If a simplistic description of AI is computers learning to be more human, then the persistence of Hawk Tuah for six months and counting is the inverse: Humans learning how it feels to be a computer—forced to remember, unable to move on, endlessly consuming and regurgitating our past output in slightly different formats—a video here, a podcast... See more

Still, I think something more fundamental has been lost for all of us as social media has evolved. It’s harder to find the spark of discovery, or the sense that the Web offers an alternate world of possibilities. Instead of each forging our own idiosyncratic paths online, we are caught in the grooves that a few giant companies have carved for us... See more

The internet embodies this carnival temporality with startling clarity:

• Cyclical bursts : meme cycles, outrage waves, and news frenzies erupt, fade, and return with variation.

• Inversions : anonymous users become viral, while experts, CEOs, and politicians are mocked, parodied, or dethroned.

• Acceleration & simultaneity : the timeline collapses

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