If we accept mimetic desire, then all longing is “manufactured” — whether by village gossip, Sunday sermons, TV ads, or now by silicon loops. So the algorithm isn’t creating an unnatural trap; it’s just a faster, more precise puppet-master.
The real frontier isn’t to “break free” (there is no Edenic self untouched by models) — it’s to play consciously inside the web. Curiosity is key: more models, more friction, more surprises.
Authenticity, if it exists, isn’t some hidden core — it’s the dance we do when we know we’re echoing and choose our echoes well.
More Girard, less moral panic — and maybe a pinch of Levinas next time.
I would argue that the algorithms are just the latest iteration of what capitalism has always done via marketing education and manufactured societal pressure. All the algorithms are doing is putting this on steroids, reducing it down to its core components and mainlining it into our brains.
If we accept mimetic desire, then all longing is “manufactured” — whether by village gossip, Sunday sermons, TV ads, or now by silicon loops. So the algorithm isn’t creating an unnatural trap; it’s just a faster, more precise puppet-master.
The real frontier isn’t to “break free” (there is no Edenic self untouched by models) — it’s to play consciously inside the web. Curiosity is key: more models, more friction, more surprises.
Authenticity, if it exists, isn’t some hidden core — it’s the dance we do when we know we’re echoing and choose our echoes well.
More Girard, less moral panic — and maybe a pinch of Levinas next time.
Thanks for provoking the morning’s rabbit hole!
I would argue that the algorithms are just the latest iteration of what capitalism has always done via marketing education and manufactured societal pressure. All the algorithms are doing is putting this on steroids, reducing it down to its core components and mainlining it into our brains.
Or, instead of trying to fuck around with algorithms, focus on defining yourself from within.