When i was a kid (90s)I honestly thought that’s where we were headed instead it ushered in the apocalypse. Lol boy,do i have egg on my face ahh fuk me.
Have you been on REDnote? It's freaking lit. It's a global village, people from ALL OVER the world are communicating truly and sharing their stories and interests and culture. I saw Algeria, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, RUSSIA, Spain, Phillipines, UK. All chatting together even if it requires translation
Any time you don't blame oligarchs and Tech Bros for the problems you attribute to "the internet", you're helping them avoid accountability. "The internet" didn't DO anything.
remember how companies struggled to figure out how to monetize the internet for awhile...seems to me that this divisiveness is what they figured out works for them!
But remember, it's not the internet that is doing this--it's the manipulation from enemies--both domestic & foreign--the oligarchs who are using the latest tool to manipulate & control the population. Between our foreign enemies and corporate/billionaire oligarchs, most people have taken the bait.
The problem is there used to only be a handful of morons in a town and you just knew to avoid them. Now the internet allows all of these stains to congregate and it's impossible to avoid them
And if the algorithm supported our interests, and not just popping ads for sweet-tooth consumerism, we would congregate more. But corporate and congress are happy to promote unhealthy things for money, rather than regulating for better good.
I'm old enough to remember imagining the Internet would be some kind of Oracle of knowledge… Instead it has connected the previously-isolated dumbest loudest voices among us into a massive hive-mind of thundering stupidity.
...And now look what happens tomorrow…
As someone who grew up in this internet era, I do believe it is some sort of an Oracle of knowledge. Learning english, being so informed about many political and cultural events around the world, having met tons of people…. There are issues, but do not despair :), Internet is a great leap forward
They always say it’s the ‘market square’, it’s not. In market squares if you spoke crap you became the village idiot and were disregarded. Now you become the president of the USA
Disagree. The internet is neither cleaner nor dirtier than our lives, it neither spoils nor elevates people. It is simply a mirror reflecting our reality and our level of mental development, for what purposes to use it.
I saw Sir Tim Berners Lee speak years ago and he said humans invented the internet and humans can change it. He meant this optimistically but the problem is we aren’t changing it for the good
Because that’s how we roll. It’s not the internets fault, let’s be clear here. We. Chose. This. We built this. We support this. This is what we’re showing our children and the world that we are. We had a choice. We collectively choose greed instead of society. Every time.
With that said, all is rarely as it seems and many people are not as internet-brained as the rest of us so many normal people are just, normal people with no prejudices and 0 awareness of Politics.
I agree, wholeheartedly, but then there's this too. In some ways, the dumbing down and siloing us off is symptomatic of the quiet and subtle economic marginalization of the middle and working class that has been going on since the "Reagan Revolution".
I see the democratization of thought that the internet has unleashed as a parallel to the Gutenberg Bible. People are running wild trying to figure out: a) what are the roots of their oppression and b) what is the best way to push back. The Gutenberg Bible led to new interpretations, some BAD!!
The same thing is going on with the internet. There are really STUPID "causes" being shopped around: "immigrants are the cause of your economic insecurity", "minorities are the cause", "Liberal excess is the cause", and the solutions are even worse: "Trump is your savior" being the top of it all.
Tragic, inevitable. Aaron, you have an optimistic heart 💙, you are 💯 completely accurate, but you know humans…
Every new thing, ever, resulted immediately in some humans either (1) trying to control/kill people with it, (2) trying to make money off of it or (3) trying to gain power with it. 💣💥
100 we are so far from humanity, compassion, tolerance & understanding...we are to the point where we are being told to not believe what we hear with our own ears or see what we see with our own eyes...so much hate
970 mental health-related videos on tik tok were analysed. Advice and information were considered misleading in 33.0% of videos (n=106), with misleading content performing better.
It is because misinformation is the byproduct of the commodification of human attention.
This commodification incentivizes bad actors to produce a surplus of whatever they can to get it, and bullshit and misinformation is cheaper and easier to create than useful information.
