Today’s links Enshittification isn’t caused by venture capital: Sure, they want “profit at all costs” but ask yourself, ‘why is enshittification profitable?’ Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I’ve been. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. Enshittification isn’t caused by venture capital (permalink) Many of us have left the big social media platforms; far more of us wish we could leave them; and even those of us who’ve escaped from Facebook/Insta and Twitter still spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get the people we care about off of them, too. It’s lazy and easy to think that our friends who are stuck on legacy platforms run by Zuckerberg and Musk lack the self-discipline to wean themselves off of these services, or lack the perspective to understand why it’s so urgent to get away from them, or that their “hacked dopamine loops” have addicted them to the zuckermusk algorithms. But if you actually listen to the people who’ve stayed behind, you’ll learn that the main reason our friends stay on legacy platforms is that they care about the other people there more than they hate Zuck or Musk. They rely on them because they’re in a rare-disease support group with you; or they all coordinate their kids’ little league carpools there; or that’s…Pluralistic: Enshittification isn't caused by venture capital (20 Jan 2025)