2 Comments
User's avatar
Phil Wentworth's avatar

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!

Johannes Factotum's avatar

Or, instead of trying to fuck around with algorithms, focus on defining yourself from within.