Kaleidoscopic Robot Recessions

Happy Monday, Misschivians. Some of you emailed me about the missing Missive on Friday. Normally I’m rather like this bouncing dog in a field when I wake up in the morning (thx Katelyn for the video, which is now on loop on my desktop.) Friday morning, however, I was far less enthused to get going, owing mainly to the Brexit and the existential pall it cast over any Brit under 50. I still don’t know enough about it to opine here, but if you’re interested in seeing the takes from the smarter people I retweeted, check out twitter.com/amynw.

Three things I want you to read today, about technology and perspective:

• A client sent me a New York Times piece by Thomas Friedman entitled Another Age of Discovery, about how the printing press decentralized knowledge beyond the Catholic Church during the Renaissance, putting scribes out of jobs and destabilizing the European power structure. What emerged was a workforce without work, or community, which led to an obscure, untested figure exploiting the populace’s insecurities… oh, you see where we’re going here.

• In the same vein, Atlas Obscura takes a look at "The Forgotten Kaleidoscope Craze in Victorian England”, a toy that so mesmerized the populace, they started walking into walls. I’ll still yell at text-and-walkers, thank you very much.

• But lest you think I’m not still amazed at how we live in the future, Edward Snowden attends conferences via robot - and still has to wear a dippy name tag, may I add.

See you tomorrow, poppets.