Cade Diehm via nettime-l on Wed, 1 Apr 2026 17:07:58 +0200 (CEST)


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<nettime> The Great Convergence and Its Discontents


Nettime,

One day you wake up and missiles are falling on Tehran. A girl's school is obliterated and explained away as an 'AI hallucination'. The men who ordered it read GPT-tinged speeches, and none of it feels real because the last time you saw these people, they were podcasters and cable news hosts. Another strongman wins an election – the headlines call it a shock win. All you feel is deja vu. Your body knows better.

You reach for your allies and find dust. You were so sure we were stronger, together. But the organisations that promised they would prevent this either no longer exist, or are unrecognisable. And you may ask yourself, "how did I get here?"

You are not alone. It's tempting to look for answers that neatly explain everything. There are many reasons why, but here are two that together will help make sense of why this happened, why the people who seized power are who they are, and why their grip on power is far more brittle than it looks. Moments like these come once in a lifetime.

https://newdesigncongress.org/en/pub/the-great-convergence-and-its-discontents/

- Cade

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