My cyberspace
Perhaps my greatest frustration in this life is not being able to communicate with other human beings without the limitations of human languages, but rather with the clarity of concepts not bound by the communicative structure inherited from sound. Perhaps communicating through something like a programming language would represent some improvement, but it would certainly be far less effective than the structure of my own thoughts.
As far as I know, ancestral primates didnt have a better level of communication than other animals today, but at some point they began to associate strings of sounds to identify objects, and later, abstract concepts. At some point, someone figured out they could use their opposable thumbs to put those concepts into writing, and the development of intelligence must have accelerated thanks to this technology. But instead of establishing an amazing language, they let ordinary evolution give rise to different languages without a reasonable version control neither validation, and just like that, conjugations, declensions, the future subjunctive, that silent letter, or those two that sound the same but are different, all of you who think using language, which is a damned, immense mess. Everything I say in this content takes less than five seconds in my mind, and it doesnt occur to me to use something as slow as words.
The language we use to communicate has great power to shape thought (well, yours), and therefore the very language you choose to structure your thoughts will have an unintended influence on the conclusions you reach. And although all human languages share many characteristics, their distinct differences make them better for certain purposes. I dont speak many languages, but even with the few I manage acceptably, Im already aware of this depressing principle.
But if that werent bad enough, things get worse as technology opens up new possibilities. You know, writing on rock is fine, but wax are reusable, and this whole paper thing lets us carry kilobytes of information in our hand, which was definitely an improvement, but its pretty small compared to a hard drives… but then someone figured out they could put that information on a server and share it with other people. , and then we got bookface, Instant Glam, Tok-Tok, or any other crap.
Four paragraphs in and I still cant convince anyone that a messages container modifies the message itself. Whoever you are reading this, seriously, close it and go scroll through some endless garbage. Its better to be wrong together than right alone, I know what Im talking about.
Lets say a human being with a brain, lungs, and all those other hormone-producing organs opens a social media account to stay in touch with other human beings. At first, it might seem like a positive idea, but the owner of that social network is an actor with its own point of view. Perhaps at first, no one is fully aware of what theyre doing, because theres not much science developed, but they do it. And it turns out theres a "like" button, which is a quick and easy communication tool, and above all, it requires no effort. The one who gives the “like” has power, and the one who receives it gets a dose of one of those pleasure hormones. And, thanks to the miracles of micro-rewards, they become addicted.
Meanwhile, the social media provider gets a lot of information about how all this works. With this data, he begins to analyze and optimize everything at their disposal to increase his profits. In fact, with just a few likes, they can already determine an individuals political and social leanings and choose what to offer them to maximize their satisfaction. The act of communication has changed once again.
In truth, the clever owner of social networks and his skilled engineers dont really need the user “likes”, because they know where their eyes stop, how much time they invest in a shitty video, and what this means, and they optimize what they are going to offer them.
The tool itself no longer particularly encourages contact between people. Well, it doesnt dislike to, but in any case, people only upload things that have gone especially well for them, their vacation moments, some silly stuff about their pets, and those pathetic food photos.
Most of the content now consists of well-targeted messages from people thinking about how to profit from the situation. Some become professionals, while others fail or simply satisfy a narcissistic need. But right now the user now see content about how to train and get more muscular, or what to eat, or how to organize their house, their computer, or whatever, but in very short messages that dont demand too much attention. Because the owner of the social network wants an addict to that pleasure-generating hormone, in the same way as with the micro-reward of a "like" or a comment.
The message container has changed the message. Well, maybe the first message didnt change, but over time, it does. And if you have a message that goes against this trend, its going to rot in the void of misinformation, because the social network will determine that its not what the other users want to hear. Maybe its too long, or too depressing, but either way, its going to disappear.
But it goes even further. As social media can control what users see, it can very easily change their thinking by exploiting their confirmation bias, and this leads, for example, to electoral manipulation, which right now is not a secret. The power of social media was already immense because it dominated consumer doctrines, but with this new capability, it enters the realm of legislation and, in a new dimension, shapes the future of the planets inhabitants.
Perhaps this is the most ironic aspect. I mean, maybe someone will think about leaving the system. For some reason, Im completely immune to social media, which only bores me. I suppose Id like to be wrong like others, and at least have some positive input and be just another addict, but instead Im making the stupid improductive things like... reading books.
Anyway, even if a person doesnt use social media, he is still conrtrolled by its dictates, because every other is doing. The ability to make decisions has been completely nullified. If you play the game, you lose, and if you dont, you lose too.
If youve gotten this far and I havent convinced you, stop now, because what Im about to explain is based on the assumption that this is true. But if youre someone who thinks social media is fine, and who hasnt been manipulated into thinking what you currently think, what I say here will only be a waste of your time.
