Blog 01 Reddit & More

Image result for reddit banner
Hi there, I misread the instructions and went ahead to share these two videos that I thought were super interesting. They also happened to be related closely to the course, but one of my favorite websites has to be Reddit.com. I browse Reddit as much as I browse Instagram and Facebook whenever I'm on my laptop. For me, Reddit provides a incredibly catered experience where I can find forums on just about anything. Subforms known as "Subreddits" that can span from the "/r/funny, /r/cats, to really specific topics" /r/showerthoughts". Some of my favorite subreddits if you're into biographical, IAMA is worth checking out. Influential figures like Barack Obama has had his own iAMA on Reddit. 

Anybody is capable of holding their own AMA (Ask Me Anything) so you'll come across threads where you'll be able to ask people of many lifestyles you may never come across like for example, a rancher in Wphisyoming. AMA and IAMA are great reddits to read up on some different people and the experiences they share. I like Reddit because it's the perfect intersection between politics, global news, popular culture and education. Reddit also does a good job at fishing for relevant content and topics I'd be interested in, which is partly how I stumbled on the following video.


Timeframe - 21:41-25:00
Note: Don't skip this, trust me.

The video features Chamath Palihapitiya, an early senior executive of Facebook and venture capitalist who discusses his concerns about social media and expresses guilt for having a part in the creation of Facebook. He specifically talks about the direction that social media is taking society and how it is affecting us on a macro level. What's really interesting is that in the video he says "It literally is a point now, where I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. That is truly where we are... The dopamine driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works." He goes into further details about how susceptible public opinion and in turn democracy can be manipulated by ones' interactions on social media. He insists this is a global problem as long as we're all collectively contributing towards The Internet of Things and how human behavior is getting predictable due to data collected by these applications we use every day. Palihapitiya's video was enough for me to reaffirm my departure from Facebook. Taking the issue of valuable information that extracted into a larger collective database one step further, Elon Musk takes a step further to suggest this data accumulation will result in something dire and unpredictable.
Timeframe -  15:22-17:00
During his podcast interview with Joe Rogan, Elon Musk predicts a grim reality akin to Skynet. On the topic of social media and connectivity, Musk said "If this was like a collective AI, in the Google Search, where we're also plugged into nodes on a network. Like leaves on a big tree. And we're all feeding this network without questions and answers. We're all collectively programming the AI and plus all the humans that connect to it are one giant cybernetic collective. This is also true for Facebook, Twitter, and also Instagram. They're giant cybernetic collectives." 

This semi-alarmist perspective Musk is taking isn't new and is very closely related to the issue of artificial intelligence and social programming. Elon Musk has stated he's taken on a fatalistic outlook on artificial intelligence. With consideration to what Palihapitiya and Musk have said, it feels inevitable and futile to resist the temptations of connectivity. It's not like my sole decision to stop providing data via being inactive from social media will change the world nor make any noticeable impact. But I feel as though society is only getting deeper and fed by these programs and constructions that we've already become more compliant to newer and more pervasive technologies. 

 For myself, this is probably the best time to take a step back. Not in some political statement against big data, but something more psychological. I never made the cemented stance of rejecting social media altogether, you'll still find me on every social media site. But over the last five years, my social media activity has dwindled down to just snapchat and I think I've been doing better off. I consider myself a much happier person when I have a minimal online presence. I just figured one day that by letting go and detaching myself from my online identity that I didn't have to manage anymore, I'd have more autonomy over my sense of self. As the Late American president Teddy Rosevelt once said, "comparison is the thief of joy".

Comments

  1. WillSeptember 25, 2018 at 12:30 PM

    Hi Steven,

    Awesome post! I have yet to watch the Rogan/Musk podcast but I really enjoyed reading your analysis on the topic of AI/cybernetic collectivity. Indeed, as we increasingly inhabit an environment where digital media are so ubiquitous and where we interact with each other, platforms, and infrastructures it is important to ask if we are simply 'things' to be automated and networked according to the regulating power of an algorithmic gaze/corporate regime, or is there something more liberating or useful in our interactions? It reminds me of how Douglas Coupland approached the topic by asking, "What is to become of us?". (https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-2010-cbc-massey-lectures-player-one-what-is-to-become-of-us-1.2946885.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Social Media Anxiety

I came across this article that unfortunately has started to seem a little too relatable for many. It talks about social media anxiety and the obsession over likes, follows, what other people are doing, and all other feelings that are a result of us being over connected with the rest of the world. The article showcases examples of people who even become physically sick when logging on to social media sites. While that may seem as an extreme example, the scary truth is that more and more people are reporting social media anxiety everyday because of pressure, fear of missing out (FOMO), and ‘Compare and Despair’. I found this to be very relatable to the article we previously read about Katherine and her obsession with her phone and social media. Katherine was constantly worried about getting online approval from her friends, how many likes she got on her photos, how many comments and so on. While the article never directly claimed she had social media anxiety, many of her a...
Read more

Blog Post #3

Due to the freedom we have for the post this week, I took the time to really think about what I wanted to write in my post. My first thought was to discuss sports but I wanted to try and discuss a topic that could create more discussion. As most social media users have learned over the last few days, former SNL actor Pete Davidson, and pop star Ariana Grande have called off their engagement. While the speed at which their relationship seemed intense, at the end of the day, shouldn't we be more focused on the wellbeing of each of these individuals who very well may be walking away from the loves of their life? I would think it is safe to say that those of us in this class won't garner as much as attention on social media if and when we find a life partner. These individuals are only a handful of years older than ourselves and are under the microscope of the media every day of their lives. We may never know exactly this relationship didn't work out, and honestly, we as comple...
Read more

Just a social human-being

I want to draw on ideas from this week’s reading to share upon how this perspective has provided me some insights into why social media practices vary from person to person.  In society where there is a strong reliance on social media for interaction, connectivity and information, it is uncommon to encounter someone that does not use any form of social media whatsoever. The social practice of meeting a neighbour or starting a conversation with someone you see on a public bus has decreased because of the overlap of our public and private lives. Therefore, because there is less sharing exchanged exclusively with people solely immersed as beings in a public space, I believe that even those that attempt to resist the use of social media feel the need to be connected. I argue this because Dunbar suggests that it is the animal genetic make-up to innately want to share to build connections and respect.  I chose to address the idea of people resisting social media because I ...
Read more