Interesting post. My rule of thumb is that once a technology exists, humanity will use it to the hilt.... consequences come what may. The obvious exception is the atom bomb but I do think that really is 'the exception that proves the rule' (whatever the hell that means). The consequences of atom bomb overuse are just so immediately obvious whereas, with all other technologies, the downsides take a good while to become apparent.
“Because perfect people and perfect interactions are boring.”
No, they’re irritating, just as narcissists - the original perfect people - are in real life.
“When a man — or a woman — watches porn, he — or she — has a sense that it could be real.”
None that I’ve seen - maybe The Story Of O or Fellini’s Satyricon - looks real. Most of it is ridiculous, it’s obvious that no one does this in real life. I’ve seen one gay porn film and it reminded me of a sheet metal stamping press in operation, people reduced to fucking machines.
“It is easy to imagine a time — and a time not far into the future — where fake images and audio are indistinguishable from the real thing.”
And the real would be indistinguishable from the fake - that’s the real Hellscape - have your real life friends been replaced by AudioAnimatronic AI bots? The phone conversations you have, the emails you write, replaced by interactions with programmed AI bots?
“How much more valuable in-person interaction might be.”
Yep, how many of your “facebook friends” or “instagram connections” are real people? How can you tell - now?
“That doesn’t mean people are going to stop using the tech.”
It’s engineered to be addictive, your attention is the product being sold, social media is not free, it’s digital enslavement:
“THE BUMMER MACHINE: “Behaviors of Users Modified, and Made into an Empire for Rent”
• BUMMER is a machine, a statistical machine that lives in the computing clouds. BUMMER is a machine with six moving parts:
• A is for Attention Acquisition leading to Asshole supremacy
• B is for Butting into everyone’s lives
• C is for Cramming content down people’s throats
• D is for Directing people’s behaviors in the sneakiest way possible
• E is for Earning money from letting the worst assholes secretly screw with everyone else
• F is for Fake mobs and Faker society
Customized feeds become optimized to “engage” each user, often with emotionally potent cues, leading to addiction. People don’t realize how they are being manipulated. The default purpose of manipulation is to get people more and more glued in, and to get them to spend more and more time in the system.” https://streamfortyseven.substack.com/p/social-media-as-negativity-machine
Interesting post. My rule of thumb is that once a technology exists, humanity will use it to the hilt.... consequences come what may. The obvious exception is the atom bomb but I do think that really is 'the exception that proves the rule' (whatever the hell that means). The consequences of atom bomb overuse are just so immediately obvious whereas, with all other technologies, the downsides take a good while to become apparent.
Why is the moon always bigger in the future?
Good question. Perhaps we just inflated it for the sake of coolness.
“Because perfect people and perfect interactions are boring.”
No, they’re irritating, just as narcissists - the original perfect people - are in real life.
“When a man — or a woman — watches porn, he — or she — has a sense that it could be real.”
None that I’ve seen - maybe The Story Of O or Fellini’s Satyricon - looks real. Most of it is ridiculous, it’s obvious that no one does this in real life. I’ve seen one gay porn film and it reminded me of a sheet metal stamping press in operation, people reduced to fucking machines.
“It is easy to imagine a time — and a time not far into the future — where fake images and audio are indistinguishable from the real thing.”
And the real would be indistinguishable from the fake - that’s the real Hellscape - have your real life friends been replaced by AudioAnimatronic AI bots? The phone conversations you have, the emails you write, replaced by interactions with programmed AI bots?
“How much more valuable in-person interaction might be.”
Yep, how many of your “facebook friends” or “instagram connections” are real people? How can you tell - now?
“That doesn’t mean people are going to stop using the tech.”
It’s engineered to be addictive, your attention is the product being sold, social media is not free, it’s digital enslavement:
“THE BUMMER MACHINE: “Behaviors of Users Modified, and Made into an Empire for Rent”
• BUMMER is a machine, a statistical machine that lives in the computing clouds. BUMMER is a machine with six moving parts:
• A is for Attention Acquisition leading to Asshole supremacy
• B is for Butting into everyone’s lives
• C is for Cramming content down people’s throats
• D is for Directing people’s behaviors in the sneakiest way possible
• E is for Earning money from letting the worst assholes secretly screw with everyone else
• F is for Fake mobs and Faker society
Customized feeds become optimized to “engage” each user, often with emotionally potent cues, leading to addiction. People don’t realize how they are being manipulated. The default purpose of manipulation is to get people more and more glued in, and to get them to spend more and more time in the system.” https://streamfortyseven.substack.com/p/social-media-as-negativity-machine
The best critique of AI I’ve seen so far is this - One Half of a Manifesto: The Rise of Artificial Stupidity? - at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzddaaxM9lg
"None that I’ve seen - maybe The Story Of O or Fellini’s Satyricon - looks real."
Sure, but it's like pro wrestling - one can suspend one's disbelief. (Not that one should. I only mean can in the sense of ability."
"It’s engineered to be addictive, your attention is the product being sold, social media is not free, it’s digital enslavement"
Sad but true! And I say that as someone who's obviously addicted to Twitter.