Theory – The Internet is Already Dead (Public Board)
According to this theory, the internet - - as a source of unbridled human activity and flourishing - - died somewhere around the year 2016.
Reason?
People no longer get to choose which content they see on social media.
Ranking algorithms choose instead.
Nearly 10 years ago:
Bots – software apps that perform automated tasks without human intervention – accounted for over half of all on-line activity. And over 30% of website visits came from bad bots – programmed to carry out harmful acts like theft and hacking. 20% of bots were good bots – that helped monitor and upkeep aspects of the internet.
These problems have almost certainly gotten worse since then.
In 2024, Jack Conte - the founder and CEO of Patreon, pointed out that platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Tik-Tok have moved primarily to algorithmic ranking based content distribution ... and away from letting users "follow" which people they are really interested in. Internet content is distributed based on computer algorithms that rank content using metrics of engagement – like watch time – and not based on people selectively and intentionally curating what is shown to them based on who they follow or subscribe to ...
According to Jack Conte, this has caused creators and their audiences to become increasingly pulled apart.
"In my opinion" Conte said "The Follow or Subscribe is not some handy feature of a social network It is foundational architecture for human creativity and organization".
This forces content creators to create for algorithms and not for a clear audience or fan-base. Instead of thinking about what they love to create or what their fans want to see, creators are forced to think about what the ranking algorithm will favor. This changes creator output to achieve the platforms' goals and not my goals as a creator.
Social media websites make money via advertising. The more time users spend on social media, the more advertisements they will see.
We are thus being increasing led by these algorithms with no clear aim in terms of benefit to the individual or culture at large. The cause and endgame are merely profitability.
These problems of fake traffic, algorithmic disconnect and spam media have only become worse with the introduction and mainstream use of generative AI. As AI controls more and more of how the internet is used, humans control less and less. Hence, the internet is, at least compared to what it once was, DEAD.
There's a famous saying that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. A more up-to-date version might be "we are the average of the five creators and five content categories we spend the most time with on the internet consuming."
