This essay was even better on the second read. It reminded me of another story The Whispering Earring of Til Iosophrang.
Especially this description: The earring begins by only offering advice on major life decisions. However, as it gets to know a wearer, it becomes more gregarious, and will offer advice on everything from what time to go to sleep, to what to eat for breakfast. If you take its advice, you will find that breakfast food really hit the spot, that it was exactly what you wanted for breakfast that day even though you didn't know it yourself. The earring is never wrong.
As it gets completely comfortable with its wearer, it begins speaking in its native language, a series of high-bandwidth hisses and clicks that correspond to individual muscle movements. At first this speech is alien and disconcerting, but by the magic of the earring it begins to make more and more sense. No longer are the earring's commands momentous on the level of "Become a soldier". No more are they even simple on the level of "Have bread for breakfast". Now they are more like "Contract your biceps muscle about thirty-five percent of the way" or "Articulate the letter p". The earring is always right. This muscle movement will no doubt be part of a supernaturally effective plan toward achieving whatever your goals at that moment may be.
Incredibly well researched and thought provoking piece. This made me think of Judith Butler who wrote how identity is performative, like we become what we choose to do; these platforms gamify the self expression/free will/agency to extreme levels. Heartbreaking, how you describe the displaced Syrian family or cancer patient juxtaposed to someone eating a lot of bananas for fake roses.
I don't use TikTok and have never heard of this NPC trend, but find it bizarre. I can't imagine giving up agency willingly and becoming a "non-player" in my own life, even for the chance to make that kind of money. As you experienced, just being exposed to it made it stick in your head and kept you thinking about it when you weren't actively watching it. I can't imagine how it affects your mind and the way you see the world when you're a participant rather than just an observer. I especially liked your observation that "the cost of personal evolution is that your audience’s model of you is constantly lagging." That's a price I'm much more willing to pay than the distorted worldview and thought patterns that would surely come from giving up my agency.
The Great Gaslighting is so good. This was wild. My introduction to TikTok lol.
My favorite moment was when you were trying to warn the young black kid and someone was like, Dude, relax. Lol that was so funny. You were in deep! That must have been scary to be so in it. Glad you were able to get out.
…you sir deserve some sort of journalistic reward for going so gonzo…just ten seconds of pinkydoll and I started looking for a garage to park in forever…the proponents of capitalism as the end all be all of economic philosophy never answer for how deeply unhuman most of the goals within it become…as a.i. job loss heats up, inequity between the haves and havenots reigns, and our attention shrinks i shudder to see the result of bci and automation on future generations…so much agency lost…
Such an absurd world. To be frank, the fact that such phenomena enjoy such success makes me very worried about the direction society is headed in. It seems like completely vacuous, braindead entertainment. Maybe it's a direct reaction to perceiving the world as increasingly meaningless.
Excellent essay, I must say. The power law distribution you mentioned –which all 'Creator Economy' platforms, and the world at large, is increasingly becoming– is a true replica of what I call the "Jackpot Economy." Reward a few weirdos or very talented/hardworking folks, use them to transform others into zombies hoping to attain what the rewarded folks have achieved.
This essay was even better on the second read. It reminded me of another story The Whispering Earring of Til Iosophrang.
Especially this description: The earring begins by only offering advice on major life decisions. However, as it gets to know a wearer, it becomes more gregarious, and will offer advice on everything from what time to go to sleep, to what to eat for breakfast. If you take its advice, you will find that breakfast food really hit the spot, that it was exactly what you wanted for breakfast that day even though you didn't know it yourself. The earring is never wrong.
As it gets completely comfortable with its wearer, it begins speaking in its native language, a series of high-bandwidth hisses and clicks that correspond to individual muscle movements. At first this speech is alien and disconcerting, but by the magic of the earring it begins to make more and more sense. No longer are the earring's commands momentous on the level of "Become a soldier". No more are they even simple on the level of "Have bread for breakfast". Now they are more like "Contract your biceps muscle about thirty-five percent of the way" or "Articulate the letter p". The earring is always right. This muscle movement will no doubt be part of a supernaturally effective plan toward achieving whatever your goals at that moment may be.
http://web.archive.org/web/20121008025245/http://squid314.livejournal.com/332946.html
So glad I’m not on TikTok, sounds like a hellhole.
Incredibly well researched and thought provoking piece. This made me think of Judith Butler who wrote how identity is performative, like we become what we choose to do; these platforms gamify the self expression/free will/agency to extreme levels. Heartbreaking, how you describe the displaced Syrian family or cancer patient juxtaposed to someone eating a lot of bananas for fake roses.
I don't use TikTok and have never heard of this NPC trend, but find it bizarre. I can't imagine giving up agency willingly and becoming a "non-player" in my own life, even for the chance to make that kind of money. As you experienced, just being exposed to it made it stick in your head and kept you thinking about it when you weren't actively watching it. I can't imagine how it affects your mind and the way you see the world when you're a participant rather than just an observer. I especially liked your observation that "the cost of personal evolution is that your audience’s model of you is constantly lagging." That's a price I'm much more willing to pay than the distorted worldview and thought patterns that would surely come from giving up my agency.
The Great Gaslighting is so good. This was wild. My introduction to TikTok lol.
My favorite moment was when you were trying to warn the young black kid and someone was like, Dude, relax. Lol that was so funny. You were in deep! That must have been scary to be so in it. Glad you were able to get out.
…you sir deserve some sort of journalistic reward for going so gonzo…just ten seconds of pinkydoll and I started looking for a garage to park in forever…the proponents of capitalism as the end all be all of economic philosophy never answer for how deeply unhuman most of the goals within it become…as a.i. job loss heats up, inequity between the haves and havenots reigns, and our attention shrinks i shudder to see the result of bci and automation on future generations…so much agency lost…
Such an absurd world. To be frank, the fact that such phenomena enjoy such success makes me very worried about the direction society is headed in. It seems like completely vacuous, braindead entertainment. Maybe it's a direct reaction to perceiving the world as increasingly meaningless.
Excellent essay, I must say. The power law distribution you mentioned –which all 'Creator Economy' platforms, and the world at large, is increasingly becoming– is a true replica of what I call the "Jackpot Economy." Reward a few weirdos or very talented/hardworking folks, use them to transform others into zombies hoping to attain what the rewarded folks have achieved.
Crazy world this.
Dark essay. Some concepts were completely foreign to me. Well researched and sheds light on important societal aspects