2023-06-02 This Friday feels way too much like a Saturday

Fri 02 Jun 2023 10:02:58 AM CDT

> This reminds me of the so-called "dead Internet"
> theory^^. The conspiracy theory has been floating
> around the Web at least since 2019, alleging that
> sometime in the mid- to late-2010s, the majority of
> content and discussion on the Internet switched to
> being generated by bots, AI, auto-generated messages,
> and other non-human sources. This content has so
> overwhelmed human-generated content as to be the only
> thing visible in public spaces such as social media;
> real interaction happens in private, or more often not
> at all. The Internet is therefore "dead": no real people
> are anywhere to be found.

Huh. I've somehow not encountered the "dead Internet" theory 'til reading the above.

Makes me wonder, just what is it that drives people toward the "TeeHeeVille" of deceiving others with respect to individuality, e.g. writing a "bot" to hopefully give some the impression they're interacting with an "actual person"?

Is that just vanilla ego "I pwn you" shit?

Or *possibly* a subconscious desire to rise above ego by illustrating to other egos the tenuous "reality" of individuality to begin with?

I mean, I know I've (holy shit that's a fuckload of 'I'!) been waiting what seems like a little more than half of forever to find others interested in diving more deeply into the underpinnings of individuality - in contrast to assuming it to be a sane given not to be questioned/investigated.

But it's a difficult topic to surface. I had a golden opportunity in a wine bar last night. I was one gummy and two glasses of win in when someone point blank asked me what I considered "enlightenment", and I delivered damned well, if I do pat-myself-on-the-back think so myself: spoke calmly, clearly, perfect economy of words, etc. Might have taken all of 20 seconds.

And he looked at me through a mask blending alarm and exasperation, as though I were a dangerous person to henceforth avoid.

I suppose it makes sense that a person looking to be free of their person might seem dangerous to persons cherishing their person.... ;-)

textmonger

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