Gene Cowan writes thoughtful commentary [1] that I sporadically follow. (We met a couple of years ago, virtually, because of our common interest in DcBoundaryStones.) Last month Gene was tuned in to a network TV show and observed:

We're now watching commercials WHILE the show is playing — not just promos, logos, and the like, but actual ADS moving around the screen. And yet I wonder, when will I simply turn it off, disconnect the satellite, and stop watching?

It reminds me of a scene in the 1983 movie War Games, when a self-aware AI computer simulates the results of global thermonuclear warfare and concludes:

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

That's how I feel about a lot of advertisement-supported media, including increasingly-large swaths of the Internet. "Support" has grown like a cancer and overwhelms content. Email and wiki spaces are spam pits. In many cases it's no longer worth the time and trouble to scroll past the trash. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

(cf. For Themselves (8 Jun 2003), GamingTheSystem (17 May 2004), ThisSpaceNotForRent (19 Dec 2004), No Ads (17 May 2005), ...)

TopicEntertainment - TopicSociety - 2007-12-21

(correlates: No Ads, TwentyPercentLonger, ReadyWillingAble, ...)