Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dead Internet Theory

kudmitry.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

641–650 of 735 posts

Re: Dead Internet Theory

#641

Post by fullstop »

StrauXX wrote: post #601
fullstop wrote: post #598

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess that depends on the University and whether or not you get to keep your email address after you graduate. From what I understand from my college-aged kids, most people get kicked out of the hub after they graduate. It's similar in Apple's strategy of trying to get Macintosh into the classrooms (in the 80s/90s), and student discounts on Adobe products. I am not a huge fan of Discord, although I do use it. It's…

That is actually something I quite like about Discord. Whatever I write and post, while not "private" is not indexed or searchable by anyone other tgan those people that have been vetted (invited) by the respective community. Not that I'm mostly on small friendgroup Discords with 10 - 100 members.

Right, and they're blending two things together -- group chats and public forums. I'm sad about losing the public forums.

Re: Dead Internet Theory

#643

Post by bee_rider »

nottorp wrote: post #432
WD-42 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a dystopia for me. I’m a cyclist that’s been hit by 3 cars. I believe we will look back at the time when we allowed emotional and easily distracted meat bags behind the wheels of fast moving multiple ton kinetic weapons for what it is: barbarism.

Maybe take a look at how the Netherlands solved this problem. Hint: not with "AI" drivers. By the way, I don't bike but I walk about everywhere lately. So to hyperbolize as it's the custom on the internets, i live in constant fear not of cars, but of super holier than you eco cyclists running me over. (Yea, I'm not in NL.)

Why specifically be worried about cyclists in this weird and unusual mental state? Do holier than thou cyclists have more momentum or something? (I’ve never met one).

Anyway, a fix that should work fine for both of you is to take a lane from cars and devote it to cyclists. Nobody actually wants to bike where people walk, some places just have bad infrastructure.

Re: Dead Internet Theory

#644

Post by mikkupikku »

InsideOutSanta wrote: post #605
lazide wrote: post #533

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason they feel that way (more) is because of those videos. Just like most people who watch Alex Jones probably didn’t start by believing all the crazy things. We can chicken/egg about it all day, but at some point if people didn’t want it - they wouldn’t be doing it. Depending on the definition of ‘want’ of course. But what else can we use? I don’t think anyone would disagree that smokers want cigarettes, eh? O…

I think most people have experienced relatives of theirs falling down these rabbit holes. They didn't seek out a reason to be angry; they watched one or two episodes of these shows because they were on Fox, or because a friend sent it, or because they saw it recommended on Facebook. Then they became angry, which made them go back because now it became a moral imperative to learn more about how the government is makin…

> "They didn't seek out a reason to be angry"

A lot of people really do, and it predates any sort of media too. When they don't have outrage media they form gossip networks so they can tell each other embellished stories about mundane matters to be outraged and scandalized about.

Re: Dead Internet Theory

#645

Post by mikkupikku »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #593
self_awareness wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Video showing racist behavior is racist and anti-racist at the same time. A racist will be happy watching it, and anti-racist will forward it to forward their anti-racist message. Faking a racist video that never happend is, first of all, faking. Second, it's the same: racist and anti-racist at the same time. Third, it's falsifying the prevalence of occurrence. If you'll add to the video a disclaimer: "this video has…

That's not necessarily just a leftist thing. Plenty of politicians are perfectly fine with saying things they know are lies for what they believe are good reasons. We see it daily with the current US administration.

It's a general ideologue thing.

Re: Dead Internet Theory

#646

Post by incomingpain »

I strongly believe in the dead internet theory.

There are many compounding factors but I experienced the live internet and what we have today is dead.

So I go on my province's subreddit. Politicswise, if there was an election today the incumbent politician would increase their majority and may even be looking at true majority. Hugely popular.

If you find a political thread, there will be 500 comments all agreeing with each other that the incumbent is evil, 50 comments downvoted and censored because they dare have an opinion that agrees with the incumbent, 100 comments deleted by anonymous mods banning people for what reason? Enjoy your echo chamber.

Anyone who experiences being censored a few times will just stop posting. Then when the election happens they have no idea at all why people would ever vote that way because they have never seen anyone do anything but agree with their opinion.

What an utterly dead subreddit.

Re: Dead Internet Theory

#647

Post by FeteCommuniste »

DudeOpotomus wrote: post #546
GMoromisato wrote: post #153

Most of this is caused by incentives: YouTube and others pay for clicks/views, so obviously you can maximize this by producing lots of mediocre content. LinkedIn is a place to sell, either a service/product to companies or yourself to a future employer. Again, the incentive is to produce more content for less effort. Even HN has the incentive of promoting people's startups. Is it possible to create a social network (…

There is no definitive reason for creators to be paid. Zero. These platforms can and should stop paying people for their content. Without the platforms, the creators are dead. Make them pay for access to the audience and this whole problem disappears and makes the platforms far more profits. Kill the influencer, kill the creator. Its all bullshit.

I miss the days when most people uploading things were doing it just for "love of the game" or to find likeminded enthusiasts. Not because it was their "hustle" or something to put on a resume. Those times are sadly long gone.

Re: Dead Internet Theory

#648

Post by kouru225 »

I’m in favor of the dead internet because the alternative was even worse.

About 10 years ago we had a scenario where bots probably were only 2-5% of the conversation and they absolutely dominated all discussion. Having a tiny coordinated minority in a vast sea of uncoordinated people is 100x more manipulative than having a dead internet. If you ever pointed out that we were being botted, everyone would ignore you or pretend you were crazy. It didn’t even matter that the Head of the FBI came out and said we were being manipulated by bots. Everyone laughed at him the same way.

Re: Dead Internet Theory

#649

Post by Ntrails »

abustamam wrote: post #628
Ntrails wrote: post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is almost impossible to escape the constant barrage of takes and news headlines these days without being a total luddite It really isn't that hard, if I'm looking at my experience. Maybe a little stuff on here counts. I get my news from the FT, it's relatively benign by all accounts. I'm not sure that opting out of classical social media is particularly luddite-y, I suspect it's closer to becoming vogue than not…

I think the comment you're replying to isn't necessarily a question of opting out of such news, it's the fact that it's so hard to escape it. I swipe on my home screen and there I am, in my Google news feed with the constant barrage of nonsense. I mostly get gaming and entertainment news for shows I watch, but even between those I get CNN and Fox News, both which I view as "opinion masquerading as news" outlets. My m…

Right, and my point is how easy opting out actually is.

I have no news feed on my phone. I doubt on android it is any harder to evade. Social media itself is gone. The closest I get to click-bait is when my mother spouts something gleaned from the Daily Mail. That vector is harder to shift I concede!

Post reply on HN