The Enshittification of Interesting Places
I’m not going to ask if you’ve noticed it. I know you have. Some things aren’t as fun as they used to be. The internet was once a strange playground of niche communities populated with GeoCities sites and chatrooms. There’s still a bit of that if you take the time to look, but it’s mostly a hellscape of late-stage capitalism and greedy tech bros working to harness our attention and information. An infinite realm of frenetic outrage and advertising constantly shitting in our heads.At least we can still step out to the offline world where things are still fun, right? No enshittified nonsense out there, amirite?Just kidding! It’s a shitshow out there, too. The hellscape did what hellscapes tend to do. It expanded until it broke free of its confines.I visited Yellowstone Park a couple of times in the mid-90s and early noughties. After a day spent driving from northern Colorado, I was rewarded with a quiet place to pitch...
