying this as someone who’s spent the better part of the last three years writing emails to strangers—because I feel both liberated and yet also cursed by them. Newsletters are just&hellip;inescapable if you want to be a writer today.</p>
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<p>But if websites are so great then why did everyone (including me) move to newsletters? Why did blogs die off? Well, there are ten million answers to those questions, but only three I want to focus on.</p>
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</ol>
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<p>These are the main problems today but now, because of newsletters, I look back on writing for the web as this clunky, annoying process in comparison. The machine sure is beautiful but it requires so much damn work to get singing.</p>
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<p>So I wonder how we can get the best of both worlds here: the ease of publishing newsletters, with all the beauty and archivability of websites. But what I’m really asking is&hellip;</p>
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<p>&hellip;how do we make the web for everyone?</p>
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<img alt="A dog walks down a street with a monocle" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/88460feb9e448b326985ad23aaadab918deea86c/06409/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/31-zoom-in-dog.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>Let’s take a closer look.</p>
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<h2>Part One</h2>
<p>Websites are too damn complicated</p>
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<img alt="A compositor selects metal letters from a case" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/6cd06270d5ac8ef197524aa764a20f5821cc8fae/995aa/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/32-compositor.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>Websites haven’t gotten any easier to make over the past thirty years.</p>
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<img alt="Demons gather in hell" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/aede02a0b877742845b8f896d69203b5e73dcbb7/17af5/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/33-dreadful-din.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>You still need to learn <abbr title="Hypertext Markup Language">HTML</abbr> and <abbr title="Cascading Stylesheets">CSS</abbr> to make a website. You still need to learn about hosting and domain names. You might even be forced to learn what the abbreviation <abbr title="Content management system">CMS</abbr> stands for, and I simply refuse to curse you with that knowledge.</p>
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<p>The web was originally intended to be read and written by everyone, but the technical hurdles of setting up a website excludes the vast majority of people. It should be easier so much easier.</p>
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<p>I’m not talking about the complexity of building giant web apps here. Even the smallest websites—with nothing more than text—are far too difficult to build.</p>
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<p>But perhaps we didn’t bother trying to improve writing on the web because we let social networks devour all our words—the archives be damned.</p>
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<p>The solution? Well, I have a few ideas, but one thing I’m dead certain of is that startups shouldn’t be fixing this for us.</p>
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<p>There have been some positive developments in recent years with the likes of static site generators, but again they still feel way too complex to me.</p>
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<p>On this note, not so long ago I stumbled upon a service called <a href="https://blot.im/">blot.im</a> and it showed me what building a website <em>could</em> be like; easy, fast, accessible.</p>
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<p>I reckon this is the future we should be striving towards.</p>
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<h2>Part Two</h2>
<p>RSS is for Nerds</p>
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<img alt="Two men looking at a book" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/23c048de6a30c109afc7a962bb43b816238d32f5/92745/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/41-unintelligible-writing.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>When you subscribe to a newsletter you don’t have to keep coming back to the source to see if there’s something new. Whenever a writer publishes something then you just get an email.</p>
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<p>The problem with the web is that when you publish something it just sort of disappears from sight. Writers have to spam all the social networks to remind people that they even exist.</p>
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<p>And yet the web sort of has this built-in notification stream and sort of…doesn’t at the same time.</p>
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<img alt="A head rests on a table in a museum" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/af374e5119fc7572c016b5b065ed830d003e1b3c/2bce6/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/44-talking-head.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>It’s called <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr>; an ancient, dusty technology that lets you subscribe to a website and see updates as they happen. With an <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr> reader app you can see what’s new from your favorite writers.</p>
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<p>Basically my whole political platform is this: <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr> is the promised land.</p>
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<p>It’s the perfect way to read the web and to keep up to date with things. So much so that I consider my <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr> reader (Reeder.app) to be my favorite web browser, not Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.</p>
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<p>The problem with <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr> is that you need to know that <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr> exists, how it works, which websites support it, etc. It’s nothing short of an enormous faff.</p>
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<p>But it’s not like <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr> is brain surgery, the problem is that it’s hidden away and just complicated enough that 99% of folks won’t care about it.</p>
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<p>“<abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr> is far too complex!” you might say. Well, <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr>-the-technology today is fantastically popular—it’s the machine that powers podcasts. So why isn’t <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr> used for websites if we use it everyday for audio?</p>
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<p>I reckon <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr> never reached critical scale for websites because it was never built into the browser itself. The failure here wasn’t the technology but the distance between <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr> and how we browse the web.</p>
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<p>Hear me out: if <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr> was renamed, rebranded, and brought to the surface of the browser then I expect legions of people would adore it. No longer would you have to give all these strangers your email address to sign up for the newsletter. </p>
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<p>And if we could subscribe to websites easily then the web itself might not feel quite so forgettable.</p>
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<h2>Part Three</h2>
<p>Paying writers is too damn hard</p>
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<img alt="A ghostly figure haunts a woodsman" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/dde81c62cb9622bca205d421b22c72cb4bbc2cd6/bae94/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/53-mercury-woodman.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>This has been called the original sin of the internet. Since you can’t pay someone directly through the browser, the thinking goes, then all these other hacks pop up to squeeze money out of folks; invasive and ugly advertising, privacy-breaking data collection, etc. </p>
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<p>If you have enough technical knowledge or a big enough following then you can build a subscription service for your website. This isn’t possible for a lot of writers though.</p>
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<p>But why should subscribing to a website be any more complex than subscribing to a newsletter? Why do I have to go through Substack or Patreon or the Kindle as a middleman?</p>
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<p>Look—I adore these services because they open the doors for so many new writers and buck wild stories. But that’s only because the web itself is so damn difficult to make work as an independent publishing platform.</p>
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<p>Paying and subscribing to a writer’s work should be one click away, without having to go through a middleman who takes a big percentage off the top.</p>
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<img class="slide-img__coins" alt="Coins" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/679a7dfc3d46f1165bfc732d13669c5711ef410b/e8a6e/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/58-coins.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>There are neat developments in this space: services like Coil or web browsers like Puma are worth paying attention to because they’re trying to upend the way that money is distributed on the web.</p>
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<p>There’s also, well, brace yourself: the Web Monetization <abbr tite="Application programming interface">API</abbr>. That sounds scary! But I think it’s where things get truly interesting (although it’s still far too complicated for most writers to benefit from).</p>
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<p>My point here is that being able to pay folks easily through the browser could open the door for all sorts of other artists, not just writers. </p>
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<p>Also, writers choose a newsletter service like Substack because the business model is straightforward. I just sort of wish this infrastructure was built into websites themselves.</p>
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<p>My point is this: there’s a viable alternative to newsletters if we fill in all these gaps.</p>
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<p>All I know is that the web today is not made for us. It’s no longer made for people to send charming bits of texts to strangers. </p>
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<p>Instead, I see the web as this public good that’s been hijacked by companies trying to sell us mostly heartless junk.</p>
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<p>The web today is built for apps—and I think we need to take it back.</p>
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<p>Because there are so many break-ups and coffee beans to write about! There are stories about clocks and Northumberland flower gardens waiting to be recorded, gift-wrapped, and delivered to us!</p>
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<p>What really excites me about the sudden popularity of newsletters is that it shows us how people desperately want this kind of writing still. They value the web in the same way that I do.</p>
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<p>What this also shows me is that we haven’t given everything up to social networks yet. This makes me hopeful&hellip;</p>
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<p>&hellip;because the web is still unfinished and there’s so much work left to do.</p>
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<p>Special thanks to <a href="https://www.oldbookillustrations.com/">Old Book Illustations</a> for all these lovely woodcuts and metal engravings. Also thanks to Lucy Bellwood, Celine Xu, Jez Burrows, Tori Hinn, Ali Burnett, Crick, and the Letterform Archive for the <a href="https://shop.letterformarchive.org/products/aluminia-fonts?variant=7014645497892">LfA Aluminia</a> type family.</p>
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<img alt="A man saying goodbye" src="https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/f42cfe7701cea3ef92ab5a172ac2e68b418ef8eb/f07fa/uploads/essays/on-newsletters/71-after-dark.jpg" loading="lazy"/>
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<p>Now go away.</p>
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<img src="https://www.la-grange.net/2021/04/17/0700-enoshima.jpg" alt="Enoshima, les nuages gris et l'océan">
<figcaption>Kugenuma, Japon, 17 avril 2021</figcaption>
</figure>

<blockquote>
<p>Quand il n'y a pas de café, les villages sont misérables.<br>
— L'écho des rizières - Anna Moï, urn:isbn:2-87678-663-X</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Je ne lis que très peu à la maison. La pandémie m'a donné une <a href="https://www.la-grange.net/2021/03/27/auteurs">lenteur de lecture et un feu étouffé</a>. Comme le note Stéphane dans <a href="https://nota-bene.org/Une-annee-sans-livres">Une année sans livres</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Oui c’est exactement ça. Un genre d’hébétude par moments, de passivité (je suis un morceau de bois ces jours-ci), et dans mon cas une frénésie possiblement très mal placée : écouter le monde, se faire peur, espérer, se refaire peur, lire tout et son contraire, tout ça fragmenté en une grêle de messages sur les réseaux sociaux. Regarder ma pile à lire de 80, peut-être 100 bouquins, et rester paralysé devant au lieu d’en être gourmand.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Je reviens à l'instant d'un café à kugennuma qui ouvre « tôt » (critère japonais, soit 8h). Il n'y avait aucun client. Et surtout ils ont une terrasse (autre rareté au Japon). J'ai sorti le livre de mon sac. J'ai commandé un café et un pain au chocolat. Je suis allé sur la terrasse. <strong>Et j'ai lu</strong>. Personne n'est venue s'installer pendant cette heure là. Je suis resté seul. Il a commencé à pleuvoir. J'ai repris mon vélo et je suis allé à la plage pour regarder la pluie tomber sur les surfeurs. Le jean trempé, les mains froides, mais le cœur léger d'avoir lu quelques pages.</p>

<h2 id="links">sur le bord du chemin</h2>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.are.na/blog/willa-koerner">A Personal Philosophy of Shared Knowledge</a></p>
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<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">I’ve noticed that smart people keep notes, and in particular <em>use</em> their notes in a certain way, and it made me think of something I read recently about viruses.</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Where do new influenza outbreaks come from? From <em>Viruses, Plagues, and History</em> (<a href="/home/2020/12/28/books">as previously discussed</a>), one possibility is that <q>newly emerging viruses have actually remained hidden and unchanged somewhere but suddenly come forth to cause an epidemic.</q> There was an H1N1 outbreak in 1977 that was genetically identical to one that was causing epidemics in the 1950s. Where had it been?</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Here’s one idea about bird flu specifically:</p>

<blockquote cite="https://uk.bookshop.org/books/viruses-plagues-and-history-past-present-and-future-9780190056780/9780190056780" class="quoteback bl bw1 pl2 b--light-red ml0 italic i" data-author="Michael B A Oldstone" data-title="Viruses, Plagues, and History">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">[Zhang and colleagues] reported preservation of influenza A viral genes in ice and water from high altitude lakes that are frequently visited by migratory birds. Could influenza virus be preserved in lake ice that melts during spring warming as a source of infecting migratory birds?</p>

</blockquote>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">I am super taken by this concept of reservoirs, in this case frozen mountain lakes that are libraries of ancient viruses, in stasis, waiting for their time to come again – ready to be sipped by a briefly resting bird, perhaps after a decade, more!, and then down from the mountains into a city, and from there the world.</p>

<p><hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">I’m reminded of the European Renaissance, the beginning of the end of the “Dark Ages” that was catalysed (so the story goes) by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_of_the_Greek_Classics">transmission of the Greek Classics</a> <em>back</em> into Europe from Arab culture, where they’d been endemic for hundreds of years.</p>
<hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">And I’m also reminded of how writers I love and respect maintain their own reservoirs of knowledge, complete with migratory paths down from the mountains.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><strong>Cory Doctorow’s</strong> commentary on tech and society weaves the present day with historical perspective, and any public thinker would be proud to put out one of these pieces a week – but Doctorow puts out between two and four <em>every day</em> on his blog <a href="https://pluralistic.net">Pluralistic</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/doctorow">on Twitter</a>, in addition to being a prolific author. He detailed his process recently: <a href="https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/13/two-decades/#hfbd">20 years a blogger.</a>.</p>
<blockquote cite="https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/13/two-decades/" class="quoteback bl bw1 pl2 b--light-red ml0 italic i" data-author="Cory Doctorow" data-title="Pluralistic: 13 Jan 2021">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">My composition is greatly aided both 20 years’ worth of mnemonic slurry of semi-remembered posts and the ability to search memex.craphound.com (the site where I’ve mirrored all my Boing Boing posts) easily.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">A huge, searchable database of decades of thoughts really simplifies the process of synthesis.</p></p>
<p></blockquote>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">A huge, searchable database of decades of thoughts really simplifies the process of synthesis.</p>

</blockquote>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">And it’s interesting, right, this accretive note-taking and the process of taking core samples through the deep time of your own ideas. I’ve built something similar, not as consistently, but for about two decades too, and I keep all my notes in plain text, and all in the same searchable database. I develop nascent ideas in part by typing in keywords, spelunking my own <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memex">memex</a> for things I’ve previously spotted, connections I’ve made, turns of phrase… most of which I had forgotten, but there they are. And old ideas come back and get recombined and become fresh again. That database of notes is my greatest asset. It’s how I write here, and it’s also how I pretend to be clever when I’m working.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><em>(If I were giving a single piece of advice to any creative starting out, it would be to start noting down everything that grabs your attention, and keep all your notes in one searchable place, as data that you can carry between whatever applications are faddy at the time because two decades is longer than almost any app is maintained, and grow that corpus over time. Don’t presumptively edit, don’t put time into organising, just accrete, and when you make connections, layer them in too, until eventually the whole thing composts down and starts outgassing brand new thoughts of its own.)</em></p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80"><strong><a href="https://www.robinsloan.com">Robin Sloan</a></strong> - author, media inventor (my favourite Sloan incarnation), and <a href="https://fat.gold">olive oil/zine magnate</a> - also recently detailed his note-taking process: <a href="https://every.to/superorganizers/tasting-notes-with-robin-sloan-25629085">Tasting Notes with Robin Sloan</a>. He is serious about capturing everything, and also about using search and juxtaposition as part of his process: <q>For example, the keyword ‘empire’ would have brought me to both the entry about the man running an empire from his phone, and that one about the cymbal company founded during the Ottoman Empire.</q></p>
<blockquote cite="https://every.to/superorganizers/tasting-notes-with-robin-sloan-25629085" class="quoteback bl bw1 pl2 b--light-red ml0 italic i" data-author="Robin Sloan" data-title="Tasting Notes with Robin Sloan (Superorganizers)">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">I’ve created a system so random notes appear every time I open a browser tab.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">I like the idea of being presented and re-presented with my notations of things that were interesting to me at some point, but that in many cases I had forgotten about. The effect of surprise creates interesting and productive new connections in my brain.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">In order to do this, I’ve put some of my programming skills to work to engineer a kind of Rube Goldberg-y system: as I mentioned previously, I export my notes from nvALT into Simplenote, and just basically use that as a back-end database. That export then gets loaded into a server that I’ve set up to feed me a random note every time I open a blank browser tab.</p></p>
<p></blockquote>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">In order to do this, I’ve put some of my programming skills to work to engineer a kind of Rube Goldberg-y system: as I mentioned previously, I export my notes from nvALT into Simplenote, and just basically use that as a back-end database. That export then gets loaded into a server that I’ve set up to feed me a random note every time I open a blank browser tab.</p>

