The death of the internet: why the future is terrifying, and how we fix it

Date:
Sun, 10 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Description:
Were living in a slowly degrading echo-chamber of AI, ads, and profits

FULL STORY
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The internet is in a precarious place. Its assaulted from all sides - not by
technological problems, but by social ones. Misinformation is rife, marketing
and advertising covers every facet of the web, and armies of politicized and
automated bots roam the wilds of its social media landscapes, all of which 
are filtered down to you through carefully curated algorithmic posts designed
to induce endorphin kicks and keep you on your platform of choice. Right now,
everything is changing, and not necessarily for the better. 

For many of us, looking back 10 or 20 years, the 'world wide web' looked
radically different in that golden age. The social media platforms, the
communities, the gaming landscape, the knowledge and accessibility, the
shopping - all of it felt different, and it was different. This goes beyond
rose-tinted glasses. The companies that joined into the foray were 
incredible, almost revolutionary. Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, 
Twitter, and Uber: all remarkably impressive, market-upsetting ideas that
broke the mold. They drew in masses of customers, users, and consumers with
awesome features and affordable pricing. 

Yet over time, those same features and costs have gotten predominantly worse
for the average Joe, as the companies have scooped out the investment in the
middle for the sake of greater margins. This usually occurs once they become
publicly-traded entities; driven by shares, investors, and board members
clamoring for greater profits rather than the ideals and concepts that 
founded them.

A digital world in decline 

The same sadly goes for the scientific endeavors too. Educational tools and
access to information are equally falling apart. So much of the information
out there has now been muddied and diluted by TikTok Reels and YouTube Shorts
in their thousands, spewing forth all manner of falsehoods from anyone who 
can pick up a phone and film a 60-second clip. Flat-earthers, fitness and 
diet influencers, climate-change deniers, moon-landing hoaxers, political
activists on both sides of the spectrum, so-called journalists pandering to
clickbait, you name it. Its increasingly difficult to identify whats real and
whats not, whats true fact and what isnt. Its partly why Google changes its
search ranking algorithms so often, as it continually tries to promote 
correct and accurate information over AI-regurgitated content and
misinformation. Millions of people filming themselves dancing probably isn't
what the founding fathers of the internet had in mind.

Were in a world of demagogues and social media personalities, where your 
reach and the number of views on your content dictate whether youre taken
seriously or not. Whether your facts and statements are taken as truth. We 
saw it during COVID, we saw it during the US elections, we saw it with the 
war in Ukraine, and the recent UK riots. It isnt slowing down either, and the
impact it has is arguably getting worse. 

We even have services now that capitalize on that too. Ground news, collating
all the media together to give you the full spectrum of political opinion on
any one given event, fact-checkers covering masses of social media platforms,
and Community Notes pointing out when folks with lots of clout spout utter
nonsense. Hell, there are even entire divisions of scientists out there now
making a living out of debunking the empirically-incorrect insanity spewed by
other social media influencers. Its absolutely wild.

Algorithmic Echo Chambers

The problem is systemic. It started in social media, with algorithms
delivering 'curated' content rather than just showing you a historical
timeline of those you follow. Your likes and dislikes, what you spend time
watching, reading, listening to, it all became fuel for the fire. Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter - all of them feed you content in that manner. If thats
right or left-wing politics, or 9/11 conspiracy theories, or cute black
labradors, it didnt matter: as long as you stay on the platform and consume
more ads. In fact, it's become so prevalent that its hard to find a feed
system on any social media platform today that doesnt do that. 

The problem with this is that it has effectively stifled creative debate. No
longer are your opinions challenged or questioned, no longer do you have
meaningful conversation and discussion, but instead you're fed more and more
of the same content. That in turn reinforces and influences your beliefs as a
consequence, as you sit in an echo chamber of like-minded people repeating 
the same things. Its not difficult to see how this actively leads to an
increase in extremist beliefs and views. 

How can your opinion change or evolve if theres no one there to challenge it?
Its part of the reason why so many in the last few elections across the 
planet are almost in utter disbelief when their political candidate of choice
doesnt win. Because to them, all they see is a deluge of support online for
their chosen party and nothing else. Hope for the hopeless? 

Its a bloody mess: a relatively free market, held back only by the sparsest
amount of regulation. 31 yearsthats how long its been since the World Wide 
Web made its first foray into the public arena. Its hard to imagine what Sir
Tim Berners Lee envisioned; itd be like this far into the future. I doubt 
this is what he imagined (although Tim, if youre reading this and are free 
for a chat: hit me up, Im so up for that).

That said, theres still hope. The amount of good thats come out of the WWW
since its conception, and even today, is still far greater than the net
negatives (no pun intended). Even if in ten years its just filled with
AI-generated articles and gradually degrading memes while Amazon charges you
$90 a month for next-week delivery, as long as people are still using it to
actively and openly communicate with one another, itll be a net positive. 

We dont hear about the number of scientific breakthroughs that have been
accelerated by the internet, the discoveries, the health conditions cured, or
the humanitarian aid organized; we dont hear about any of that because thats
not what makes the news. Its not interesting. Thats not included in the
scientific journals or the papers. We dont hear about the relationships 
formed or how integral it is to our modern societys infrastructure as a 
whole. 

How do you fix it, then? Well, its not so simple as slapping a band-aid on
something. By its very definition, the World Wide Web is exactly that: 
global. To get some form of consensus on how to improve the current cesspool
that it is requires collective effort. Weve seen that happen before in the
tech industry. Theres a reason JEDEC exists, and standards like USB and DDR
are a thing; we need one for the internet, one with teeth on a much larger
scale. One with smart minds behind it, looking at the monopolization of
segments of the internet and pushing governments to act on it. Suggesting
legislation. Looking at patterns and predicting what might occur. One that 
can react rapidly without necessarily being hindered by bureaucratic 
nonsense.

Then theres education, and Im not talking just about kids and young adults,
but for all ages. In a similar manner to how we strive for complete adult
literacy, we need to have a big push to make each nation-state computer
literate as well, beyond talking about how to turn on the PC and this is the
internet," but how to identify fake posts, how to fact-check statements, how
to find multiple sources, and the legality behind what you post and how you
post online. So much of that is just not available, or not known to the
public, of all ages. 

Learning new critical skills as a global society is hard. But we did it for
the threat of nuclear annihilation in the Cold War; we did it with the
introduction of the seat belt in cars; we did it for reading; it needs to be
done again, but for the digital age. Is it a challenge? Yes, but this isnt 
the first time weve faced technological turmoil, nor will it be the last.

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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/computing/internet/the-death-of-the-internet-why-the
-future-is-terrifying-and-how-we-fix-it

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