algorithmic anxiety
in preparation for the RADAR event
algorithmic anxiety
So much of culture now is about soliciting attention by any means necessary, and the attention is the goal and the measure of success. The thing itself is secondary. — KC
... See moreCulture has to follow the dominant modes of perception of a given era. While a twentieth-century building might have been designed to be photographed, the twenty-first century work of art is “designed for reproducibility” through algorithmic feeds…They each contribute and conform to a generic, flattened, reproducible aesthetic. Hence the general st
After a while, there is a certain tedium to TikTok. The feast becomes overwhelming. Our taste buds dull. Our eyes dry. TikTok understands that once you start scrolling, it is so very hard to stop.
The New Pornographers — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER
It becomes something of a Faustian bargain, because our online habits and behaviors are carrion for tech vultures. As we scroll, they feast
The New Pornographers — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER
The outcome of such algorithmic gatekeeping is the pervasive flattening that has been happening across culture. By fatness I mean homogenization but also a reduction into simplicity: the least ambiguous, least disruptive, and perhaps least meaningful pieces of culture are promoted the most.
Flatness is the lowest common denominator, an averageness t
... See moreManiac fun is gone — originality, unprecedentedness, creativity and surprise disappears when so much weighs on culture’s ability to spread through digital feeds
"Digital technologies privilege our impulses over our intentions ."
ESTRATIJIRONES vol 156.
scrolling narrows the field of my curiosity. I take what I find there; I don’t make adventurous or consequential inquiries. I used to sit with boredom all the time—oh, I flinched and chafed, but I always found my way out, or around it. In habitually checking messages, I lost the chance for intimacy with slow dawnings, the feel of big decisions send... See more