</blockquote>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">The empty browser tab as a crystal clear mountain lake!</p>
<hr class="h1 xh2-ns w1 xw2-ns ml4 mv4 bb bw1 b--white">
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">When I wrote my <a href="/home/2020/09/10/streak">15 personal rules for blogging</a> I realise now that I had a blind spot about how I keep notes and how I browse them. Doctorow and Sloan’s observations made me see how much I rely on my notes too… and also realise how I’ve neglected building my own deliberate migratory corridors from the past to the present.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">So here’s a start. <strong><a href="/home/on-this-day">This blog now has an On This Day page</a></strong>, which lists posts made on this day since 2007 (it goes back a week too). It’s a bit spartan, and I’m not sure yet how to make best use of it…</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">…BUT, right now I can see</p></p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">And all of those are suddenly new to me again, and spark new thoughts.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">…BUT, right now I can see</p>

<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">And all of those are suddenly new to me again, and spark new thoughts.</p>
<p class="measure-wide f6 f5-l lh-copy black-80">Naturally <a href="/home/on-this-day/feed">there’s an On This Day web feed too</a> so these posts appear in my newsreader each morning. Some personal serendipity to start the day.</p>
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<p><span><b>Baisse de l'incidence en Allemagne</b></span></p>

<p><span><br> Korinna Hennig: La courbe des nouvelles contaminations en Allemagne est orientée à la baisse, et selon l'OMS, il y a au moins un plateau au niveau mondial. Même si, globalement, l'écart entre les taux de vaccination est important. [Monsieur] Drosten, qu'est-ce qui vous rend optimiste ces jours-ci? </p>
<p>Christian Drosten: […] On pourrait presque être un peu surpris à ce sujet. Mais c’est bien sûr le cas - nous l'avons expliqué à plusieurs reprises - tout cela n'est pas uniformément réparti et non linéaire et il y a certains effets de réseau qui jouent probablement un rôle ici. De sorte que certains nœuds contribuent moins à la répercussion dans la population et qu'en conséquence les chiffres diminuent. De plus, […] beaucoup de gens ont compris de quoi il s'agissait. Si vous regardez la discussion sur les médias sociaux, il semble presque qu'il y ait autant de personnes qui sont contre certaines mesures qu'il y en a qui le sont. Mais je pense qu'en réalité c’est très différent. Et je pense que l'ensemble de la population a compris de quoi il s'agit. Ensuite, il y a d'autres choses. Les écoles ont fermé avant Pâques, puis ont recommencé à fonctionner de manière hétérogène, de manière contrôlée. Le test antigénique est également utilisé de manière très cohérente dans les écoles. Toutes ces choses jouent probablement un rôle. Il n'est pas si facile de cartographier cela en utilisant une simple modélisation épidémiologique. </p>
<p><br>Hennig: […] Si on regarde à nouveau les progrès de la vaccination: après un démarrage lent au cours des trois premiers mois, le taux de vaccination est de près d'un tiers des personnes en Allemagne, avec une dose de vaccin. 10 % avec deux doses. Si nous essayons encore de l'examiner isolément, cela, combiné aux autres facteurs, peut-il enfin avoir un effet notable sur la pandémie? Donc non seulement que le risque dans les groupes à risque diminue, mais aussi la propagation? </p>

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<p>I should have loved biology but I found it to be a lifeless recitation of names: the Golgi apparatus and the Krebs cycle; mitosis, meiosis; DNA, RNA, mRNA, tRNA.</p>

<p>In the textbooks, astonishing facts were presented without astonishment. Someone probably told me that every cell in my body has the same DNA. But no one shook me by the shoulders, saying how crazy that was. I needed Lewis Thomas, who wrote in <em>The Medusa and the Snail</em>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>For the real amazement, if you wish to be amazed, is this process. You start out as a single cell derived from the coupling of a sperm and an egg; this divides in two, then four, then eight, and so on, and at a certain stage there emerges a single cell which has as all its progeny the human brain. The mere existence of such a cell should be one of the great astonishments of the earth. People ought to be walking around all day, all through their waking hours calling to each other in endless wonderment, talking of nothing except that cell.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I wish my high school biology teacher had asked the class how an embryo could possibly differentiate—and then paused to let us really think about it. The whole subject is in the answer to that question. A chemical gradient in the embryonic fluid is enough of a signal to slightly alter the gene expression program of some cells, not others; now the embryo knows “up” from “down”; cells at one end begin producing different proteins than cells at the other, and these, in turn, release more refined chemical signals; ...; soon, you have brain cells and foot cells.</p>

<p>How come we memorized chemical formulas but didn’t talk about that? It was only in college, when I read Douglas Hofstadter’s <em>Gödel, Escher, Bach</em>, that I came to understand cells as recursively self-modifying programs. The language alone was evocative. It suggested that the embryo—DNA making RNA, RNA making protein, protein regulating the transcription of DNA into RNA—was like a small Lisp program, with macros begetting macros begetting macros, the source code containing within it all of the instructions required for life on Earth. Could anything more interesting be imagined?</p>

<p>Someone should have said this to me:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Imagine a flashy spaceship lands in your backyard. The door opens and you are invited to investigate everything to see what you can learn. The technology is clearly millions of years beyond what we can make.</p>
<p>This is biology.</p>
<p><em>–Bert Hubert, <a href="https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/immune-system/">“Our Amazing Immune System”</a></em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>In biology class, biology wasn’t presented as a quest for the secrets of life. The textbooks wrung out the questing. We were nowhere acquainted with real biologists, the real questions they had, the real experiments they did to answer them. We were just given their conclusions.</p>

<figure>
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/21294/94627410-73b6c680-028b-11eb-9501-d7453af56106.png" target="_blank"><img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/21294/94627410-73b6c680-028b-11eb-9501-d7453af56106.png" alt="" style=""/></a></div><figcaption><a href="http://biochemical-pathways.com/#/map/1">The Roche Biochemical Pathways Poster</a></figcaption>
</figure>

<figure>
<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://www.scifimoviezone.com/imageextrat/contact021.jpg" alt="" /></div><figcaption>Plans for an alien machine, in <em>Contact</em></figcaption>
</figure>

<p>For instance I never learned that a man named Oswald Avery, in the 1940s, puzzled over two cultures of <em>Streptococcus</em> bacteria. One had a rough texture when grown in a dish; the other was smooth, and glistened. Avery noticed that when he mixed the smooth strain with the rough strain, every generation after was smooth, too. Heredity in a dish. What made it work? This was one of the most exciting mysteries of the time—in fact of all time.</p>

<p>Most experts thought that protein was somehow responsible, that traits were encoded soupily, via differing concentrations of chemicals. Avery suspected a role for nucleic acid. So, he did an experiment, one we could have replicated on our benches in school. Using just a centrifuge, water, detergent, and acid, he purified nucleic acid from his smooth strep culture. Precipitated with alcohol, it became fibrous. He added a tiny bit of it to the rough culture, and lo, that culture became smooth in the following generations. This fibrous stuff, then, was “the transforming principle”—the long-sought agent of heredity. Avery’s experiment set off a frenzy of work that, a decade later, ended in the discovery of the double helix.</p>

<p>In his <a href="https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf">“Mathematician’s Lament,”</a> Paul Lockhart describes how school cheapens mathematics by robbing us of the questions. We’re not just asked, hey, how much of the triangle takes up the box?</p>

<p><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/21294/94513448-b5446480-01ec-11eb-9089-f569f311c12b.png" style="border: none;"/></div></p>

<p>That’s a puzzle we might delight in. (If you drop a vertical from the top of the triangle, you end up with two rectangles cut in half; you discover that the area inside the triangle is equal to the area outside.) Instead, we’re told that if you ever find yourself wanting the area of a triangle, here’s the procedure:</p>

<p><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/21294/94513467-bffef980-01ec-11eb-91a2-70fab3176a0a.png" /></div></p>

<p>Biology is like that, but worse because it’s a messier subject. The facts seem extra arbitrary. We’re told to distinguish “lipid bilayers” from “endoplasmic reticula” without understanding why we care about either in the first place.</p>

<p>Enormous subjects are best approached in thin, deep slices. I discovered this when first learning how to program. The textbooks never worked; it all only started to click when I started to do little projects for myself. The project wasn’t just motivation but an organizing principle, a magnet to arrange the random iron filings I picked up along the way. I’d care to learn about some abstract concept, like “memoization,” because I needed it to solve my problem; and these concepts would lose their abstractness in the light of my example.</p>

<p>Biology is no different. Learning begins with questions. How do embryos differentiate? Why are my eyes blue? How does a hamster turn cheese into muscle? Why does the coronavirus make some people much sicker than others?</p>

<p style="text-align: center;">*</p>

<p>A few months ago, I started a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/09/how-the-coronavirus-hacks-the-immune-system">magazine assignment</a> to answer some questions about SARS-CoV-2 and the immune system. I encountered paragraphs like this:</p>

<blockquote>
<!--CR jsomers: all the certainty -->
<p>In low-MOI infections (MOI, 0.2), exogenous expression of ACE2 enabled SARS-CoV-2 to replicate and comprise ~54% of the total reads mapping more than 300x coverage across the ~30-kb genome (Figures 1A and 1B). Western blot analyses corroborated these RNA-seq data… It is noteworthy that, despite this dramatic increase in viral load, we observed neither activation of TBK1, the kinase responsible for IFN-I and IFN-III expression, nor induction of STAT1 and MX1, IFN-I-stimulated genes (Figure S1A; Sharma et al., 2003)…</p>
<p>–<a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)30489-X.pdf">“Imbalanced Host Response to SARS-CoV-2 Drives Development of COVID-19,” <em>Cell</em></a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>It was hard to get through a sentence without having to consult Wikipedia. In immunology in particular the nomenclature is expansive. One sentence might refer to “leukocytes,” the next to monocytes, the next to lymphocytes. There are a lot of squares-and-rectangles situations: all interleukins are cytokines, but not all cytokines are interleukins?</p>

<p>I’ve never come across a subject so fractal in its complexity. It reminds me of computing that way. A day of programming might involve constructing an elaborate regular expression, investigating a file descriptor leak, debugging a race condition in the application you just wrote, and thinking through the interface of a module. Everywhere you look—the compiler, the shell, the CPU, the DOM—is an abstraction hiding lifetimes of work. Biology is like this, just much, much worse, because living systems aren’t intentionally designed. It’s all a big slop of global mutable state. Control is achieved by upregulating this thing while turning down the promoter of that thing’s repressor. You think you know how something works—like when I thought I had a handle on the neutrophil, an important front-line player in the innate immune system—only to learn that it comes in several flavors, and more are still being discovered, and some of them seem to do the opposite of the ones you thought you knew. Everything in biology is like this. It’s all exceptions to the rule.</p>

<p>But biology, like computing, has a bottom, and the bottom is not abstract. It’s physical. It’s shapes bumping into each other. In fact the great revelation of twentieth-century molecular biology was the coupling of structure to function. An aperiodic crystal that forms paired helices is the natural store of heredity <em>because</em> of its ability to curl up and unwind and double itself with complements. Hemoglobin, the first protein studied in full crystallographic detail, was shown to be an efficient store of energy <em>because</em> of how oxygen atoms snap into its body like Legos, each snap widening the remaining slots, so that it loads itself up practically at a gulp. Most proteins are like this. The ones that drive locomotion twist like little motors; the ones that contract muscles climb and compress each other. Cells, too, are constantly in conversation, and the language they speak is shape. It’s keys entering locks: a protein might straddle the cell membrane, and when a cytokine (that’s a kind of signaling molecule) docks with it, it changes its shape, so that its grip loosens on some other molecule on the interior side of the membrane, as though fumbling a football—that football might be a signal itself, on its way to the nucleus.</p>

<p>I think my understanding of biology was too flow-charty in high school. I knew that <em>DNA → RNA → protein</em> and that this was called “gene expression,” but I was confused on the basics, like, how did genes actually “turn on”? And once they were on, were they on for good? It’s clearer when you think physically. Mammalian DNA isn’t laid out as one long double helix; it’s tightly coiled and coiled again, like this, around little circular proteins called histones:</p>

<figure>
<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/21294/94510096-ecfade80-01e3-11eb-848e-8a0c76dd0956.png" alt="" /></div><figcaption>DNA curled around histones. Image from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn9sRkkqGT4">this Moderna video</a>, at 1:10</figcaption>
</figure>

<p>The structure of the resulting fiber has an effect on which genes are expressed. This is because the little molecular machine that transcribes DNA into RNA has to actually <a href="https://youtu.be/5MfSYnItYvg?t=39">ride along the helix</a>, and it can only ride along some parts of it, namely the parts that aren’t <a href="https://youtu.be/gbSIBhFwQ4s">curled up out of sight</a>. “Expressing” a gene just means that at a given moment, the machine is accessing a specific portion of DNA, resulting in lots of RNA transcripts, resulting in lots of the protein that the gene codes for. Kink the fiber a bit and you change what the machine can see, thus changing the distribution of proteins it produces. You have “reprogrammed” the cell. (There are many ways to control gene expression, maybe the most common being “repressors” that park somewhere on the DNA, physically blocking the transcription machinery.)</p>

<p>One of the workhorse techniques in modern biology, called <a href="https://youtu.be/fCd6B5HRaZ8">RNA sequencing</a>, or RNA-seq for short, takes a frozen cell and counts the RNA transcripts inside it. In effect you get a snapshot of all the proteins being expressed at that moment. The result is literally a big table mapping genes to transcript counts. You see that being one kind of cell versus another—or being in one kind of cellular mood versus another, say in health versus disease—is just a matter of having a different distribution across this table. RNA-seq results are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.2594">often</a> represented as vectors in high-dimensional space, the counts in the table forming the coordinates; cells move through this expression space as they self-regulate and adapt to their environment.</p>

