Free advertising

Someone thought it worth their while to send me this advertisement this morning. Perhaps Google sells lists of gmail users who make promising searches or who have promising email to the people charged with promoting this conference.

So the summit gets a few more punters and Google gets a few more dollars.

But there is also all the freeloading on the Internet. Are what must be the considerable costs of providing the Internet, some proportion of which is being burned up by all the emails of this sort, being shared in a fair way?

And what about all the time spent by people like me on clutter in their mail boxes?

And what about all the money being sucked out of the media system which provides us with expensive information and entertainment, most of which is presently free at the point of delivery.

On the other hand, speaking for myself, I would rather have clutter in my inbox than unsightly advertising hoardings in the streets of Epsom. And some of the advertising emails are interesting, not to say useful.

As I have observed before, the world is a complicated place. And its problems are unlikely to be solved by populist politicians who despise the technicians who make it work. Or, at least, who affect to despise them. Chopping up the Gordian Knot which is the modern world with a machete is not the best way forward.