We are entering a post post everything phase. None of our current systems of representation are adequate for use in the world we actually live in.
Our world is increasingly automated. Not just physical automation. Intellectual automation dominates many decision making systems.
Terms like algorithm, neural engine, and machine learning are tossed around as if those terms mean something to the general population.
The real affect of this is that people who were already divorced from the advanced means of production are also no longer in control of the decision making processes that choose what should be made.
We are mad at everyone else for betraying us. And like any good zombie story always see ourselves as the uninflected humans surrounded by zombies. The truth is we are all zombies in some situations. It would be impossible for it to be otherwise.
Making choices of which mobile plan to subscribe to or which sustainable shopping bag to use are not really about informed choices. We no longer have time to make all the choices be informed ones. We never did. We used to have institutions that were considered experts in their given categories who we relied on to guide us. Now we have to collective wisdom of crowds (or mobs). But is that really helpful. The systems of representation that we depend on make almost no distinction between things that are true versus things that are not true. This is not about non fiction versus fiction. This is about manipulation through dedicated propaganda programs. Some are ridiculously clumsy and so you think you are immune. Others are sophisticated and take years to unravel if ever. But even the simplistic ones find their way into our conversations. Repeating and mutating. So even the most obvious lies gain some traction in the world.
What’s interesting is that even the most contemporary and powerful information systems can be overwhelmed (undermined) and manipulated. They don’t have a good answer to even the most obvious manipulations. We have not progressed very much from “burn her, she’s a witch”. It’s not clear that we can change this given the way the brain processes language and analyzes information. It maybe the problem is worse when information is everywhere all the time.