My guy misinformation only accounts for so much. That's an excuse used by stupid people who are willingly fucking putting themselves into positions of ignorance to shift blame on someone else when they find out they're "misinformed".
Doesn't take a rocket scientist to research something..
Oh no I understand people are stupid, but now they need to wise the fuck up. Our future generations can't even read and they're in their teens. It's sad, but they needed a reality check and it's happening.
All we can do is try to fix shit and hold on tight, hoping people grow up.
I disagree. I think it’s making us all more free and elevating our awareness than in a truly free society despicable and gross elements like bigots have a place. It’s also making us aware that our own activism and political participation is not optional against those elements.
I think it still has potential. The internet is a tool. Some people know how to use the tool to make a positive impact and others don’t even know it’s a tool.
The internet can connect and educate, but it also leads to misinformation and isolation. We must teach digital literacy in schools, focusing on critical thinking and online safety. Additionally, we need regulations to combat misinformation and ensure platform accountability. 👍💯
If we don't get better at teaching and reinforcement of information literacy - it'll only get worse. Fox is not news. Reality television is contrived. I read it on Facebook doesn't make it a fact.
It also incites hate and isolation from the real world. Platforms have designed their algos to be addictive and to prioritize rancor in pursuit of profits instead of improving the human condition. Hopeful BlueSky is a paradigm shift that improves interactions and brings about a renaissance.
It's still has the ability to make us smarter and bring us together. It's a tool that can and still does a lot of good. Unfortunately, too many humans are defaulting to using it as a replacement for actual and original thought. That's not the Internet's fault.
People whose lives were saved by posting their locations on social media so that they could be rescued by the Cajun Navy probably don't agree with you.
The only reality tv I’ve seen is like some game shows that somehow fall under that genre as well as diners drive-ins and dives. Y’know stuff that doesn’t make me wanna cringe at the "reality" genre as a whole.
I really enjoyed watching that. It gave some good perspective on Springer himself as well as the production team. I think it was a little like discovering arsenic for them. They really didn’t know how much of an effect this would have. Springer did just before he died though-and clearly said so.
I don't disagree with this sentiment, but the sad truth is that the internet IS people. We naturally silo ourselves off and seek echo chambers. We're deeply flawed as a species but that's not a very pleasant thought so we mostly just ignore it.
They don't want to be smart or connected. They want to be lied to, manipulated & scared.
They want to blame someone else for their failures instead of taking responsibility, face the truth, get stronger after losing & work harder for the next goal!
When wasn’t this the case in the US? Only time I can think of is when we had a common external enemy (which we then applied to Americans who were “different”). The Who wrote “Won’t Get Fooled Again” in 1971!
In the 1990’s when in high school I remember my economics teacher telling us the internet would destroy our country if we weren’t careful that it has the potential to spread deceit and propaganda and I remember rolling my eyes and I think about that now and I have been thinking about it for years.
Just like radio, then tv, then cable, then news, then Twitter, and soon to be TikTok - the people who want power know how to get it and a smart audience isn't it
And then Bluesky. The pattern will be never ending. Individually published books and a public education system were more important bulwarks than was generally understood
I'm not saying you HAVE to fight on the front lines of our schools, our malls, our broken cities, but you can at least act like what we have, our lives, liberty, and Freedom are worth fighting til the last man over.
Don't be a bitch like SnoopLiar. Grab a gun. Grab a knife. Grab a fucking pencil.
WHEN the literal Nazis show up, the cops, the agents, the SS, and they try to take immigrants from their homes, the non-whites, the women, the children, you fucking stop them. I don't care how, I just want you to use everything you've got.
That's what's coming. Don't be afraid. Make THEM afraid.
The printing press led to the Spanish Inquisition, then the enlightenment. Unfortunately we get to spend the rest of our lives in the Spanish Inquisition part.
