In the future—not the distant future, but ten years, five—people will remember the internet as a brief dumb enthusiasm, like phrenology or the dirigible.
This goes hard. And just yesterday I read this post about Google optimizing the interesting stuff away from its search engine: https://reasonablypolymorphic.com/blog/monotonous-web/index.html. I wonder if the internet will find a way to surprise us out of the gradient descent it is tragically undergoing.
The internet of enthusiasts, usually technical, from the beginnings of networking are still there but the vast majority of webbish traffic is evanescent, I wouldn't miss it at all...
Reading this I felt that prophecy was being whispered directly into my ears. I've been thinking quite a lot about 'disconnection' or 'digital seclusion', their possibility, the amount of courage one needs to perform them... Now I wonder how that 'death' is gonna look like – Will it be a complete obliteration of anything apart from what you mentioned, or some things (like streamings, etc.) will live? How gradual it's gonna be?
I've been thinking of a novel(la) on exactly that topic (approaching it with allusions etc) and your essay helps quite a lot in sorting thoughts out. Cheers!
that's so great to hear - definitely a rich theme worth exploring further. And I like how you invoke courage there because that is really what is needed. I may write further about courage (or the lack thereof) at some point.
Sam Kriss doesn't allow comments, so I'll say it here: his essay that you quote is by far the piece of writing this year that has most influenced, most stuck in my brain. I've probably read it half a dozen times now.
What a head blast that was!
This goes hard. And just yesterday I read this post about Google optimizing the interesting stuff away from its search engine: https://reasonablypolymorphic.com/blog/monotonous-web/index.html. I wonder if the internet will find a way to surprise us out of the gradient descent it is tragically undergoing.
Thanks dude. Great article too, thanks for sharing -I knew SEO was wild but mannnn
You'll be wanting Neeva. Go look it up.
The internet of enthusiasts, usually technical, from the beginnings of networking are still there but the vast majority of webbish traffic is evanescent, I wouldn't miss it at all...
A fascinating prognostication!
I get information all the time from the internet. All the attempts to talk to strangers might die. It's very bad at that.
A piece that could open a half-opened or barely opened eye and the heart to the really beauty.
Reading this I felt that prophecy was being whispered directly into my ears. I've been thinking quite a lot about 'disconnection' or 'digital seclusion', their possibility, the amount of courage one needs to perform them... Now I wonder how that 'death' is gonna look like – Will it be a complete obliteration of anything apart from what you mentioned, or some things (like streamings, etc.) will live? How gradual it's gonna be?
I've been thinking of a novel(la) on exactly that topic (approaching it with allusions etc) and your essay helps quite a lot in sorting thoughts out. Cheers!
that's so great to hear - definitely a rich theme worth exploring further. And I like how you invoke courage there because that is really what is needed. I may write further about courage (or the lack thereof) at some point.
I mean, isn’t putting your phone away for a day equals now to what retreating for a week to a zen monastery was 30 years ago? :D
(Please write it)
Sam Kriss doesn't allow comments, so I'll say it here: his essay that you quote is by far the piece of writing this year that has most influenced, most stuck in my brain. I've probably read it half a dozen times now.
I agree obviously, so good