Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet Is Fake • Hacker News Board

Re: Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet Is Fake

#11

Post by math-dev » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 10:29 PM UTC

Pention wrote: post #7

math-dev wrote: post #6

The internet is alive and well if you know where to look. IRC, subreddits, some twitter circles, github, hacker news, etc. Once you delve more into what you are into, you will find people and the places to interact. IRC in particular for me has been a great blast to the past

Are we alive though?

Hard to say

Re: Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet Is Fake

#12

Post by H8crilA » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 10:34 PM UTC

kongin wrote: post #8

This is the type of high quality tinfoil hattery I've missed. Wake up sheeple the lizzards are here!

Aluminium is the spice of life.

Re: Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet Is Fake

#13

Post by sva_ » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 10:34 PM UTC

I once read about an approximation of novel experiences in life. It went something like: in your first year of life, you experience 100% new things, second year 50%, nth year 1/n % new experiences. By this calculation, assuming a life expectancy of about 80, the middle of your life, by experiences, would be around 20.

Sure, the internet is in many ways less diverse than it used to be. But aforementioned effect might also be in play: as we get older, it becomes increasingly harder to have novel experiences. Take note also of the "seen it all"-attitude in the beginning of the post.

It's a nice thought-experiment regardless. It might theoretically be possible for an AI to "live" on the internet and perhaps manipulate us or something. Fun thing is, the west would believe it's the east, and the east would assume it's the west doing it. So in that hostility and non-openess of the "world powers" may be found some shade for another entity to hide.

Re: Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet Is Fake

#14

Post by kongin » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 10:35 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #10

This post takes an initially plausible premise (e.g. "much of the internet is manipulated by big corporations") and uses it to springboard into batshit conspiracy theory territory (e.g. "many well-known celebrities actually don't exist and are computer-generated"). Combine that with the repeated insistence on people not existing on the Internet and it really gives me the feeling that the writer is trying to apply a C…

It reads like oldschool creepy-pasta from 4chan. The point isn't that it's true (it's not) the point is that it takes something that you've felt (online comments that can't possibly be made by a sane human being) and builds a whole cosmology around it to explain why it happens in the most convoluted and disturbing way possible.

Re: Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet Is Fake

#15

Post by FastEatSlow » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 10:46 PM UTC

kongin wrote: post #8

This is the type of high quality tinfoil hattery I've missed. Wake up sheeple the lizzards are here!

It's a great example, so much better than the modern "replacing birds' batteries"

Re: Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet Is Fake

#16

Post by rossdavidh » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 10:53 PM UTC

Hypothesis: the amount of new "live" internet is the same as it has been for decades, but the amount of fake internet generated has grown exponentially, making the percentage of fake internet ever-higher. Live internet is (by definition) much more labor-intensive than fake internet, so the ever-accelerating pace of computing makes this virtually guaranteed, even without advances in software for generating fake internet (which we certainly have also had).

Not sure if I believe this hypothesis yet, just putting it out there.

Re: Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet Is Fake

#17

Post by geogra4 » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 10:59 PM UTC

I don't necessarily think this author is wrong. But I think the 4chan terminology is a little bit tryhard.

Re: Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet Is Fake

#18

Post by eigengrau5150 » Sun, Oct 10, 2021, 12:11 AM UTC

Pention wrote: post #7

math-dev wrote: post #6

The internet is alive and well if you know where to look. IRC, subreddits, some twitter circles, github, hacker news, etc. Once you delve more into what you are into, you will find people and the places to interact. IRC in particular for me has been a great blast to the past

Are we alive though?

I'm undead. :)

Re: Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet Is Fake

#19

Post by kongin » Sun, Oct 10, 2021, 12:32 AM UTC

math-dev wrote: post #11

Pention wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are we alive though?

Hard to say

What's a good IRC channel for cs/maths/physics?

After the freedone implosion I don't know where anything is any more.

Re: Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet Is Fake

#20

Post by ThrowawayR2 » Sun, Oct 10, 2021, 12:55 AM UTC

Pention wrote: post #7

math-dev wrote: post #6

The internet is alive and well if you know where to look. IRC, subreddits, some twitter circles, github, hacker news, etc. Once you delve more into what you are into, you will find people and the places to interact. IRC in particular for me has been a great blast to the past

Are we alive though?

I can be remarkably life-like at times.