this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2024
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Well I'll disagree with one thing: I give zero shits about gossip or internet drama. I'm not oblivious to it but I don't care about the personal drama. There are trolls and heels of course, and much is made of them, but I don't care.
Yeah I wish the situation was better, but it's not going to get better. You said you're happy to have the internet as options, and that's what killed traditional journalism. We are probably all less well informed on the big stuff and much better informed on niche things these days. This is the direction of the world. Not global community and rising tides lifting all ships, but fracturing of the zeitgeist and growing division.
Good luck, world. I don't know how to fix you, but I have faith that coming generations will figure something out after I'm gone, even if the future looks more like the Morlocks and Eloi from The Time Machine than Starfleet from Star Trek.
With "drama" I was going for the built-in drive towards negativity and sensationalist stuff. Like people complaining and sharing outrageous news that stirs them up. I think it's well established that people are more incentivised to engage with content they disagree with, rather than nuanced or positive things. I'm no exception. I've had a superb weekend, did a day trip with some friends, sports (climbing) etc. But somehow I don't talk about that on the internet but end up painting a dark picture about the near future. And my real-world conversations aren't like that. In face to face conversations I also talk about mundane stuff, what made my day, recommend positive things to friends... I think we have some unhealthy dynamics baked into internet talk, due to the way our platforms are set up and due to how attention works.
Sure. The internet killed newspapers. And there is no easy fix. We'd need easy payment methods, value the labour of the journalists... And that wasn't available when this happened. And nowadays we have a few other issues on top. Originally, the internet wasn't supposed to do any of that. It was supposed to connect people all around the globe. Make information available to everyone...
I think a lot of the unhealthy dynamics aren't baked into the internet itself, but due to people making everything about money and advertising. I think we (theoretically) could do without. And make the internet a very different place. It doesn't seem this is happening. But I still got some places (Linux forums etc) with a very different atmosphere. I'm not sure where we'll end up in like 15 years. Maybe after reaching rock bottom. I've also watched and read too much science fiction. Currently it looks to me like we're headed for the 2006 movie Idiocracy. But H G Wells is fine, too.
Oh I got you. Yeah. That sucks. I'm probably going to have to keep myself less informed. I spent the first year of Trump arguing with people that every little thing he did wasn't the literal worst thing in the world. He fired a bunch of political appointees, just like every President, and it was doomsday for a week. I can't handle the handwringing every single day.
Even late in his presidency when he actually was doing terrible shit on a constant basis was so stressful. I swear it aged me ten years. I'm not doing that shit again.
Yeah. The incentives are all fucked up in journalism now. No one pays for just solid news, it looks like. They pay for sensational bullshit with their wallets and attention.
Yeah. Any fix which comes from changing people isn't a fix at all. We aren't going to change except through conditioning. Maybe education but that's such a fucking uphill battle right now itself.
Worst part is, other than some wankery in the internet, most people aren't interested in reflecting on this or making any attempt to solve it. I'm worried we're headed into a cycle war and conflict after a hundred years of relative peace. Maybe that will change things, though that means change is in the other side of a lot of pain and suffering (which is a great catalyst for change but I don't want my kids or grandkids to have to go through that).
Have a good one, mate.