The Dead Internet Theory

You might be familiar with the Dead Internet Theory. It's what I'd call a fringe conspiracy theory which I weirdly enough do believe in, at least to a degree. And if it isn't already true today, we're on the way to making it become a reality.

At its core, the Dead Internet Theory suggests that the majority of online content, including social media posts, comments, and even some websites, are generated not by humans, but by algorithms and bots.

Simply put: We're at a point, or will soon be at a point, where much of what we encounter online is artificially created and automated.

Today you have no idea anymore if a blog post or a tweet was written by an real person. Even if it appears to be written by a person, how do you know this person actually exists? And does it even matter in the end? (that might be another conversation for another day.)

Just today I read an email in my inbox, see below:

I've seen similar things many times over the past couple months. And I know for a fact that many people in the industry are currently optimizing their publishing flow to a degree at which there is very little human touch to any of it. Neither for the creation, nor the publication of it. It's all automated. In the spirit of efficiency, this makes perfect sense and is perhaps a godsend to many publishers out there.

We're only at the beginning of all this. If we can assume that in the future more people will make use of these principles, the theory of the Dead Internet feels pretty much dead on.

But all this isn't just about content creation. It's also about the accounts who post and spread this content as well. More and more of them are bots. They're all around us, and you likely don't even know they are bots.

I honestly believe that in the near future, we will experience three new kinds of bots:

There's the regular bot. The bot we already know, which can easily be identified as a bot if you look closely enough. Yet the sum of them will still have an impact on us because they'll be posting, commenting, liking and doing their thing. Only those who look closely will be able to identify them. But their greatest contribution is noise. You can see them on every social media network.
The second bot is a new kind of bot. It's the AI powered bot that is almost indistinguishable from a real person. They'll have a beautiful profile picture generated by AI. But not the kind of perfect professional headshot you'd think, no, a realistic low resolution family photo where you can see them with one of their kids or family members. Of course, generated by AI. Think of ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com, but better.

They'll have a bio that you can relate to. Hobbies you can relate to. They'll have a fabricated story that is crafted through their tweet history so they can blend in even better than other bots. They'll post a lot of weird stuff that has no agenda (noise) and they'll post a lot of other things that do have an agenda that depends a lot on the bot's creator. But most importantly: They'll be posting, commenting, liking and stirring up conversations. And you'll engage with them, you'll waste time with them, and they'll be able to influence you, even if just on the macro level.
The third kind of bot, isn't a bot by the traditional definition. It's actually a real person, but a person that behaves like a bot. You can already see this kind of person today: they're online re-tweeting, commenting and liking as if they're a bot. They're engaging with automated fan accounts from big superstars, they're retweeting automated giveaway tweets, they're practically behaving like a bot due to their social media engagement that does not have an ounce of critical thinking. I see those people as bots. They'll be the first who retweet other bots, because they simply don't know better.

In the end, it isn't hard to see how the Dead Internet Theory can become an actual reality. As more bots and artificial content take over, more real people might choose to opt out of social media and mass media consumption in general.

I have my own theory of what the internet (when I say Internet, I mainly mean social media) will be in the future: I think it will be a place where you go to make money, first and foremost. It is already today. But if you're smart, you'll spend no extra minute online in your free time, because real luxury will be defined by being able to opt out. You may have your own bot (not under your name) that posts online and makes sure you make money, but the only people who log on with their own, real face will be the lost and gullible.

Maybe that all sounds like a sad prediction of the future. Maybe none of it will happen, even though we might be already halfway there.

Perhaps there will be even a movement in which we develop some sort of "This was created by a real human" badge. Similar to how we label food with ORGANIC or FAIR TRADE.

I can see all of this happening, and sometimes I even feel like Franz Kafka who wrote:

“I was ashamed of myself when I realized that life was a costume party, and I attended with my real face.”

Thank you very much for reading.
Wishing you a lovely rest of the week.

Yours truly,
Tobias

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PS: I want to give a shout-out to my friend Daniel's side project. He is a fantastic 3D designer who started a little project called BEYONDFORMS which offers high-quality 3D mockups for showing off your design or branding work. Go check it out, bookmark it, save it your mind. (: Here is an example:

PPS: As a watch lover, I found this Daytona lately and absolutely loved this particular yellow gold, black and red details colorway.

PPPS: Expand the canvas. Expand your mind.

PPPPS: The work of Japanese artist Mitsuo Katsui