<p style="text-align: center;">*</p>

<p>How do you develop a physical understanding of biology? I like pictures. One of my favorite books is called <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9780387849249"><em>The Machinery of Life</em></a>, by David Goodsell. It’s full of gorgeous hand-drawn illustrations. Here a bacterium’s flagellar motor is shown in context, then zoomed in on in an inset, with a third picture highlighting its functional elements:</p>

<p><img class="special" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/21294/36645281-38d56c2a-1a34-11e8-82bd-0d574d6d5dae.png" style="float: left;width: 196px; /*margin-left: -113px;*/"></p>

<p><img class="special" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/21294/36645283-45e9b1fa-1a34-11e8-96ff-5e84cafe11f6.png" style="float: left;width: 196px;margin-left: 20px;"></p>

<p><img class="special" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/21294/94501488-ed897a00-01cf-11eb-8343-384f14e8b33b.jpg" style="position: relative;left: 456px;width: 196px;top: -353px;margin-bottom: -232px;"></p>

<p>What makes the book work is that it’s basically a re-introduction to molecular biology with the following premise: the cell is <a href="https://www.righto.com/2011/07/cells-are-very-fast-and-crowded-places.html">a very fast and crowded place</a>, full of little machines, most of them protein, which you understand by taking a close look. It does an especially terrific job through insets like the above relating things at different scales. “Imagine your room filled with grains of rice. That will give you an idea of the billion or so cells that make up your fingertip.”</p>

<p>The writing is very good. It somehow gets you imagining the <em>motion</em> of these machines. It’s tempting when thinking about the cellular world to simply miniaturize our own; but at the cellular scale things behave weirdly. Movement is essentially by random diffusion. “The motions and the interactions of biological molecules are completely dominated by the surrounding water molecules… Inside the cell, [a] protein is battered from all sides by water molecules. It bounces back and forth, always at great speed, but takes a long time to get anywhere.”</p>

<p><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/21294/94513322-6ac2e800-01ec-11eb-86ef-076e01b73216.jpg" /></div></p>

<p>It turns out that random diffusion is an incredibly slow way to travel large distances, but an incredibly fast way to explore at short distances. Being a protein inside a cell is like being at a crowded house party where it might take an hour to get across the room, but by the time you get there you’ve bumped into everybody six hundred thousand times.</p>

<p>This point is made beautifully in another favorite book of mine, <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9780387482750"><em>A Computer Scientist’s Guide to Cell Biology</em></a>, by William W. Cohen:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Molecules that come close to an organelle tend to remain close to it for a while, and brush against it many times—Figure 20 gives some intuitions as to why this is true.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/21294/94501182-3a208580-01cf-11eb-9896-145bfc03838a.png" /></div></p>

<blockquote>
<p>The result of this is that if receptors for a protein p cover even a small fraction of the surface of an organelle, the organelle will be surprisingly efficient at recognizing p. As an example, if only 0.02% of a typical eukaryotic cell’s surface has a receptor for p, the cell will be about half as efficient as if the entire surface were coated with receptors for p.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is the kind of fact that instantly clarifies how biology could possibly work. “Cell-sized objects thus have a ‘high bandwidth,’” Cohen writes. “They can recognize or absorb hundreds of different chemical signals, even if they are bounded by membranes.”</p>

<p>Cohen’s book is pitched as an attempt to distill what he learned in acquiring a “reading knowledge” of biology—enough to be able to follow along with a paper in <em>Cell</em>. He’s very good at explaining methods: how do biologists know what they know? For a computer scientist, a biologist’s methods can seem insane; the trouble comes from the fact that cells are too small, too numerous, too complex to analyze the way a programmer would, say in a step-by-step debugger. What biologists mostly do is stuff like:</p>

<ul class="incremental">
<li>Spin things to 15,000 Gs in centrifuges to separate pieces having different densities.</li>
<li>Separate things of different sizes using gels and magnets. (“Gel electrophoresis.”)</li>
@@ -186,25 +142,20 @@
<li>Use the fluorescent antibody trick to tag cells expressing one or more proteins of interest. Then squeeze the cells through a tube so small that only one fits at a time. As each cell passes by, shine a laser through it to read its fluorescent tags, and use an electric charge to redirect it to a particular bin. Now you can sort and count cells that match your criteria. (“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQXPJ7eeesQ">Flow cytometry</a>.”)</li>
<li>Genetically alter microorganisms to make molecular machines to spec; systematically turn off one gene at a time in a cell line and see what changes; edit the genome of a whole animal, and observe its life.</li>
</ul>

<p>Cohen found, and I have too, that in trying to acquire a reading knowledge of biology it’s almost more useful to study the methods than any individual facts. That’s because the methods are highly conserved across studies. <em>Everybody</em> does Western blots. <em>Everybody</em> does flow cytometry and RNA-seq. You’ll see this stuff in every paper. (Or variations on the same themes: separation, sorting, selection, genetic manipulation.)</p>

<p>So that’s the foundation. Or almost: I have left for last my favorite resource of all, an incredible book called <em><a href="https://www.cshlpress.com/default.tpl?cart=1601425278428641528&fromlink=T&linkaction=full&linksortby=oop_title&--eqSKUdatarq=294">The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology</a></em>, by Horace Freeland Judson. Parts of this book were serialized in the New Yorker in the 1970s. It is the <em>Power Broker</em> of biology, a tomic masterwork. It is not just comprehensive—Judson had hundreds of conversations with Francis Crick, with Jacques Monod and François Jacob, with their friends and spouses and colleagues; he read every paper, he read all their letters—but it pulls no punches scientifically. Judson always just describes the real thing.</p>

<p>And he emphasizes wrong turns. For example, before the discovery of tRNA—the adapter molecules that link triplets of RNA bases to the amino acids they code for—there was much confusion. It was widely believed that there had to be some kind of punctuation, because how else would one know where to start transcribing, or how to delimit one codon from the next? Certain mental models were ingrained: a going theory was that RNA formed specially shaped pockets for the different amino acids. The idea was that if you zoomed in on each triplet or quartet or whatever (the scheme was then unknown), it would always form the same unique shape that only one kind of amino acid could fit into. The amino acid chain would be formed right there alongside the RNA strand, using it almost as a mold. This was thought to happen in the nucleus. The idea that protein synthesis happened via an adapter, and that the nucleic acids therefore acted less like a mold than a digital code, more purely information—this was a major surprise.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Sitting on the grass at Woods Hole, Crick was talking about genes and proteins, in particular about his assumption that they were colinear and Benzer and Brenner’s plan to show as much, when Ephrussi took him aback by asking how he knew that amino acids were not put in their primary sequence by something in the cytoplasm. . . . “I don’t think Boris necessarily believed it, but it was an idea he thought wasn’t impossible.”</p>
<p>. . .</p>
<p>Crick also cast his skeptical eye over Watson and Rich’s attempts to build models of RNA. “Of course, you realize that our ideas on that were totally wrong. We thought that RNA had some structure with the twenty cavities, it was that period. Mm-hmm. Unfortunately people have forgotten what it is we didn’t know at the time.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Put another way, the book gives us a view of science <em>before</em> discovery. It is a practitioner’s view of the subject. It is the opposite of a textbook.</p>

<p style="text-align: center;">*</p>

<p>Trying to study the immune system has gotten me into a <a href="http://worrydream.com">Bret Victor</a> sort of mood, wondering what could be done, or built, to make understanding this subject easier. A few things come to mind:</p>

<p>There are some incredible YouTube explainers. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6QYFutt9cluQ3uSM963_KQ">Ninja Nerd Science</a>’s videos on the immune system were a miracle—all delivered by a kid in grad school. He is a genius. What he does so well is what Goodsell, in that <em>Machinery of Life</em> book, does so well, what those famous <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJyUtbn0O5Y">“Inner Life of a Cell”</a> 3D animations do so well: he helps you “see the unseeable.”</p>

<figure>
@@ -212,9 +163,7 @@
</figure>

<p>But I wonder whether it should be easier for regular people to create useful illustrations. Consider how easy it is to write, tooling-wise: on the web, you are only ever one click away from a Markdown-enabled textarea that allows you to create and publish pretty, hyperlinked documents. Anyone with a keyboard can contribute a few sentences to Wikipedia or answer a question on Stack Exchange. Drawing, by contrast, is hard, and animating is at least an order of magnitude harder. And yet these media are essential for understanding biological processes.</p>

<p>So what do we do?</p>

<p>It’s telling that when I was recently on a Zoom with a PhD student who was explaining RNA-seq, he pulled out his iPad Pro and essentially made a Khan Academy lecture as he talked, drawing along the way. These tools need to become more common and cheaper.</p>

<p>But we also need more software like <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200925063749/https://ami.org/professional-resources/expert-techniques/129-pattern-brushes-in-adobe-illustrator">pattern brushes in Adobe Illustrator</a> and <a href="https://biorender.com/">BioRender</a> to make it un-tedious to draw complex objects. We need more software like <a href="https://clarafi.com/tools/mmaya/">Molecular Maya</a>, but simplified even further, à la Victor’s <a href="http://worrydream.com/#!/StopDrawingDeadFish">Stop Drawing Dead Fish</a>, to make animating accessible to anyone who can gesture.</p>
@@ -228,11 +177,8 @@
</figure>

<p>Using vector graphics and Undo history, it should be possible to make collaboratively editable images, i.e., images that can be slowly improved as part of a knowledge project like Wikipedia or Stack Exchange.</p>

<p>I want to be able to take a screenshot of the whiteboard in a Ninja Nerd lecture—a big beautiful diagram of the players in the adaptive immune system—and lasso sections of it, linking to sub-diagrams, some filled in by me, some by others, illustrating each of the parts in turn. We should have big, collaboratively edited zoomable “maps”—hierarchical diagrams—that are easy to navigate, work in standard browsers, are embeddable in blog posts, and so on.</p>

<p>Of course we need to teach more people how to draw. It’s an underrated skill. And how to write vividly, as in the wonderful books above.</p>

<p>But biology is uniquely suited to simulation—it’s a world of machines that are too small to see. The trouble is, it requires too much specialized skill to create three-dimensional interactive simulations. We need a toolkit that’s like <a href="https://mockmechanics.com/">MockMechanics</a>, or Minecraft, that maybe even <em>is</em> Minecraft, but focused on biology. Or something much better.</p>

<figure>
@@ -250,7 +196,6 @@
<p>I think we also need inspiration. There is a romance in biology, as in any other science, that a movie like <em>Good Will Hunting</em> could bring out. We need heroes. Whoever delivers us from this pandemic in the form of a slam dunk vaccine, or a cheap quick reliable test, should become a household name, not for their own glory but for our kids—a Feynman for them to dream about someday becoming.</p>

<h2>Reading list</h2>

<ul>
<li><em><a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9780387849249">The Machinery of Life</a></em>, David Goodsell</li>
<li><em><a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9780387482750">A Computer Scientist’s Guide to Cell Biology</a></em>, William W. Cohen</li>

