7 ms·

There are many examples featuring extremists from all around the political landscape, but the one I find simultaneously the most fascinating and terrifying is t

by api 6y ago

There are many examples featuring extremists from all around the political landscape, but the one I find simultaneously the most fascinating and terrifying is the Qanon cult. Look into it a bit if you want to see just how deep the folie-a-deux social media rabbit hole goes. Someone should do a STTNG universe spinoff on the origin of the Borg, kind of like Caprica. "We are Borg. You will be pilled. Resistance is futile. #borg #assimilate #wwg1wga" "Borg" could start off as a fringe cult that goes viral, then someone invents direct neural connections (Neuralink?) and the members of the cult become a superintelligence and take over the whole society. They are the ones who become the first real collective intelligence because they live online and already have this cult identity that submerges the individual. Once the cult turned superintelligence takes over, it starts venturing out to "red pill" the entire universe. I mean what do you think is happening in all those cells on those ships? All the anons are meme-ing each other.

DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
But if they had a collective-intelligence, whose purpose really is to assimilate all other intelligences (and ideas, and so consequently ideals) then one would hope an honest, good-faith battle for ideas would play out inside this collective-intelligence and they would see just how indefensible that incel/MRA/redpill rubbish is compared to other ideas grounded in more substance. More fundamentally: a lot of reactionary opinion and right-leaning politics are predicated on a lack of empathy for others: I detect (armchair diagnosis) a lot of behaviour attributable to being on autistic-spectrum amongst far-right activists on the internet: it’s easy to rail against proponents of equality and doing things for a greater-good when one can’t relate to them - or be physically incapable of relating to them - but neurotypical people can end up also being unable to relate to others online, and this isn’t anything new: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/my-life-aspergers/200811/is-the-internet-making-people-little-bit-autistic https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/my-life-aspergers/20... ...so if there really was a collective-intelligence comprised of the worst of reactionary right-wing internet users, then I would actively encourage them to harvest the brains of the Tumblr users they troll so much: that way they would assimilate empathy and finally understand for themselves how the rest of the world operates.

by api 6y ago

DaiPlusPlus 6y ago

But if they had a collective-intelligence, whose purpose really is to assimilate all other intelligences (and ideas, and so consequently ideals) then one would hope an honest, good-faith battle for ideas would play out inside this collective-intelligence and they would see just how indefensible that incel/MRA/redpill rubbish is compared to other ideas grounded in more substance. More fundamentally: a lot of reactionary opinion and right-leaning politics are predicated on a lack of empathy for others: I detect (armchair diagnosis) a lot of behaviour attributable to being on autistic-spectrum amongst far-right activists on the internet: it’s easy to rail against proponents of equality and doing things for a greater-good when one can’t relate to them - or be physically incapable of relating to them - but neurotypical people can end up also being unable to relate to others online, and this isn’t anything new: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/my-life-aspergers/200811/is-the-internet-making-people-little-bit-autistic https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/my-life-aspergers/20... ...so if there really was a collective-intelligence comprised of the worst of reactionary right-wing internet users, then I would actively encourage them to harvest the brains of the Tumblr users they troll so much: that way they would assimilate empathy and finally understand for themselves how the rest of the world operates.