Future Tense A Future Tense retrospective
Dec 11, 2025
Neema Singh Guliani, a civil liberties lawyer, highlights the surveillance impacts of data harvesting. Cory Doctorow critiques platform monopolies and the concept of 'in-shitification' that limits user control. Professor Michael Mann sheds light on fossil fuel disinformation tactics that stall climate action, while Associate Professor James Dyke warns that 'net zero' could be a delaying tactic in true decarbonization efforts. Together, they reflect on the past and caution against complacency as we look to the future.
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The Web 2.0 Promise And Its Unraveling
- Early Web 2.0 hopefuls believed connecting people would make government and society more open and effective.
- That promise later clashed with commercialisation and surveillance as platforms prioritised profit over civic value.
Surveillance Changed How People Use The Internet
- The Cambridge Analytica revelations pivoted public awareness toward mass surveillance and data misuse.
- Neema Singh Guliani warns surveillance already changes how people behave online and harms civic values.
Three Steps To Rebalance Platform Power
- Cory Doctorow urges breaking monopolies, stopping merger mania, and restoring users' ability to alter their tools.
- He says these steps will let people leave platforms and curb platform excesses.