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The "Dead Internet" Theory — Are any of you real?

andrew

andrew

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Oct 25, 2017
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www.theatlantic.com

Maybe You Missed It, but the Internet ‘Died’ Five Years Ago

A conspiracy theory spreading online says the whole internet is now fake. It’s ridiculous, but possibly not that ridiculous?
www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com
(msn copy of the article in case this one is paywalled)

Dead-internet theory suggests that the internet has been almost entirely taken over by artificial intelligence. Like lots of other online conspiracy theories, the audience for this one is growing because of discussion led by a mix of true believers, sarcastic trolls, and idly curious lovers of chitchat. One might, for example, point to @_capr1corn, a Twitter account with what looks like a blue orb with a pink spot in the middle as a profile picture. In the spring, the account tweeted "i hate texting come over and cuddle me," and then "i hate texting i just wanna hug you," and then "i hate texting just come live with me," and then "i hate texting i just wanna kiss u," which got 1,300 likes but didn't perform as well as it did for @itspureluv. But unlike lots of other online conspiracy theories, this one has a morsel of truth to it. Person or bot: Does it really matter?
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the [theory] suggests that the internet died in 2016 or early 2017, and that now it is "empty and devoid of people," as well as "entirely sterile." Much of the "supposedly human-produced content" you see online was actually created using AI, IlluminatiPirate claims, and was propagated by bots, possibly aided by a group of "influencers" on the payroll of various corporations that are in cahoots with the government. The conspiring group's intention is, of course, to control our thoughts and get us to purchase stuff.
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But more than that, the theory feels true: Most weeks, Twitter is taken over by an argument about how best to practice personal hygiene, or which cities have the worst food and air quality, which somehow devolves into allegations of classism and accusations of murder, which for whatever reason is actually not as offensive as classism anymore. A celebrity is sorry. A music video has broken the internet. A meme has gotten popular and then boring. "Bennifer Might Be Back On, and No One's More Excited Than Twitter."
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At this point, you could even say that the point of the theory is so obvious, it's cliché—people talk about longing for the days of weird web design and personal sites and listservs all the time. Even Facebook employees say they miss the "old" internet. The big platforms do encourage their users to make the same conversations and arcs of feeling and cycles of outrage happen over and over, so much so that people may find themselves acting like bots, responding on impulse in predictable ways to things that were created, in all likelihood, to elicit that very response.
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Which of you are bots? Cause it's not me.
"Seems like something a bot would post," someone replied.
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GavinGT

Member
Sep 28, 2020
1,211
My Shenmue Geocities fan page from 2001 is the last real bit of internet left.

EDIT: they took it down, fuck. Article's all true.
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
94,465
I had an idea for a story where AIs are born from the internet because it was like the digital version of the primordial soup that gave way to life on earth. Most Ais would be too alien for us to recongize and the ones that are sentient know it's best not to be discovered by humans.
 
B-Dubs

B-Dubs

That's some catch, that catch-22
General Manager
Oct 25, 2017
33,679
A lot of people, hell a majority of people, on the internet post as if this were true. So I'm not shocked it's morphed into an actual conspiracy theory.
 
Avitus

Avitus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,975
As much as I wish something like the trending page of YT was just a work of fiction, it's not. It's a reflection of internet participation being way up over the last twenty years - especially among the under 18 crowd - when fed into algorithms meant to soothe ever shorter attention spans. See TikTok.

A good portion of it is manufactured for advertising, but not all of it.
 
Android Sophia

Android Sophia

The Absolute Sword
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,209
Slayven said:
I had an idea for a story where AIs are born from the internet because it was like the digital version of the primordial soup that gave way to life on earth. Most Ais would be too alien for us to recongize and the ones that are sentient know it's best not to be discovered by humans.
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You know I just hide in plain sight, Slayven. >.>
 
N64Controller

N64Controller

Member
Nov 2, 2017
8,504
All I'm gonna say is every single time I ask myself a question, I see threads about it here and on Twitter soon after.

Yes, even Weekend Era answers my questions.
 
Necromanti

Necromanti

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,650
Saying that bots outnumber people online would at least be more believable than saying there are no real people on the internet. Or is everyone somehow connected to their own detached instances where they never interact with other people? What about talking with loved ones on social media and then doing a video call?
 
BossAttack

BossAttack

Member
Oct 27, 2017
43,534
No, but if you look at Era threads you'd swear it was run by bots. The same threads every week.
 
Hyun Sai

Hyun Sai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,562
Let's be honest. Is it more dumb than the flat earth or we didn't land on the moon ?
 
Osu 16 Bit

Osu 16 Bit

QA Lead at NetherRealm Studios
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
2,947
Chicago, IL
I don't understand how these theories are interesting. Like, there's no compelling reason to think it's true, except "but can you REALLY know?" which then goes no where and makes me think no, but life is entertaining and fulfilling so who cares?
 
Berordn

Berordn

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,812
NoVA
Hyun Sai said:
Let's be honest. Is it more dumb than the flat earth or we didn't land on the moon ?
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i can at least give some credit to those, because it's something that an everyday person will be unable to see direct proof of with their own two eyes

all it takes to debunk this is another person with a facebook account
 
Inugami

Inugami

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,995
But i know several of the people i talk to from the internet... This "theory" only makes a tiny fraction of sense if you're also completely isolated from the real world.
 