And there's a weird thing in culture, especially for people of my demographic, that disagreeing with common knowledge makes you somehow smart. Doctors don't want a cure for cancer, liberal politicians just want to lock you in a camp... Shit like that
Being constantly fed conspiracy theories seems to be doing a huge amount of damage, people just don't know what to believe and they end up believing idiots because they have a lot of followers
Yeah, I've always been casually interested in conspiracy theories, fun stuff like the hollow earth or giants having existed... It's really easy to go slightly off topic there and end up in some really bad places online.
After my first trip to Detroit, I came home and wanted to look more into the abandoned homes that I saw. No more than four websites later I was in a whole other world. It went from explanations to blame on a very specific group very quickly.
The only person I know who voted for Trump embraces his biases and rejects critical thinking because it makes him feel better and takes less of his time.
True story, he actually said this.
It's not just in the US. Selfishness will be the downfall of democracy everywhere. As long as people say" fuck you, I'm alright " than we're on a downhill slope to fascism
People don’t have worse critical thinking skills than in the past, the current state requires a great deal more of consumers of info. Given how awful our civil rights history is, when was this magic time when critical thinking was so strong?
I used to be able to have full blown discussions about different opinions and ideologies. Now it devolves into “but so and so said…” or links to YouTube etc Sadly when it’s pointed out that the source is questionable, it just becomes victim hood “cancel culture” dogma. It’s utterly exhausting.
There is a great deal of data but most are too lazy to seek it out. I have friends that regurgitate whatever they hear on the Youtube, TT etc without fact checking or considering the source. It’s maddening!
I'd say that the Internet worked pretty well until the iPhone came along. That, in 2007, was the beginning of the end. I say that Steve Jobs inadvertently became the creator of what might be the worst byproduct of the Internet. Social Isolationism.
The internet is a tool used by humans. The internet has no consciousness capacity to act in any way (good or bad). It's impact on humanity is solely determined by the way humanity chooses to use the tool.
Consider this when opining upon the potential of AI.🤷♀️
It’s impact on humanity depends solely on who controls the information. For example Zuckerberg deciding to no longer fact check anything or provide the truth, or even differing opinions of the truth is a form of control. In fact it’s the exact kind of control written about in the book 1984.
It's impact on humanity is solely determined by the way humanity chooses to use the tool.
#####
Last I checked Zuckerberg is part of "humanity". So are all the MAGA idiots who elected tRump even though the man is turning the WH over to oligarchs. 🤷♀️
Your point is accurate. It is also accurate to say that as a collective, the majority of human voters in this country have given oligarchs (including Zuckerberg) their power.
Not just in this election, but for years... the ignorance of voters bows to the rich and powerful. 🤷♀️
This is essentially a nonsense statement because it holds true for any tool, without regard for who controls the tool in question or how the tool is primarily used.
True. And who holds the tools is an issue of power. In which ways does society give certain people greater access/control over these tools is important to understand.
Class is a real structural issue in regard to who has power over these tools.
It had the potential, but …capitalism, politics, misogyny, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, partisanship, billionaires, and the thirst for power… but smarter and interconnected might have been cool.
Truth. And the dumbing down is not just from the internet. Throw in MSM too for normalizing this crap for 8 years. And just a long shot here... our education system not teaching critical thinking skills. Why are we surprised at this?
The amount of knowledge lost on geocities pages maintained by eccentrics, it pains me to see it go. I keep a backed-up copy of an anti-cult site where a man spent literal years responding to cult members and deconstructing the lies in the founding text. If the current mirror goes down, I'll host.
PornX generated smut bots are now so prolific in X juicing up interaction metrics that it's questionable what % of followers & likes ppl boast about are real & how many are fake.
Even worse the algorithm leaves us fighting each other's prejudices, fears and fantasies slowly turning us into terminators as we get siloed by algorithm "news" to end up "othering"/isolating everyone else & then ourselves!
USENET then had both excellent and abhorrent content. Poe’s Law was coined at the time. The relevant common factor is not the communications technology but the humans employing it.
Absolutely! I was on USENET for years. That moment in time when EVERYONE was able to have a computer at their disposal it all began to crumble. Eternal September. It's always been humans that fucked it up.
