4 ms·

I think Girard got it right. Social media, as a whole, is a really big net negative to one's psyche, as we get to know what others have or desire, and become i

by jxub 9y ago

I think Girard got it right. Social media, as a whole, is a really big net negative to one's psyche, as we get to know what others have or desire, and become infected with their passions, fears and desires in this memetic process. It makes us uniform, bland, predictable neural networks, cogs involved in unifying the capitalistic market, and losing values far more important than money. Thankfully, there is still some resistance to that mental girardian unification, southern Europe seems to be harder to unify and bend to the global monoculture of anglo-capitalistic gollumization (I think Venkat at ribbonfarm.com wrote somethink about it) And I also still think we have a chance to suceed in this gollumized society as a species, we'll just be less happier in our endless pursuit of darwinian fitness.

unclebucknasty 9y ago
>It makes us uniform, bland, predictable neural networks, cogs involved in unifying the capitalistic market This. We have become mindless uber-consumers, copying vs creating, regurgitating vs thinking. Reposting an animated gif meme is valued more than original thought. As a consequence, we are easily infected (perfect word) with ideas. Worse, we believe these ideas to be the product of our own creation. Beyond that, all we seem to be able to muster is endless streams of desparate duck-lipped photos, begging for validation. This is what we've been reduced to and convinced is normal. It's a form of collective mental illness, encouraged by mind-hackers who profit from it.
- foobarian 9y ago
  I blame secularization. Human beings are genetically very good conduits for transfer of ideas. This is why in the past religions had such success in becoming popular and "infecting" people's brains. But once modern society decided that religion is bad, they created a memetic vacuum, a population of brains with empty slots ready to attach to whatever big idea came next. And that happened to be social networks with their strong feedback loops and financial incentives to be as addictive as possible. I wish there was a church option again that was a bit less loony. Something focused on community and shared values, less on the mystical. Honestly I think Unitarians come close but I don't know why their numbers are record low; maybe there needs to be more of a social network backlash to get some new members through the door.
  - IntronExon 9y ago
    The vast majority of people are part of a religion. What are you talking about? Religion has less ability to control people in some parts of the world, and people in some parts of the world are becoming less religious. Most of the world is still quite religiou though, often to their detriment. India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, huge swaths of the US, South and Central America, and so on are all very religious. So again, what are you really talking about?
    - foobarian 9y ago
      I'm talking about modern western society. Sorry I don't have scientific references, and this is all anecdata/personal observation but I don't know a single person in my large US city that is religious or attends church, and yet I know many that spend a lot of time on social networks and yet are lonely. Mostly combination of family/friends/work.
      - IntronExon 9y ago
        http://news.gallup.com/poll/200186/five-key-findings-religion.aspx http://news.gallup.com/poll/200186/five-key-findings-religio... http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/ http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/ https://www.prri.org/research/american-religious-landscape-christian-religiously-unaffiliated/ https://www.prri.org/research/american-religious-landscape-c... Atheists and agnostics account for a minority of all religiously unaffiliated. Most are secular. Atheists and agnostics account for only about one-quarter (27%) of all religiously unaffiliated Americans. Nearly six in ten (58%) religiously unaffiliated Americans identify as secular, someone who is not religious; 16% of religiously unaffiliated Americans nonetheless report that they identify as a “religious person.” Note that religiously unaffiliated represent ~21% only. Less dominant and slowly declining, but far from what you previously described as But once modern society decided that religion is bad.
        arcseco 9y ago
        That doesn't necessarily mean that people who identify as religious also attend a church. My family would consider themselves Catholic, yet they don't attend church. In my opinion people have replaced the hole that religiosity used to fill with pop-culture. The amount of time dedicated to reading into the meaning of films/television shows, or worshiping actors/actresses (see tabloids) is reminiscent of the seriousness that religiously dedicated individuals take to scripture.
- thom 9y ago
  Hacker News comments are no less preening, let's be honest.

by jxub 9y ago

unclebucknasty 9y ago

>It makes us uniform, bland, predictable neural networks, cogs involved in unifying the capitalistic market This. We have become mindless uber-consumers, copying vs creating, regurgitating vs thinking. Reposting an animated gif meme is valued more than original thought. As a consequence, we are easily infected (perfect word) with ideas. Worse, we believe these ideas to be the product of our own creation. Beyond that, all we seem to be able to muster is endless streams of desparate duck-lipped photos, begging for validation. This is what we've been reduced to and convinced is normal. It's a form of collective mental illness, encouraged by mind-hackers who profit from it.

foobarian 9y ago
I blame secularization. Human beings are genetically very good conduits for transfer of ideas. This is why in the past religions had such success in becoming popular and "infecting" people's brains. But once modern society decided that religion is bad, they created a memetic vacuum, a population of brains with empty slots ready to attach to whatever big idea came next. And that happened to be social networks with their strong feedback loops and financial incentives to be as addictive as possible. I wish there was a church option again that was a bit less loony. Something focused on community and shared values, less on the mystical. Honestly I think Unitarians come close but I don't know why their numbers are record low; maybe there needs to be more of a social network backlash to get some new members through the door.
- IntronExon 9y ago
  The vast majority of people are part of a religion. What are you talking about? Religion has less ability to control people in some parts of the world, and people in some parts of the world are becoming less religious. Most of the world is still quite religiou though, often to their detriment. India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, huge swaths of the US, South and Central America, and so on are all very religious. So again, what are you really talking about?
  - foobarian 9y ago
    I'm talking about modern western society. Sorry I don't have scientific references, and this is all anecdata/personal observation but I don't know a single person in my large US city that is religious or attends church, and yet I know many that spend a lot of time on social networks and yet are lonely. Mostly combination of family/friends/work.
    - IntronExon 9y ago
      http://news.gallup.com/poll/200186/five-key-findings-religion.aspx http://news.gallup.com/poll/200186/five-key-findings-religio... http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/ http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/ https://www.prri.org/research/american-religious-landscape-christian-religiously-unaffiliated/ https://www.prri.org/research/american-religious-landscape-c... Atheists and agnostics account for a minority of all religiously unaffiliated. Most are secular. Atheists and agnostics account for only about one-quarter (27%) of all religiously unaffiliated Americans. Nearly six in ten (58%) religiously unaffiliated Americans identify as secular, someone who is not religious; 16% of religiously unaffiliated Americans nonetheless report that they identify as a “religious person.” Note that religiously unaffiliated represent ~21% only. Less dominant and slowly declining, but far from what you previously described as But once modern society decided that religion is bad.
      - arcseco 9y ago
        That doesn't necessarily mean that people who identify as religious also attend a church. My family would consider themselves Catholic, yet they don't attend church. In my opinion people have replaced the hole that religiosity used to fill with pop-culture. The amount of time dedicated to reading into the meaning of films/television shows, or worshiping actors/actresses (see tabloids) is reminiscent of the seriousness that religiously dedicated individuals take to scripture.
thom 9y ago
Hacker News comments are no less preening, let's be honest.