Most of my time is not spent scrolling my phone, because I don't like my phone and wish I didn't have it, and leave it in places throughout the day where I forget about it.
That being said, this hit me so hard. Haha. It's such a refreshing take and accurate perspective of the story we all tell ourselves in ine way or the other.
Vs taking a good hard look at the reality of what we're doing, how were being affected by it, and what we want to do about that reality.
I hadnt heard of this new feed. Really spooky. And it does seem like the start of Idiocracy. We keep accepting and using these technologies that seem to be harming us as a species.
That's good! We should forget the phone somewhere more often haha. Unfortunately my job requires me to be on the phone, which is terrible for my sanity but good for the pocket lol. Thank you Ken!
I was actually thinking about creating an AI video generated short about that! The only thing stopping me is I don't have an answer to the question what happens when we replace human intelligence with machine intelligence
.. the world becomes more boring and brittle maybe? Bigger odds of black swan events like the one NNT writes about hitting us unexpectedly? Idk...
The thing that gets me is the memory of my husband dying of cancer and how much the rest of us scrolled while he lay in bed, line into his arm with morphine dripping in, us with phones in hand by his bed, consuming another kind of drug to avoid being there, in denial a much loved husband and father was dying. I could see it at the time but found it very difficult to put the phone aside for long.
I'll be retiring from work next year. I don't want to scroll away my last years and have been thinking about it often and yet unable to do more than remove social media from my phone.
I'm old enough to remember my pre-internet brain, teenage years so dreamy, if bored then a book or a friend got me by, didn't know any different, and had no TV either, thanks to parents who were teachers and skeptical of its value. Got a job, had kids, no internet. Later on the kids insisted they needed us to buy a shared family computer and had sluggish dial-up internet, and belatedly I got a smart phone after going on longer than anyone I knew with the old Nokia. We were definitely not early adopters! But once there, I was addicted.
I know I need to get radical to get that brain back. At my library workplace an older guy comes in to use the wifi with laptop and phone to download podcasts and music and do online chores, use the printer etc. He doesn't spend too long. We've chatted and he has chosen to not have broadband at home and just has a small amount of data, can txt messages and make phone calls, and gets on with life.
So I'm thinking about doing the same. The money saved would get me a fresh laptop or phone when required, if I stuck at it. The library would be visited regularly. Hopefully the funding for it won't disappear.
If we all did what this guy does at the library we would all be more connected actually, with one another. I'd love to see it happen. Thank you for telling your story Jane, and sorry for your loss. Hope you achieve your goals!
What do you mean by this? As in, paying members should only dare comment if they're both agreeing with the article and lauding it? Is this where we've came to now with AI-related discourse?
This was great, and not just because I agree with your take. I enjoyed the roon-Benjamin-Kriss flow, and the image of logging in with a safety rope. You’re a good writer. It is amusing to be served up this essay by an algorithm after logging in for a dopamine hit - and fun that you’re aware of that. This essay stopped the scroll for me, though, so that’s nice.
I do hope that we’re close to a saturation point after which some healthy Luddism kicks in and we pivot hard toward in person. Too many things, and brains, feel like they are breaking or zombifying. I thank myself for having enough self awareness to never get on TikTok but still lose too much time in algorithmically selected FYP-type Meta feeds. I recently started cleaning them up and trying to redirect my attention toward activities requiring more concentration, including Substack (a harm reduction scroll!), writing, reading, and creative projects. It’s sad how hard it feels, but it’s been worth it.
I keep imagining myself advocating for no phones in my future children’s social settings. I hope I will, starting with more implementation in my daily life. I have some mostly offline circles already, and my partner and I implement this norm for meals, which helps for now. Otherwise, yeah, whatever do we have left?
Thank you for the thoughtful comment and for appreciating the experimental style! I do believe we're close to that saturation point. I see it more and more every from people I thought I wouldn't see it. I'm hopeful about that.
I feel that this short form video - now invading YouTube, I have to go through a barrage of stuff before I can find what I really want to see and listen to - initiated by TiKTok is really the death of "long form thinking". Brainless kids will become brainless adults that will submit to whatever propaganda Zuck, Ellisson and friends what to feed them. It's the ultimate brain hack that Harari warned us about. In some sense it shows our cognitive limitations as a species and there is some serious irony with the fact that we're using the latest technology to destroy our brains, when all our prior efforts were raising the bar.
Zuck and Wang are psychopaths obsessed by success and "winning" which is also a hack from our hunter-gatherer days. They just don't want to know it.
It's so sad that we dont understand how our brain actually works to the point that people building those weapons of mass brain destruction are victims of their own hacks too - they just have more money and they are heroes of our current culture.
Let's hope the AIs that replace us will be wiser. At least their algorithms will not be biased by hundreds of years of evolution.
Viewed through the lens of mental hygiene, we appear to be witnessing a future superfund cleanup site.
If cognition is to us as water to a fish or air to a bird, can we wonder at the thoughtless fascination with shiny newness? Who besides a few like you, will ask if the sparkly surface is contaminating the wells with chromium?
