This is a revival of my (unfortunately lost) thread on the previous forum.
Most internet technologies were at first simulations of things in the real world. E-mail is an electronic simulation of actual mail. Early internet forums were electronic simulations of bulletin boards displaying upcoming events. IRC was an (imperfect) attempt to recreate the atmosphere of a communal conversation space, as indicated by elements like the /me command that simulated the "embodied", non-verbal aspects of face-to-face communication. Adding to this, many user interfaces prior to 2010 implemented a "skeumorphic" design, which aimed to replicate the appearances and textures of real things:
As the development of the Web continued, and people spent a greater portion of their conscious existence in the online space, many of the old skeumorphisms - those fetters of simile - were cast aside. Early e-mails began with hand-written subject lines and ended with "regards", just like snail mail, even though e-mail protocols generated these lines automatically. These practices are now uncommon outside of formal or bureaucratic settings. Similarly, as IRC gave way to newer platforms like Discord, /me and other avenues of "character expression" went out of fashion (considered a "cringe larp" by a generation alienated from physical action). They were succeeded by screencaps and reaction GIFs, which not only wildly diverge from how people act in meatspace, but are impossible to even conceive of in real life - imagine a guy carrying a flipbook or camcorder wherever he goes, showing fitting videos to interlocutors as they pop into his mind.
Now, as the Wired becomes the primary mode of communication for many, the early trend has been reversed. Online-only conventions are percolating into the real world. The most developed version of this phenomenon can be seen among "woke" leftoids, whose ideology is wholly formed by broadband hysteria:
You could write a dissertation on the bloke at 2:30, and the origin of each and every bizarre affectation he displays in the twenty-five seconds that follow. From his rattling off what is essentially a Twatter bio at the beginning, to the affected slam poet cadence he delivers the rest of his "speech" in, to the Special Emphasis he puts on Important Therapy Words, to his autistic unfamiliarity with body language (betrayed by the bizarre gestures he makes with his right hand, and his awkward conscious attempts to supplement them), to the way his speech drags on without underlying structure, as if he's expecting a storm of likes and retweets to follow every point he makes.
If you watch videos of Fentanyl Floyd riot organizers (esp. CHAZ / BHAZ "thought leaders", some of the most internet-poisoned people to ever live), you'll see many of the same behaviors manifested, all towards the same end: these people are trying to create an internet hugbox in real life. This was tractable in the days of the insular internet, of pseudonyms and infrequent real-life meetups; not so much in an all-encompassing web of faceposters and oversharers. These attempts will continue nonetheless, and the ensuing fallout will be funny, if nothing else.
Would like to hear your thoughts on this @anthony @Verl @capgras
Most internet technologies were at first simulations of things in the real world. E-mail is an electronic simulation of actual mail. Early internet forums were electronic simulations of bulletin boards displaying upcoming events. IRC was an (imperfect) attempt to recreate the atmosphere of a communal conversation space, as indicated by elements like the /me command that simulated the "embodied", non-verbal aspects of face-to-face communication. Adding to this, many user interfaces prior to 2010 implemented a "skeumorphic" design, which aimed to replicate the appearances and textures of real things:
(I especially liked the old YouTube icon - an old-timey TV, not pictured here.)
As the development of the Web continued, and people spent a greater portion of their conscious existence in the online space, many of the old skeumorphisms - those fetters of simile - were cast aside. Early e-mails began with hand-written subject lines and ended with "regards", just like snail mail, even though e-mail protocols generated these lines automatically. These practices are now uncommon outside of formal or bureaucratic settings. Similarly, as IRC gave way to newer platforms like Discord, /me and other avenues of "character expression" went out of fashion (considered a "cringe larp" by a generation alienated from physical action). They were succeeded by screencaps and reaction GIFs, which not only wildly diverge from how people act in meatspace, but are impossible to even conceive of in real life - imagine a guy carrying a flipbook or camcorder wherever he goes, showing fitting videos to interlocutors as they pop into his mind.
Now, as the Wired becomes the primary mode of communication for many, the early trend has been reversed. Online-only conventions are percolating into the real world. The most developed version of this phenomenon can be seen among "woke" leftoids, whose ideology is wholly formed by broadband hysteria:
You could write a dissertation on the bloke at 2:30, and the origin of each and every bizarre affectation he displays in the twenty-five seconds that follow. From his rattling off what is essentially a Twatter bio at the beginning, to the affected slam poet cadence he delivers the rest of his "speech" in, to the Special Emphasis he puts on Important Therapy Words, to his autistic unfamiliarity with body language (betrayed by the bizarre gestures he makes with his right hand, and his awkward conscious attempts to supplement them), to the way his speech drags on without underlying structure, as if he's expecting a storm of likes and retweets to follow every point he makes.
If you watch videos of Fentanyl Floyd riot organizers (esp. CHAZ / BHAZ "thought leaders", some of the most internet-poisoned people to ever live), you'll see many of the same behaviors manifested, all towards the same end: these people are trying to create an internet hugbox in real life. This was tractable in the days of the insular internet, of pseudonyms and infrequent real-life meetups; not so much in an all-encompassing web of faceposters and oversharers. These attempts will continue nonetheless, and the ensuing fallout will be funny, if nothing else.
Would like to hear your thoughts on this @anthony @Verl @capgras
