Since influence became monetized Goodhart's law kicked in, making popularity irrelevant as an indicator of quality. It's really the same mechanism every time :

Since influence became monetized Goodhart's law kicked in, making popularity irrelevant as an indicator of quality. It's really the same mechanism every time : - capitalism is about making money, more money, "better" - someone finds a way to package an activity to a product to be sold - that activity gets perverted beyond recognition by cutting all corners in order to "just" earn more money by "wasting" less. Rinse & repeat to the next activity. PS: context: one recent a16z investment is doublespeed.ai