The Web Is Making People Stupid, TWIMPS And Getting TWIMPSER Options Rating

[Jon Awbrey]

It's all a plot by Alien Wiki-Φungi …

Or maybe Ripofflichens …

Or Groople …

Some truly evil force like that …

The fact that Sarah Palin gets any press at all is proof that the condition is terminal …

Jon (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/hrmph.gif)

[Text]

The question we have to keep asking is why - what is there about the current SocTech Architecture of the Web that is making it such a race to the bottom of human potential on almost every front?

The "why" people do things at the bottom of human potential with the web architecture... maybe boredom, narcissism, lust for power, something that hits their psyche and that makes them feel well?

[Jon Awbrey]

The question we have to keep asking is why - what is there about the current SocTech Architecture of the Web that is making it such a race to the bottom of human potential on almost every front?

The "why" people do things at the bottom of human potential with the web architecture … maybe boredom, narcissism, lust for power, something that hits their psyche and that makes them feel well?

The thrust of my assertion is not merely that Dubya³ allows isolated individuals to becomes as vapid as they wish to be — I am saying that there is an amplified entropism, a grubitational distraction, a selective devolutionary pressure that is dragging the whole mass of participants down into the depths, even those who are governed by other wishes, even those who resist as best they can.

That is the systematic part of the dynamics that demands to be explained.

Jon (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/hrmph.gif)

[dogbiscuit]

The thrust of my assertion is not merely that Dubya³ allows isolated individuals to becomes as vapid as they wish to be — I am saying that there is an amplified entropism, a grubitational distraction, a selective devolutionary pressure that is dragging the whole mass of participants down into the depths, even those who are governed by other wishes, even those who resist as best they can.

That is the systematic part of the dynamics that demands to be explained.

Jon (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/hrmph.gif)

It is interesting, and I agree that it is not Teh InterWeb per se that is the problem, it just makes it all rather obvious.

I can see the same thing on TV, where once there was a creative zeal and it was seen that TV was an important medium of education and entertainment, but now - well, we don't do documentaries because there is no demand, people want to watch manufactured X-Factor pap, even though they know it is manufactured X-Factor pap and so on, people have time in their lives to watch several nightly soaps of despair & ignorance with no redeeming features.

Look at the music industry - if you went back to the hey-day of music creativity in the 60s and 70s, although there were cynical money making operations, a lot of bands were really in it because they felt it was important in its own right. I don't think Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, The Who, The Beatles or whatever were driven by financial motives so much as the desire to make music. It was fascinating to see a documentary on the German Krautrock movement to see how much it was politically driven. That creative urge seems to have been much diluted. There are still talented musicians, but they get subverted into the industry.

I think it comes down to a fundamental loss of direction of being unable to cope with leisure time. Perhaps we need a good world war or something (bring on that Global Warming!), but I think in the first world, the population has it fairly easy and is just looking for ways to fritter away the time. If life was more challenging, people would value their time more and be more demanding.

[Milton Roe]

I think it comes down to a fundamental loss of direction of being unable to cope with leisure time. Perhaps we need a good world war or something (bring on that Global Warming!), but I think in the first world, the population has it fairly easy and is just looking for ways to fritter away the time. If life was more challenging, people would value their time more and be more demanding.

I mentioned Farm Town on facebook which might be the posterchild site for this. People laboriously planting and harvesting electronic crops for electronic money to buy electronic farm implements. It approaches mental illness.

As for societies, they do seem to have more problems when they lack a clear unified national war. They go looking for wars in times of peace. Poor Bill Clinton. And poor GW Bush for his first 8 months in office. No good wars. The best we could do between Gulf Wars, was turn back to the old War On Drugs (see War on Our Underclass). We tried the War on Cancer and the War on Povery, but they certainly weren't very exciting, since they didn't involve the Bread and Circuses of Dallas SWAT and Bad Boys, or the Smart Bombing or Preditor-drone-zapping of Sand People (a great videogame; it's better than Farm Town). In fact, there wasn't anybody to shoot or catch (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/unhappy.gif) Killing a tumor or vaccinating some kid? That's never going to make prime time.

[dogbiscuit]

I mentioned Farm Town on facebook which might be the posterchild site for this. People laboriously planting and harvesting electronic crops for electronic money to buy electronic farm implements. It approaches mental illness.

As for societies, they do seem to have more problems when they lack a clear unified national war. They go looking for wars in times of peace. Poor Bill Clinton. And poor GW Bush for his first 8 months in office. No good wars. The best we could do between Gulf Wars, was turn back to the old War On Drugs (see War on Our Underclass). We tried the War on Cancer and the War on Povery, but they certainly weren't very exciting, since they didn't involve the Bread and Circuses of Dallas SWAT and Bad Boys, or the Smart Bombing or Preditor-zapping of Sand People (a great vidogame-- it's better than Farm Town). In fact, there wasn't anybody to shoot or catch (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/unhappy.gif) Killing a tumor or vaccinating some kid? That's never going to make prime time.

Perhaps cinema and TV is too passive for people to feel fulfilled, and in some demented way playing these multi-player trading games make people feel fulfilled.

There is something of fulfilment being sought in Wikipedia. The man in the street probably feels pretty useless in the grand scheme of things. If they are not fulfilled in their personal life, they perhaps aspire to changing the world, and of course, Wikipedia offers a small stake in being part of that vision - all these amateur scientists able to contribute when they are not left near the large thingumybob collider, or become a brain surgeon. Still a delusion though. I suspect the route of it is trying to feel valued in a world of 6 billion people isn't easy. 100 years ago, you generally only had a few 1000 people to compete with.