The Internet is changing in a fundamental way. We're moving away from a non-censored, open Internet with organic traffic from Google and social media into something else.
One theory to explain the shift is the Dead Internet Theory.
Another one is te Dark Forest Theory from a co-founder of Kickstarter.
Some of my favorite sentences from this post:
"That shift from one social order to the emergence of a new one with new rules, new physics, and even new goals is the topic that the pieces in The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet give voice to. They track the realization that we were moving away from “Status as a service” and towards something more like “Status as a context.” The worlds where we could create status rapidly expanded, but none were as towering as the status cathedrals from before. This confusing post-Babel time is where we stand now."
"The internet is real life. What we do “in here” matters just as much as — and for some of us, problematically, even more than — what happens “out there.”
"The internet isn’t meant to give a graphical representation to our bodies. The internet is what allows what’s inside — our minds, our souls, our many selves — to interact with the insides of others. The internet is where our alts come alive, our internal monologues become dialogues, and a stray thought becomes a globally resonant meme. This is its miracle."
"In his sci-fi trilogy The Three Body Problem, author Liu Cixin presents the dark forest theory of the universe.
When we look out into space, the theory goes, we’re struck by its silence. It seems like we’re the only ones here. After all, if other forms of life existed, wouldn’t they show themselves? Since they haven’t, we assume there’s no one else out there.
Liu invites us to think about this a different way.
Imagine a dark forest at night. It’s deathly quiet. Nothing moves. Nothing stirs. This could lead one to assume that the forest is devoid of life. But of course it’s not. The dark forest is full of life. It’s quiet, because night is when the predators come out. To survive, the animals stay quiet.
[...]
This is also what the internet is becoming: a dark forest.
In response to the ads, the tracking, the trolling, the hype, and other predatory behaviors, we’re retreating to our dark forests of the internet, and away from the mainstream."
The Internet is changing in a fundamental way. We're moving away from a non-censored, open Internet with organic traffic from Google and social media into something else.
One theory to explain the shift is the Dead Internet Theory.
Another one is te Dark Forest Theory from a co-founder of Kickstarter.
Some of my favorite sentences from this post:
"That shift from one social order to the emergence of a new one with new rules, new physics, and even new goals is the topic that the pieces in The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet give voice to. They track the realization that we were moving away from “Status as a service” and towards something more like “Status as a context.” The worlds where we could create status rapidly expanded, but none were as towering as the status cathedrals from before. This confusing post-Babel time is where we stand now."
"The internet is real life. What we do “in here” matters just as much as — and for some of us, problematically, even more than — what happens “out there.”
"The internet isn’t meant to give a graphical representation to our bodies. The internet is what allows what’s inside — our minds, our souls, our many selves — to interact with the insides of others. The internet is where our alts come alive, our internal monologues become dialogues, and a stray thought becomes a globally resonant meme. This is its miracle."
MORE ON DARK FOREST THEORY (https://www.ystrickler.com/the-dark-forest-theory-of-the-internet)
"In his sci-fi trilogy The Three Body Problem, author Liu Cixin presents the dark forest theory of the universe.
When we look out into space, the theory goes, we’re struck by its silence. It seems like we’re the only ones here. After all, if other forms of life existed, wouldn’t they show themselves? Since they haven’t, we assume there’s no one else out there.
Liu invites us to think about this a different way.
Imagine a dark forest at night. It’s deathly quiet. Nothing moves. Nothing stirs. This could lead one to assume that the forest is devoid of life. But of course it’s not. The dark forest is full of life. It’s quiet, because night is when the predators come out. To survive, the animals stay quiet.
[...]
This is also what the internet is becoming: a dark forest.
In response to the ads, the tracking, the trolling, the hype, and other predatory behaviors, we’re retreating to our dark forests of the internet, and away from the mainstream."