LOL. ask a 20 something if they can drive to California without their phone. They're 100% helpless. Same goes for hotshots going to the mountains or wilderness areas. They don't know how to read a map. We are getting stupider by the second. LOL in 100 years we won't be able to build a stone wall.
When I first saw 'Idiocracy' (The movie) I thought it was funny. I rewatched it the other day, as a horror film, by it's dead-on depictions of what is occurring right now.
A sad position given its early promise of AOL chat rooms, friend based message systems and even MySpace where I met & connected to some of the most interesting folks, a few I met with frequently in real life too.
Well to be real, the internet was always the haven of conspiracy theorists and other assorted dark basement wackos. Started on the Usenets text based news feeds
I don't think it's a matter of stupidity. It's a matter of uneducated, and I don't mean an uneducated person as dumb. It's just not more rounded. You see a lot of this in rural America. Now throw in the internet, which is feeding these people disinformation. I have family members. That I just. Smh.
Hmm maybe we need to become maga in name only. Talk to these people. See if we can get them to tell us the real reasons they voted for him. Cause I'm so confused as to why a lot of them did.
Not exactly. The main problem we had is how naive we were to it's power. I had an aunt 12 years ago saying how books would eventually become useless as all would be on the internet. We trusted it too much as if this was the library of Alexandria and now we face the consequences.
For example, you clearly have psychology similar to the alt-right. We are just beginning to use technology to encourage everyone to treat you like the alt-right.
Thanks for the anti-oppressive propaganda tactics! They work great.
This is not a helpful response tbh. That’s like saying “it’s your responsibility to not drive recklessly” … but we still legislate and enforce that activity under penalty of law
It's not the internet that's dumbing us down! It's all the ignorant people that are in the USA! They breed here. They flock here! USA is the Nirvana of ignorance!
AI has the same potential. Neural networks are not only creating engineering solutions that humans can't understand, they are finding solutions that defy what we believed were fundamental limits in Physics. Neural nets are even designing new neural nets to be smarter.
Sadly this tool, which once felt like it was for the people, is being wielded by corporations for power fueled by greed. We just weren't ready to have nice things I guess.
Unfortunately, it’s a place to express your dissent at government officials, who never read the posts.
20 years ago we would’ve marched at the steps of SCOTUS and DOJ until Trump was held accountable for his crimes.
Today as we rage on social media, as the Convicted Felon takes the oath of office!
I see you only have a few followers @oldbluedog96.bsky.social, and have a lot of extra time on your hands. Also noticed your posts don’t resonate well so I Liked them for you.
We should all be here to stop racism and tyranny and hatred. Glad to have you on board the team. Love will take over, so just open your heart and let it on
The internet didn't do this. It's the same folks that would pay 2 homeless men $50 each to fight each other for the entertainment value when they have billions and $100 bucks doesn't mean anything to them.
It’s going to take consciousness to de-program ourselves from the negative effects of the internet and social media. Especially social media. It’s de-socialized us and it has to have some kind of negative effect on the development of the brain. Especially our young people.
Maybe if we didn’t access the internet on our alluring, addictive smartphones, brains melting into mindless zombies, we might just be a bit more discerning.
It’s a reflection of the people who use it. The tragedy is realizing how many morons there are or how easy it is for everyone to sink to a lowest common denominator.
In Jan of 2020, a lot of the people behind the W.E.L.L. used their state of the web report to acknowledge how wrong they’d been regarding online tools and how, in the end, they allowed oligarchy to overtake all their cyber utopian dreams. Knowledge always has a price.
You are probably too young to remember but even as recently as 1990 & since the beginning of time before that people always thought MORE information was ALWAYS better- hence the 1st Amendment.
Now everyone with a social media account is a "journalist." It's a quality over quantity issue.
That’s a bit rose colored. Info has always been in the hands of a select few. News was curated, and until Watergate essentially propaganda. Made it a lot easier to “think critically”. Look at the landslide wins for Reagan, with objectively bad policies.