When I saw Vibes announced I felt the same as everyone else, but after thinking about it I actually don't really have that much of an issue with it. Or, more precisely, I don't have any real unique issue with it, per-se.
You have to remember that we are *not* the target demographic, and I'd disagree that 60+ year-olds are, either. I think Vibes is aimed solely at children, and for them I'd imagine it will be incredibly popular.
Remember that Zuck is aware that Facebook has been slowly becoming less relevant for Gen Z. That's why he tried to get Mr Beast and Mark Rober to start posting more seriously on Facebook. He's clearly focusing on the next generation, and this is just one part of that. Will this be everyone's cup of tea? No, but he knows that, and he doesn't care. (And it just so happens that they have ~$100bn to spend on somewhere on something, before it's "too late").
PS: I agree with Mike that the article came off a bit too strong.
Hmm, I think 60 year olds watch more short form videos than we tend to think! But of course, if there were any kids on Facebook, they'd watch it to!! (I take the insiderish part as a compliment tbh! Was my intention). My issue with Vibes specifically is the same as with other short form video but I wanted to explore more philosophically what it means for it to be AI. (I said "vibes as a stand-in" because I too, don't think there's a new problem with Vibes per se, just an old problem reimagined.)
Good luck ever having a conversation with people who view something **slightly** differently to yourself if this is how you attempt to do so.
For what it’s worth, plenty have written about the hypocrisy of chronically-online people who scroll endless apps having a problem with others potentially endlessly scrolling on a different app. You’re free to go and have a look if you’re ever interested in reading views outside the echo chamber that you appear to be in. Quite hilarious the tone you replied to my balanced comment. Maybe you read something that wasn’t actually there. Maybe you didn’t read it at all!
Did I misinterpret your comment about not caring about the Vibes app because it’s aimed at children? Also I have no idea what you’re talking about re echo chambers and chronically online
Most of my time is not spent scrolling my phone, because I don't like my phone and wish I didn't have it, and leave it in places throughout the day where I forget about it.
That being said, this hit me so hard. Haha. It's such a refreshing take and accurate perspective of the story we all tell ourselves in ine way or the other.
Vs taking a good hard look at the reality of what we're doing, how were being affected by it, and what we want to do about that reality.
I hadnt heard of this new feed. Really spooky. And it does seem like the start of Idiocracy. We keep accepting and using these technologies that seem to be harming us as a species.
That's good! We should forget the phone somewhere more often haha. Unfortunately my job requires me to be on the phone, which is terrible for my sanity but good for the pocket lol. Thank you Ken!
I was actually thinking about creating an AI video generated short about that! The only thing stopping me is I don't have an answer to the question what happens when we replace human intelligence with machine intelligence
.. the world becomes more boring and brittle maybe? Bigger odds of black swan events like the one NNT writes about hitting us unexpectedly? Idk...
Love this piece today.
The thing that gets me is the memory of my husband dying of cancer and how much the rest of us scrolled while he lay in bed, line into his arm with morphine dripping in, us with phones in hand by his bed, consuming another kind of drug to avoid being there, in denial a much loved husband and father was dying. I could see it at the time but found it very difficult to put the phone aside for long.
I'll be retiring from work next year. I don't want to scroll away my last years and have been thinking about it often and yet unable to do more than remove social media from my phone.
I'm old enough to remember my pre-internet brain, teenage years so dreamy, if bored then a book or a friend got me by, didn't know any different, and had no TV either, thanks to parents who were teachers and skeptical of its value. Got a job, had kids, no internet. Later on the kids insisted they needed us to buy a shared family computer and had sluggish dial-up internet, and belatedly I got a smart phone after going on longer than anyone I knew with the old Nokia. We were definitely not early adopters! But once there, I was addicted.
I know I need to get radical to get that brain back. At my library workplace an older guy comes in to use the wifi with laptop and phone to download podcasts and music and do online chores, use the printer etc. He doesn't spend too long. We've chatted and he has chosen to not have broadband at home and just has a small amount of data, can txt messages and make phone calls, and gets on with life.
So I'm thinking about doing the same. The money saved would get me a fresh laptop or phone when required, if I stuck at it. The library would be visited regularly. Hopefully the funding for it won't disappear.
If we all did what this guy does at the library we would all be more connected actually, with one another. I'd love to see it happen. Thank you for telling your story Jane, and sorry for your loss. Hope you achieve your goals!
Guhhhhh this is fucking good. You are so good. All other comments are just “but I have something to say too!” Maybe that’s their rope.
Thank you Adam! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
What do you mean by this? As in, paying members should only dare comment if they're both agreeing with the article and lauding it? Is this where we've came to now with AI-related discourse?
I think he intended it to cheer me up, not to be dismissive toward anyone. I appreciate both types of comments!
This was great, and not just because I agree with your take. I enjoyed the roon-Benjamin-Kriss flow, and the image of logging in with a safety rope. You’re a good writer. It is amusing to be served up this essay by an algorithm after logging in for a dopamine hit - and fun that you’re aware of that. This essay stopped the scroll for me, though, so that’s nice.
