Social media, "Brave New World", freedom, human agency and attention as commodity.
A small device for music, a big question about freedom
Sorry if the title is vague, but this started as a prompt and then into my journal and now at this little corner of the internet.
(All these subsection heading were written by Chatgpt)
So, I started this chain of thought trying to ask ChatGPT:
"I just wanted to know if there are devices like iPod currently.
Not iPod specific but a small handheld device dedicated to just music."
But, I just wrote my thoughts out.
Why this question even came up
The rationale is I want to eliminate the usage of unintentional activity, especially avoiding the usage of social media and YouTube.
Also, I haven't found the solution for payments — maybe just having an ATM card and having some money by yourself at all time is the way to go.
I don't struggle communicating without social media, and I just value real physical social connection more. So, I make it a priority to be social to people around me, however limited I am by my own insecurities and understanding of the world.
(All this came while I was conversing with ChatGPT.)
I had started this prompt specifically for music, but I think I just allowed my train of thought to continue.
Hope you understand my question, and help me distance myself as much as possible from not technology, but social media — and especially the unintentionality of it, like we are being constantly manipulated by the emotional and social disposition we have.
The irony of social media
There is such irony in the fact that social media was designed with a very noble pursuit of increasing human connection, probably the most noblest of all pursuits in the history of mankind.
But I feel, with all its advantages, there is a lingering sensation in all of us that we are living in slavery to these devices — and especially in slavery of the interest of these “big corporations”, which I do feel have neglected their social responsibilities to a great extent.
The freedom that we cherish today was probably the greatest gift of our ancestors, and this freedom in our comfort and luxury shouldn't be so easily lost on us.
Freedom is a great virtue, and I think we should do our utmost to preserve this.
Freedom is easiest to lose when you feel there is no need to defend it.
(This last sentence was ChatGPT, man! oh man! the irony of it.)
Brave New World, revisited
Okay, let’s keep on going.
I read Brave New World probably a year ago. I just realized I think it is very useful if I keep track of my reading — when I read that particular book, what stage I was in, and what I had read coming into that book.
Coming back.
In Huxley's world, no one is chained, no one is screaming, and people absolutely love their condition.
In Huxley’s world, no one is chained. No one is screaming. People love their condition.
That’s the key line people miss:
“People are happy; what right have you to interfere?”Freedom disappears not because it’s crushed,
but because it’s made to seem unnecessary, even inconvenient.Why think deeply when pleasure is cheap?
Why struggle when soma exists?Why risk real connection when shallow, endless stimulation is always available?
(ChatGPT)
In a Brave New World, people aren't chained. In fact, on the contrary, they are intoxicated with joy that we all deeply long for — sex, stress-free states, music (probably there is a mention of it too).
In hindsight, I just now realized how true Brave New World is.
Nobody is coercing. We are simply surrendering.
Probably “surrendering” isn't even the right word, because I am not sure we even have agency.
Attention as the commodity
Social conditioning in Brave New World is very similar to present day. Today, from birth, people are shaped to desire exactly what the “big corporations that are running the world” intended to.
The sad reality is the fact that human attention — probably the corest (I don't know if the usage of this is correct) resource to have deep meaningful human connection and work — is now the commodity.
Our attention span is the driver of this new capital market.
Fetched from ChatGPT and paraphrased, the sad reality of today's world is:
If someone controls someone's attention, they control:
- what people value
- who they dislike
- what values they should strive for
- who they should hate and ignore
…and probably I can go on and on, because I just realized attention is everything.
(I don't even know if I am high, man. I am taking medications for pan-gastritis so take this information with a pinch of salt.)
Writing, unexpectedly
I have always refrained from writing because I always felt I lacked in that department.
But now I don't know how — for the last 2–3 days — my brain is constantly having thoughts (the stupidity of my thought is I feel they are profound), and I just cannot stop writing my thoughts down.
And I just realized: when you start writing, one thought leads to another. You go back and edit your thoughts and wow — it is one of the greatest devices to the human soul and mental clarity.
Just strange is the fact that after 28 years of my life, just reading and writing — probably the only thing I know — I now realize their power and utility.
I am grateful that at least I realize this now.
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