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<hr>
<p><strong>Comment avez-vous découvert le pistage et comment le définissez-vous ? C’est à la fois une pratique de terrain et un concept philosophique…</strong></p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Baptiste Morizot : </strong> J’avais le sentiment qu’il était nécessaire de vivifier la pensée par des pratiques de terrain, au contact des vivants sur lesquels je réfléchissais. Et cette expérience a modifié certains aspects de ma recherche : ma méthode philosophique s’est métissée de pistage, d’attention aux signes et indices. Quant à le définir: d’abord il faut comprendre que le pistage est pour moi complètement désarticulé de la chasse : cela n’a rien à voir. Le « pistage philosophique» qui m’intéresse est plutôt de se rendre sensible à la manière dont les autres vivants habitent avec nous ce monde, pour inventer des formes de cohabitation plus riches et plus vivables pour tous. Je le définirai donc comme une manière renouvelée d’être attentif aux vivants. Sans nier l'existence de conflits potentiels et de rapports de force, mais avec pour mission de mettre en place un modus vivendi aussi pacifié que possible. Ce que j’aime dans cette affaire, c’est qu’il s’agit d’une pratique dans laquelle on est sorti de l’opposition entre pensée et sensibilité, entre théorie et pratique : dans le pistage, pour interpréter les indices laissés par un cerf, une panthère des neiges ou un loup, on tisse de manière très serrée les sens, l’intuition, l’imagination, et le raisonnement, le tout pour chercher un état d’attention très aiguisé, vibratile, à ce qui se passe autour. Les couples d'oppositions héritées de la Modernité sont bien loin.</p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Comment se former au pistage ? </strong></p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Baptiste Morizot :</strong> Cela n’exige aucune forme d’expertise, il suffit d’un peu d’entrainement. On ouvre l’espace du visible et du sensible petit à petit. Tous ces paysages où « on n’y voit rien » se peuplent d’indices, de signes, de présences, de relations. J’ai appris récemment qu’un oiseau de chez nous, le rouge-queue à front blanc, est assez fascinant: lorsqu’il migre au sud du Sahara, il est capable sur place d’apprendre la langue des passereaux chanteurs autochtones, pour négocier avec eux son territoire saisonnier. C’est un oiseau diplomate, dont les facultés de communication, de négociation pour travailler à des modus vivendi entre étrangers, étaient insoupçonnées. De même, il existe dans nos jardins des orchidées qui échangent des molécules de sucres avec des érables, par le biais du mycorhize souterrain qui les relie, en fonction de la période de l’année où chacun en a le plus besoin. Être sensible à cela, en croisant savoir et curiosité sur le terrain, produit une métamorphose de la disponibilité. Nous en avons besoin pour retisser des affiliations envers ces formes de vie qui sont nos parentes. Car cela s’étend aux végétaux, aux insectes, aux forêts et aux rivières, comme aux friches urbaines. Il faut réapprendre à partager la Terre avec tous ces vivants que nous avions rendus invisibles, en les considérant comme des automates ou de la matière inerte. </p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Vous parlez des animaux « diplomates », vous leur avez consacré un ouvrage en prenant l’exemple des loups. Quel est le sens de cette diplomatie ?</strong></p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Baptiste Morizot :</strong> C’est un certain rapport à l’autre. Nous héritons de la tradition occidentale l’idée que les vivants sont des choses, de la matière à gérer quantitativement, ou à mater par le rapport de force, où encore à sanctuariser dans des réserves microscopiques. Dès lors qu’on prend au sérieux ce que disent l’éthologie et l’écologie scientifique contemporaines (sciences subversives par excellence, qui ébranlent les conceptions scientistes du monde), il devient évident que les vivants ne sont pas des choses mais des êtres et des agents. Bien entendu, ils ne signent pas de traités, ni ne discutent comme nous le faisons, mais ils ont leurs modes de communication, et des manières de composer ensemble sur un même territoire, de réduire l’agressivité mutuelle entre espèces et entre individus. Ce sont déjà des formes de diplomatie, en un sens minimal. Mais surtout, ces communications, ces comportements, ces manières de créer des modus vivendi, sont encore largement ignorées (du fait même qu’on a postulé qu’elles n’existaient pas dans la nature). Face à des êtres aux mœurs inconnues, aux  langages inaccessibles, qui faut-il envoyer ? Des diplomates, au sens de ces explorateurs pacifiques (il y en a eu) qui sont allés au-devant d’autres peuples pour apprendre leurs manières de penser, de communiquer, et de faire territoire. Cela pour jouer le rôle d’interprète et de truchement envers eux, entre eux et nous, et essayer d’imaginer des codes communs pour cohabiter malgré les conflits. C’est ce que j’essaie de penser concrètement avec les loups dans mon livre. Ces animaux, bien qu'on les fantasme comme des fauves assoiffés de sang, sont puissamment géopolitiques : les meutes entre elles, par exemple, respectent les frontières d'odeur des autres meutes. Enfin ils apprennent vite lorsqu'on leur envoie vigoureusement les bons messages. Toute la question est : par quels modes de communications les plus efficaces peut-on les détourner des troupeaux, dont ils n'ont pas besoin pour se nourrir ?</p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>La nature est largement domestiquée, exploitée, quadrillée par l’homme. Comment penser la cohabitation que vous appelez de vos vœux à l’ère de l’anthropocène ?</strong></p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Baptiste Morizot :</strong> Tout le problème revient à trouver des inspirations pour penser de manière pertinente et émancipatrice la cohabitation. On peut en trouver dans l’histoire des relations entre les peuples humains étrangers. Le modèle qui m’intéresse, plus que celui de la colonisation brutale qui a été la norme de l’histoire européenne, ce sont ces rares cas de rencontres entre peuples où, pour des raisons historiques, il a été nécessaire de faire de la diplomatie et de cohabiter. C’est par exemple ce qui a eu lieu en partie dans la région des Grands Lacs, entreAmérindiens algonquins et colons français au 18ème siècle : c’est ce que l’historien Richard White appelle un « middle ground », c’est-à-dire un terrain commun entre des peuples qui n’ont pas le même langage, pas les mêmes lois, qui ne se reconnaissent d’ailleurs pas mutuellement le statut d’humains ou de personnes morales, mais qui doivent apprendre à communiquer et à cohabiter dans des territoires partagés. Richard White isole les conditions historiques qui font qu’une relation entre peuples, qui pourrait être brutale et impérialiste, devient diplomatique : schématiquement, cela advient lorsque les êtres en présence sont dans une relation de vulnérabilité mutuelle.</p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Comment appliquer ces travaux à nos relations avec la nature ?</strong></p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Baptiste Morizot : </strong>Mon raisonnement est simple : les rapports concernant l’état de la biodiversité et des dynamiques écologiques actuelles montrent que nos activités les ont ébranlées au point de les rendre instables et fragiles, mais aussi que nous avons besoin d’elles pour maintenir nos vies. La fragilisation des pollinisateurs est un problème majeur pour tout le maraîchage européen, comme la destruction de la vie des sols par l’agriculture productiviste à intrants fragilise nos conditions de vie futures. Nous sommes donc bien dans une situation de vulnérabilité mutuelle. C’est une situation qui appelle le "middle ground" diplomatique envers les vivants : il nous faut des diplomates abeilles pour comprendre ce dont elles ont besoin pour cohabiter parmi nous, comme il nous faut des agents pour faire de la diplomatie avec la microfaune fascinante des sols.</p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>On assiste depuis quelque temps à des débats virulents sur le véganisme, sur les droits des animaux... La relation de l’homme avec le monde animal est-elle, selon vous, l’un des grands enjeux du XXIe siècle ? </strong></p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Baptiste Morizot : </strong>indépendamment de la question du traitement du bétail (qui n’est qu’une fraction des l’animalité), la grande violence invisible de notre civilisation est d’avoir fait des animaux des figures pour les enfants. S’y intéresser serait alors de la sensiblerie. Notre rapport à l’animalité et aux animaux est infantilisée, primitivisée, exotisée, alors qu’elle est constitutive de notre identité dans ce qu’elle a de sain. Les animaux ne sont pas seulement des peluches ou les objets de notre indignation morale. Nous partageons avec eux une ascendance. L’animal est un intercesseur privilégié avec l’énigme originelle, celle de notre manière d’être vivant. Il manifeste une altérité incompressible et en même temps il est assez proche de nous pour que mille formes de parallèles et de convergences soient sensibles, avec les mammifères, les oiseaux, les pieuvres, jusqu’aux insectes. Les bactéries, et souvent les végétaux, sont plus loin dans notre généalogie commune. Ils sont des parents si étrangers qu’il est moins facile de se sentir vivants comme eux : cela exige des passeurs. Les animaux, du fait de leur position liminaire, sont alors des intercesseurs.</p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Quelles leçons politiques pouvons-nous tirer du pistage? Comment peut-il nous aider à produire du collectif, du dialogue, du débat ? </strong></p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Baptiste Morizot : </strong>Une part décisive mais discrète du politique se joue dans les déplacements des seuils et des passages qui commandent l’attention. Par exemple, la question des rapports inégalitaires entre hommes et femmes a connu des déplacements dans les dernières décennies, grâce aux mobilisations féministes, et elle est conséquemment devenue un astre qui attire beaucoup d’attention politique. La question du travail aliéné et des rapports capital/travail, la la condition de ceux qui ne possèdent pas les moyens de production mais vendent leur force de travail, naturalisée dans le premier capitalisme, est devenue avec Marx un objet des plus vigoureuses attentions politiques. Les bougés dans l’art de l’attention d’un collectif humain se manifestent par un symptôme éloquent : le sens du tolérable et de l’intolérable. C’est une machine délicate, instruite par des flux sociaux et culturels. Par exemple, la monarchie de droit divin nous est devenue intolérable. </p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Comment cette notion de seuil du tolérable et de l’intolérable peut-elle modifier notre rapport au vivant  ? </strong></p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Baptiste Morizot : </strong>Au sens où l’idée de disparition des oiseaux des champs, des insectes européens, à cause de notre cécité, de nos pratiques de productions aveugles, doit nous devenir intolérable. Dans mon livre, j’essaie de contribuer à cela, à petite échelle, par des récits qui préparent des rencontres possibles avec des animaux, auxquels on prête de nouveau attention : ils entrent dans le champ de l'attention politique. Ces rencontres nous font accéder à une forme de soi élargi. Je me souviens d’un passager du train qui regardait avec anxiété un ciel pluvieux de printemps par la fenêtre. Lorsqu’il me révéla la raison de sa préoccupation, je suis resté muet. Il m’annonça : « Les printemps pluvieux me préoccupent, ils sont mauvais pour les chauve-souris et leurs nouveaux-nés. Il y a beaucoup moins d’insectes. » Un soi élargi dans lequel les autres vivants emménagent, c’est certes quelques préoccupations de plus, mais c’est aussi étrangement émancipateur. Ce n’est qu’ensuite, et non parce qu’on a culpabilisé chacun par l’annonce quotidienne des apocalypses actuelles, que le système des valeurs de base se transforme. Pour changer le politique, il faut aussi (parallèlement à militer, désobéir, lancer l’alerte, et faire levier au plus près du pouvoir) transformer la culture. C’est un truisme. Regardez ce que la médiatisation de Notre-Dame des Landes a fait, comment les lignes architectoniques de la sensibilité bougent. C’est un travail de longue haleine, mais il mérite d’être fait, parce que nous vivants avons encore quelques millénaires à vivre ensemble sur cette planète cosmopolite. Autant s’y mettre tout de suite.</p>

<p class="TX"><strong>Sur la piste animale Baptiste Morizot Actes Sud, 208 pages, 20 euros</strong></p>
</article>


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<hr>
<p><strong>Update, Oct 2014:</strong> This post was written in 2008, based on me scrounging together some complementary links at the time. It’s now 2014, and accessibility is a well thought-out problem, which is generally well solved. Use the colour scheme that makes you happy. I use a black background on my Windows Phone, a dark navy in Sublime Text, a mid-grey chrome around my Office documents, and a bright white background through Outlook and my email.</p>

<p><hr>
<hr>
<p>As this is a suggestion which comes up quite regularly, I felt it valuable to document some of the research I have collected about the readability of light text on dark backgrounds.</p>
<p>The science of readability is by no means new, and some of the best research comes from advertising works in the early 80s. This information is still relevant today.</p>
<p>First up is this quote from a paper titled “Improving the legibility of visual display units through contrast reversal”. In present time we think of contrast reversal meaning black-on-white, but remember this paper is from 1980 when VDUs (monitors) where green-on-black. This paper formed part of the research that drove the push for this to change to the screen formats we use today.</p>
@@ -84,7 +83,7 @@
<p><a href="http://www.cs.ubc.ca/labs/spin/people/harrison-jason.html" target="_blank">Jason Harrison</a> – Post Doctoral Fellow, Imager Lab Manager – Sensory Perception and Interaction Research Group, University of British Columbia</p></blockquote>
<p>The “fuzzing” effect that Jason refers to is known as halation.</p>
<p>It might feel strange pushing your primary design goals based on the vision impaired, but when 50% of the population of have this “impairment” it’s actually closer to being the norm than an impairment.</p>
<p>The web is rife with research on the topic, but I think these two quotes provide a succinct justification for why light text on a dark background is a bad idea.</p></p>
<p>The web is rife with research on the topic, but I think these two quotes provide a succinct justification for why light text on a dark background is a bad idea.</p>
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<hr>
<p>It&#8217;s my birthday. I&#8217;m 68. I feel like pulling up a rocking chair and dispensing advice to the young &#8216;uns. Here are 68 pithy bits of unsolicited advice which I offer as my birthday present to all of you.<br />
(For my 69th birthday I made <a href="https://kk.org/thetechnium/99-additional-bits-of-unsolicited-advice/">another batch</a>.)</p>

<p>• Learn how to learn from those you disagree with, or even offend you. See if you can find the truth in what they believe.</p>

<p>• Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points.</p>

<p>• Always demand a deadline. A deadline weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary. It prevents you from trying to make it perfect, so you have to make it different. Different is better.</p>

<p>• Don&#8217;t be afraid to ask a question that may sound stupid because 99% of the time everyone else is thinking of the same question and is too embarrassed to ask it.</p>

<p>• Being able to listen well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love keep asking them &#8220;Is there more?&#8221;, until there is no more.</p>

<p>• A worthy goal for a year is to learn enough about a subject so that you can&#8217;t believe how ignorant you were a year earlier.</p>

<p>• Gratitude will unlock all other virtues and is something you can get better at.</p>

<p>• Treating a person to a meal never fails, and is so easy to do. It&#8217;s powerful with old friends and a great way to make new friends.</p>

<p>• Don&#8217;t trust all-purpose glue.</p>

<p>• Reading to your children regularly will bond you together and kickstart their imaginations.</p>

<p>• Never use a credit card for credit. The only kind of credit, or debt, that is acceptable is debt to acquire something whose exchange value is extremely likely to increase, like in a home. The exchange value of most things diminishes or vanishes the moment you purchase them. Don&#8217;t be in debt to losers.</p>

<p>• Pros are just amateurs who know how to gracefully recover from their mistakes.</p>

<p>• Extraordinary claims should require extraordinary evidence to be believed.</p>

<p>• Don&#8217;t be the smartest person in the room. Hangout with, and learn from, people smarter than yourself. Even better, find smart people who will disagree with you.</p>

<p>• Rule of 3 in conversation. To get to the real reason, ask a person to go deeper than what they just said. Then again, and once more. The third time&#8217;s answer is close to the truth.</p>

<p>• Don&#8217;t be the best. Be the only.</p>

<p>• Everyone is shy. Other people are waiting for you to introduce yourself to them, they are waiting for you to send them an email, they are waiting for you to ask them on a date. Go ahead.</p>

<p>• Don&#8217;t take it personally when someone turns you down. Assume they are like you: busy, occupied, distracted. Try again later. It&#8217;s amazing how often a second try works.</p>

<p>• The purpose of a habit is to remove that action from self-negotiation. You no longer expend energy deciding whether to do it. You just do it. Good habits can range from telling the truth, to flossing.</p>

<p>• Promptness is a sign of respect.</p>

<p>• When you are young spend at least 6 months to one year living as poor as you can, owning as little as you possibly can, eating beans and rice in a tiny room or tent, to experience what your &#8220;worst&#8221; lifestyle might be. That way any time you have to risk something in the future you won&#8217;t be afraid of the worst case scenario.</p>

<p>• Trust me: There is no &#8220;them&#8221;.</p>

<p>• The more you are interested in others, the more interesting they find you. To be interesting, be interested.</p>

<p>• Optimize your generosity. No one on their deathbed has ever regretted giving too much away.</p>

<p>• To make something good, just do it. To make something great, just re-do it, re-do it, re-do it. The secret to making fine things is in remaking them.</p>

<p>• The Golden Rule will never fail you. It is the foundation of all other virtues.</p>

<p>• If you are looking for something in your house, and you finally find it, when you’re done with it, don’t put it back where you found it. Put it back where you first looked for it.</p>

<p>• Saving money and investing money are both good habits. Small amounts of money invested regularly for many decades without deliberation is one path to wealth.</p>

<p>• To make mistakes is human. To own your mistakes is divine. Nothing elevates a person higher than quickly admitting and taking personal responsibility for the mistakes you make and then fixing them fairly. If you mess up, fess up. It&#8217;s astounding how powerful this ownership is.</p>

<p>• Never get involved in a land war in Asia.</p>

<p>• You can obsess about serving your customers/audience/clients, or you can obsess about beating the competition. Both work, but of the two, obsessing about your customers will take you further.</p>

<p>• Show up. Keep showing up. Somebody successful said: 99% of success is just showing up.</p>

<p>• Separate the processes of creation from improving. You can&#8217;t write and edit, or sculpt and polish, or make and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor stops the creator. While you invent, don&#8217;t select. While you sketch, don&#8217;t inspect. While you write the first draft, don&#8217;t reflect. At the start, the creator mind must be unleashed from judgement.</p>

<p>• If you are not falling down occasionally, you are just coasting.</p>

<p>• Perhaps the most counter-intuitive truth of the universe is that the more you give to others, the more you&#8217;ll get. Understanding this is the beginning of wisdom.</p>

