Today’s Internet is like Big Gulp. It’s a giant cup of colored water that’s filled with sweet dopamine and can be made into any flavor you want.
Where did I go after waking up from my sugar coma? Is there an exit door to this Wonka nightmare factory?do Hotel California Does it offer anything else other than a feedback loop of fentanyl-laced identity politics? I tried to run away, and the last thing I remember was searching around in my tabs because I had to find that post on the page I was on before. “Relax. We’re programmed to receive great, targeted advertising. You can check your cookies whenever you want, but you can’t leave.”
And there is no need to create a place that is “addiction-free.” I’m asking if you can do something that isn’t a giant fountain of high fructose corn syrup. The question is not in a world where there is only soda, but whether it is possible to drink good wine.
For example, is it possible to build a dating app that doesn’t cater to the basic urge of repeating one-night stands? Is there a way to reconfigure the entire format towards long-term monogamy?
French fries are a great example of an addictive food. Stimulates all the sensors on the tongue. It’s soft on the inside and fried on the outside. Most are salty, but can also be sweetened with the right dipping sauce, such as ketchup or Wendy’s Frosty. This is one of the formulas that makes a product addictive. Respond to as many sensors as possible. When talking about digital products, many smart entrepreneurs ignore the idea of creating a non-addictive product. Because then you’ll lose all your user retention. I’m not advocating giving up all addictive digital products in favor of non-addictive products. What I’m saying is; everything we have In the digital realm, it’s French fries. There’s no equivalent to wine, which is also highly addictive and can be a great business, but at least it’s rarer. This is a question of high culture versus low culture. Software developers don’t build products that can achieve high culture.
digital calories
For example, can you build a dating app that doesn’t cater to the basic urge of repeating one-night stands? Is there a way to reconfigure the entire format towards long-term monogamy? So far The improved app does not allow you to chat with more than one person at a time. User preference filters give you room to consider nuance and realistic expectations rather than wild platitudes. Swiping can become a habit, like rushing through a creepy wax museum. Few apps are trying to break that habit and help users find the one person they can build a life with.
Social media apps generally rely too much on documentation. Users attend concerts with their phones in readiness for the right moment to make what should be a collective experience their own. What if we could use social media to regain that original spirit? Let’s say someone designs a party event app that allows people in a specific area and with common interests to meet in person. The app even makes them forget the very device that brought them together in the first place. Some of the most interesting innovations are born out of dissatisfaction with the media rather than appreciation of it. A founder who hates social media will start a party app with the goal of helping people throw the best parties and have a good time with all kinds of people. Then people would stop staring at their phones.
We’ve seen hardware products for reading and note-taking that embody this approach, and in the realm of software tools for thinking, apps are implementing this idea. But I think it’s possible that most of the software could be rethought and redesigned to have digital monuments.
Can you build a platform for your data infrastructure and be confident that it will be viewed with the same wonderment that ancient Roman aqueducts are viewed today? Could you build a streaming channel that conveys the glory of the Colosseum? Is it? The answer is uncertain. Modern architecture takes on a sameness that software developers should avoid. Glass panes and black monoliths took over the financial districts of Frankfurt, São Paulo, Mexico City, Shanghai and London. In fact, it’s no coincidence that they resemble the black glass monoliths we carry around in our pockets and spend much of our waking lives.
global cultural wasteland
A world with a monolingual internet, where all local traditional clothing is washed away and all meals are the same generic recipes as everywhere else would be a tragedy. It’s tragic to see all digital content heading in the same direction of sugar-coating. Even if our fried digital content became the finest wine, it would still be tragic. But what’s even more tragic is that the digital world is far removed from the vineyard and consists entirely of Big Gulps.
There are some signs of hope, including long-form podcasting. But again, you need to promote your podcast through these sweet clips to entice people to listen to everything. When was the last time you were sold a bottle of wine by taking a photo of the sugary version? This shows that the current market is oversaturated with sugary media that doesn’t compromise your attention span. You need to engage the market to get people into long-form media.
New paradigms in computing, virtual reality, and audio assistants offer completely different options. One involves strapping a fully encapsulated medium to the face, perhaps using headphones or a sensory deprivation tank, to build a wall against the intrusion of external stimuli. Audio assistants, on the other hand, offer technology that completely blends into the background, to the point of creating an intangible atmosphere. Sound is more human and less intrusive, allowing you to relax and focus even when privacy implications lurk beneath the noise.
Maybe there is a third, narrower exit. Perhaps we are robert nozick, fly around aimlessly for the rest of your life, but instead use virtual reality to enhance certain areas of your remote work. Perhaps we don’t have intelligent devices in every room (both smart speakers and smartphones) that listen to our voices every waking hour, but we do have removable devices that we can connect to when we need them. I have a device with a microphone and camera. Perhaps a locally encrypted private key to a smart speaker could be connected to locally stored memory without the need for an internet connection. Perhaps that way you can utilize this media without completely losing your privacy. It would be close to the idea that Vannevar Bush had in his 1945.
Considering some kind of mechanized personal devices of the future private files and libraries. A name is required, but “memex” is sufficient for random naming. A memex is a mechanized device that allows individuals to store all their books, records, and correspondence for very quick and flexible reference. It is an expanded and intimate supplement to his memory.
Perhaps we can find a way to build beautiful places, both in the real world and in the digital realm, that resist the cold uniformity of the financial district. Let’s imagine a digital realm that breaks away from basic habits, isolation, and empty calories and creates more stable behaviors that are more human, similar to the meditation you feel when you enter a more remote museum or church. . Perhaps you can build a place online that offers content that doesn’t feel like fast food, and eventually enjoy the equivalent of a glass of wine on your digital content diet.
