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I find myself thinking about the effects of social media on humans. I feel we entered The Button Age. Want a pizza? Hit this button. Want to get groceries deli

by dsnuh 9y ago

I find myself thinking about the effects of social media on humans. I feel we entered The Button Age. Want a pizza? Hit this button. Want to get groceries delivered? Want to watch a movie? Hit a button. Want to show you care about some cause or event? Hit a button. Want to reward your brain with dopamine and feed your narcissistic behaviors by pretending that viewing a curated timeline of people's "lives" is friendship? Happy Birthday, press the button. We are perpetuating a simulacron of human relationship.

trophycase 9y ago
I call it the "Orgasmic Blob" theory. You just sit around in some VR world while robots do everything
- dsnuh 9y ago
  While I love sci-fi as much as the average HN user, this is not going to happen. At least unless you are fortunate enough to be part of the .01% that will be in control of the resources by that time. This is First World narcissism. We can't figure out how to feed everyone, but one day, when we finally make it, we can all blob around and livestream our lives while the robots take care of the drudgery. Hell, maybe someone on HN right now is working on Twitch for human behavior right now. The future's so bright I gotta wear shades.
vinay427 9y ago
I suspect this is why my attention span decreased significantly after extensively interacting with these websites for several years. I find a reduced ability to read books (of any kind), among other tasks over a longer time span. Longform pieces, such as books in particular, do at least force us to invest in the long term for a reward at the end, rather than near-instant gratification.
- dsnuh 9y ago
  I find it almost impossible to finish a book now. Of course, my life is much busier than when I was younger, but I think it is not just that. We are losing our ability to pay attention to anything longer than the news cycle. For example - Whatever happened in Vegas? So many unanswered questions about the worst shooting in American history, and it disappears from the news and public consciousness after what, 9 days? It's sad.

by dsnuh 9y ago

trophycase 9y ago

I call it the "Orgasmic Blob" theory. You just sit around in some VR world while robots do everything

dsnuh 9y ago
While I love sci-fi as much as the average HN user, this is not going to happen. At least unless you are fortunate enough to be part of the .01% that will be in control of the resources by that time. This is First World narcissism. We can't figure out how to feed everyone, but one day, when we finally make it, we can all blob around and livestream our lives while the robots take care of the drudgery. Hell, maybe someone on HN right now is working on Twitch for human behavior right now. The future's so bright I gotta wear shades.

vinay427 9y ago

I suspect this is why my attention span decreased significantly after extensively interacting with these websites for several years. I find a reduced ability to read books (of any kind), among other tasks over a longer time span. Longform pieces, such as books in particular, do at least force us to invest in the long term for a reward at the end, rather than near-instant gratification.

dsnuh 9y ago
I find it almost impossible to finish a book now. Of course, my life is much busier than when I was younger, but I think it is not just that. We are losing our ability to pay attention to anything longer than the news cycle. For example - Whatever happened in Vegas? So many unanswered questions about the worst shooting in American history, and it disappears from the news and public consciousness after what, 9 days? It's sad.