<p>• Friends are better than money. Almost anything money can do, friends can do better. In so many ways a friend with a boat is better than owning a boat.</p>

<p>• This is true: It&#8217;s hard to cheat an honest man.</p>

<p>• When an object is lost, 95% of the time it is hiding within arm&#8217;s reach of where it was last seen. Search in all possible locations in that radius and you&#8217;ll find it.</p>

<p>• You are what you do. Not what you say, not what you believe, not how you vote, but what you spend your time on.</p>

<p>• If you lose or forget to bring a cable, adapter or charger, check with your hotel. Most hotels now have a drawer full of cables, adapters and chargers others have left behind, and probably have the one you are missing. You can often claim it after borrowing it.</p>

<p>• Hatred is a curse that does not affect the hated. It only poisons the hater. Release a grudge as if it was a poison.</p>

<p>• There is no limit on better. Talent is distributed unfairly, but there is no limit on how much we can improve what we start with.</p>

<p>• Be prepared: When you are 90% done any large project (a house, a film, an event, an app) the rest of the myriad details will take a second 90% to complete.</p>

<p>• When you die you take absolutely nothing with you except your reputation.</p>

<p>• Before you are old, attend as many funerals as you can bear, and listen. Nobody talks about the departed&#8217;s achievements. The only thing people will remember is what kind of person you were while you were achieving.</p>

<p>• For every dollar you spend purchasing something substantial, expect to pay a dollar in repairs, maintenance, or disposal by the end of its life.</p>

<p>•Anything real begins with the fiction of what could be. Imagination is therefore the most potent force in the universe, and a skill you can get better at. It&#8217;s the one skill in life that benefits from ignoring what everyone else knows.</p>

<p>• When crisis and disaster strike, don&#8217;t waste them. No problems, no progress.</p>

<p>• On vacation go to the most remote place on your itinerary first, bypassing the cities. You&#8217;ll maximize the shock of otherness in the remote, and then later you&#8217;ll welcome the familiar comforts of a city on the way back.</p>

<p>• When you get an invitation to do something in the future, ask yourself: would you accept this if it was scheduled for tomorrow? Not too many promises will pass that immediacy filter.</p>

<p>• Don&#8217;t say anything about someone in email you would not be comfortable saying to them directly, because eventually they <em>will</em> read it.</p>

<p>• If you desperately need a job, you are just another problem for a boss; if you can solve many of the problems the boss has right now, you are hired. To be hired, think like your boss.</p>

<p>• Art is in what you leave out.</p>

<p>• Acquiring things will rarely bring you deep satisfaction. But acquiring experiences will.</p>

<p>• Rule of 7 in research. You can find out anything if you are willing to go seven levels. If the first source you ask doesn&#8217;t know, ask them who you should ask next, and so on down the line. If you are willing to go to the 7th source, you&#8217;ll almost always get your answer.</p>

<p>• How to apologize: Quickly, specifically, sincerely.</p>

<p>• Don&#8217;t ever respond to a solicitation or a proposal on the phone. The urgency is a disguise.</p>

<p>• When someone is nasty, rude, hateful, or mean with you, pretend they have a disease. That makes it easier to have empathy toward them which can soften the conflict.</p>

<p>• Eliminating clutter makes room for your true treasures.</p>

<p>• You really don&#8217;t want to be famous. Read the biography of any famous person.</p>

<p>• Experience is overrated. When hiring, hire for aptitude, train for skills. Most really amazing or great things are done by people doing them for the first time.</p>

<p>• A vacation + a disaster = an adventure.</p>

<p>• Buying tools: Start by buying the absolute cheapest tools you can find. Upgrade the ones you use a lot. If you wind up using some tool for a job, buy the very best you can afford.</p>

<p>• Learn how to take a 20-minute power nap without embarrassment.</p>

<p>• Following your bliss is a recipe for paralysis if you don&#8217;t know what you are passionate about. A better motto for most youth is &#8220;master something, anything&#8221;. Through mastery of one thing, you can drift towards extensions of that mastery that bring you more joy, and eventually discover where your bliss is.</p>

<p>• I&#8217;m positive that in 100 years much of what I take to be true today will be proved to be wrong, maybe even embarrassingly wrong, and I try really hard to identify what it is that I am wrong about today.</p>

<p>• Over the long term, the future is decided by optimists. To be an optimist you don&#8217;t have to ignore all the many problems we create; you just have to imagine improving our capacity to solve problems.</p>

<p>• The universe is conspiring behind your back to make you a success. This will be much easier to do if you embrace this pronoia.</p>
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<p>J’ai relu des définitions canoniques de la dépression. J’ai retrouvé, par hasard, une brochure estampillée Ministère de la Santé, datée de 2007, probablement chipée sur un présentoir dans un service de médecine du travail, je ne sais plus quand. Elle trainait au fond d’un tiroir. Elle est intitulée : « La dépression : En savoir plus pour en sortir ».</p>

<p>J’ai toujours du mal à me reconnaître comme souffrant de dépression, parce que ces définitions présentent généralement ce mal comme un épisode. Il y a un début, un milieu, une fin. Il y a des causes et des conséquences. Il y a un déclencheur. Il y a un changement, un passage de l’état « non-dépressif » à l’état « dépressif ». Et il y a un autre changement, qui sera le passage de l’état « dépressif » à l’état « non-dépressif ». Le début, comme la fin, peut prendre du temps, mais au bout d’un moment le changement est net. Il y a un « avant », un « pendant », un « après ». Il y a le moment où on tombe, et le moment où on se relève. Il y a la merveilleuse promesse d’une guérison – j’ai envie d’écrire : la promesse d’une rédemption.</p>

<p>Mon expérience est différente, pour ce qu’elle vaut.</p>

<p>Mon expérience de mon mal, c’est que je n’en guéris pas. Pas complètement. Pas définitivement.</p>

<p>Mon expérience, c’est qu’il peut certes y avoir des parenthèses, des rémissions, des apaisements, plus ou moins longs, mais il n’y a pas vraiment eu de début, et il n’y a jamais eu de vraie fin.</p>

<p>C’est principalement pour cela que j’aurai toujours une hésitation, un doute, un scrupule à me définir comme « dépressif ». Je n’utilise ce mot que, comme tant d’autres, faute de mieux.</p>

<blockquote><p>Belbo était désormais un adepte. Comme tout le monde, non par illumination, mais faute de mieux.</p></blockquote>

<h2>Limites</h2>

<p>Je ne sais pas quand était le début.</p>

<p>Je suis incapable de vous dire depuis quand je suis comme ça, périodiquement. Je ne sais pas quand ça a commencé. Je ne sais pas. La <a href="https://wp.me/p2Y5zY-1g7">Grande École</a> ? Évidemment, mes congénères en témoigneront volontiers, mais ça n’a pas commencé là, ça remonte à plus loin. L’adolescence ? Probablement. Un peu avant ? Encore avant ? Depuis toujours ? Est-ce que ce n’était pas déjà programmé avant même que je ne vienne au monde ? Je sais, ça semble absurde, mais il m’est arrivé de réfléchir à une telle hypothèse. Born to gloom.</p>

<p>Je sais qu’il n’y aura pas de fin.</p>

<p>Il n’y a jamais eu de guérison pleine et entière, et il n’y en aura jamais. Je me suis plusieurs fois cru sorti d’affaire, guéri, libéré, délivré ; et j’ai été rattrapé par ma réalité ensuite. J’y ai cru, j’y ai cru très fort. J’ai voulu y croire, j’ai voulu y croire tellement fort. Je n’y crois plus du tout. Il y a des périodes où ça va un peu mieux, il y en a eu, il y en aura d’autres, elles existent, elles peuvent être même assez longues, mais à l’horizon il y aura toujours une rechute. Toujours. La rechute est l’horizon indépassable du dépressif.</p>

<p>Je sais qu’il n’y a pas de limite en bas.</p>

<p>Il n’y a pas de plancher. Il n’y a pas de fond de la piscine, une paroi contre laquelle on peut rebondir. Il m’est arrivé d’être très bas, mais je ne me souviens pas avoir jamais ressenti « toucher le fond ». J’ai juste eu de la chance, ou de la persévérance, ou les deux, et je me suis aperçu a posteriori que j’étais remonté. Je n’ai jamais senti de fond. Plus on est bas, moins on est retenu. Plus on est bas, plus on réalisé à quel point il est facile de descendre encore plus bas. Je pense qu’il n’y a pas de fond. Il n’y a rien qui puisse rattraper un homme qui tombe.</p>

<p>Il m’est arrivé d’être quasiment à l’arrêt, incapable de me lever, plus envie de rien, plus capable de rien – comme c’est souvent décrit dans la littérature spécialisée. Mais je ne suis pas à l’arrêt en ce moment : je me lève tous les matins, je travaille, j’agis, je ne suis pas effondré toute la journée. Les vagues déferlent les unes après les autres, et puis entre les vagues je surnage. Les apparences sont presque sauves. C’est pour ça que je ne peux pas me considérer vraiment comme dépressif. C’est pour ça que je me soupçonne parfois de n’être qu’un imposteur, un faux-dépressif, un simulateur, un enfant gâté qui fait son intéressant, et toutes ces sortes de choses. Je ferais mieux de me taire : tout ça c’est dans ma tête, juste dans ma tête.</p>

<p>Je suis bas, mais pas si bas. Je sais que je pourrais être plus bas. Ce serait peut-être plus cohérent, plus franc, plus lisible. Mais je ne veux pas. Je ne veux pas tomber plus bas. Mais je sais que c’est possible. J’y ai déjà été. Je sais qu’il y a aussi plus bas encore. Je ne veux pas y aller. Je ne veux pas devenir fou, prostré ou dangereux. Je ne veux pas tout ça. Mais ça peut m’arriver. Rien ne s’oppose à la nuit.</p>

<p>Je sais qu’il y a une limite en haut.</p>

<p>Il y a un plafond – un plafond de verre, comme on dit maintenant, invisible, mais bien réel. Ayant quelques vagues souvenirs de mathématiques, j’appelle ça une asymptote. Ça peut aller mieux, ça pourra aller mieux, mais ça n’ira jamais au-delà d’un certain mieux. Ça ne disparaîtra jamais complètement. Ça ne sera jamais complètement oublié, complètement absent des préoccupations. Ça sera toujours là, comme une chaîne, un boulet, un poids. Au pire, ça me tire vers le bas ; au mieux, ça m’empêche d’aller bien haut.</p>

<p>J’appelle ça « l’asymptote du dépressif ». Ce concept n’engage que moi. Ceci n’est qu’un blog. Et cette limite en haut est le sujet de ce billet.</p>

<p>Ce mal, peu importe son nom, je ne m’en débarrasserai jamais. Et une de ses caractéristiques principales, c’est qu’il m’empêchera toujours de dépasser un certain niveau de sérénité, d’épanouissement, de bien-être. Il n’y aura pas de rédemption, jamais. Il n’y aura pas de grands horizons, jamais.</p>

<p>À tout moment, une rechute est possible. Il n’y a pas de limite en bas. Le fond peut être très très bas. Croyez-moi, ces derniers mois, j’ai recommencé à regarder très très loin vers le bas, et je ne souhaite ça à personne.</p>

<p>Je peux toujours espérer une remontée. Je sais que c’est possible. Je lutte perpétuellement pour essayer de remonter. J’ai vécu des belles remontées. Je frissonne quand je pense à la naissance de ma fille. J’ai les larmes aux yeux quand je pense à la séquence qui va du <a href="https://wp.me/p2Y5zY-1lq">printemps 2019</a> à l’<a href="https://wp.me/p2Y5zY-1pT">hiver 2020</a>. J’y ai cru. J’y étais presque. J’ai cru que je pouvais devenir heureux. Je me suis senti tellement mieux. J’ai vu tellement de choses avec des couleurs différentes. Je n’ai pas pris le temps de les écrire, mais je les ressentais. J’ai ressenti tellement de lumière. J’y étais presque. J’y étais presque.</p>

<p>Peut-être y aura-t-il d’autres remontées. Probablement. Sûrement. Tout cela est cyclique. La vie est cyclique. Des jours heureux reviendront. Je remonterai.</p>

<p>Mais je sais, je dois savoir, je ne peux pas ignorer qu’il y a une limite en haut. Une limite infranchissable. Une asymptote. Tout ce qui est au-delà est hors de portée pour moi. Et <a href="https://wp.me/p2Y5zY-W3">la petite bête</a> sera toujours là. Je dois, pour reprendre une terrible expression très à la mode : « vivre avec ». (Parenthèse : Je déteste l’expression « vivre avec » dans le contexte actuel (Covid-19), ça sera le sujet d’un prochain billet. Fin de la parenthèse. )</p>

<h2><a href="https://prototypekblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/moins-un-sur-x.jpg"><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="6042" data-permalink="https://prototypekblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/25/lasymptote-du-depressif/moins-un-sur-x/" data-orig-file="https://prototypekblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/moins-un-sur-x.jpg" data-orig-size="660,440" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="Moins un sur x" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="https://prototypekblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/moins-un-sur-x.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://prototypekblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/moins-un-sur-x.jpg?w=640" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-6042" src="https://prototypekblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/moins-un-sur-x.jpg?w=640&amp;h=427" alt="" srcset="https://prototypekblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/moins-un-sur-x.jpg?w=640&amp;h=427 640w, https://prototypekblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/moins-un-sur-x.jpg?w=150&amp;h=100 150w, https://prototypekblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/moins-un-sur-x.jpg?w=300&amp;h=200 300w, https://prototypekblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/moins-un-sur-x.jpg 660w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"></a></h2>

<h2>Vivre sous l’asymptote des dépressifs</h2>

<p>Je ne passerai jamais de l’autre côté de l’axe des abscisses.</p>

<p>Peut-être que je me trompe. Peut-être que c’est le mal qui me fait penser ça. Peut-être que l’avenir me donnera tort. J’espère que l’avenir me donnera tort. Je l’espère de tout mon cœur. Mais je n’y crois pas.</p>

<p>Je ne passerai jamais du bon côté du monde.</p>

<p>Le mieux que je puisse espérer, c’est ce bout de phrase que j’ai beaucoup utilisé ces dernières années, notamment entre le printemps 2019 et l’hiver 2020 : « J’y suis presque ». Ce mot : « presque ». Presque. Presque !</p>

<p>Presque guéri, mais jamais complètement. J’y étais presque. J’y serai presque, à nouveau, un autre jour. Ça reviendra.</p>

<p>Mais il faut que j’accepte l’idée que je ne guérirai jamais. Je vivrai toujours avec ça. La peur de la rechute, la peur du vide ; et le plafond de verre, l’asymptote du dépressif, qui me rattrapera, toujours, tôt ou tard.</p>

