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Author quotes this: > "I love Twitter. Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness." -- Jack Dorsey, Apr 25, 2022 Twitter is more like hook

Author quotes this: > "I love Twitter. Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness." -- Jack Dorsey, Apr 25, 2022 Twitter is more like hooking electrodes to a the brains of a frog and watching parts of it jump when you apply current. The people worrying about Musk: (a) believe that twitter offers such zombie like control over "global consciousness", (b) that such controls are a good thing, and (c) that Musk is the Wrong Person to wield them, which means there must be Right People somewhere. I think they're wrong on all counts.

legrande 5y ago
The global consciousness thing stems from the neural-net like search features of Twitter. You find unexpected and real-time updates on any subject imaginable. Often a Google or DuckDuckGo search query is no match for Twitter's search feature. It's the closest thing to hacking the world's hive-mind, however cobbled together it is. IMHO the more people that use it the better. We can create a sort of better noosphere[0] than the current one. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noosphere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noosphere
- hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
  "neural-net like search features of Twitter"?? "It's the closest thing to hacking the world's hive-mind"??? Puh-leese. While I personally don't find much use for Twitter, I don't hate it, but this "global consciousness" nonsense is just marketing babble.
  - mjr00 5y ago
    It's really a reflection of what Twitter is actually great at: surfacing things that you're already interested in. If you're the type of person who interacts with a lot of political things on Twitter, it's going to surface things that will make you engage, which is hot political takes. So it makes you believe that you are part of this global consciousness, despite it really being just tens of thousands of people engaging with each other circularly. Personally I have locked down my Twitter to only be about music and anime and it's really, really good at surfacing new art and new music that I enjoy. I have never seen a political take on my personal Twitter feed.
mattgreenrocks 5y ago
I continue to hope that Twitter, the One True Ring and Arbiter of All That Is Culturally Relevant, is metaphorically thrown into the lava. No one entity should have this level of power. Whatever takes its place will likely be a shadow of Twitter’s size, and risks being confined to smaller demographics. These are all features, not bugs. We will one day look back at this time and see how insane it is to take a website with a freeform, limited size text input field so seriously.
- s5300 5y ago
  > No one entity should have this level of power. Who’s agreeing that it has such power in the first place? > take a website with a freeform, limited size text input field so seriously. Who takes Twitter so seriously? Does it really need 4chan level of disclaimer saying “don’t take this so seriously” ?
  - judge2020 5y ago
    > Who’s agreeing that it has such power in the first place? In support of this, Twitter has a metric "monetizable daily active users". So while, in the United States, they have 68 million monthly active users, the amount of mDAUs is 38 million. While 1/10th of the United States is certainly no small feat, Facebook is probably the real issue with >250 million monthly active users in the United States[1] (I couldn't find a similar daily metric). 0: https://www.statista.com/statistics/970911/monetizable-daily-active-twitter-users-in-the-united-states/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/970911/monetizable-daily... 1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/247614/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/247614/number-of-monthly...
  - ufmace 5y ago
    > Who’s agreeing that it has such power in the first place? > Who takes Twitter so seriously? All of the people flipping their lid about it being bought out. If it truly has no power, why would anybody care who owned it?
- rchaud 5y ago
  From an episode of Parks and Recreation about a city councilor election debate (2011): "And now, we have a question from Twitter, which is apparently something that happens now". They had no idea.
Mikeb85 5y ago
Agreed. Musk's stated goal is to enable free speech. The less censorship the better. The truth always (eventually) rises to the top.
- themanmaran 5y ago
  > The truth always (eventually) rises to the top Note the "eventually" here can be 10-50 years. Which leaves a lot of room for short term damage. Reminds me a bit of Keynes's "In the long run we are all dead".
  - Mikeb85 5y ago
    > Note the "eventually" here can be 10-50 years. Which leaves a lot of room for short term damage. Lol eventually in today's world is like a week... 50 years ago there was no internet at all.
- s5300 5y ago
  > The truth always (eventually) rises to the top. Yes but sometimes things like the holocaust (Hitlers big lie) & the Khmer Rouge (kill all smart people & literally anybody who might even look “smart”) happen before that. Do we want such things happening again? There’s currently a large amount of a political party that wants to straight up murder the other in open season. The other wants like… healthcare, & equal rights (in actual practice, not just written) for minorities.
  - zozbot234 5y ago
    Okay, we'll censor the #KillAllMen hashtag and the like since imminent threats are not covered under "free speech".
    - s5300 5y ago
      Not sure what this has to do with anything being discussed but it definitely lets me infer the butthurt type of person you must be.
    - 5y ago
pfortuny 5y ago
I honestly feel insulted when people talk bout twitter as “the global consciousness”. I am not on twitter. Neither are billions of global human beings.
- themanmaran 5y ago
  Twitter has 229 million daily active users (likely including bot accounts). A far cry from Facebook and Instagram's 1.9 billion daily active users. I know it's a big site, but the "global consciousness" or "world's town square" are just Twitter user's stroking their ego.
  - grogenaut 5y ago
    I think that's cause many of them are in the journalism space
    - bluefirebrand 5y ago
      This is 100% why you hear so much about Twitter. Journalists are all on it. That's all.
      - slg 5y ago
        It is not just journalists, it is most of the people who shape culture including politicians and entertainers. That is why Twitter has a bigger multiplier effect than other social media platforms compared to their number of users. You may not consume Twitter directly, but odds are you still consume it filtered through the minds of the most powerful people in our culture.
jollybean 5y ago
a) Twitter, like other mediums, offers incredible influence. b) I don't think the powers that be really believe this is such a good thing. c) Musk is bad for Twitter, almost assuredly. He could feasibly bring some operational rigour, 'more and better ads' meaning more profit - but I'm extremely doubtful that he will make Twitter better in the civic sense. The best answer to Twitter is mostly just 'less Twitter'. I've had Twitter account for more than 10 years and hardly ever used it. The war in Ukraine however, has instantly addicted me to it, what with news coming 'straight from the front lines'. I have found this to be immensely valuable - though a bit too much to handle. That said, stepping back, even the 'thoughtful comment's are 95% fleeting and rubbish. Finally - only a small % of people use Twitter. Most people could give a shit. I think that distinction is important. Imagine if you have all the journalists, NGOs, academics - people who are addicted to talking, ideas, their own voices, to 'making a name' - and now send them to one giant conference where they can yell at each other. Most people could care less and wouldn't ever want to participate. In the end, if something on Twitter is important enough - it will make the news and you'll hear about it.
rchaud 5y ago
> Twitter is more like hooking electrodes to a the brains of a frog and watching parts of it jump when you apply current. To people whose brokerage accounts have 8-digit balances, that is probably not too far away from what they meant.

