Good list! Largely agreed, there’s the in between private/semi-private URL but I think it’ll increase connect to hyper-IRL too. You’ll have to tell me what you’re tinkering on :)
Evolution loves few things more than recombination, so hypo-IRL and hypo-URL introduce a second axis of semi-permeable, multilayer interactions back in to remediate the last few centuries' erosion of civil society and bioregional organization. *Some* participation at global scale, gradients of trust-correlated mutual information exchange secured by bottom-up data hierarchies and p2p encryption, devil's bargains all around and a definite restructuring of "actual, physical" human geography, but not this flatland of transparent dividuals in a transparent society that seemed so cool in the 90s and not the pirate privacy utopia of first-wave crypto.
What a thought provoking piece. I wonder about consequences the media-machine superorganism has on human capabilities, specially memory and imagination.
See also Nicholas Carr's book The Glass Cage, specifically comments on turn-by-turn map instructions and the erosion of the hippocampal grid cell network --> neuroscientists predicting a generational wave of early onset Alzheimer's.
Writing about this (outsourcing and the loss of resilience/adaptability) for Aeon rn.
Looking to evolutionary dynamics, fish schools that got bigger in response to predation from fish are getting smaller again in response to predation from mass-capture fishing. There's a *very* strong rhyme here with the rise of the "cozy web" and other antimemetic strategies, cc qntm + nayafia
If media and machine form a synthesis, what is the new other half of the dialectic? If the media-machine swallows everything, what resists digestion with enough force to make an opposite principle that's more than a mere residue?
This is where illegibility and the unsealable gap between culture and market, play and work, comes in. Luckily for us it's not going away — reality is in a relationship of constant excess with language, Goodhart's Law pertains in complex systems, and totalizing frameworks precipitate their own collapse and creative rebirth.
Which is incidentally why I hold the "meaning crisis" discourse in deep suspicion. It's episodic drama in which the characters reset each week, never learning how to think their way out of the diagnosis of an insoluble problem because if it bleeds, it leads.
I absolutely love this post. It’s something that’s been nagging at me but you’ve put into words. when our very words get fed into the *machine* then what we’ll get in return is what we give. it’s a self-fulfilling loop of magnanimous proportions. giving 1984 vibes…
It's rare for me to find someone who puts "my" thinking to the page so clearly. Bravo. Hope we get a chance to talk soon — I've spent the last year-plus on a dedicated, grant-funded search for people who get this in hopes of coalition- and culture-building for the worlds you describe here.
Another classic. Wouldn't remove a single word.
In terms of social organizing, I believe we are bifurcating into Hyper-URL (Slop Economy) and Hyper-IRL ("Unmodelable Edge").
• Hyper-URL: doomscrolling, AI GFs/BFs, Twitch/YouTube/IG/TikTok Streaming, Discord voice channels for memecoin trading and gaming
• Hyper-IRL: run clubs, speed dating / singles clubs, Othership / Coffee and Chill, DJ pop-ups at random locations, meditation/psychedelic retreats
Hyper-URL and Hyper-URL may also converge now:
• New York Parks, especially Washington Square Park
- https://x.com/coldhealing/status/1915398322161943003,
- https://x.com/coldhealing/status/1915053939340575177
- https://nyunews.com/news/2023/08/04/kai-cenat-union-square-riot/
• Balaji's Network School / State
• Bryan Johnson's Don't Die Summits
Good list! Largely agreed, there’s the in between private/semi-private URL but I think it’ll increase connect to hyper-IRL too. You’ll have to tell me what you’re tinkering on :)
Evolution loves few things more than recombination, so hypo-IRL and hypo-URL introduce a second axis of semi-permeable, multilayer interactions back in to remediate the last few centuries' erosion of civil society and bioregional organization. *Some* participation at global scale, gradients of trust-correlated mutual information exchange secured by bottom-up data hierarchies and p2p encryption, devil's bargains all around and a definite restructuring of "actual, physical" human geography, but not this flatland of transparent dividuals in a transparent society that seemed so cool in the 90s and not the pirate privacy utopia of first-wave crypto.
What a thought provoking piece. I wonder about consequences the media-machine superorganism has on human capabilities, specially memory and imagination.
too early to call but it’ll certain enable an erosion of both if we outsource effort
See also Nicholas Carr's book The Glass Cage, specifically comments on turn-by-turn map instructions and the erosion of the hippocampal grid cell network --> neuroscientists predicting a generational wave of early onset Alzheimer's.
Writing about this (outsourcing and the loss of resilience/adaptability) for Aeon rn.
Really superb ethical questions here. Top-notch writing!
The question of not what can scale, but what should ... that's a simple but good one with hints of Nietzsche's eternal return.
meanwhile Meta announcing AI friends
The march continues, no stopping it only getting smart about it
Looking to evolutionary dynamics, fish schools that got bigger in response to predation from fish are getting smaller again in response to predation from mass-capture fishing. There's a *very* strong rhyme here with the rise of the "cozy web" and other antimemetic strategies, cc qntm + nayafia
https://news.ucsb.edu/2020/020044/unintended-consequence
This is a timeless piece. Wow. This should be at the library of congress. This marks an era.
Thank you for such kind words, glad it resonates, hope my future writings do too!
A hundred products for every essay and a hundred essays for every product.
Essay is the product is the essay.
excellent
If media and machine form a synthesis, what is the new other half of the dialectic? If the media-machine swallows everything, what resists digestion with enough force to make an opposite principle that's more than a mere residue?
I’d say man and meaning is the other binary
This is where illegibility and the unsealable gap between culture and market, play and work, comes in. Luckily for us it's not going away — reality is in a relationship of constant excess with language, Goodhart's Law pertains in complex systems, and totalizing frameworks precipitate their own collapse and creative rebirth.
https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/improv
Worth mentioning also Bayo Akomolafe's work on "fugitivity" here.
Dude, this line - meaning must market itself to remain relevant - what a gem.
🙏 never felt as true tbh, most of talking about meaning now is marketing it
Which is incidentally why I hold the "meaning crisis" discourse in deep suspicion. It's episodic drama in which the characters reset each week, never learning how to think their way out of the diagnosis of an insoluble problem because if it bleeds, it leads.
I absolutely love this post. It’s something that’s been nagging at me but you’ve put into words. when our very words get fed into the *machine* then what we’ll get in return is what we give. it’s a self-fulfilling loop of magnanimous proportions. giving 1984 vibes…
yep except it’s like personal data that’s collected, anonymized, remixed and spit back out to us. same story but more powerful than the last 25 years
Yup
https://x.com/michaelgarfield/status/1679219389294612487
Another requisite for the builder:
Prioritization.
How you manage scarce resources matters more than ever now.
Very true
Thanks for building on the heavy piece. Your words will have a profound effect on the younger generation (via my job)
Coming soon! 🙏
Another banger ⚡️
🙏 First comment - lmk if there’s something I should consider writing about, or a question you have (might do a Q&A soon)!
Write whatever you want to, it’d turn out great anyways :) I’ll await Q&A then!
It's rare for me to find someone who puts "my" thinking to the page so clearly. Bravo. Hope we get a chance to talk soon — I've spent the last year-plus on a dedicated, grant-funded search for people who get this in hopes of coalition- and culture-building for the worlds you describe here.
My sense is that it’s not really “media” any more. It’s been replaced with mass-marketing.