<p>Il y aura toujours un « presque », il y aura toujours une limite, je ne ferai jamais mieux que cette asymptote, j’irai jamais au-delà. C’est déjà pas si mal. Ça pourrait être pire. Ça pourrait être tellement pire.</p>

<p>En un sens, paradoxalement, me cogner au plafond de verre, me retrouver dans le « presque », c’est ce qui peut m’arriver de mieux. Pouvoir me dire « je suis presque bien », ce serait ma plus grande victoire possible.</p>

<p>Encore une fois, je n’aime pas parler de « dépression », et encore moins de maladie, parce que cela me parait pour tout dire indécent de comparer ma situation objective de privilégié (bien-portant, cadre, en télétravail, etc.) avec les situations autrement plus difficiles de millions de gens, souffrant de malheurs et de pathologies bien plus objectives, factuelles et terribles.</p>

<p>Combien de millions de gens dans ce pays vivent avec un handicap, un cancer, un diabète, une sclérose en plaques – bref, une « vraie » maladie, une « vraie » pathologie, une « vraie » fragilité ? Combien de millions de gens savent vraiment ce que « vivre avec » veut dire ? Qui suis-je pour oser me plaindre ?</p>

<p>Dans sa chronique pour Libération en date du 10 février 2021, intitulée « <a href="https://www.liberation.fr/societe/sante/covid-et-individus-fragiles-nous-sommes-ce-que-vous-ne-voulez-pas-voir-20210210_PDALSNTIGJFCLB3HBBAHXANBKU/">Covid et individus fragiles : « Nous sommes ce que vous ne voulez pas voir »</a> », le très admiré Dr Christian Lehmann cède la parole à Marie, 47 ans, psychologue clinicienne à l’hôpital, confinée depuis un an :</p>

<blockquote><p>Que la société le veuille ou non, nous sommes une réalité. Nous avons l’habitude que notre voix ne soit pas entendue, étouffée par les récriminations budgétaires de tous ordres. Nous sommes vos vieux en Ehpad, nous sommes des polyhandicapés, nous sommes des malades chroniques, nous sommes des personnes dépendantes du bon vouloir des autres… mais nous restons des personnes. Cette crise aura mis à jour un clivage que nous n’imaginions pas si grand entre le monde des bien portants et les autres. Et pourtant, nous sommes aussi le vieillard que vous deviendrez, le cancéreux que vous pourriez devenir, le handicapé que votre sœur ou votre enfant sera peut-être un jour. Nous sommes ce que vous ne voulez pas voir de votre condition humaine, de votre avenir possible. Je ne vous le souhaite pas. Mais peut-être ce jour-là découvrirez-vous, bien tard, quel goût a la vie quand il faut se battre chaque jour pour pouvoir profiter une fois encore du lever du soleil.</p></blockquote>

<p>Je suis physiquement bien portant. Je ne suis pas a priori parmi les populations « vulnérables » au Covid-19 (âge, IMC, problèmes respiratoires, etc). Je suis bien loti. J’ai de la chance. Je suis un privilégié. Je ne suis pas à plaindre. Et pourtant je ressens intensément tout ça. Je ressens intensément ce clivage horrible. Je ressens douloureusement <a href="https://wp.me/p2Y5zY-1q1">le mépris pour les vulnérables et pour les victimes</a>. Je vois avec dégoût s’étaler la haine de ceux qui se croient forts pour ceux qui se savent faibles, toute cette hargne qui se cache de moins en moins, tous ces venins abjects. Certains me diront sûrement que je ne devrais pas, et que je devrais juste, comme eux, penser juste à ma gueule et mépriser les non-privilégiés, les faibles. Il n’en est pas question. Les mêmes me traiteront probablement de malade. Si ça les amuse…</p>

<p>Au fond, les bien-portants intolérants sont cohérents : ils n’aiment pas les malades, c’est tout et ça ne va pas plus loin. Ils veulent juste ne pas les voir. Les malades devraient avoir <a href="https://wp.me/p2Y5zY-1as">honte d’exister</a>. Ça tombe bien, certaines maladies prospèrent justement de la honte d’exister.</p>

<h2>Ça se voit</h2>

<p>Vivre avec la dépression, c’est peut-être aussi se faire à l’idée que <a href="https://wp.me/p2Y5zY-1as">ça se voit</a>. Ça se sait. <a href="https://wp.me/p2Y5zY-11L">Ça s’entend</a>. Ça se lit.</p>

<p>Vivre avec, ce serait essayer de me persuader que <a href="https://wp.me/p2Y5zY-1d2">je n’en mourrai pas</a>. Ce serait essayer de me persuader qu’on ne me crucifiera pas pour ça – ou que ceux-là qui me crucifieront ne valent juste pas la peine d’être fréquentés, ni même écoutés. Ils n’aiment pas les malades, c’est tout, tant pis pour eux.</p>

<p>Vivre avec, ce serait arrêter d’essayer de sauver les apparences. Laisser filer. Laisser couler. « Lâcher prise », comme on dit maintenant.</p>

<p>Vivre avec, ce serait arriver à me dire : ça se voit, et alors ? « Assumer », comme on dit maintenant. Accepter que je ne passerai jamais du bon côté du monde. Mais je peux m’en approcher.</p>

<p>Vivre avec, et m’en contenter.</p>

<p>Y être presque, à nouveau.</p>

<p>Accepter le presque.</p>

<p>Je ne peux pas faire mieux. Je ne pourrais jamais faire mieux. Je ne pourrai jamais complètement atteindre l’asymptote. Mais je peux vivre. Je suis vivant. J’ai de la chance.</p>

<p>J’aurais tellement aimé <a href="https://wp.me/p2Y5zY-1pI">porter un message d’espoir</a>, de lumière et de meilleurs lendemains, mais je ne peux pas. Je ne sais pas faire. J’ai essayé, mais je ne sais pas faire.</p>

<p>Je suis désolé.</p>

<p>J’y étais presque.</p>

<p>Je ne rêve que de retrouver l’asymptote.</p>

<p>Je ne pense Covid qui nous sépare.</p>

<p>Bonne nuit.</p>
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<p>Je ne pars jamais au bon moment. Je n’ai pas le kaïros –l’art du bon moment, je ne sais pas saisir ça. Je pars de la boite de nuit quand on rallume la salle, moi. Je reste jusqu’au bout. C’est très cohérent avec ma nature têtue –je suis très têtue et très fidèle – je ne m’en vais pas, quitte à fermer la marche.</p>
<p>Mais ça me joue des tours, parce que parfois, curieusement, dans l’associatif, il faut partir. C’est très difficile à penser pour moi, qui ai toujours pensé l’engagement militant comme un combat. Tout abandon de poste a des airs de mutinerie.</p>

<p>Je n’ai pas de chance : en sus, partir, dans l’associatif, c’est la tâche la plus difficile. Quelle que soit ta prédisposition à partir. C’est le moment le plus douloureux, le plus difficile, et l’un des moments, à mon sens, les moins documentés. On écrit peu, on se parle peu sur comment on se barre je trouve. Se barrer, sur les trois associations qui ont marqué ma vie, ça a peu fait l’objet de ces moments dans l’associatif où on se passe du savoir sur comment ça marche. Et pourtant j’en ai vu, des gens partir. Mais voilà, voir des gens plus ou moins mal gérer des passations de responsabilités associatives c’est une chose, le faire soi c’est une autre. Personne ne te parlera de comment il faut faire. A part te dire qu’il en chie, parce que <em>guess what</em>, tout le monde en chie. On en chie, mais comme on se barre, on ne laisse pas aux jeunes un post-mortem de nos erreurs, de nos regrets, histoire qu’ils en chient moins. Au mieux ils peuvent nous regarder faire et essayer d’en tirer une conclusion.</p>

<p>En conséquence, ce billet de blog a deux objectifs : expliquer pourquoi je m’en vais, pourquoi j’ai envie de prendre cette curieuse décision, moi qui n’y pense jamais, et puis ce que ça fait. Pour que peut-être quelqu’un qui se pose la même question ait, enfin, un peu de doc. Pour ce que ça vaut, évidemment. </p>

<h2>Un premier départ : l’ouragan</h2>

<p>Je suis toujours partie quand il était trop tard, donc. Quand j’ai quitté le MAG –la première association où l’on m’a confié des responsabilités – cela faisait déjà plusieurs semaines voire des mois, je ne sais honnêtement plus combien de temps j’ai flotté comme ça, que je n’étais plus –comment dire – en alignement avec ce que je faisais. J’allais aux permanences avec ce sentiment d’aller faire mon devoir, comme le petit soldat que je suis, mais pas la fleur au fusil. Plutôt comme si c’était le énième matin, et qu’il faut, mais pfff. Je n’avais pas le cœur à quitter cette association qui m’avait tellement fait grandir, à qui je dois mon épine dorsale politique, mes racines militantes. C’était dur, putain. Et en même temps, je dépassais de la boite comme Alice coincée dans sa pièce, et je le savais. La seule méthode que j’ai trouvée pour partir, et donc, que je ne conseille pas, ça a été de trouver un stage de fin d’études à quelques 500 km de là, de rendre les clés, la mort dans l’âme, la veille, et d’effectuer la coupure, comme ça, physiquement, brutalement. Je me suis littéralement foutue dehors à coups de pieds. Et comme il était trop tard, je suis partie quasiment sans prévenir.</p>

<p>Comme il était trop tard, moi qui avais ramé parce que mon prédécesseur au MAG était parti avec environ le même talent (tout le monde en chie, je ne lui en veux pas), je n’ai rien organisé comme passation. Je suis partie avec tous les fichiers de mise en page de la revue (la Magazette) dont j’avais la charge. Mes successeurs ont dû tout reconstruire après moi et quasiment sans aide de ma part. C’est nul. C’est un de mes regrets les plus colossaux de ma carrière associative. Honnêtement : pardon. Du fond du cœur, pardon. J’ai honte, vraiment, d’avoir traité les gens comme ça.</p>

<p>L’enseignement que j’en tire est qu’en fait la passation est quelque chose qu’on ne fait pas dans la semaine où l’on se casse. On devrait presque le préparer dès le premier jour de notre mandat. Idéalement il faudrait toucher cet équilibre : je suis en charge, je fais ce qui est sous ma responsabilité, mais si jamais il arrive quoi que ce soit je peux déclencher les mécanismes A B et C pour que ça continue à rouler sans moi. Vous voyez les entrainements à l’alarme incendie, qu’on fait tous les ans juste pour se rappeler comment faire au cas où ça arrive vraiment ? C’est un peu la même idée.</p>

<p>Si vous demandez à un responsable associatif, de rentrer dans ce genre de démarche, il peut avoir une réaction de recul plus ou moins violente. Et c’est assez normal. C’est très contre intuitif, parce que préparer son départ, ça veut dire accepter qu’on va partir un jour et dans l’associatif je crois qu’on postule que c’est impensable : on est engagé, là, c’est pas pour se débiner dès le premier jour de mandat. Imaginez si la personne qui partage votre vie vous parlait divorce à brûle-pourpoint là. Vous prendriez peur : « pourquoi tu me parles de ça ? On est pas bien ensemble ? ». Parfois comme ici, la vie décide pour nous et c’est pour ça qu’il faudrait anticiper. Mais on ne se l’imagine pas. Cet état d’esprit demande une certaine dose de sagesse et de lâcher prise. Comme c’est pas facile de s’y projeter on procrastine, ce que j’ai fait, comme mon prédécesseur. C’est vraiment plus facile à dire qu’à faire, et donc l’autre leçon c’est qu’il faut une petite dose d’indulgence pour la personne que vous encouragez à faire ça. C’est très normal qu’elle commence par avoir peur.</p>

<p>Alors, très curieusement, alors que je cumulais un cursus en classe préparatoire littéraire et le conseil d’administration de l’une des associations LGBT+ les plus vieilles de France, ce n’est pas pas la charge de travail qui m’a fait partir. C’est l’ouragan dans ma tête. On ne peut pas prendre soin des jeunes LGBT et soi-même ne plus savoir très bien où on en est. Ça ne marche juste pas. C’est un peu comme si tu assurais quelqu’un à l’escalade alors que toi-même tu as le vertige. J’étais pas dans la meilleure passe avec ma propre identité sexuelle, je n’avais plus la stabilité nécessaire pour écouter, j’étais une boule de voix discordantes moi-même. Il me fallait du calme, et de l’air nouveau. Ce que je me suis donné, oui, mais plus comme on arrache un pansement d’un coup. Un déchirement.</p>

<h2>Le feu de camp</h2>

<p>Ma vie s’est recentrée assez vite autour de la Quadrature du Net. L’association de lutte pour les droits et libertés fondamentales à l’ère numérique a accueilli à bras ouverts les torrents d’énergie que j’avais à investir alors, et j’ai accompagné ce qui est devenu une sorte de seconde famille depuis. Cette association a changé assez littéralement ma vie, et je ne parle pas seulement de mon apprentissage des questions liées aux télécoms via la Revue de Presse. Quand l’association de fait est devenue une association loi 1901, j’étais là ; quand cette association loi 1901 a réformé ses statuts pour arriver à peu près à la forme qu’elle a aujourd’hui, j’étais là. J’ai vu des départs extrêmement douloureux –pour tout le monde. J’ai vu une association guérir, doucement (ce n’est probablement pas encore fini) de blessures humaines profondes. J’étais encore là. Partir m’a juste semblé impensable. Je n’allais pas m’en aller alors que bénévoles comme salariés faisaient part de leur blessures et tentaient de les soigner ensemble. Je n’allais pas partir quand on a plus que jamais besoin d’associations qui luttent pour nos droits et libertés, qui analysent les textes, qui font un travail si indispensable dans cette ambiance morose où le moindre acquis social est menacé. Je n’allais pas partir de cet endroit qui m’avait fait grandir parce que j’entendais bien donner l’impulsion, à d’autres, de les aider à grandir comme moi La Quadrature m’a fait pousser. Et pourtant.</p>

<p>J’ai, à la dernière assemblée générale à laquelle j’ai assisté, posé un texte douloureux. Je m’étais effondrée après une énième infection du pied. Et tout avait en fait commencé à vriller avec une violente infection des sinus dont je parle <a href="/blog/articles/prendre-soin-cest-possible/16/">ici</a>. Je faisais un burnout. Mon corps s’est mis à lâcher prise. Pour rappel, un burnout, ça caractérise moins un trop-plein de charge de travail que de charge cognitive et émotionnelle. C’est du stress empilé. Et la pile est si haute que tu ploies dessous. C’est ça qui te plonge dans cette fatigue sans fond dont il est si difficile de ressortir indemne. On s’en sort, hein, je m’en suis sortie. Mais pas indemne.</p>

