numb3r_5ev3n (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
numb3r_5ev3n) wrote2022-01-16 09:14 pm
numb3r_5ev3n) wrote2022-01-16 09:14 pm
Exiles Amidst The Smartphone Dystopia
From the Guardian (yes I know the Guardian sucks now, but this article is kind of important) 'Our minds can be hijacked': the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia.'
The techs and programmers who helped to turn the internet into a series of walled gardens equipped with addictive dopamine treadmills regret doing this now. Many of them are actively working to unplug and disconnect themselves from a system they created.
I'm still trying to restrict my daily use of things like FB and The Bird Site (with sketchy success so far, but it's a process,) and spend more time actually blogging on Dreamwidth and working on my Neocities sites.
Because let's face it - as hilariously WTF as that scene in Matrix Resurrections was (especially for people who were watching it without subtitles) The Merv is right. The internet was better, less predatory, less exploitive, 15 years or so ago.
I remember an exchange from Tumblr (a platform which was so addictive, and yet so enraging on a daily basis that it nearly ruined my life) which expresses this very well:
In the context of the story, The Merv's mistake is blaming Neo for this ("You ruined everything!") when it's The Analyst's (Neil Patrick Harris) fault. In a later scene, The Analyst even explains to Neo exactly how and why his version of the Matrix works and how the algorithm mines people for their energy. I've seen other people across social media make the connection as well - the way The Analyst's Matrix works is distressingly similar to how social media platforms manipulate us, particularly the part where it is both a dopamine treadmill or a crack pipe for outrage junkies.
Keanu Reeves is quoted as saying that the first three films predicted how the internet and tech would develop over the next 20 years, and that Resurrections was a prediction of where it was going now. I think that's important.
I think it's also significant that the goal of the Exiles (Programs - or as they prefer to be called in the movie, Synthients - who have gone rogue,) from The Merv and Smith on down, is to engineer a situation where the Matrix gets rolled back to a previous version.
I'm still working on my Neocities sites and this blog, so I guess I'm still an Exile.
The techs and programmers who helped to turn the internet into a series of walled gardens equipped with addictive dopamine treadmills regret doing this now. Many of them are actively working to unplug and disconnect themselves from a system they created.
I'm still trying to restrict my daily use of things like FB and The Bird Site (with sketchy success so far, but it's a process,) and spend more time actually blogging on Dreamwidth and working on my Neocities sites.
Because let's face it - as hilariously WTF as that scene in Matrix Resurrections was (especially for people who were watching it without subtitles) The Merv is right. The internet was better, less predatory, less exploitive, 15 years or so ago.
I remember an exchange from Tumblr (a platform which was so addictive, and yet so enraging on a daily basis that it nearly ruined my life) which expresses this very well:
In the context of the story, The Merv's mistake is blaming Neo for this ("You ruined everything!") when it's The Analyst's (Neil Patrick Harris) fault. In a later scene, The Analyst even explains to Neo exactly how and why his version of the Matrix works and how the algorithm mines people for their energy. I've seen other people across social media make the connection as well - the way The Analyst's Matrix works is distressingly similar to how social media platforms manipulate us, particularly the part where it is both a dopamine treadmill or a crack pipe for outrage junkies.
Keanu Reeves is quoted as saying that the first three films predicted how the internet and tech would develop over the next 20 years, and that Resurrections was a prediction of where it was going now. I think that's important.
I think it's also significant that the goal of the Exiles (Programs - or as they prefer to be called in the movie, Synthients - who have gone rogue,) from The Merv and Smith on down, is to engineer a situation where the Matrix gets rolled back to a previous version.
I'm still working on my Neocities sites and this blog, so I guess I'm still an Exile.
no subject
I'm almost ready to Fight Club the internet while shouting "I volunteer as tribute."
no subject
I put it down to 'The Street Finds Its Own Uses For Things."
I just hope FB especially can be reformed and FaceZuckerSuck is ousted so that it can serve people better. That kind of social media is just not good for me personally. I've literally lost whole years of my life to The Algorithm.
no subject
SM is my primary means of being social these days. I would rather switch back to blogs and so on because I like discourse, discussion, and nuance. We work with what we have though.
I doubt FB can be saved. Zuckerberg has messed with the algorithm so much to monetize the site, it is very much unsalvageable and almost unusable. Who thought he could go so far with his stolen B grade Hot-or-Not knockoff?
no subject
I saw a thing recently that proposed rolling back energy consumption to what it was in the 60s in order to reduce carbon. I'd like to see something similar with the internet. Roll it back to 15 years ago.