legrande 5y ago

The global consciousness thing stems from the neural-net like search features of Twitter. You find unexpected and real-time updates on any subject imaginable. Often a Google or DuckDuckGo search query is no match for Twitter's search feature. It's the closest thing to hacking the world's hive-mind, however cobbled together it is. IMHO the more people that use it the better. We can create a sort of better noosphere[0] than the current one. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noosphere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noosphere

hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
"neural-net like search features of Twitter"?? "It's the closest thing to hacking the world's hive-mind"??? Puh-leese. While I personally don't find much use for Twitter, I don't hate it, but this "global consciousness" nonsense is just marketing babble.
- mjr00 5y ago
  It's really a reflection of what Twitter is actually great at: surfacing things that you're already interested in. If you're the type of person who interacts with a lot of political things on Twitter, it's going to surface things that will make you engage, which is hot political takes. So it makes you believe that you are part of this global consciousness, despite it really being just tens of thousands of people engaging with each other circularly. Personally I have locked down my Twitter to only be about music and anime and it's really, really good at surfacing new art and new music that I enjoy. I have never seen a political take on my personal Twitter feed.

mattgreenrocks 5y ago

I continue to hope that Twitter, the One True Ring and Arbiter of All That Is Culturally Relevant, is metaphorically thrown into the lava. No one entity should have this level of power. Whatever takes its place will likely be a shadow of Twitter’s size, and risks being confined to smaller demographics. These are all features, not bugs. We will one day look back at this time and see how insane it is to take a website with a freeform, limited size text input field so seriously.