<p>Quand j’ai écrit ce post, j’avais déjà commencé à entrevoir la place qu’avait pris La Quadrature dans ce qui me pesait (et c’était une pensée fort désagréable). En participant au collège des membres, j’avais pris ma part dans la charge d’une association qui a énormément compté à un moment et on venait de traverser des moments où l’on n’était pas loin du maximum de la charge émotionnelle possible posée sur le plan de travail. Il a fallu encaisser de grosses fractures, dans mon propre camp, et courageusement, essayer de faire perdurer le collectif malgré tout. Et j’y suis allée. J’ai courageusement encaissé. Mais voilà, encaissé. Le souvenir de cette discussion sur Twitter avec un ancien bénévole de la Quadrature ayant des mots incroyablement durs pour l’association reste douloureux. Il l’est moins qu’avant aujourd’hui. Il l’est moins depuis que j’ai fait la paix avec une chose : j’ai pris des balles dans mon propre camp. Toutes les balles prises dans cette période-là, c’était dans mon <em>fucking</em> propre camp. Pour l’essentiel, je pense que ce sont des balles perdues. Ou des giclures d’acide qui débordait, là. Des dégâts collatéraux. C’est un sentiment qui est assez proche, à la réflexion, de ce que vivent les enfants coincés dans un couple dont le divorce se passe mal : il y a une violence qui ne t’est absolument pas destinée, mais que tu vas quand même encaisser dans les tripes parce que tu es là, au milieu, que tu ne peux pas éviter. Tu ne comprends pas très bien ce que tu as fait. Tu as un peu l’impression que c’est contre toi, alors que non, c’est l’histoire de tes parents. Et tu peux mettre du temps à t’en remettre et à pardonner. T’as pris des balles perdues. Tu sais que c’est tes parents qui ont tiré. Tu sais qu’ils savent que tu es sur le champ de bataille, exposé. Mais personne ne peut faire autrement.</p>

<p>On n’est jamais, dans le travail militant, jamais, préparé à ça. On est préparé à se battre contre le grand Copyright, contre la Silicon Valley, les GAFAM, contre des députés qui n’écoutent pas et qui te votent des machins scélérats tendance Frédérique Vidal mais pas à encaisser ça.</p>

<p>J’ai mis un peu de baume là dessus, je ne sais pas encore combien j’ai pardonné. C’est pas simple de pardonner quelque chose qu’on a d’abord reçu comme une forme de trahison. C’est tout un travail. Mais c’est comme un divorce, c’est plus facile à penser depuis que j’ai aussi cette perspective : hey, personne ne pouvait faire autrement. <em>And it’s better out</em>. Autant vous dire que j’aurais aimé que ça sorte plus tôt, hein, avant que ça fermente à ce point, mais maintenant c'est fait, c'est pas plus mal quelque part.</p>

<p>Je m’éloigne un peu du sujet initial en vous racontant ça, mais je ne peux pas séparer le récit de ces départs successifs avec leur cause. Ça fait partie de la leçon. La leçon ici, c’est que j’ai vu bien tard ce que j’étais en train d’empiler dans mon sac à dos, là. Je collectais des moments à grande charge émotionnelle les uns sur les autres, et je n’ai pas résolu la tension qui était là. J’ai encaissé. Donc heh, elle est restée là où elle était, bien sagement. Et puis dessus, j’ai rajouté la charge mentale incroyable qui constitue en : être membre d’un collectif, qui est responsable d’une association qui n’a pas l’air mais qui est une grosse association, qui demande beaucoup d’attention, de travail, c’est une grosse machine qui a son passé, qui fait plein de frottements à plein d’endroits, qui est très belle et puis en même temps une aventure humaine très complexe, qui est l’employeur de plusieurs personnes (ce qui constitue une responsabilité énorme). Bref j’avais un sac de rando plein à craquer de trucs qui s’empilaient, puis qui n’en finissaient pas de s’empiler. Tu m’étonnes que mon corps ait fini par décider de lâcher. D’abord une belle crise de sinus, puis, coup sur coup, trois infections du pied. La dernière, jusqu’au dernier moment j’étais pas tout à fait certaine que les antibiotiques dose cheval qu’on m’avait prescrit allaient fonctionner. Ça allait bien (non). Encore une histoire de partir trop tard, notez. Ce billet est cohérent.</p>

<p>Normalement, ce qui enlève des choses dans le sac à dos, c’est ce que j’appelle le feu de camp. C’est l’espace, où, dans le travail militant, l’on produit de la chaleur. Dans un travail comme celui de La Quadrature, il y a une ligne de front. Il y a des gens à convaincre, des argumentaires à démonter, des batailles juridiques. Mais il y a aussi une base arrière. Avec un feu de camp, de la bouffe, des matelas pour dormir. On vient se réchauffer à la chaleur du feu, on se raconte des histoires, on se demande des nouvelles. On mange un bout, on se repose. On fait lien. Et on développe une forme de plaisir de lutter ensemble. Quand ça marche bien, il ya toujours un petit groupe de bénévoles qui maintiennent le feu allumé et se reposent, et un autre groupe de bénévoles qui est « au front ». Et on peut observer que les bénévoles se relaient au feu de camp, comme ça. Ce n’est pas toujours les mêmes qui portent la lutte, ce n’est pas toujours les mêmes qui mettent une buche dans le feu, il y a une forme d’équilibre qui s’installe. On se nourrit d’être ensemble. Ça donne de l’énergie pour lutter. Mais lutter fatigue, alors on part se reposer, et on reviendra quand on aura récupéré, au chaud, dans la base arrière.</p>

<p>J’ai traversé une époque où je pense que la gueule du feu dans l’âtre était pas vaillante, et où peu d’énergies étaient disponibles pour remettre une bûche. Peut-être aussi que je cela n’aurait été simplement pas suffisant pour endiguer cet empilement.</p>

<p>J’en tire plusieurs leçons :</p>

<ul>
<li>participer au travail associatif, parfois, c’est être à la base arrière à juste remettre une bûche dans le feu. Heh bien ça nourrit autant la lutte que travailler sur un recours au Conseil d’État. Et si on oublie de faire ça, on n’a pas immédiatement un problème et c’est pernicieux. On finit par en avoir un dès que la première ligne de front s’épuise. Un bénévole épuisé jusqu’à la couenne ne reviendra pas. Un bénévole qui a de quoi se ressourcer dans le collectif, peut-être.</li>
<li>Ne faites pas comme moi. Ecoutez-vous. Faites régulièrement le point sur votre sac de rando. Faites des pauses. Prenez des vacances associatives. Prenez au sérieux les amis qui ont une idée de ce qu’il y a dans votre sac et vous disent de lever le pied. Prenez au sérieux le fait que l’énergie bénévole c’est rare et précieux et que vous devez prendre soin des autres et leur dire de lever le pied. Prenez des nouvelles des uns des autres. Allumez et entretenez le feu de camp. C’est plus facile à dire qu’à faire, encore une fois, mais vraiment : on peut quitter une asso sans passer par la case hôpital. Ce n’est pas censé arriver. Les départs comme ceux que j’ai vécu au MAG il y en a cent mille, c’est commun parce qu’on ne devient pas un associatif sage du jour au lendemain. C’est nul, mais c’est logique que ça arrive. Le burnout, non, c’est pas logique. C’est évitable.</li>
</ul>

<p>J’ai expliqué ces leçons en AG dans mon texte, j’ai expliqué que j’ai compris tout ça trop tard et j’ai demandé à démissioner. Ce départ a été entériné par le reste du collectif, et ça me fait encore bizarre (alors qu’en fait, c’est pas récent du tout…) de voir, qu’après dix ans de chemin commun, mon nom n’est plus sur le site de La Quadrature. Mais ça a a donné un peu d’air d’arrêter de remplir mon sac comme ça. Je pense aujourd’hui que c’était bien de fermer ce chapitre. Triste, mais bien.</p>

<h2>La présidence : la grosse arnaque</h2>

<p><em>Plot twist</em> : j’avais une autre source de cailloux-qui-finissent-dans-le-sac-de-rando. Haha. Alors celle là c’est le truc qui était caché juste devant mon pif. Haha. Ha. Hrem.</p>

<p>Je suis devenue en 2017 présidente d’une association (co-présidente, techniquement). J’en parle à plusieurs reprises sur ce blog. En réalité je suis arrivée dans l’aventure de la Fédération FDN à peu près à la même époque qu’à la Quadrature, et beaucoup de choses ont été concommitantes ou pas loin, typiquement le changement des statuts de la Quadrature vers la création d’un Collège responsable de membres et mon élection à la Fédération sont arrivés dans des temporalités très proches ; mais pour des raisons de clarté du propos, j’ai séquencé. Mais voilà c’est ça qu’est drôle, si on veut. Pendant, littéralement pendant que j’étais en train de gérer les cailloux qu’arrivaient dans mon sac d’un côté, de l’autre on m’en balançait des kilos.</p>

<p>Je m’explique. Je ne veux pas qu’on comprenne ça comme « on m’a prise par surprise et je me suis retrouvée présidente ». J’ai accepté de prendre en charge la responsabilité de la présidence en conscience, quand même. Evidemment que j’étais au courant du fait que cela constituerait une charge supplémentaire. Evidemmment que j’étais consciente de ce que je faisais et que je m’y suis préparée, un peu. Je pense même que j’ai jamais été aussi prête pour endosser une responsabilité associative.</p>

<p>J’ai beaucoup retourné la question dans ma tête, parce que je suis toujours scandalisée par cette partie-là de mon burnout et de sa guérison. Comment ça se fait que j’aie ployé aussi vite sous une charge que j’étais globalement prête (et légitime) à recevoir ? Parce que j’ai ployé, j’ai littéralement ployé, comme le roseau, là, crouiiiiic. J’ai été élue en 2017. En 2018, les signes du burnout ont commencé à poindre. En 2019 je lâchais tout. Deux ans. C’est allé très vite. J’ai passé dix ans à la Quadrature, j’y ai littéralement vécu le Vietnam, avant de prendre la décision de m’en aller et là en deux ans je me retrouve incapable d’assurer. C’est quoi ce truc. Vous vous imaginez pas la frustration, la déception. C’est quoi ce truc. Je veux dire, que je m’épuise après dix ans de lutte à LQDN est normal, et c’est même plutôt un bon score de longévité, dix ans. Mais deux ans. Je n’arrive pas à m’y faire.</p>

<p>Vous allez me dire : « facile ». Oui, avec ce que je ramaisssais comme cailloux à La Quadrature ça suffisait bien, oui. Je suis arrivée à cette conclusion toute seule, j’ai aussi démissionné de LQDN en me disant que ça protégerait l’engagement militant qui restait et que ça me permettrait de recentrer mon énergie. Ça a certainement sauvé ma santé. Accepter de lâcher ma responsabilité à LQDN a été l’une des décisions les plus tristes de ma vie associative mais ça a soulevé l’énorme couvercle de marmite sous lequel j’étais coincée et heureusement. En juin 2020, voyant la bouffée d’air qu’entériner cette difficile rupture m’avait donné, quand j’ai pris le temps de poser un mail aux fédérés à propos de l’AG de la Fédération, empêchée à cause de la pandémie comme beaucoup d’autres rassemblements, j’ai en substance dit que j’avais pas un bilan grandiose (wesh, burnout) mais que je pouvais sans doute repartir pour un an à marche diminuée. Je comptais beaucoup sur le fait que j’allais trouver un équilibre entre l’associatif et le reste avec UNE SEULE responsabilité associative, qu’avec le temps la fatigue et la douleur allaient se tasser un peu et que je pourrais continuer. La Quadrature plus la présidence, ça faisait trop, c’est évident. Mais ça tout seul, ça devrait marcher. Non ?</p>

<p>Ce n’est pas ce qu’il s’est passé dans les douze derniers mois. On est en juin 2021. J’ai quitté LQDN en juin 2020 en gros, en prenant acte des leçons du burnout qui m’a occupé une partie de l’année 2019. Ça fait un an que je suis à peu près à flot (heureusement, ma santé mentale n’aurait pas survécu à la pandémie sans ça). C’est clairement dû au fait que depuis que j’ai tout lâché en urgence je n’ai quasiment rien repris comme charge mentale nulle part. Je suis en arrêt maladie, vis à vis de ma fonction. Donc ça va. Mais je suis en arrêt maladie, ce qui veut dire que je ne peux pas dire que j’occupe ça pleinement. Je n’ai pas repris, comme je pensais en être capable alors, ce que j’avais planté là comme charge l’année avant <em>because burnout</em>. Je n’ai pas rouvert de consultations de l’Arcep. Je ne lis plus mes mails. Il y a quelque chose de cassé, j’ai du mal à formuler ça autrement. Et le scandale c’est pourquoi ?</p>

<p>J’ai en gros deux éléments de réponse et ça ne me fait pas plaisir de les écrire (c’est aussi pour ça que j’ai repoussé l’écriture de ce billet, c’est pas agréable).</p>

<h2>Le président de Shrödinger</h2>

<p>Le premier, que j’ai expliqué en long et en large dans ce long mail (je suis spécialiste des mails fleuves, <em>well, you’re reading this, you know why</em>) aux fédérés il y a dix mois donc, tient simplement en ce en quoi la présidence est une arnaque.</p>

<p>La présidence, c’est un poste où l’essentiel du travail est invisible. L’arnaque est là.</p>

<p>On attend plein de choses différentes des présidents d’association, ça c’est variable en fonction des collectifs. Il y a des associations qui ont des traditions de présidence très descendante, d’autres au contraire où le président est un peu comme le président allemand, là mais pour garantir l’unité, il y en a où la présidence est un exercice qui ne change rien, il fallait juste un nom pour la préfecture. Il y a de tout.</p>

<p>Je trouve qu’il y a quelque chose qui revient quand même assez souvent. Quand je discute avec d’autres présidents et présidentes d’assos, souvent, on se rend compte que ce qu’on avait en commun malgré les styles de « direction » différents, c’est faire l’état de l’union. Comme c’est la seule chose qui était claire dans ma tête sur ce qu’on attendait de moi, j’en ai fait le centre de mon activité de présidente de la Fédération.</p>

<p>Faire l’état de l’union, ça se matérialise pour moi dans quelque chose que j’ai introduit, d’ailleurs, dans toutes les assos que j’ai codirigé : les bilans. C’est un document qu’on formalise en général un peu avant l’AG, et qui résume les accomplissements de l’association en un an. Ce sont ces bilans qui sont (quand tout se passe bien), soumis à l’approbation de l’AG. Ils contiennent en réalité trois parties, l’introduction, les bilans proprement dits (ce qu’on a fait cette année), les projets (ce qu’on aimerait faire l’année prochaine et qui constitue un programme d’action minimal qu’approuve l’AG).</p>

