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Dead Internet (2023)

darkfutura.substack.com

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Re: Dead Internet (2023)

#51

Post by kaycebasques »

WBrentWilliams wrote: post #45

A jaundiced, if not cataract-hazed view: This thing we call The Internet has always been "funny smelling" if not a bit crap. Dead? Not really. Just more and more obvious about the nature of the creation. It is the ultimate duality. Correct use requires holding two can-be-seen-as-divergent ideas in your head at once and then making a decision as to which better applies to the current situation. It simultaneously holds…

I also got strong whiffs of nihilism from this post.

Your comment reminded me of Camus's interpretation of Sisyphus:

> As a life filled entirely of mundane and trivial labor, Sisyphus’s existence is meant to illustrate the futility (and absurdity) we confront in our own lives. Camus observes that a person’s life can become, essentially, a mundane routine: “Rising, streetcar, four hours in the office or the factory, meal, streetcar, four hours of work, meal, sleep, and Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday and Sunday according to the same rhythm…” (12-13). Yet, for Camus, Sisyphus is not to be pitied. Sisyphus represents the “absurd hero” because he chooses to live in the face of absurdity. This “choosing to live” is a matter of consciousness, for through his attitude and outlook, Sisyphus can free himself from his punishment and triumph over his situation without being able to change it. Sisyphus is aware of the full extent of his punishment: he is fully conscious of the fate imposed on him by the gods and the utter futility of his existence. His passion, freedom, and revolt, however, make him stronger than the punishment intended to crush him.

https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2019/05/01/camus-on-the-absur...

Re: Dead Internet (2023)

#52

Post by BriggyDwiggs42 »

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #24

"At that golden fin de siècle of Y2K, where promised dreams felt limitless and infinite beneath the neon daze of confetti-striped streets, we looked ahead to a new age brimming with open expansiveness, optimistic" GenX here, grew up in heyday. Drank the cool aid. Still dream wistfully about the past. The kids these days don't have any of the optimism of the internet revolution, they grew up with it and thus it is jus…

You should immediately install an adblock extension

Re: Dead Internet (2023)

#53

Post by pphysch »

There are so many avenues to fixing this, but the bottom line is this Age of Automatons is very appealing to the global aristocracy who can use it to overwhelm democracy and push their propaganda like never before.

It's a feature, not a bug, to those in power.

Re: Dead Internet (2023)

#54

Post by jmclnx »

People should look into Gemini, I have been moving my page there with one section left.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(protocol)

Plus gopher, IRC and USENET still exists and there are plenty of people still using it. But some USENET news groups are a political cesspool.

True, no pretty pictures but gemini has a lot of unique and interesting capsules.

Re: Dead Internet (2023)

#55

Post by rnd0 »

gnulinux wrote: post #5
Circlecrypto2 wrote: post #2

This article expresses a common sentiment among those of us who grew up with web1. However, by now I think we've found our places where the internet is still fun. There's still some forums and chat rooms that keep things interesting without the constant barrage of advertising. This site is one of them, but there are a bunch of federated platforms out there now too that are fun to explore.

> However, by now I think we've found our places where the internet is still fun. There's still some forums and chat rooms that keep things interesting without the constant barrage of advertising. I haven't. Internet is nothing more than an addiction for me. Internet is dead and misanthropic nowadays. It's soulless and corporate. It used to be fun, artistic, creative, and educational. Now it's neither of those, with…

I feel the same way. I don't see it so much as an addiction as much as that the internet cratered everything around it -all the social is largely online, or was. Reading, entertainment -again, largely reliant on the internet in various ways.

Part of it, for me, is age and locale. If I was in LA or a large city I might feel like there's worthwhile things to do offline -but I'm not, and largely there isn't; not if you're single and older, at least.

So I hover around reddit, hn and various discords because what else am I going to do? Go clubbing? There's no clubs, and I'm too old beside.

Re: Dead Internet (2023)

#56

Post by kaycebasques »

cryptoboy2283 wrote: post #49

Oh god... another one of these digital preppers complaining about monetization by posting on Substack. Giant wall of cunning metaphors to attract reader's attention just to end with a literal flop at the end: > For now, I suppose, we can carry on...

"Digital prepper". Great phrase. Sums up my overall impression of this perfectly.

Re: Dead Internet (2023)

#57

Post by kaycebasques »

gnulinux wrote: post #5
Circlecrypto2 wrote: post #2

This article expresses a common sentiment among those of us who grew up with web1. However, by now I think we've found our places where the internet is still fun. There's still some forums and chat rooms that keep things interesting without the constant barrage of advertising. This site is one of them, but there are a bunch of federated platforms out there now too that are fun to explore.

> However, by now I think we've found our places where the internet is still fun. There's still some forums and chat rooms that keep things interesting without the constant barrage of advertising. I haven't. Internet is nothing more than an addiction for me. Internet is dead and misanthropic nowadays. It's soulless and corporate. It used to be fun, artistic, creative, and educational. Now it's neither of those, with…

https://nekoweb.org

Re: Dead Internet (2023)

#58

Post by oersted »

oersted wrote: post #34
Circlecrypto2 wrote: post #2

This article expresses a common sentiment among those of us who grew up with web1. However, by now I think we've found our places where the internet is still fun. There's still some forums and chat rooms that keep things interesting without the constant barrage of advertising. This site is one of them, but there are a bunch of federated platforms out there now too that are fun to explore.

The thing is that before most of the Internet population was in those places, and granted the population was much smaller (with pretty good self-filtering). But now everyone is scattered in the social media meme hellscape, and those old cool places are mostly populated by greybeards (not necessarily old-aged, just old-timers). Don't get me wrong, they are very cool people, and usually quite welcoming, but superficial…

When it comes to old-web non-social patterns, the situation is much healthier I think. There are many blogs that are having their golden-age right now (Astral Codex comes to mind). I love what is being done in the smolweb, and the whole movement of Digital Gardens or Second Brains (100r.co is probably my favourite place on the internet).

Then, of course, you have Medium (rather enshitified now, but still big), and it's heir Substack (starting to get enshitified, but thriving) and newsletters in general. They are both huge and growing, long-form content is having a resurgence. Not to mention the phenomenon of podcasts, and let's not underestimate how much high-quality earnest content is on YouTube.

These are all modernized versions of old web patterns, first plain-old HTML content sites, and then blogs. And, well, ol' grandfather Radio, now greatly democratized.

Re: Dead Internet (2023)

#59

Post by ChoHag »

spacemadness wrote: post #50
ixtli wrote: post #10

people have been saying this since we first migrated away from listserv. look, the corporate influence on the internet has absolutely made it worse and continues to make it less accessible to humans but the authors overarching world view is leaking in here. its not the "woke mind virus" its profit motive pure and simple. the dead internet theory is often best viewed through platforms owned and operated by people who…

The author also completely lost me with their anti-woke fixation: “Transfixed, I sat watching the almost hypnotic rumblings of a transgender alt-right, conservative, Republican who was anti-trans rights. It was immaterial whether I agreed with them or not—the simple fact of knowing such outright interesting, transgressive voices even existed” Outright interesting, transgressive voices. Lol. So outright interesting be…

[dead]

Re: Dead Internet (2023)

#60

Post by vorpalhex »

"Dark forests" and "flying castles" are both essays worth a read here.

Yes the internet commons is becoming a swamp but that doesn't mean the internet is as a whole. There are private places, closed groups, little bastions of wholesome functional community.

I encourage you to run one or at least join one. Do good work, meet good people, be good to each other.

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