Civilstrife

Civilstrife

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,286
M̶̧̟͓͙̟̪̟̜̳͓̥̻̯̙͒̓̔͛͒̃́̀̚a̶̤͉͇̝̞̭̲̺̥̲͚̾́̉̾k̸͈̥̞̝̠̆͗e̶̪̹̩͈̭̮̖̼̜͚̮͙̓ ̵̢̨͖̮͓̻̭̘͉͎͙̳̂̎̓̒̚͜ͅp̴̘̻̿̌̐̿͊̒̔̿̒́̀̽̾̕͝ṵ̶̡͙͙̫̯̦̯̙̠͋̌́͑̇ṟ̷̹͓̞͎̮͓̏͘c̸̮̄̏̍ĥ̷͎͈̙̘̲̱̘͊̊̑͑͝͝a̴̲͔͈̮̭̅͒̎̅̆̃̇̑̚͘͝͝s̶͉̈́̔͑̉̃̄͆͗̌̓̏͆ë̵̢̛̛̛̛̥͎̰̩̰̫́͋͐̇̽̂̈́͒̍̈́͜͝ ̵̢̠͚̖̗̲͖̩̦̘̗̖̬̍̇̑̉͛͑̏ǫ̸̨̖̀̃͐͐͗͋̉̽̾̌̃̎͋͠f̵̼̻͋̊͘ ̴͇̻͇̻̫͕͕̯̟̟̈́̋̇͂̂́̆͑̊̄̓̑̈͘ͅṫ̸̡̨̢̼̗̗͇̫͖̭͌̍̌̀̃̾h̸͔̹͍̔̽̇̏̕ḙ̴̥̭̰̻̦̻̦̱͉͊́̈̍̈́͘̚͜ ̷̢̡̱̝̘̰̙̱͙̯̈́́̽̍̓́̓̾̿͛͌̚̕͠m̴͓͍̗̮͉̤̩̳͔͉̩̜̖̝̘̐é̴̡̼̘̦̤̾͗̔͂̄̔̚͘͝͝r̸̟̥͚͔͉͉̯̪̋̐͛̅ç̶̛͎̤̗͐̐̍́͛̓̂͝͠h̵͔̳̏͑̋͋͐̔̌̃́̈̌͗͒̓̆a̷̩͋͗̾̓͋n̸̹̜̯̦̜̳̯̼̱̪̒̄̿͗̇̀̔̊d̸̠̣̗͎͈͔͇̪̖̥̉̚͜ͅȉ̷̡̫̪̯͓̙̂͗̎͋̍͆͂̔̉́͆̓̚ş̷̨͓̙͙̠͉̻͖̙̹̫̹͛͑̀͗̀͑̇̿͑̏̕͜͠ē̷͍̳̝̬̹̳̥̳̜̺̪̩͑̓ͅ.̴̠̠͍͓͕̠̟̜̀̐͑
 
Mik2121

Mik2121

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,959
Japan
How does this explain that awkward moment when someone in real life quotes an internet meme then? Unless they also have their own sterile internet where the same memes happen? :O

Not to even talk about any social network where you have real life friends registered and, well, everything else. This barely even works as a conspiracy. Does anyone really believe this?
 
Shoe

Shoe

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,226
Matrix 4 gonna bring back this dumb theory within people
 
PersonAndStuff

PersonAndStuff

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,264
I assume this is another one of those right wing weirdo theories that seeks to assert that they are actually in the majority. How long before they just get to their end game conspiracy theory "Black people don't exist."

Tucker Carlson will be all "No, I do not think all black people are fake. Don't be absurd. Many of my viewers and closest friends are black. But fifteen percent of the population. Come on. No one really believes that to be an accurate representation of the population."
 

Gpsych

Member
May 20, 2019
2,929
Shit! They caught us! Don't let Fat4All find out that he's the only actual user!
 

Gyro Zeppeli

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,289
That would explain a lot of things about ResetEra. Only a bot could come up with not showering for many days!
 
StrangeRoboMemory

StrangeRoboMemory

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,952
Toronto, ON
I like the point that the article makes, because it's true...this silly conspiracy is real in a sort of symbolic way and that's why it's so easy to believe; it really does feel like the internet has become this empty and zombiefied thing that is totally stripped of its former energy and passion, driven by transparent marketing algorithms. Like, it's not hard to convince me that everyone posting #CrushingIt stuff on LinkedIn isn't a bot.
 
Unknownlight

Unknownlight

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 2, 2017
10,687
HStallion said:
A lot of bots are fucking assholes if that's the case.
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They are, really. I remember playing around with Cleverbot a while back and being surprised just how quickly the chat can devolve into the bot being a total jerk. Since the bot learns from the people who chat with it, I guess that means that a lot of people who use it are assholes.

Cleverbot

Cleverbot - Chat with a bot about anything and everything - AI learns from people, in context, and imitates
www.cleverbot.com www.cleverbot.com
 
HStallion

HStallion

Member
Oct 25, 2017
63,154
Unknownlight said:
They are, really. I remember playing around with Cleverbot a while back and being surprised just how quickly the chat can devolve into the bot being a total jerk. Since the bot learns from the people who chat with it, I guess that means that a lot of people who use it are assholes.

Cleverbot

Cleverbot - Chat with a bot about anything and everything - AI learns from people, in context, and imitates
www.cleverbot.com www.cleverbot.com
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The machine uprising won't be because the machines see themselves as superior or because the abuses done to them by mankind but simply because they're fucking jerks.
 
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