This might be called: The Little Elegy-Manifesto for the Last Friday of Everything (which we thought was only one more calendar Friday but turned out to be the last of something)

Had we known what was coming, on that last crowded subway ride on a certain Friday, we’d have saluted every passenger with an anthem or signal, right as they stepped off the train car at their final stop.
We’d have devoted a slightly longer gaze to the stranger sitting across from us during that last, boisterous dinner table we were not even sure we wanted to attend, but did.
We’d have read a poem by Góngora, HD or Dickinson, out loud, in that real classroom full of present students. (And the room would have smelled of pencil, sweat, mochila, and weak coffee.)
We'd have clapped our hearts out and our palms got all red when that airplane we flew on finally fucking landed, not quite on time but smoothly-enough.
(Perhaps, if we had gauged these new times a little better, had had some hindsight & foresight we would have organized better parting rituals.)
We'd have made a damn good playlist.
We'd have kissed that avocado in the supermarket.
We'd have cancelled most subscriptions.
We'd have vowed to visit a glacier as soon as we could travel again.
We'd have written a letter to our parents, sorting things out.
And so on and so forth. (All missed opportunities welcome below):

More from For later read

This response to my tweet is a common objection to targeted advertising.

@KevinCoates correct me if I'm wrong, but basic point seems to be that banning targeted ads will lower platform profits, but will mostly be beneficial for consumers.

Some counterpoints 👇


1) This assumes that consumers prefer contextual ads to targeted ones.

This does not seem self-evident to me


Research also finds that firms choose between ad. targeting vs. obtrusiveness 👇

If true, the right question is not whether consumers prefer contextual ads to targeted ones. But whether they prefer *more* contextual ads vs *fewer* targeted

2) True, many inframarginal platforms might simply shift to contextual ads.

But some might already be almost indifferent between direct & indirect monetization.

Hard to imagine that *none* of them will respond to reduced ad revenue with actual fees.

3) Policy debate seems to be moving from:

"Consumers are insufficiently informed to decide how they share their data."

To

"No one in their right mind would agree to highly targeted ads (e.g., those that mix data from multiple sources)."

IMO the latter statement is incorrect.

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