Welcome to the personal website of Emerson T. Brooking, home of Interesting Times, a blog about policy, technology, and life in the 21st century.
Buy my book, LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media, out now.
Email me, emerson at etbrooking.com.
Recent Posts:
A Dispatch from the Trail
It was black women who lifted Doug Jones to victory in the Alabama Special, but that election is nothing compared to the effort now unfolding across Georgia for Stacey Abrams, daughter of two ministers and proud Spelman graduate.
5,676 Good Words on John S. McCain
This is McCain’s closer, his last big reverb on the six-string as it were. And the frenzied standing-O it always gets from his audience is something to see. […] Who wouldn’t cheer, hearing stuff like this, especially from a guy we know chose to sit in a dark box for four years instead of violate a Code?
The George Wallace Show, Circa ’72
“We might get our country back,” said the construction man, stirred. “I feel like I lost it. I feel like I been lost in it all this time.”
Always Politicize Tragedy
A "thought and prayer" is nothing. It is something you can do, quite literally, in your sleep.
Two Predictions
Either of these events would precipitate a political crisis of a scale not seen since 1974. If occurring close together, they might precipitate a social and constitutional crisis of a scale not seen in this or the last century.
Ur-Fascism
We are here to remember what happened and solemnly say that “They” must not do it again. But who are They?
You can also find a collection of my published works. My writing has been featured in the Atlantic, Foreign Policy, and Popular Science.
Recent Publications:
The Election Hackers Are Back – and They’re Starting with the US Midterms
In the final days before the 2018 U.S. Midterm Elections, social media platforms remain at serious risk of targeted viral misinformation. While Silicon Valley had taken some preparatory actions, the U.S. government has done essentially nothing. With P.W. Singer. (The Guardian)
The World Has Entered an Age of Conflict with Real World Results
The spread of viral misinformation has become a dangerous public health crisis, akin to the spread of contagions past. This crisis must be answered with a strong emphasis on information literacy. With P.W. Singer. (The Globe and Mail)
How October 7th, 2016 Shaped the Course of American History
Reflection of the two-year anniversary of the Access Hollywood scandal. Far from sinking the Trump political campaign, it showed how social media had thrown all the old rules of American politics out of the window. With P.W. Singer. (Rolling Stone)
The Machines That Will Fight the Social Media Wars of Tomorrow
Thanks to artificial intelligence, discerning "fact" and "fiction" on the internet is about to get a whole lot murkier. Which side will prevail? Excerpted from LikeWar. With P.W. Singer. (Gizmodo)
What Clausewitz Can Teach Us About War on Social Media
As the internet has transformed so much of human society, so it has transformed the ways and means of conflict. Perception matters as much as reality. Sufficient manipulation of that perception can achieve a war-like objective without firing a shot. With P.W. Singer. (Foreign Affairs)
Here’s China’s Massive Plan to Retool the Web
How China embraced the internet on its own terms, giving rise to a dangerous new form of cyber-authoritarianism in the process. Worse is yet to come. Excerpted from LikeWar. With P.W. Singer. (Popular Science)