The internet is kind of a predatory cesspit now • Hacker News Board

Re: The internet is kind of a predatory cesspit now

#291

Post by ChiperSoft » Sun, Aug 30, 2026, 3:32 AM UTC

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #139

Nice article by Stephen Diehl - I really liked his latest on crypto. I noticed that in certain sections there seems to be a heavy use of LLM-assisted writing, such as this one: > The platforms did not invent fear, greed, loneliness, or status anxiety. They industrialised their extraction. Their recommendation systems are vast reinforcement-learning loops that continuously experiment on human weakness. Each objective…

That paragraph jumped out to me, as well. Thats also when the writing got very long winded and seemed to be repeating itself.

Re: The internet is kind of a predatory cesspit now

#292

Post by johnnyanmac » Sun, Aug 30, 2026, 3:36 AM UTC

mindwok wrote: post #205

AlexB138 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're absolutely correct that history helps you see that none of this is new. However, is it better to be the person who sees the waterfall their boat is inevitably going to go over, or the person completely ignorant of it until it happens?

If we look at history, humanity has been through some pretty crazy shit and we haven't gone over the waterfall yet.

On the contrary: we've fall off waterfalls every few decades or so. Humanity simply survives and moves on, taking maybe 2% more caution for the next waterfalll

Re: The internet is kind of a predatory cesspit now

#293

Post by johnnyanmac » Sun, Aug 30, 2026, 3:40 AM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #222

AlexB138 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're absolutely correct that history helps you see that none of this is new. However, is it better to be the person who sees the waterfall their boat is inevitably going to go over, or the person completely ignorant of it until it happens?

> see that none of this is new But this is. This sort of violent partisanship that self ensconces around identity versus issues is exactly what tears apart democracies and republics.

This isn't new either. The tools and technology are new. The strategies and psychologies aren't.

Even the identity part isn't new; even among Caucasian males only, see how many times society's woes will be blamed on whatever convinient immigrant there is in that period.

Re: The internet is kind of a predatory cesspit now

#294

Post by johnnyanmac » Sun, Aug 30, 2026, 3:48 AM UTC

s1artibartfast wrote: post #281

noir_lord wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's why historical education is so important (or just liking history as in my case), looked through the lens of history all of the current shit as bad as it is, is really nothing all that new either, the only constant is change after all. As the aphorism goes: History may not repeat but it sure does rhyme.

And I think history provides some prophylactic counterbalance to the cynical narrative. To hear some people talk, people are inherently evil, and the US has been a downhill project to oppress since the days of the founding. History shows that things can and do improve when people try. The overall trajectory has been positive, even if bumpy.

I've heard it described as a growing but fluctuating graph (think something like a logarithmic graph, with some noise added in). Progress is positive overall, but there are times of radical progress and decline. And people will feel both aspects.

We're definitely in a decline as of now, where we arguably had progress from 80 to 50 years ago.

Re: The internet is kind of a predatory cesspit now

#295

Post by johnnyanmac » Sun, Aug 30, 2026, 3:51 AM UTC

Biologist123 wrote: post #24

> People increasingly behave like addicts because addiction is the business model. I sense my internet addiction got a lot worse in recent years. I don’t use social media, but I consume news, blogs and newsletters - and comment threads - voraciously. I think the addiction began as soon as I started to work at a desk behind a computer which had internet access - 20+ years ago. Like putting an alcoholic to work behind…

>I’d like out, but the dealers are on every corner.

Having income and even better, time, to take out of the current workforce cog would do wonders. Sadly, we're in an employer's market and non-internet activities are only getting more expensive.

Ideally, you'd have some getaway with family and/or friends to enjoy the beauty of the world we're in. That's the best antidote to such digital addiction. But I'm sadly been spending all my time trying to get back on the hamster wheel with the job search.

Re: The internet is kind of a predatory cesspit now

#296

Post by johnnyanmac » Sun, Aug 30, 2026, 3:53 AM UTC

egonschiele wrote: post #279

GlibMonkeyDeath wrote: post #149

The thing is, the "old" internet is still out there. No one is stopping you from writing a futile blog (as I do.) Or using YouTube only for instruction for tasks around the house. Or learn about any topic imaginable. It's just that the bigger ecosystems have followed their incentives to their logical conclusion (hyper-addictive content to maximize earnings from ad sales.) Any new, "for the people" platform is going t…

100% agree. Only thing is, as the last few years have shown, if you don't jump into the cesspit but a majority of your fellow humans do, it affects you anyway.

we also need time, energy. and care to make and tend to our own gardens. I see more and more people even with jobs try to go into various hustles just to make ends meet. Let alone those who aren't in work and pushed into NEET-dom.

Re: The internet is kind of a predatory cesspit now

#297

Post by inigyou » Sun, Aug 30, 2026, 4:57 AM UTC

orand wrote: post #287

inigyou wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except they haven't.

Good one. Refute an unsubstantiated claim with an unsubstantiated rebuttal. I'm sure we can all learn from that. /s

You made the claim, you substantiate it.

Re: The internet is kind of a predatory cesspit now

#298

Post by suttontom » Sun, Aug 30, 2026, 5:03 AM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #222

AlexB138 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're absolutely correct that history helps you see that none of this is new. However, is it better to be the person who sees the waterfall their boat is inevitably going to go over, or the person completely ignorant of it until it happens?

> see that none of this is new But this is. This sort of violent partisanship that self ensconces around identity versus issues is exactly what tears apart democracies and republics.

"B-b-but this really is new!" The USA did have a Civil War. It was so violent that it killed more Americans than all other wars combined.

Re: The internet is kind of a predatory cesspit now

#299

Post by suttontom » Sun, Aug 30, 2026, 5:10 AM UTC

noir_lord wrote: post #63

stillpointlab wrote: post #31

One thing people go through as they age is an elevation of cynicism and general misanthropy. After decades of being disappointed when naive idealism and speculative optimism fail, one can just get down on it all. It is really hard not to succumb to this. It requires active effort and sometimes even a willful ignorance. "turn a blind eye" is the idiom here. Monty Python's "Always look on the bright side of life" kind…

I think that's why historical education is so important (or just liking history as in my case), looked through the lens of history all of the current shit as bad as it is, is really nothing all that new either, the only constant is change after all. As the aphorism goes: History may not repeat but it sure does rhyme.

If you're able to, find a random NPR broadcast from 20 to 30 years ago and marvel at how it could be replayed nearly verbatim today. "Inflation", "war in the Middle East", "Congress stalled on xyz." Even the "unprecedented" political correctness and racial reckonings in the US observed around 2020 were not uncommon in the 1970s and 1980s (see the Stanford Beethoven poster incident which also left students literally fainting and crying in hysterics).

Re: The internet is kind of a predatory cesspit now

#300

Post by card_zero » Sun, Aug 30, 2026, 5:18 AM UTC

suttontom wrote: post #298

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> see that none of this is new But this is. This sort of violent partisanship that self ensconces around identity versus issues is exactly what tears apart democracies and republics.

"B-b-but this really is new!" The USA did have a Civil War. It was so violent that it killed more Americans than all other wars combined.

Message unclear. You're saying the USA is an old hand at civil wars now and could do another one any time, no problem? Or perhaps I shouldn't look for a message.