Tech here can refer to many things. Given the context stated in the article (and literally the title) I think it’s clear the author is talking about SV elites which by definition excludes most of the open source community. And no, a tech company releasing open source code doesn’t amount to much in the face of the firehouse of cash they print. But you should just stick your head back in the sand, it’ll feel better.
WTF is with these AI slop header images... does the author actually think an image of a woman crumpling a cup into her face against a backdrop of airplane parts is not going to distract from the post?
> person drinking airline coffee unsure what is in it / Midjourney
I’d rather PJ focus on his podcast rather than making visual art. Akin to using a stock image instead of going out taking a picture instead to save time.
Completely agree. This statement is immediately disproven by the authors following points. Eg pointing out that the supreme court, and other authoritative bodies exclusively use serif fonts...
Of course there is no "a priori", the general public doesn't know what a letter is "a priori" until they are taught. At the same time they are taught which fonts are formal and authoritative and which are not.
Everyone knows Comic Sans is not appropriate for a legal brief. No matter if that is "a priori" or not.
The author states "The formality and authority of serif typefaces are largely socially constructed, and Times New Roman’s origin story and design constraints don’t express these qualities."
Yes, formality and authority are both, quite literally, social constructs. There is NO "natural" or "universal" formality or even authority without human social input.
I would also argue that, though most users cannot distinguish between a serif and sans serif font, they DO understand the serif fonts connote formality. eg in high school they were told to submit their papers in a serif font, or where they read a court opinion they also read serif (even if not the same font).
Sure, the State Department could have selected a different serif font. But a reversion to what was previously used seems completely normal.
Secondarily, I do think Calibri looks far too casual for the State Department. Its what I would use if I were quickly printing out my notes...
I agree with the critique on the "socially constructed" part of this article.
I'd also add that since it was literally The Times newspaper which created the font, and it was considered one of the papers of record for the time (no pun intended), the font was probably designed to have a sense of accuracy, truth and authority. In other words, the institution that created the font is very much part of the socially constructed aspect of this font. In this case giving it that air of authority via it's relationship with a newspaper of record.
Recommend "The Mission" by Tim Weiner for this one. Not as simple as this.
Often the intel community is dead right, but get thrown under the bus by the admin. The intel community can't really come out and say "actually what our pres is saying is false, we told him this would happen".
Doesn't even discuss open-source when a key point its making is "tech is built on the backs of others".
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