Signal looks like a good alternative. I will try and make a bunch of teenagers switch to it and see if I get any results. Maybe we can get a group text going for everyone still interested enough in the subject matter of this class for those who prefer a more synchronous form of communication.

The Number of the Beast reference is really there because of its interpretations among the laity in the 90s Christian eschatology I grew up around. On the one hand, the Mark of the Beast was something most people would take upon themselves, often on the right hand, which harmed them in some spiritual way but which felt important for social acceptedness and being part of a group. And the smartphone does go in the right hand. And maybe this mark would control or inform on you and your friends. So in part it represents the idea that the devil is here. On a more meta-level, though, the repeated Christianity references I keep sneaking into everything are also a sort of complaint about how the pro-privacy side can sound. "No, Jimmy, you can't use that app because it doesn't respect your privacy and right to read its source code" sounds way too much like "No, Jimmy, you can't read Harry Potter because it's demonic." I think trying to convince parents to get their kids off platforms is not a good enough idea by itself because my parents really, really did not want me using MySpace? and Facebook in the early days and it only increased my enthusiasm for them. Parents will never be that good at controlling teenage use of technology. Fortunately parents are doing a good job of making Facebook lame. Facebook saw this and bought Instagram. Facebook and Google are probably both trying to buy Snapchat because that is the next one. The kids like privacy enough to want everything to be self-deleting because by the end of middle school they've had someone screenshot their stuff and use it against them. Kids have to feel like they are being cool, subversive, and independent instead of just being told to D.A.R.E. to resist privacy-compromising technologies.

That sculpture is definitely interesting. I will try and stop by and see it soon.

-- JoeBruner - 17 May 2018