s5300 5y ago
> No one entity should have this level of power. Who’s agreeing that it has such power in the first place? > take a website with a freeform, limited size text input field so seriously. Who takes Twitter so seriously? Does it really need 4chan level of disclaimer saying “don’t take this so seriously” ?
- judge2020 5y ago
  > Who’s agreeing that it has such power in the first place? In support of this, Twitter has a metric "monetizable daily active users". So while, in the United States, they have 68 million monthly active users, the amount of mDAUs is 38 million. While 1/10th of the United States is certainly no small feat, Facebook is probably the real issue with >250 million monthly active users in the United States[1] (I couldn't find a similar daily metric). 0: https://www.statista.com/statistics/970911/monetizable-daily-active-twitter-users-in-the-united-states/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/970911/monetizable-daily... 1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/247614/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/247614/number-of-monthly...
- ufmace 5y ago
  > Who’s agreeing that it has such power in the first place? > Who takes Twitter so seriously? All of the people flipping their lid about it being bought out. If it truly has no power, why would anybody care who owned it?
rchaud 5y ago
From an episode of Parks and Recreation about a city councilor election debate (2011): "And now, we have a question from Twitter, which is apparently something that happens now". They had no idea.

Mikeb85 5y ago

Agreed. Musk's stated goal is to enable free speech. The less censorship the better. The truth always (eventually) rises to the top.

themanmaran 5y ago
> The truth always (eventually) rises to the top Note the "eventually" here can be 10-50 years. Which leaves a lot of room for short term damage. Reminds me a bit of Keynes's "In the long run we are all dead".
- Mikeb85 5y ago
  > Note the "eventually" here can be 10-50 years. Which leaves a lot of room for short term damage. Lol eventually in today's world is like a week... 50 years ago there was no internet at all.
s5300 5y ago
> The truth always (eventually) rises to the top. Yes but sometimes things like the holocaust (Hitlers big lie) & the Khmer Rouge (kill all smart people & literally anybody who might even look “smart”) happen before that. Do we want such things happening again? There’s currently a large amount of a political party that wants to straight up murder the other in open season. The other wants like… healthcare, & equal rights (in actual practice, not just written) for minorities.
- zozbot234 5y ago
  Okay, we'll censor the #KillAllMen hashtag and the like since imminent threats are not covered under "free speech".
  - s5300 5y ago
    Not sure what this has to do with anything being discussed but it definitely lets me infer the butthurt type of person you must be.
  - 5y ago

pfortuny 5y ago

I honestly feel insulted when people talk bout twitter as “the global consciousness”. I am not on twitter. Neither are billions of global human beings.

themanmaran 5y ago
Twitter has 229 million daily active users (likely including bot accounts). A far cry from Facebook and Instagram's 1.9 billion daily active users. I know it's a big site, but the "global consciousness" or "world's town square" are just Twitter user's stroking their ego.
- grogenaut 5y ago
  I think that's cause many of them are in the journalism space
  - bluefirebrand 5y ago
    This is 100% why you hear so much about Twitter. Journalists are all on it. That's all.
    - slg 5y ago
      It is not just journalists, it is most of the people who shape culture including politicians and entertainers. That is why Twitter has a bigger multiplier effect than other social media platforms compared to their number of users. You may not consume Twitter directly, but odds are you still consume it filtered through the minds of the most powerful people in our culture.

jollybean 5y ago

a) Twitter, like other mediums, offers incredible influence. b) I don't think the powers that be really believe this is such a good thing. c) Musk is bad for Twitter, almost assuredly. He could feasibly bring some operational rigour, 'more and better ads' meaning more profit - but I'm extremely doubtful that he will make Twitter better in the civic sense. The best answer to Twitter is mostly just 'less Twitter'. I've had Twitter account for more than 10 years and hardly ever used it. The war in Ukraine however, has instantly addicted me to it, what with news coming 'straight from the front lines'. I have found this to be immensely valuable - though a bit too much to handle. That said, stepping back, even the 'thoughtful comment's are 95% fleeting and rubbish. Finally - only a small % of people use Twitter. Most people could give a shit. I think that distinction is important. Imagine if you have all the journalists, NGOs, academics - people who are addicted to talking, ideas, their own voices, to 'making a name' - and now send them to one giant conference where they can yell at each other. Most people could care less and wouldn't ever want to participate. In the end, if something on Twitter is important enough - it will make the news and you'll hear about it.

rchaud 5y ago

> Twitter is more like hooking electrodes to a the brains of a frog and watching parts of it jump when you apply current. To people whose brokerage accounts have 8-digit balances, that is probably not too far away from what they meant.