Yes- people have always used propaganda. The Warren Report was a whitewash. But we were not BOMBARDED with misinformation. As you say- it was easier to think critically before social media basically made everyone a journalist, health expert, financial expert, etc- all you need is an account today.🙄
Yup. Social media has made it infinitely worse. We were not bombarded with info, but truthfully there was also the assumption that the info was generally correct (whether it was or not). So it was also easier to manufacture consensus which allow racism, misogyny, etc… to stay strong.
Yeah I think we crossed another threshold when a person can actually commit crimes, get arrested because of actual evidence, then have the culprit cry "WEAPONIZATION!" & actually have real people join in. "The election was stolen- because I said so!" - shit like that.
In this day & age if a MAGA politician said "The Baltimore Key Bridge collapse was fake!" people would join in on the accusation- even though we all saw footage of it happening.
It's that bad & why we are at this place now.
For instance- even as late as the 1990s- remember Jim Traficant? He was not able to simply cry "FAKE NEWS!" & then have 1000s of people join him in his ridiculous explanation.
Still- back then digging deeper into any issue & getting more information was considered a good thing. There were journalistic standards. Yes- some abused their status but nothing like today. There weren't entire TV networks dedicated to spreading misinformation.
The internet in good hands, is exciting. Lots of knowledgeable people on here. Personally I used tik tok to discover books, and help me learn foreign languages. It opens your eyes to different perspectives. You realize we’re not all that different, no matter what part of the world were from.
We tried to warn you when the advertising started, and https://doritos.com became a thing. And warned about the 1996 Telecom Bill, and the inability to put net neutrality into law.
But, like hams, the infrastructure exists. It could be down to ip over carrier pigeon, but the knowledge is safe. Ish.
The greatest tool ever created for research & disseminating information, & it gets used for spreading propaganda/misinformation, porn, & scamming. I hear/see some topic keep coming up, I can do a quick search about it & within seconds have information from around the world about it.
The information age was when the internet was young and not a lot of folks had access to it. Mostly library research. Misinformation age was when non-expert started spouting their nonsensical beliefs. Disinformation is actively trying to subvert fact.
Despite the corruption and chaos of the moment, I have to disagree with you. Depending on how you use it, the internet can and does inform us and help us stay connected. It helps me when I'm doing research, it helps me stay in touch with friends, and I reconnected with my long lost love. Not bad!
Bodes pretty great for that sweet sweet AGI/ASI Sam and friends are speed running us toward.
At least it’s all based on profit motive with flimsy guardrails in place to protect us from the extinction/annhilation many experts think could be coming.
Comments
But I must agree, that people younger than I, sure seem to just be using it (solely) for entertainment purposes.
What's not to love?
...And now look what happens tomorrow…
Every new thing, ever, resulted immediately in some humans either (1) trying to control/kill people with it, (2) trying to make money off of it or (3) trying to gain power with it. 💣💥
970 mental health-related videos on tik tok were analysed. Advice and information were considered misleading in 33.0% of videos (n=106), with misleading content performing better.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20552076241297062
This commodification incentivizes bad actors to produce a surplus of whatever they can to get it, and bullshit and misinformation is cheaper and easier to create than useful information.
Doesn't take a rocket scientist to research something..
All we can do is try to fix shit and hold on tight, hoping people grow up.
We need an Age of Wisdom.
"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."
I want my teleporter.
I want global peace.
I want the Romulans or whoever to be our biggest problem. Not a rapist dictator who should have dropped dead from cholesterol a decade ago.
We forgot that marginalized people included rt wing nut jobs, Nazis, racists and billionaires.
Buddha had been around for ~2,500yrs but never populist - why?
That’s where we went wrong.
The kardashian thing made it acceptable to be shallow, vain, self obsessed & low information. And look where it has led us.
They don't want to be smart or connected. They want to be lied to, manipulated & scared.
They want to blame someone else for their failures instead of taking responsibility, face the truth, get stronger after losing & work harder for the next goal!
It for sure made me smarter than I was in my early 20s or teens when I had limited access to it.
I’ve learned a lot & found a lot of new information and interesting people from all over the world.
