Removed

More and more people are coming to this realization, which may be why places like this are proliferating. It's why I'm weaning myself off most social media - if my family and friends want to contact me, they'll have my number. I may just keep tumblr for the nostalgia and Bluesky to keep up with events, but the information overload has sent me into a deep pit of anxiety even though things on my end look okay.

I felt this way back when Snowden blew up, but now I'm pacified again, I just don't care for technology anymore. That's from having been a coder. AI still can only mess with visual representation, but not with all our modes of meaning and representation, we still have smell for a good time I hope

Lately I've been deep in a pit of despair about the internet and the world - and not really for the reasons you'd think, either.

let's see...

Everything, every word, has been watered down to the point of absolute meaninglessness.

[...] AI [...]

Everything is in the hands of moneyed interests and there doesn't seem to be anything the human race can do.

Exactly the reasons your opening suggested.

Can nobody see how hellish and dystopian this world has

become??

The solution is as simple as facing - i.e. directing attention - the opposite direction.

i think a lot of people have started to see how "hellish and dystopian" (as you put it) the world has become. hence why we flock to places like this, where we can talk with real people. i doubt a machine would have any interest in a small webspace like the midnight pub, there's nothing for them to steal or farm.

and regarding your idea of absolute meaninglessness, i'd respectfully disagree. we're having fun here, aren't we? on this site. im inclined to think that fun is the most important thing. we're mellowed out, as much as we can be, and that's something you ought to hold onto. despair can very quickly become something you can't crawl out of, and i'd rather you don't get stuck. you seem like a smart fellow and i wouldn't want another straight mind to be lost to a sea of misery.

and you worry very much about things in the state of the internet, but why don't you take a step away from it for a while? it might feel hard to do, given how internet-driven the world has become in the last couple decades, but it can be done. if you read this, i'd suggest you go outside and maybe buy yourself something nice, even if it's just a smoothie or something. feel the world around you and how swell it all is. the skies are ever-changing, and the people are still people. they're not machines just yet. you can go say hi to an old lady in the supermarket, you could go to a pub-house and chat with the bar-man if he's not busy. telephone a friend, read a book. all these wonderful things to be done.

chin up, old scout! it will get better.