I was just reading yet another article describing a manner in which US government power is being used to make the internet shittier.
In that article, as is often the case, it’s being done supposedly “to protect the children,” which honestly sounds like the butt of a joke. Like, if the government were concerned about the well-being of children, it would be wise to stop allowing their food, water, and air to be poisoned. It would be wise to not allow the politicians who write the laws that surround them to accept gifts and, later, jobs from industries they regulate. There are like a bazillion different things the government could do to help improve the lives of children. Yet, collecting user data — often including photos and biometric data from childless adults — seems to be the first and last idea every time.
Sometimes I wonder if we are in hell. However, I think this is not. Rather, the people here in the US especially seem to be trying to make contemporary life a hell simulator. And like that saying that says something like “then they came for me, and there was nobody left to object” (or something), the internet seems to get shittier the more people are on the internet. I will add — and perhaps this is naively optimistic — I don’t think this hell-like condition in which we find ourselves is inevitable. Rather, I think this abysmal hellscape is simply the inevitable result of a population whose members have all decided that society is comprised of other people. Lo and behold, everyone is “other” to someone! Honestly, adults should realize this already. But, I’m not here to cry over spilled milk.
I want to help normalize taking responsibility for outcomes. Or at least wanting specific outcomes. The state of modern life is not random. It’s not even inevitable. What we have is what we get when people give up at scale. There’s a very popular idea in the US that somebody else will do “it,” but the trouble with that is that “it” is undefined. Moreover, if somebody else does it, they’re absolutely not going to do it in a way that expresses your preferences. Rather, they’re going to do it the way they consider adequate, which is likely very different than the way you want.
In my time here on Earth, I have repeatedly seen things that were made for a particular purpose get subverted and used for a very different purpose. Typically, the trend is towards manipulation and obfuscation, and that trend is treated as inevitable “just because.” I don’t buy it. It seems like that is yet another crumby outcome being treated as inevitable because it’s easier that way, as if expressing any other preference is simply a waste of effort.
The notion that society should need to adjust itself fundamentally because of theoretical harms is asinine. That politicians seem to strive to manipulate voters to achieve electoral goals seems to highlight the basic issue well. Moreover, if deception and scams are ever-lurking, I dare say we have identified a more significant problem. And I’ll add that if we have a population that is so easily duped, the problem is that people are lacking good judgment. Part of living life as an adult on earth is having sound judgment. That entails being able to identify the likelihood before people are able to take advantage of you. Sometimes, it feels like folks took Teletubbies far too seriously. Here on Earth, we are all surrounded by people pursuing self-interest. This means, unfortunately, a lot of people may try to deceive you in various ways, from outright scams to seeking a minor advantage that may not translate to something materially offensive. To advance, you must discern.
It seems like both politicians and “AI” execs want to purvey the idea that suffering is optional, but I think I learned that a principle of Buddhism is that life is suffering, which seems very real. I mean, think about it, you have shit tons of nerves. As such, pain seems extremely hard to avoid, likely impossible. In such a scenario, resilience is much more important than evasion. My impression is that certain corporate execs are selling the notion that pain is optional, but I tend to think of something I heard in the movie “Vanilla Sky.” Specifically, “without the sour, the sweet just isn’t as sweet.”