The human hive mind existed long before Twitter. Very little of a human's knowledge is discovered by them, it's passed from generation to generation. First it w

The human hive mind existed long before Twitter. Very little of a human's knowledge is discovered by them, it's passed from generation to generation. First it was spoken, then written, then typed. But social media, when looked at through the lens of collective thought, is unwell IMH(umble)O. I remember participating in old phpBB forums in the mid/late 90s. You'd show up for an hour, read everything that happened over the last few days, go off an think about it, come back later and respond. The conversations were deep and thoughtful, even if the topics weren't. If I sat in a room with someone who thought/behaved like these forums, I'd be comfortable. It would be a good conversation, I'd feel safe, and I'd probably walk away learning something new. If a physical human thought the way the Twitter hive mind thinks - I'd avoid them. They would be terrifying. Jumping from thought to thought, rapidly transitioning emotional states, unable to focus on a topic for more than a social media cycle, constantly checking to see if people like what they said... The hive mind on many of the popular social media platforms is not healthy. I don't think this outcome is inevitable when large groups of people come together to communicate. It feels like a byproduct of engagement driven social media - where the flywheel of growth/profits is coupled to humans constantly indicating to the system that they are "engaged" by interacting in some way.