Max Read wrote a delightful piece this week arguing that the internet hasn’t precipitated a gleaming, hyperrational cyberpunk future as expected, but instead is making us act like medieval peasants who are “entranced by an ever-present realm of spirits and captive to distant autocratic landlords.” Social media enables us to to gaze into crystals and observe our enemies’ movements while punishing us for uttering maledictions like “Gamergate," and it’s all organized by an algorithmic logic that might as well be magic, for how inscrutable and fickle it feels to us end users.