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LM: #350: The dopamine channel
A dominant meme of the early internet was that we were freed of the era of “three channels” – when the American television airwaves and thus psyche were controlled by ABC, NBC, and CBS.
But now it feels like we have only one channel.
That’s of course not materially true. We’re free to dig up anything we want, unlike ever before. But “channel” implies passivity, which is what TV was, and what we’ve reverted to.
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Another meme about the dawn of the internet was the removal of “gatekeepers.” Finally, the ideas would spread that were the most interesting – about the most obscure topics you could imagine.
But what we’re being offered up feels strangely “smooth.” The topics might be different, but the depth, pacing, and structure falls within a tight range, like all the rough edges have been sanded off.
The smoothness, of course, is from “the algorithm.” We might as individuals appreciate the jagged edges of something, but can the algo mathematically sniff out everyone else who does? It seems not. And now LLMs are mathematically deciding which word would be most likely to come next, and changing it just enough that what comes out is essentially the same thing.
And maybe those gatekeepers made things a little less smooth, a little more jagged. We didn’t like how this person or that got this big break through nepotism or sexual favor, but some of it must have been from the mere whim or strange taste of some executive. In any case at least something that didn’t “deserve” the exposure in the algorithmic sense got it, and there was probably something good about that.
Because we used to have three channels, and now we just have the dopamine channel.
Aphorism: “The minimal level of engagement with the Internet is equal to the maximum level of engagement with old media.” —Andrey Miroshnichenko
Book: Julius Caesar (Amazon) is a Shakespeare play that will make you think of the Roman Empire.
Best,
David
P.S. Dr. Robert Lustig explains why serotonin is more sustainable to chase than dopamine.
