BOOK: “The Attention Merchants” by Tim Wu

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The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our HeadsThe Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads by Tim Wu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site — Penguin

This book explores the evolution of capturing attention for commercial purposes. It delves into the history of attention economics from the development of print ads to the pursuit of virality via the internet and social media. Wu outlines how different media (e.g. print, radio, television, cable tv, and the internet) learned different lessons about how to make advertising work given the unique nature of each platform. The book also offers insight into how advertising spawned a market for people’s personal consumer information as the internet era began to allow companies to target ads for maximum effect, rather than using the scattershot approach that was all that was available to radio and broadcast television.

I found this book to be informative and it’s a subject of which people should be aware. William James famously said, “…what we attend to is reality.” If James was right, our reality is being shaped by forces that often remain outside our awareness. If you are curious about the attention economy, this is a highly readable overview of the subject.

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Fabulist

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DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from Yun Lai Viewpoint

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Photograph of the entrance to Yun Lai Viewpoint with its Chinese lanterns and mountainous backdrop.
Photograph of mountains and instagram sign at Yun Lai Viewpoint near Pai, Thailand.
Photographs of mountain, sky, and a cafe taken at Yun Lai Viewpoint of Santichon outside of Pai, Thailand.

PROMPT: Inspired

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a movie or book that inspired you to travel?
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I would say it’s much more common for travel to inspire me to read a particular book than the other way about. I can’t think of a case in which reading a book was the prime mover in a decision to travel to a given place. But I do try to read some literature from every country or literarily active city that I visit.

DAILY PHOTO: Boats in Ao Ton Sai, Koh Phi Phi

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Photograph of boats in Ao Ton Sai of Koh Phi Phi in Thailand.

PROMPT: Erase

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Daily writing prompt
If you could erase one trend from history, what would it be?
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I’ll preface my comment by saying this kind of thinking is fraught with peril. The law of unintended consequences makes knowing whether one’s counterfactual would produce the intended results impossible.

For example, in the US (and some other countries of the developed world,) there has been a proclivity to run up massive debt — both budget and trade. In the US, servicing debt has passed defense spending and (given current trends) will surpass entitlements to become the largest component of the Federal deficit. I am among those who think this will probably end catastrophically, given the complete lack of effort to correct the situation. (Jaw-jacking and firing civil servants whose salaries make up a pittance in comparison to interest payments — while building yet more debt-inducing budgets — has [unsurprisingly] not proved useful.)

So, this is definitely a trend I wish didn’t exist, but almost certainly the American and world economies would not be as well off to date as they are had this trend been kept in check, and it’s possible something might be figured out that allows a softer landing than I presently expect. The old man lost his horse. Good news? Bad news? Who’s to say?

DAILY PHOTO: Tainan Manhole Cover

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Photograph of a colorful and artistic manhole cover in Tainan, Taiwan.

PROMPT: Outdated Technology

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Daily writing prompt
Which outdated technology do you miss the most, and why?
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We’d be better off if the bleeding edge of weapon technology were the pointy stick — not just because of atrocities averted. Also, we’d all have to be more capable in such a world — there is no imposter syndrome among people who have to kill a deer or fish with a spear they hewed themselves. Also, if you are cheesed off with one or more people (or the world,) it is entirely different (and more calming) decision space if one has to go out spearing them individually than if one can spray them with automatic fire from 50 feet away. You’d still have the option, but you’d have to want it more and to accept the inevitability of consequence more fully. Finally, it is quite hard to run an authoritarian dictatorship if your army has weapons of similar capability to any random person.

I don’t know for sure whether “an armed society is a polite society,” but I suspect it is if the pointy stick is the pinnacle of armaments.

I know this makes it sound like I was around in the pre-Bronze era. I was not.

Night [Free Verse]

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DAILY PHOTO: 85 Sky Tower from Singuang Riverside Park

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Photograph of Kaohsiung, Taiwan's 85 Sky Tower, taken from Singuang Riverside Park.