@LincolnsBible While the indifference people are showing not only to strangers but also the lives and health of their friends and loved ones is disturbing, there may be more forces driving this attitude than we imagine.
You already know about the vast, targeted psychological warfare online.
You already know about the vast, targeted psychological warfare online.
@LincolnsBible Allegedly being executed by actors such as Cambridge Analytica, Russian intelligence and other actors, via social media.
But there's another factor, built into this medium.
The steady addiction to the dopamine release of using it.
But there's another factor, built into this medium.
The steady addiction to the dopamine release of using it.
@LincolnsBible Others discuss this more in depth, but the goal of so many product manufacturers and service providers is to capture their audience by addicting them.
But even people who, say, play video games incessantly have trouble doing it all the time. They have work, school, etc.
But even people who, say, play video games incessantly have trouble doing it all the time. They have work, school, etc.
@LincolnsBible And whatever your hobby, it usually doesn't encapsulate your life. You don't aspire for it to encapsulate your life, unless you plan to do it professionally.
There's simply a limit to what video games, junk food, etc, can achieve.
There's simply a limit to what video games, junk food, etc, can achieve.
@LincolnsBible Enter social media, where increasingly people find many or even most of their friends have a presence.
Where people are "keeping up" by logging in.
Where the positive feelings of "reconnecting" by reading a post or liking a photo feel like a positive part of your life.
Where people are "keeping up" by logging in.
Where the positive feelings of "reconnecting" by reading a post or liking a photo feel like a positive part of your life.
@LincolnsBible But what happens when the medium aspires to fill as many aspects of your life as possible?
Your hobbies, your news, your politics, your passions.
What if it embraces all of them?
Your hobbies, your news, your politics, your passions.
What if it embraces all of them?
@LincolnsBible Instead of having various actors, for good or ill, vying for your attention and to some degree working against each other, they merge.
Not only the data and influence which can be mobilized to such terrible purpose.
Not only the data and influence which can be mobilized to such terrible purpose.
@LincolnsBible But you are being encouraged, relentlessly, to seek this affirmation.
This "positive feeling" which may actually give you the illusion of accomplishment, of understanding, of passion.
Of connection.
This "positive feeling" which may actually give you the illusion of accomplishment, of understanding, of passion.
Of connection.
@LincolnsBible All while pulling you further and further away from the realities of those things you aspire to.
Evolutionary algorithms in psychological warfare are their own nightmare, as we've discussed.
Evolutionary algorithms in psychological warfare are their own nightmare, as we've discussed.
https://twitter.com/Dry_Observer/status/1102346838945001472
@LincolnsBible But the engine behind social media itself has a terrible power of its own.
Which leads to the other twist in all of this.
Some of the self-destructive actions in all of this are an instinctive reaction against all this manipulation and distancing and existential dread.
Which leads to the other twist in all of this.
Some of the self-destructive actions in all of this are an instinctive reaction against all this manipulation and distancing and existential dread.
@LincolnsBible Here's the thing:
Normally, our "fight or flight response" is ill conceived, because the threats we face in our lives rarely involving sprinting from mortal peril or desperate hand-to-hand combat.
And the pandemic doesn't involve them either.
Normally, our "fight or flight response" is ill conceived, because the threats we face in our lives rarely involving sprinting from mortal peril or desperate hand-to-hand combat.
And the pandemic doesn't involve them either.
@LincolnsBible But it *does* pose a deadly threat.
Most people are not used to steeling themselves to an ongoing peril, which, depending on their life and work, may be with them for most or all of their day.
Which requires both vigilance and the avoidance of *over*-vigilance.
Most people are not used to steeling themselves to an ongoing peril, which, depending on their life and work, may be with them for most or all of their day.
Which requires both vigilance and the avoidance of *over*-vigilance.
@LincolnsBible Which can drain energies and attention actually needed for a real threat, not an imaginary one.
Enough fear and confusion to shut down rational thought.
Enough targeted propaganda, not making consistent arguments.
Enough fear and confusion to shut down rational thought.
Enough targeted propaganda, not making consistent arguments.
@LincolnsBible But in the tradition of evolutionary algorithms in psychological warfare, or water seeping into cracks, seeking the flaw wherever it might be found, and with whatever tool with which it might be exploited.
@LincolnsBible Most human beings are not prepared for this.
The @FBI and @NSAGov may be far more steeped in these tools after years of warfare against us all.
I've been, in my own way, involved in this space since childhood.
But we're all vulnerable. And most of us are not steeled to this.
The @FBI and @NSAGov may be far more steeped in these tools after years of warfare against us all.
I've been, in my own way, involved in this space since childhood.
But we're all vulnerable. And most of us are not steeled to this.
@LincolnsBible @FBI @NSAGov Which leads to that desperate need to push back against it.
So many people, through their holidays, their bars, their trips to the stables, the coffeeshop, the bookstore...
So many people, through their holidays, their bars, their trips to the stables, the coffeeshop, the bookstore...
@LincolnsBible @FBI @NSAGov Are doing insane things because they know, instinctively, these are the tools they have to save their sanity.
It's wrong.
It's self-destructive.
To a large degree, it's a form of insanity made manifest.
But it is *not* organic.
It's not who these people are.
It's wrong.
It's self-destructive.
To a large degree, it's a form of insanity made manifest.
But it is *not* organic.
It's not who these people are.
@LincolnsBible @FBI @NSAGov Not most of them.
We have never before been the targets of information warfare, cyber warfare, psychological warfare, economic warfare and biological warfare, simultaneously.
During a coup. In which our President and Republican Senate and House leadership appear complicit.
We have never before been the targets of information warfare, cyber warfare, psychological warfare, economic warfare and biological warfare, simultaneously.
During a coup. In which our President and Republican Senate and House leadership appear complicit.
@LincolnsBible @FBI @NSAGov We've fought wars before.
But never one like this one.
So when people talk about the abolition of Section 230 taking down all of social media...
I have to ask.
So?
We had a civilization before this darkness, and we will have one after.
But never one like this one.
So when people talk about the abolition of Section 230 taking down all of social media...
I have to ask.
So?
We had a civilization before this darkness, and we will have one after.
@LincolnsBible @FBI @NSAGov I've raised concerns in the past, that these tools could be turned to the service of the worst of humanity.
Well, it appears they were.
And we were saved mostly by their incompetence, and the intense labor of a fraction of our government and citizenry.
Well, it appears they were.
And we were saved mostly by their incompetence, and the intense labor of a fraction of our government and citizenry.
@LincolnsBible @FBI @NSAGov But even if these instruments were not the highway of a host of terrors into our minds and hearts...
Is their underlying structure anathema to us all, anyway?
nytimes.com/2019/06/03/wor…
Is their underlying structure anathema to us all, anyway?
nytimes.com/2019/06/03/wor…
@LincolnsBible @FBI @NSAGov Radical ideas are something I'm more than inclined to sharing.
But somehow that was possible before social media.
Would it destroy us if every identity on here were verified?
At least within reason?
If the worst actors found no lasting safe harbor?
But somehow that was possible before social media.
Would it destroy us if every identity on here were verified?
At least within reason?
If the worst actors found no lasting safe harbor?
@LincolnsBible @FBI @NSAGov And if the worst aspects of the Internet were not integral to our lives?
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