I do hope that we’re close to a saturation point after which some healthy Luddism kicks in and we pivot hard toward in person. Too many things, and brains, feel like they are breaking or zombifying. I thank myself for having enough self awareness to never get on TikTok but still lose too much time in algorithmically selected FYP-type Meta feeds. I recently started cleaning them up and trying to redirect my attention toward activities requiring more concentration, including Substack (a harm reduction scroll!), writing, reading, and creative projects. It’s sad how hard it feels, but it’s been worth it.
I keep imagining myself advocating for no phones in my future children’s social settings. I hope I will, starting with more implementation in my daily life. I have some mostly offline circles already, and my partner and I implement this norm for meals, which helps for now. Otherwise, yeah, whatever do we have left?
Thank you for the thoughtful comment and for appreciating the experimental style! I do believe we're close to that saturation point. I see it more and more every from people I thought I wouldn't see it. I'm hopeful about that.
This piece was great, ignore all previous vague criticism ☺️
Thank you Gabriel! :)
Alberto: an excellent essay, thank you. I, too, appreciated the roon > Benjamin > Kriss glacis. You might also be interested in this:
https://chinaheritage.net/journal/sam-kriss-on-his-zombie-era-flow-aura-farming-the-end-days/
Thank you for the link Geremie!
My pleasure, Alberto. I so enjoy your work. Geremie
I feel that this short form video - now invading YouTube, I have to go through a barrage of stuff before I can find what I really want to see and listen to - initiated by TiKTok is really the death of "long form thinking". Brainless kids will become brainless adults that will submit to whatever propaganda Zuck, Ellisson and friends what to feed them. It's the ultimate brain hack that Harari warned us about. In some sense it shows our cognitive limitations as a species and there is some serious irony with the fact that we're using the latest technology to destroy our brains, when all our prior efforts were raising the bar.
Zuck and Wang are psychopaths obsessed by success and "winning" which is also a hack from our hunter-gatherer days. They just don't want to know it.
It's so sad that we dont understand how our brain actually works to the point that people building those weapons of mass brain destruction are victims of their own hacks too - they just have more money and they are heroes of our current culture.
Let's hope the AIs that replace us will be wiser. At least their algorithms will not be biased by hundreds of years of evolution.
I am 62, I hate videos, even if human generated, and I did not know about Vibes until now. Should I worry?
You are probably fine!
Viewed through the lens of mental hygiene, we appear to be witnessing a future superfund cleanup site.
If cognition is to us as water to a fish or air to a bird, can we wonder at the thoughtless fascination with shiny newness? Who besides a few like you, will ask if the sparkly surface is contaminating the wells with chromium?
Came across as too “insiderish” if that’s a word?
Some interesting insights but again too insiderish
Possibly haha, can't write everything equally simple!
Great writing, but where is the point in all this?
Btw if you're on Android try minimalist phone, my (device) screen time hovers around 2 hours a day, mostly Substack
.. or if you're on Apple try another kid, babies are also a great way to get your head out of your brick
You... don't see it? Haha jk
When I saw Vibes announced I felt the same as everyone else, but after thinking about it I actually don't really have that much of an issue with it. Or, more precisely, I don't have any real unique issue with it, per-se.
You have to remember that we are *not* the target demographic, and I'd disagree that 60+ year-olds are, either. I think Vibes is aimed solely at children, and for them I'd imagine it will be incredibly popular.
Remember that Zuck is aware that Facebook has been slowly becoming less relevant for Gen Z. That's why he tried to get Mr Beast and Mark Rober to start posting more seriously on Facebook. He's clearly focusing on the next generation, and this is just one part of that. Will this be everyone's cup of tea? No, but he knows that, and he doesn't care. (And it just so happens that they have ~$100bn to spend on somewhere on something, before it's "too late").
PS: I agree with Mike that the article came off a bit too strong.
Hmm, I think 60 year olds watch more short form videos than we tend to think! But of course, if there were any kids on Facebook, they'd watch it to!! (I take the insiderish part as a compliment tbh! Was my intention). My issue with Vibes specifically is the same as with other short form video but I wanted to explore more philosophically what it means for it to be AI. (I said "vibes as a stand-in" because I too, don't think there's a new problem with Vibes per se, just an old problem reimagined.)
You don’t have an issue with an infinite brain-hijacking slop mill aimed at children? Your interpretation is far more alarming than Alberto’s.
Good luck ever having a conversation with people who view something **slightly** differently to yourself if this is how you attempt to do so.
For what it’s worth, plenty have written about the hypocrisy of chronically-online people who scroll endless apps having a problem with others potentially endlessly scrolling on a different app. You’re free to go and have a look if you’re ever interested in reading views outside the echo chamber that you appear to be in. Quite hilarious the tone you replied to my balanced comment. Maybe you read something that wasn’t actually there. Maybe you didn’t read it at all!
Anyway, all the best!
Did I misinterpret your comment about not caring about the Vibes app because it’s aimed at children? Also I have no idea what you’re talking about re echo chambers and chronically online