If you think (like me) this whole thing is bullshit were swallowing, lets move on. Come back in time with me. Not to the hominid who first thought of using his opposable thumb to record his thoughts with the help of tools, but a little later, to the nineties. Back then, they were already trying to influence our thinking through the press and television, and they were quite effective at it, but there were certainly no social networks. The internet was just starting to emerge, but it didnt interest many people. I had my first website when there were only two hundred thousand internet users in Spain, less than five per thousand of the population.
The possibility that information companies would lose control fostered a sense of technological optimism that has clearly proven misguided. We now know the outcome and what global access to information has led to, but back then we didnt see it coming. The tools we used to communicate were much simpler at every level; not only were their interfaces far more limited, but there was also no central authority dictating what we could or couldnt do. Of course, creating a website, sending an email, or sharing a file had a very limited reach—perhaps only five per thousand of the population—but now the reach of any action that doesnt comply with the implicit rules of social media is even smaller.
What you see on my cyberdeck is just a random view of cyberspace.online, a social network reimagined to represent the kind of communication it could have been. Dont think its simply a different design of the same concept, or that it satisfy the consumer needs of a few outdated people who fantasize about DIY devices. Most of us use it on conventional computers or mobile phones.
What defines Cyberspace is its fundamental concept. A deconstructed social network, communication limited to words, without AI, videos, suggestions, ads, cryptocurrencies, neither no algorithm choosing what we see next. For me, this is the most important part: we see the posts one after another, in the order they were published. And dont think its very useful; the people there arent necessarily your friends, although you might make a friend or two. The total number of users is minuscule, though it is growing.
And Im not trying to promote this social network. Its practically an art project by a developer you can talk to, and its subject to the conditions of its own existence, so the online cyberspaces trajectory is unpredictable. But the experience I get from participating is truly a glimpse into an alternative universe that cant be. A small microcosm that wont change anything, but allows me to look toward the evident collapse of human civilization and share it with other hominids who are also aware of it.
This feeling, knowing were in a dystopia, and participating in a small leisure activity that boasts about it almost to the point of dark humor, is very particular; its unlike anything else Ive experienced, so its nameless, following that damned habit of the limitations of human language. Inside my head, which communicates through concepts, I dont need a word, because if I had to think of two thousand words every time I needed one, Id be in trouble. But just in case you feel like talking about it, Ive decided to invent one: enesty.
As far as I know, ancestral primates didnt have a better level of communication than other animals today, but at some point they began to associate strings of sounds to identify objects, and later, abstract concepts. At some point, someone figured out they could use their opposable thumbs to put those concepts into writing, and the development of intelligence must have accelerated thanks to this technology. But instead of establishing an amazing language, they let ordinary evolution give rise to different languages without a reasonable version control neither validation, and just like that, conjugations, declensions, the future subjunctive, that silent letter, or those two that sound the same but are different, all of you who think using language, which is a damned, immense mess. Everything I say in this content takes less than five seconds in my mind, and it doesnt occur to me to use something as slow as words.
The language we use to communicate has great power to shape thought (well, yours), and therefore the very language you choose to structure your thoughts will have an unintended influence on the conclusions you reach. And although all human languages share many characteristics, their distinct differences make them better for certain purposes. I dont speak many languages, but even with the few I manage acceptably, Im already aware of this depressing principle.
But if that werent bad enough, things get worse as technology opens up new possibilities. You know, writing on rock is fine, but wax are reusable, and this whole paper thing lets us carry kilobytes of information in our hand, which was definitely an improvement, but its pretty small compared to a hard drives… but then someone figured out they could put that information on a server and share it with other people. , and then we got bookface, Instant Glam, Tok-Tok, or any other crap.
Four paragraphs in and I still cant convince anyone that a messages container modifies the message itself. Whoever you are reading this, seriously, close it and go scroll through some endless garbage. Its better to be wrong together than right alone, I know what Im talking about.
Lets say a human being with a brain, lungs, and all those other hormone-producing organs opens a social media account to stay in touch with other human beings. At first, it might seem like a positive idea, but the owner of that social network is an actor with its own point of view. Perhaps at first, no one is fully aware of what theyre doing, because theres not much science developed, but they do it. And it turns out theres a "like" button, which is a quick and easy communication tool, and above all, it requires no effort. The one who gives the “like” has power, and the one who receives it gets a dose of one of those pleasure hormones. And, thanks to the miracles of micro-rewards, they become addicted.