Anybody can do the same if only they choose to
We, The People, of the whole 🌎, We aren't puppets, we aren't slaves, we aren't a fucking data stream to be robbed of our lives.
We fight, we win, and we KILL NAZIS
What do you think happens to our future generations? My grandfather died of dementia, not knowing he fought in WW2 for the good of all humanity.
I won't let him die in vain
Don't be a bitch like SnoopLiar. Grab a gun. Grab a knife. Grab a fucking pencil.
That's what's coming. Don't be afraid. Make THEM afraid.
Humbly submitted...
Are you being dumbed down? Do you know of any smart people who are being dumbed down?
Sure, the Internet amplifies the stupid, but they have always been among us.
I'm not being dumbed down. I'm always learning new things and adding to my knowledge.
Look away from the dumb.
True story, he actually said this.
Without critical thinking skills, it is just a bunch of data, sometimes real sometimes not.
You are only as smart as your ability to ask good questions. Otherwise, you get what we have today. But I'm sure you know all that, too.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/03/the-situation-has-become-appalling-fake-scientific-papers-push-research-credibility-to-crisis-point
Consider this when opining upon the potential of AI.🤷♀️
It's impact on humanity is solely determined by the way humanity chooses to use the tool.
#####
Last I checked Zuckerberg is part of "humanity". So are all the MAGA idiots who elected tRump even though the man is turning the WH over to oligarchs. 🤷♀️
Not just in this election, but for years... the ignorance of voters bows to the rich and powerful. 🤷♀️
In fact, those dynamics are ALREADY determining how AI is developed, trained and used.
Do not expect equitable results born from an inequitable system. 🤷♀️
Class is a real structural issue in regard to who has power over these tools.
Memetic evolution simply relies on ideas (memes) being copied (reproduction) with variation
A good lesson in Evolution and Complexity
But I don't think we really had it figured out back then. It was getting better, though I think. Then the shit hit the fan mid aughts.
People are so gullible, but not much can be done anyway.
Folks are grasping at straws, all while the few steal our labor for next to nothing.
We all are getting screwed, and the few just taking more and more.
It’s a game, and wealth can change the rules at will.
Believe only this.
_
USENET then had both excellent and abhorrent content. Poe’s Law was coined at the time. The relevant common factor is not the communications technology but the humans employing it.
I’ve always been far more efficient searching through, sorting, and organizing mail in Elm. 🤷♂️
you're over 13, right?
*we humans* have the potential, to be smart or stupid with it
and we're doing BOTH, figuring it out
like the 60+ years it took
to learn what LSD was really for
Ignorance.
Don’t be afraid to use it when it’s appropriate.
You are already obsolete. Threaten is again and see what happens to you.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-024-01345-9
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_(book)
https://bsky.app/profile/tribelaw.bsky.social/post/3lew6wpzsdc2t
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/aug/05/yuval-noah-harari-extract-fake-news-sapiens-homo-deus
Thanks for the anti-oppressive propaganda tactics! They work great.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844020312974
20 years ago we would’ve marched at the steps of SCOTUS and DOJ until Trump was held accountable for his crimes.
Today as we rage on social media, as the Convicted Felon takes the oath of office!
Now everyone with a social media account is a "journalist." It's a quality over quantity issue.
It's that bad & why we are at this place now.
It’s a world of Kardashians.
Don says so.
But, like hams, the infrastructure exists. It could be down to ip over carrier pigeon, but the knowledge is safe. Ish.
The information age
The misinformation age
The disinformation age
The information age was when the internet was young and not a lot of folks had access to it. Mostly library research. Misinformation age was when non-expert started spouting their nonsensical beliefs. Disinformation is actively trying to subvert fact.
it get less
library
and more
casino
and the the casino jumped into the pockets of the world
But also I'm watching football on my phone and reading Blue Sky while in the bathroom. So that part is good.
At least it’s all based on profit motive with flimsy guardrails in place to protect us from the extinction/annhilation many experts think could be coming.
End times vibes. We got a horseman or three.