Internet Musings
Information technology extends my mind in part by removing physical and temporal distance as a barrier to information, and in part by providing new informational mediums. With the internet I can be anywhere at any time, and there are countless receptors for my attention. I find it hard to stay present when I have the oeuvre of humanity at my service.
Disembodiment and distraction
I'm noticing more these days how the internet is a fundamentally disembodied space offering terminally available mental escapism. Going online pushes my awareness up into my head, and out into the network of networks, leaving behind my body and spiritual potential.
Adaptive internal forces pushing me towards curiosity, learning, and connection, have been co-opted into negative cycles of hyper-activation. Hyper-active in that parts of my mind are hooked on the hollow internet versions of things like social connection, creative expression, and learning.
Patterns like the immediate reward of temporary stress relief that comes with internet escapism and the occasional jackpot of finding the perfect essay or video fuel this endless appetite for the internet. The abundance of distraction posing as opportunity is an obstacle to my focus and growth.
We cannot see the internet, but it fills the air we live on. While our devices lose their physical cords, the invisible wires connecting our bodies to our machines keep growing stronger.
Adversarial incentives
The internet is not by nature a bad place full of false temptations. The internet is humanity. The current dominant patterns of human organization, consumerism and growth at all costs, color the internet just as they do everything else.
Our machines are built to exploit soft spots in our psyche and convert our attention into money. The unique intimate reach of our internet machines into our psyches and consciousness makes them powerful replicators of the economic and social incentives which reared them.
Justice requires technical knowledge
Education and knowledge are often touted as essential counters to historical and social injustices. This must be extended to computers and information technology. Just as legislation and legal protocols impact justice by setting the rules of society, so do technical protocols and inventions.
As a society we cannot challenge the parasitic paradigm of information technology that we are currently enmeshed in as long as we cling to technical ignorance. Technical knowledge is necessary for justice and liberty in our world.