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This is missive number 3 of Dealgorithmed, the newsletter for the people who still love and care about the web. Created by Manu, and dispatched from somewhere in Italy on Feb. 1, 2026, 2:18 p.m.
I’ve been thinking a lot about an old Vsauce episode lately, the one about human extinction. It’s an old video, now more than 10 years old, which in internet time is ancient history. One of the things Michael referenced in that episode is this other video where a computer learned how to play classic NES games.
The whole video is worth watching, and it’s especially fun to watch in the context of today’s AI landscape, where every day, something new is coming out. But the thing I kept thinking about is the part Michael touched upon in his video: the fact that a computer, in order not to lose, found no better strategy than pausing the game. Forever.
I am wondering if that’s the perfect metaphor for today’s commercial tech landscape, where everything seems to be designed to exploit and take advantage of us. What if the answer is not to try come up with a better way to do the same things we’re already doing, but rather not to play. What if the answer is to simply reject the whole thing altogether?
I’m not arguing against technology per se; there’s a lot of good to be found in technology. But maybe there’s no good way to design all these systems—from social media, to streaming platforms, to all the various SAAS—that over time become unrecognisable parodies of themselves.
Maybe the answer is to pause the game, never to resume it again.
— M.
Zachary Kai is hosting February’s IndieWeb Carnival, the topic is “Intersecting Interests”. If you have a blog, consider writing something. Carnivals are fun and are a great way to discover new blogs and make new connections.
James is instead hosting this month’s IndieWeb Book Club and the chosen book is The Art of Explanation by Ros Atkins.
I'm Rhys, I'm just a smidge over 40 years old, and a Welsh web enthusiast currently living in a small town in North West England. I'm a keen cricketer, and enjoy travelling, video games, and tinkering with technology.
Right now? Cloudhiker is a website I am learning to grab for when I'm bored instead of doomscrolling. Clicking through a couple of websites I eventually find something that's shareable. Hopefully it becomes a more healthy distracting influence on my life.
It is extremely unlikely (bordering on the impossible) there has been two identical, properly shuffled, decks of cards. It's an astronomically small chance (8x10 to the power of 67). But it feels so likely, doesn't it?
I'm going to share my latest obsession - Evercade - it's a cartridge based system of classic video games, with no DLC, no microtransactions, and boxes with manuals and clasp shells. They're affordable (consoles start at about $50, with games starting at $20), and are curated collections of classic and modern video games. Sure you can get some dud games, and you can get most games off the internet from certain sites, but the fact it's curated means there's no paralysis by choice.
Some of the early MMO games produced by the company that produces the Jackbox Party Pack. They experimented with two games - Acrophobia (a game where you played online to come up with a bunch of backronyms to random letters) and Cosmic Concensous (a kind of Family Fortunes/Feud board games) that was around the time of the early 00's internet. I spent so many hours on both of them!
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Fixed-format interviews are awesome, and we should leverage the web more as a way to connect with each other in more interesting ways. If you want to participate, grab the 5 questions down below and email me your answers at hello@manuelmoreale.com.
1. Your bio, but don’t mention your job
2. A website we should visit at least once
3. A random fact you find intriguing
4. A piece of media worth consuming
5. Something that no longer exists and you want back
Looks like people enjoy clicking on random links. We take clicking links and getting to random places online for granted. We should all take some time to appreciate how damn cool links are.
Thank you for reading Dealgorithmed. The web is better place when we do things together and you being here means a lot to me.
I want this newsletter to be a collaborative project so if you have anything you want to share with me so that I can relay it to the rest of the people, email me at hello@manuelmoreale.com.
This was issue #3 of Dealgorithmed. You can subscribe or unsubscribe.
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