<p>Hé bien l’état de l’union c’est l’introduction de ce document. C’est un texte qui vient dessiner la cohérence, les lignes de force, dans tout ce que fait l’association, dans sa diversité. Dans le cas de la direction d’une fédération, qui est par essence diverse (comme celle que je présidais), je trouve que c’est un exercice essentiel. On fait le point, on montre en quoi il y a un lien entre toutes ces actions qui ont l’air disparates, au besoin on recentre aussi, quand l’exploration de toutes les pistes semble perdre de vue l’épine dorsale de valeurs qui sont la raison d’être de l’association. C’est un exercice qui mélange, tous les ans, le passé (ce que l’asso a été, ce pour quoi elle a été fondée), le présent (ce que nous faisons et ce en quoi ce présent est bien un héritage du geste fondateur) et le futur (ce que nous avons collectivement envie/besoin de faire).</p>

<p>Souvent, je n’arrivais pas à tenir assez bien le rythme d’écriture (j’ai écrit la plupart des bilans que j’ai présentés seule, et dans des conditions iniques, le bilan 2017 je l’ai écrit quasi intégralement sur mon téléphone) et en fait l’état de l’union était présenté à l’AG sous la forme d’un laïus d’ouverture parce que le document était à peine sec. Un discours d’état de l’union, quoi.</p>

<p>Pour faire correctement l’état de l’union, il faut accepter de prendre énormément de charge mentale. On ne réfléchit pas uniquement la semaine avant l’AG à ce que ça veut dire, cette asso, on y réfléchit sous la douche, à 2h du mat quand on n’arrive pas à dormir. On y réfléchit en préparant la bouffe. On devient un peu monomaniaque. Mais c’est ce travail constant qui produit la profondeur, l’épaisseur de la réflexion au moment des bilans.</p>

<p>Et puis, en fait, c’est aussi un travail quotidien parce que dans la pratique, il y a besoin de prendre des décisions ou de donner son avis un peu plus qu’une fois par an. Parfois il y a des crises et c’est ce matériau de réflexion qui sert, en partie, pour les démêler. Tu passes ton temps à refaire les coutures du patchwork (pas celles qui relient les pièces entre elles, les coutures qu’on fait en plus, sur toute la couverture, pour que l’ensemble se tienne bien). Dès qu’il y a une nouvelle pièce de couleur, hop, tu viens t’assurer qu’elle est bien reliée au reste et que la couverture est toujours harmonieuse.</p>

<p>Pourquoi un·e président·e de fédération a l’air de ne pas en foutre une ? Parce que ça, ça mange déjà assez de charge mentale, merci. C’est complètement invisible. Mais c’est ça, le taf. Ton taf, c’est de méta touiller en permanence le bordel pour qu’il ait l’air cohérent pour les gens à l’intérieur comme à l’extérieur. Plus c’est le bordel, plus tu as du travail. Pour reprendre la très belle image de Koolfy si celle du patchwork ne vous parle pas, tu passes ton temps à parcourir la toile pour voir si tous les fils sont bien reliés, et à essayer de renouer les fils qui sont cassés si c’est le cas. D’autres gens nouent des fils. Tu n’es jamais seul à réparer. Mais t’as ce privilège (un peu empoisonné, mais privilège) d’avoir en tête l’inventaire exact des endroits où il faut faire de la maintenance.</p>

<p>Le revers de la médaille, c’est que s’il y a eu des problèmes –et alors, en matière de problèmes, je ne vous remercie pas les gens, hein, j’ai été servie-- hé bien ça devient aussi <em>tes</em> problèmes. Tu te fais du soucis en permanence. Tu dors moins bien. Tu tournes ça dans ta tête dans tous les sens : 1) sérieux il est 3h du mat, j’ai cours demain, ce serait bien que ça cesse ce problème 2) bordel ça craint il faut une solution. Cette ambiance, je l’ai connue à plusieurs moments dans mon mandat de présidente.</p>

<p>Je ne suis pas salariée de mon association. A côté de cette bagatelle, je faisais aussi de la régulation des télécoms, j’écrivais (j'écris toujours) une thèse (qui n’a rien à voir), je me prenais des giclures d’acide dans la gueule parce que la souffrance de bénévole fermentée c’est plutôt dégueu à brasser. Pour situer. Oui, vu d’ici l’aspect burnout paraît très logique. Quand on nage la brasse coulée dans tout ça, on ne voit rien, il faut sortir la tête de l’eau pour ça.</p>

<p>Il se trouve, je résume parce que la tambouille interne fédérale ne vous intéresse pas ici, mais il se trouve que dans la Fédération FDN spécifiquement il y a, j’ai l’impression, des envies très divergentes concernant la présidence. A la fois des envies de direction très ferme, parce que ça permet de savoir par où aller sans forcément y investir de la réflexion parce qu’on est sur des problématiques de terrain et qu’on peut pas être partout. Et d’autonomie, parce que la fédé est quand même une aventure fondée sur le principe de la décentralisation (du coup une tête centrale ça dénote dans le paysage). C’est très intéressant, parce c’est inconciliable. Mais ça fonctionne à peu près quand même.</p>

<p>Et y’a pas une putain de fiche de poste. Ce que je viens de vous expliquer sur le métier de président·e d’asso, c’est un mélange entre ce qu’on m’a expliqué et ce que j’ai fini par tracer comme ligne faute d’y comprendre quelque chose à ce qu’on attendait de moi. Non mais parce que, cette histoire de rendre compte aux gens qui nous ont élu, j’y tiens. Mais j’aimerais savoir sur quoi du coup. Je suis ce genre de personne qui a besoin d’avoir une idée très claire de ce qu’on attend d'elle J’ai jamais vraiment su. J’ai passé mon mandat à essayer de comprendre, ça m’a épuisée. Et comme j’étais en plus partie sur des bases pas si saines que ça, ça a vrillé.</p>

<p>J’ai appris, plus tard, en lisant, que les attentes contradictoires et l’absence de fiche de poste, c’était un bon gros <em>red flag</em> à burnout.</p>

<h2>De mauvaises bases</h2>

<p>Le deuxième élément de réponse que j’ai, c’est donc que je suis partie sur de mauvaises bases. Déjà probablement que j’aurais dû démissionner à LQDN avant en fait, pour protéger mon énergie. Je serais certainement partie avec un sac à dos moins plein et j’aurais probablement mieux géré les différents aléas qui ont secoué mes trois dernières années de mandat.</p>

<p>En plus de ça, je pense que j’ai traîné une partie –peut-être la majeure partie de ma mandature– le traumatisme de l'AG 2016 de la Fédération FDN. Alors à partir de là si mentionner cet épisode te rappelle des mauvais souvenirs, tu as ma bénédiction pour passer à la suite. <em>Content warning</em>, comme on dit. Je vais être obligée de brasser des trucs pas drôles. Si t’es OK, la suite s’affiche si tu cliques <a href="#collapseCW" data-toggle="collapse">là</a>.</p>

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<p>C’est un épisode qui m’a traumatisée, vraiment, parce que d’une part j’ai été directement témoin de la souffrance d’une personne en particulier, et d’autre part parce que oui j’ai vécu la réaction –en fait inévitable– du collectif comme violente. J’ai jamais vu un truc aussi violent dans ma vie associative. J’ai rarement eu aussi peur du collectif auquel j’appartenais.</p>
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<p>Donc j’ai essentiellement guéri de ce traumatisme, il est largement derrière moi aujourd’hui, je pense. En tout cas je prends pour signe de guérison relative le fait d’y penser en paix. Je ne sais pas dans combien de temps la blessure que ça a causé va suffisamment cicatriser pour que ça soit disons faisable de revenir dans le collectif. C’est une chose de faire la paix, c’est une autre, haha, ensuite, de naviguer la présidence en portant ce type de blessure : c’est pas parce que ça cicatrise que ça n’existe plus. Et j’en suis là. J’ai été blessée, ça a rompu quelque chose, et je ne sais pas encore réparer ça.</p>
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<p>C’étaient de bien mauvaises bases. Ma vision des choses était biaisée, d’entrée de jeu, dans un sens pas sain, je crois. A certains égards elle a été un peu encouragée dans cette direction et ce n’était pas une super influence à la réflexion. Je regrette un peu d’avoir écouté, honnêtement.</p>

<p>Après avoir pris de la distance, je ne vois pas bien comment on peut se sortir de ce mélange de choses indemne de toute manière. Le trop plein de charge émotionnelle, au dessus d’un bon vieux trauma des familles, avec des attentes contradictoires <em>on top of that</em>. Oh et une pandémie mondiale. Où j’ai passé douze mois à me dire ho je ne fous plus rien (<em>because</em> la guérison de tout ceci, hein, puis gérer vivre dans une pandémie mondiale<em> which is enough anyway</em>), suis-je encore légitime de toutes façons ? Etre reconduite à son poste par la force des choses est-il une marque de légitimité ? Pourquoi personne ne vient m’en parler ou s’en inquiéter en fait ? En fait on m’a foutue dans une partie de jeu vidéo en mode <em>ultra hard</em> dans me prévenir, il y avait trois ans où être présidente de la fédé ça allait être méga dur, j’ai bien choisi mon moment moi en fait.</p>

<p>Donc oui j’ai ployé. Indéniablement. Mais en observant les choses posément, peut-être n’importe qui aurait explosé en vol. Alors, oui : en sautant l’option traumatisme de 2016, que mon histoire personnelle n’a pas rendu simple à gérer (je sais que d’autres gens s’en sont beaucoup mieux sortis), prut-être que l’on durait un peu plus. Mais les différentes tensions dans le collectif, les attentes contradictoires, l’absence de fiche de poste, la passation qui a été saine par endroits et pas du tout par d’autres, ça formait tout seul un cocktail suffisant qui menait au burnout.</p>

<p>Et ceci, malgré, encore une fois, ce qui fonde ma légitimité à occuper cette place, le fait que je pense que ce que j’apportais au collectif, en faisant l’état de l’union, était utile. Juste, voilà j’ai probablement joué une partie en mode <em>ultra hard</em> sans avoir conscience du niveau. L’arnaque.</p>

<h2>Et voilà, partir, c’est dur.</h2>

<p>Je sais que tout le monde a compris. Aujourd’hui je crois que tout le monde sait que cette rupture est consommée. Mais j’ai pris mon temps pour l’écrire. Parce que le plus important finalement, c’est que je fasse la paix avec ça. Que je fasse la paix avec, somme toute, l’impression d’échec personnel que ça me laisse. Je sais que j’ai contribué à construire des choses. Je sais que ce ne sont pas trois-quatre ans de mauvais mandat. Mais sur mes standards, c’est un échec. Parce que je pensais avoir pris les leçons de tous ces départs. Je pensais pouvoir rebondir beaucoup plus facilement, même après avoir ployé.</p>

<p>Accepter ces points, les regarder en face, ça m’a aidé à faire la paix avec l’impression d’avoir été au final assez mauvaise. Le fait d’avoir ployé aussi vite et encore davantage, le fait de ne pas être foutue de repartir parce que quelque chose est brisé, c’est extrêmement frustrant. J’essaye de faire la paix avec ça.</p>

<p>Objectivement, rebondir après une grosse rupture associative, passer du baume sur du trauma, traverser une pandémie en plus de ça, et être encore là, c’est un bilan très honorable. Ne pas en sortir indemme, c’est…presque attendu. Personne n’est surhumain.</p>

<p>Mais quand on avait envie de continuer à s’investir, c’est très frustrant. Je suis un peu triste, je vis malgré tout partiellement comme un échec le fait de devoir cesser, là, de faire ce que j’avais commencé, en ne finissant même pas les projets que j’avais démarrés. Je vois bien que c’est ridicule, un peu comme quelqu’un qui le pied dans le plâtre après un accident du travail, ne parlerait que de retourner au bureau. Ben non. Manifestement tu ne peux pas retourner au bureau. <em>Lâche</em>.</p>

<p>Le sentiment avec lequel j’ai le plus lutté (et avec lequel je lutte toujours, en fait), est l’impression d’abandon de poste. C’est compliqué de cesser de s’occuper de quelque chose 1) qui importe 2) dans lequel je pense que je suis bonne. Et c’est pour ça que, à l’aube de ce qui devait être l’AG 2020 de la Fédération FDN, j’ai hésité. Je n’ai pas présenté formellement ma démission. En fait une bonne partie de ce que je viens d’écrire était déjà très clair. Mais voilà, j’avais aussi envie de ne pas abandonner le poste. J’ai vraiment l’impression de trahir la confiance qu’on m’a fait et c’est pas agréable du tout.</p>

<p>Je suis bonne à prendre cette hauteur pour comprendre les dynamiques qui traversent divers groupes de travail, diverses associations, diverses personnes. Ça, c’est l’état de l’union. C’est je pense l’une des choses, voire la seule pour laquelle je pense qu’une fédération comme celle-ci a besoin de présidence. Parce qu’il faut pouvoir être en position de discuter avec tout le monde, de mettre un peu la main à la patte partout, sans vraiment faire, pour faire ça bien. Je pense que ça, je le faisais bien.</p>

<p>J’aurais aimé faire l’état de l’Union encore un moment, continuer à aider les gens à voir dans le grand patchwork qu’est la Fédé les lignes de couture qui donnent sa cohérence au plaid. Parce que c’est utile, que je suis bonne à ça, et que je tiens à cette cause et à ces gens. Mais on ne fait pas ce qu’on veut. La rupture qui s’est faite là est probablement irréparable en l’état. Il va me falloir du temps. Pour une fois dans ma vie, je ne vais pas remonter en selle après être tombée de mon cheval. Je ne sais pas dire si c’est de l’humilité ou du défaitisme. D’où l’impression d’échec assez douloureuse. J’en chie un peu, en vrai. Ça va de mieux en mieux, j’apprends à faire la paix, mais <em>pfiou</em>.</p>

<p>C’est possible que je ne remonte plus jamais un cheval. Je ne sais pas. En tout cas ma vie ne tourne plus autour de la lutte, et c’est bien aussi. Ça ouvre d’autres possibles. Ça me permet d’explorer d’autres aspects de ma vie, où l’équilibre entre ce que je donne et ce de quoi je me nourris est meilleur.</p>

<p>Et c’est important, ça, parce que, et je finirai par là, dans l’associatif, on court le marathon. Il faut rester, toujours, dans cet équilibre. Mais je ferme un chapitre, aussi, et ça me rend triste de l’écrire.</p>
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