As a devoted listener of the Decoder podcast, I’m no stranger to the topics of content moderation and social media algorithms, but ever since that one certain rich guy bought that one certain bird website the internet has been abuzz with hot takes on these subjects.

It seems clear that algorithmic content recommendation is the source of real world harms, but at least some people think it’s actually pretty OK.

It’s a nuanced topic, and in my opinion, the right answer will be equally nuanced. Maybe there is a reasonable middle ground?

Let’s say you want your workers to be more productive. As the leader of a large and complex organization, there are numerous levers that you could pull… But which ones will improve the work output?

As it turns out, the answer is none of them. Or all of them.

I usually post about technology stuff, but since so much technology stuff happens (or, happened) in offices, and because I’m increasingly obsessed with urbanism, let’s talk about the “office apocalypse.”

It’s not really an apocalypse.

Elon taking over Twitter and the rise in subscription everything, paired with a renewed fear of surveillance capitalism has caused a ton of folks, myself included, to think a little harder about what services we use, or, maybe more accurately, depend on.

My buddy Chris and I even talked about subscription art programs on our podcast (with some surprising results).

But there is something else going on here, something beyond just “paid vs. free” or “monolithic vs. distributed.”

Could this be the rise of the indie web?

I’ve been a fairly enthusiastic Google Pixel owner since the beginning, in spite of the Pixel line’s drunkenly stumbling feature roadmap that makes every Pixel release feel like an episode of “Deal or No Deal.” Since the Nexus 5, I haven’t owned a non-Google phone.

I’ve been really lucky not to have broken any of those phones… Until now. If you are a Pixel owner with an intact, unbroken phone, take my advice: try not to break it.