Balancing echo chambers
The gap between poison and medicine is narrow in the digital public sphere
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🗣 Balancing echo chambers
At some point in the past year, I joined Bluesky.
I did not know if or how I wanted to use it. What I knew was that X (formerly known as Twitter) was not really working for me like before.
Paying to magnify one’s voice does not bode well with me. It is antithetical to the spirit of how I imagine the digital public sphere to be — a place where you let the best take, the most interesting opinion or most relevant news story organically win.
Yes, there are many instances where nefarious actors can take advantage of the organic funnel — with bots, PR firms, manufactured content traps and other means.
But we see the same — and worse — in the new “pay-for-play” universe of X.
The quality of posts, the veracity of trending news stories and the expertise / knowledge / rigor of those winning in X’s new system is depressingly low.
I am an information geek. I devour data. I am obsessed with knowledge.
Bluesky today reminds me of the early days of Twitter. I liked those days.
So…
I decided to give Bluesky a try. But I am also not leaving X.
And here is why:
Social media are not reality. They are (sometimes) a good proxy for it — at best.
They feed us with content that we love and feed off our dopamine levels.
They train us to keep returning and we train their algorithm to bring us back faster.
Instagram (the perfect life you never lived) and TikTok (the endless consumer maze you can never escape) were never my poison of choice.
And I am delighted to announce that I am not on LinkedIn (yet).
X and Bluesky both seem like a good medicine/poison to my curiosity affliction.
Neither X nor Bluesky are perfect.
X leans heavily towards the Right and exerts too little control. Anything goes, and unless you pay, your voice means nothing.
Bluesky leans heavily towards the Left and exerts too much control. Not everything goes, and unless you play nicely, your voice also means nothing.
I don’t like angry people. But I also do not like pretentiously friendly ones.
I love finding people who share similar interests with me but I also enjoy getting challenged by alternative viewpoints.
I firmly believe in rules-based systems and the principle of civility, but too much control and I immediately feel asphyxiated.
Both X and Bluesky are echo chambers.
To me, X and Bluesky seem like two sides of the same coin.
Each has some benefits that the other lacks.
Both have deficiencies that complement each other well.
Neither represents reality, but both together might bring you closer to it.
If you are not off the social grid, I firmly believe that tiptoeing between them can help check one’s biases and bring a more holistic understanding of the people around us.
And if someone tells you off (like the kind gentleman below), remind them what Aristotle thought about the Golden Mean.
Every ethical virtue is a condition intermediate.
To be virtuous is to possess character traits, attitudes and behaviors that fall in the middle of two extremes.
The middle might be salty, but it’s also sweet. Sometimes bland, but also spicy.
See you all at both X and Bluesky.
🏭 Economy & Business
UBS sees Greek GDP growth increasing to 2.8% in 2025
Greek govt projects 2.3% growth in 2025 up from 2.2% in 2024
Greek govt to raise €11 bn euros from bond markets in 2025
Tax breaks and subsidies introduced in the 2025 budget
Handelsblatt on why Greece has more money available than planned
Amazon invests $1bn in three utility-scale wind farms in Greece
Pfizer regional unit contributes 0.6% of Thessaloniki’s GDP
Pizza Hut is returning to Greece (after its pandemic exit in 2020)
Coffee Island increases prices in Greece, expands to India (!)
🤖 Tech & Startups
New legislation for startups and investors submitted to parliament
Technology Transfer Offices across Greece mapped out
Greece’s tech ecosystem evolution according to Orfium’s CTO
Greek AI founders are building some cool global companies
An AI factory in Greece? The proposal is already out to the EU
Promise (Gen AI studio) raised an undisclosed round from A16Z
EMBIO Diagnostics (biotech) raised €2.5M in fresh funding
🙌 Celebrating Greek wins
Parthenon Marbles could be closer to coming home than ever
Pavlos Vlachos elected a 2024 American Physical Society Fellow
Elisa Konofagou recognized for her pioneering work in ultrasound tech
📌 Spotlight: Business investment in Greece
Are you ready for one of the most surprising charts of the year?
Real business investment change in Greece (as % of GDP) for 2023 was one of the 5 highest in the world — even above the US — compared to the 2009-2019 average.
Even though Greece’s baseline is incredibly low, that’s still pretty remarkable.
Will this trend continue in 2024 and beyond? Let’s see…
That’s it for this week. I always love hearing from you. Make sure to hit that reply button.
Find me on X or Bluesky for bite-sized opinions.
Until next time!
Good morning! There is a small but important typo: I think you mean "Pavlos Vlachos" instead of "Panos Vlachos" (the academic as opposed to the actor). Cheers!