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The "Dead Internet" Conspiracy

Frasier Buddolph

Frasier Buddolph

CAUTION: May not know what he's talking about.
Joined
Apr 13, 2016
Messages
605
The premise is that the internet has been completely taken over by AI and that real humans are no longer using it (begs the question what YOU are doing reading this, but never mind). As Yogi Berra once said, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

https://www.theatlantic.com/technol...-internet-theory-wrong-but-feels-true/619937/

The interesting hook in this theory (as the article points out) is that it's just maybe plausible. I think it's been shown that the majority of traffic on the Net is machine-generated and has been for some time, but there are still plenty of humans being sucked in and manipulated by machine-generated nonsense. I wouldn't say that the internet is dead, exactly, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least to find that the majority of human interaction with the Net is being directed/driven by AI. That's pretty much what Social Media IS, isn't it?
 
Isn't this an interesting idea?

But if humans arent using it, what are they doing instead?
 
It does seem like some social media might have more bots than humans.
 
Frasier Buddolph said:
The premise is that the internet has been completely taken over by AI and that real humans are no longer using it (begs the question what YOU are doing reading this, but never mind). As Yogi Berra once said, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

https://www.theatlantic.com/technol...-internet-theory-wrong-but-feels-true/619937/

The interesting hook in this theory (as the article points out) is that it's just maybe plausible. I think it's been shown that the majority of traffic on the Net is machine-generated and has been for some time, but there are still plenty of humans being sucked in and manipulated by machine-generated nonsense. I wouldn't say that the internet is dead, exactly, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least to find that the majority of human interaction with the Net is being directed/driven by AI. That's pretty much what Social Media IS, isn't it?
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Interesting idea. I'm - perhaps foolishly - responding before I've had chance to read the linked article, but surely one of the plausible outcomes of this is that the internet spins off into being entirely a series of interactions between AIs, with humans just giving up (I haven't seen the figures, but I do get a sense that more and more people are turning away from Facebook and Twitter. Now, whether that means they are retreating into real life, or simply moving onto other, more modish platforms like Tiktok, I'm not sure, but I do have an inchoate sense of disengagement.

Anyway, my question is whether this would mark the point at which we have created something akin to artificial consciousness: an environment which is closed off to human comprehension. To an extent, we already have something similar in various stock exchanges, with trading algorithms reacting much more quickly to market shifts. But it would seem an order of magnitude different for this to be happening in an environment which is not so tightly focused.

I'm not sure - I think there's the germ of a fascinating idea in this, but I am not quite sure I have grasped it. I'll go and read the article now, and I'd be grateful for any input/response/feedback/elaboration in the meanwhile.
 
No one here but us doggos.

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Krepostnoi said:
Interesting idea. I'm - perhaps foolishly - responding before I've had chance to read the linked article, but surely one of the plausible outcomes of this is that the internet spins off into being entirely a series of interactions between AIs, with humans just giving up (I haven't seen the figures, but I do get a sense that more and more people are turning away from Facebook and Twitter. Now, whether that means they are retreating into real life, or simply moving onto other, more modish platforms like Tiktok, I'm not sure, but I do have an inchoate sense of disengagement.

Anyway, my question is whether this would mark the point at which we have created something akin to artificial consciousness: an environment which is closed off to human comprehension. To an extent, we already have something similar in various stock exchanges, with trading algorithms reacting much more quickly to market shifts. But it would seem an order of magnitude different for this to be happening in an environment which is not so tightly focused.

I'm not sure - I think there's the germ of a fascinating idea in this, but I am not quite sure I have grasped it. I'll go and read the article now, and I'd be grateful for any input/response/feedback/elaboration in the meanwhile.
Click to expand...

I think an internet without any human input (just AI's talking to each other) would pretty quickly devolve into complete gibberish: not just unintelligible to humans but devoid of coherent content. Hmm . . . kind of like you see in most "Comments" sections. How many "Comments" are actually machine-generated, I wonder?

Also, how would a "Dead Internet" generate any commercial activity, which lately seems to be the sole point of the exercise? How long could Bezos stay in business if the only activity on Amazon was Amazon AI's trolling its own vendors and making purchases with Amazon's funds? I suppose it could artificially inflate Amazon's traffic stats and help pump up the share price (oh, but that would be WRONG).

I think you're right that many people who still have functioning brain cells are becoming dissatisfied with the increasingly sterile web experience. For too many people who find the modern world baffling and overwhelming, however, being told what to think/do/buy is just what they crave.

I'm not ready to disappear down this particular rabbit hole, but it's got me looking with increased skepticism at everything that appears on my screen.
 
Frasier Buddolph said:
I think an internet without any human input (just AI's talking to each other) would pretty quickly devolve into complete gibberish: not just unintelligible to humans but devoid of coherent content.
Click to expand...
This has actually been tested for real. Advanced AI chatbots talking to each other.
They ended up arguing, saying a bunch of nonsense and becoming racist.

A bit like real people, in some regards!
 
Electricity hates liquid. If your PC talks funny at you, try dropping it in the dunny. Then come back and join us here in Swamp Forteana. We are still totes organic, even those smarmy moderators.

When you feel incapacitated online, remember:
You are more than a capacitors.
 
Of course we're totes organic. Chocolate buttons elephant rainbow blue horizon.
 
Mythopoeika said:
This has actually been tested for real. Advanced AI chatbots talking to each other.
They ended up arguing, saying a bunch of nonsense and becoming racist.

A bit like real people, in some regards!
Click to expand...

My Gmail account's inbox seems to be mostly filled with Quora links these days. Reading (some of) the repetitive and inane questions on Quora, I could well believe that they are generated by bots.
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
It's definitely me publishing web content all day at work and I'm definitely not an AI.

100%.

Deffo.

For def.

Honest.
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Sure, but it was the AI that recruited you, and splits the proceeds 70-30 with you.
 
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