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That Feeling When You Realize Your Phone Runs on 2,000-Year-Old Code...

Tags: #the almsbag #peter boge #books that ruin you #philosophy tumblr #tech thoughts #history side eye #algorithms #attention economy #deep cut #book rec #reading list

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Ever get that weird, sinking feeling? You’re scrolling, and you suddenly feel like the feed knows you a little too well. Like you’re not just browsing, but being… gently herded.

I just read something that gave a name and a terrifyingly long history to that feeling.

It’s a book called “The Almsbag: A Journey Through the Power of Algorithms” by Peter Boge. And its core idea is a mind-bomb:

The logic controlling your digital life isn’t new. It’s ancient.

The “Almsbag” is the perfect metaphor. Back in the day, it was the literal bag passed around to collect offerings (alms) for the church—a system for gathering resources and ensuring compliance within a community.

Today? The bag is digital. It’s the unspoken agreement where we hand over our attention, our data, our likes, our time—our new spiritual currency—to the platforms that shape our modern world. The collection method is just sleeker.

The book argues that the systems used by empires like Rome (laws, roads, census) and medieval powers (doctrine, tithes) didn’t die. They were translated. Their DNA was coded into the algorithms that now decide what we see, buy, and believe.

It’s not that Mark Zuckerberg sat down and read Roman administrative law. It’s that the underlying human problems of control, organization, and influence have timeless solutions. We just keep rediscovering them with new tools.

So when you feel that eerie sense of being nudged by an app, you might literally be feeling the ghost of a 2,000-year-old administrative tactic. Cool and horrifying!

The author, Peter Boge, writes from Guatemala, which adds this fascinating layer of someone observing Western tech culture with both an insider’s and an outsider’s eye. It’s less a frantic “get off your phone!” rant and more a deeply-researched, philosophical “let’s understand this cathedral we’re all building inside.”

If you’re into history, tech, philosophy, or just books that make you stare at the wall rethinking everything, this one’s for you. It connects dots you didn’t even know were on the same page.

Have you felt this? Any other books or media that explore this idea of old power in new machines?

Links (for the curious):

Find the book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Almsbag-journey-through-power-algorithms/dp/3819266607

More from the author: www.peter.boge.com.gt

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