Meanwhile, the social media provider gets a lot of information about how all this works. With this data, he begins to analyze and optimize everything at their disposal to increase his profits. In fact, with just a few likes, they can already determine an individuals political and social leanings and choose what to offer them to maximize their satisfaction. The act of communication has changed once again.
In truth, the clever owner of social networks and his skilled engineers dont really need the user “likes”, because they know where their eyes stop, how much time they invest in a shitty video, and what this means, and they optimize what they are going to offer them.
The tool itself no longer particularly encourages contact between people. Well, it doesnt dislike to, but in any case, people only upload things that have gone especially well for them, their vacation moments, some silly stuff about their pets, and those pathetic food photos.
Most of the content now consists of well-targeted messages from people thinking about how to profit from the situation. Some become professionals, while others fail or simply satisfy a narcissistic need. But right now the user now see content about how to train and get more muscular, or what to eat, or how to organize their house, their computer, or whatever, but in very short messages that dont demand too much attention. Because the owner of the social network wants an addict to that pleasure-generating hormone, in the same way as with the micro-reward of a "like" or a comment.
The message container has changed the message. Well, maybe the first message didnt change, but over time, it does. And if you have a message that goes against this trend, its going to rot in the void of misinformation, because the social network will determine that its not what the other users want to hear. Maybe its too long, or too depressing, but either way, its going to disappear.
But it goes even further. As social media can control what users see, it can very easily change their thinking by exploiting their confirmation bias, and this leads, for example, to electoral manipulation, which right now is not a secret. The power of social media was already immense because it dominated consumer doctrines, but with this new capability, it enters the realm of legislation and, in a new dimension, shapes the future of the planets inhabitants.
Perhaps this is the most ironic aspect. I mean, maybe someone will think about leaving the system. For some reason, Im completely immune to social media, which only bores me. I suppose Id like to be wrong like others, and at least have some positive input and be just another addict, but instead Im making the stupid improductive things like... reading books.
Anyway, even if a person doesnt use social media, he is still conrtrolled by its dictates, because every other is doing. The ability to make decisions has been completely nullified. If you play the game, you lose, and if you dont, you lose too.
If youve gotten this far and I havent convinced you, stop now, because what Im about to explain is based on the assumption that this is true. But if youre someone who thinks social media is fine, and who hasnt been manipulated into thinking what you currently think, what I say here will only be a waste of your time.
If you think (like me) this whole thing is bullshit were swallowing, lets move on. Come back in time with me. Not to the hominid who first thought of using his opposable thumb to record his thoughts with the help of tools, but a little later, to the nineties. Back then, they were already trying to influence our thinking through the press and television, and they were quite effective at it, but there were certainly no social networks. The internet was just starting to emerge, but it didnt interest many people. I had my first website when there were only two hundred thousand internet users in Spain, less than five per thousand of the population.
The possibility that information companies would lose control fostered a sense of technological optimism that has clearly proven misguided. We now know the outcome and what global access to information has led to, but back then we didnt see it coming. The tools we used to communicate were much simpler at every level; not only were their interfaces far more limited, but there was also no central authority dictating what we could or couldnt do. Of course, creating a website, sending an email, or sharing a file had a very limited reach—perhaps only five per thousand of the population—but now the reach of any action that doesnt comply with the implicit rules of social media is even smaller.
What you see on my cyberdeck is just a random view of cyberspace.online, a social network reimagined to represent the kind of communication it could have been. Dont think its simply a different design of the same concept, or that it satisfy the consumer needs of a few outdated people who fantasize about DIY devices. Most of us use it on conventional computers or mobile phones.
What defines Cyberspace is its fundamental concept. A deconstructed social network, communication limited to words, without AI, videos, suggestions, ads, cryptocurrencies, neither no algorithm choosing what we see next. For me, this is the most important part: we see the posts one after another, in the order they were published. And dont think its very useful; the people there arent necessarily your friends, although you might make a friend or two. The total number of users is minuscule, though it is growing.
And Im not trying to promote this social network. Its practically an art project by a developer you can talk to, and its subject to the conditions of its own existence, so the online cyberspaces trajectory is unpredictable. But the experience I get from participating is truly a glimpse into an alternative universe that cant be. A small microcosm that wont change anything, but allows me to look toward the evident collapse of human civilization and share it with other hominids who are also aware of it.
This feeling, knowing were in a dystopia, and participating in a small leisure activity that boasts about it almost to the point of dark humor, is very particular; its unlike anything else Ive experienced, so its nameless, following that damned habit of the limitations of human language. Inside my head, which communicates through concepts, I dont need a word, because if I had to think of two thousand words every time I needed one, Id be in trouble. But just in case you feel like talking about it, Ive decided to invent one: enesty.