Rabbit Holes 🕳️ #69
The dark forest theory of the web points to the increasingly life-like but life-less state of being online. Most open and publicly available spaces on the web are overrun with bots, advertisers, trolls, data scrapers, clickbait, keyword-stuffing “content creators,” and algorithmically manipulated junk.
Maggie Appleton • The Expanding Dark Forest and Generative AI
So, I believe we have some personal agency. But I also believe that a 12-year-old’s mind is no match for a giant corporation using the most advanced AI to manipulate her behavior. Gen Z were the guinea pigs in this uncontrolled global social experiment. We were the first to have our vulnerabilities and insecurities fed into a machine that magnified... See more
Freya India • Algorithms Hijacked My Generation. I Fear For Gen Alpha.
This shift towards a global sameness, driven by digital platforms' algorithms, challenges the very notion of personal taste. As these platforms prioritize content or products that resonate on a mass scale, they nudge us toward a homogenized cultural landscape. The result is a world where diversity of thought and creativity often gets drowned out by... See more
Just a moment...
But as AI accelerates our ability to (1) generate, (2) manipulate, and (3) distribute information, this weird tension becomes even more pronounced. We're entering an era where the battle between content and context will reshape how all policy is created, communicated, and understood. Digital platforms and AI tools have created an environment where:
Kyla Scanlon • Studio Ghibli AI, Classified Leaks, and the Context Shift
As the realm of virtual information complexifies, it is increasingly difficult to collectively experience, let alone agree on concrete descriptions of events. The platforms we use to communicate often lack archival affordances, optimizing instead for the nonstop production of new content. So context collapses and signifiers empty their meaning. Whe... See more
Libby Marrs • How to Read the Internet
The network of algorithms makes so many decisions for us, and yet we have little way of talking back to it or changing how it works. This imbalance induces a state of passivity: We consume what the feeds recommend to us without engaging too deeply with the material.