The Revolution Will Not Be Monetised

[Scribbly]

The revolution will not be algorithmically friendly.
The revolution will not be trending or have a hashtag.
The revolution will not be paused for a word from our sponsors.
Because the revolution will not be monetised.

I’m old enough to remember when the internet was more than a half dozen websites trying to compete for your time and attention. I remember when we shared stuff because we wanted to; when speech actually WAS free, rather than carved into 280-character soundbites or polished to perfection in thirty minute long YouTube videos.

I remember when two way communication meant that we all spoke on an equal standing rather than elevating those of us who are pretty enough to garner a following. Back before corporations had figured out how to enclose the internet; how to put a harness on our dissatisfaction and hand the reins to fascists and reformists.

Now the internet is a hundred thousand Howard Beales, taking their turn to shout righteous anger into the void, before the void turns around and sells that anger back to our communities with a special $10 patreon tier for access to a private discord server.

We’re mad as hell, but we’ll keep taking it so long as the stream of content never stops.

We’ve built an efficient machine to keep the discourse rolling, to provide an infinite number of Hot Takes, to show us the problem in countless new and exciting ways, without ever letting us articulate a solution.

Except, that is, for solutions soaked in the blood of minorities.

The machine sure does love those.

They’re good for clicks.

But the revolution will not be monetised.

Because the revolution will not give a single shit about concurrent views, subscribers or superchats.

The revolution will be a desperate scream.

The revolution will be a blind mob tearing our oppressors and any other unlucky fuck in the way limb from limb.

The revolution will not be a choice.

Or the revolution will not be.

[Faust]

The entire apparatus of modern communication does not lend itself to change, it’s a feedback loop to lock populations into patterns of behaviour, and when important information needs to be disseminated, the mediums can be shut off at a moment’s notice. Look at Turkey and their response to the earthquake

[Scribbly]

The entire apparatus of modern communication does not lend itself to change, it’s a feedback loop to lock populations into patterns of behaviour, and when important information needs to be disseminated, the mediums can be shut off at a moment’s notice. Look at Turkey and their response to the earthquake

100%

The transformation of 'freedom of speech' from the right to share useful information and not have expression policed to the right to shout slurs at people and pretty much nothing else is a huge disappointment.

And then as you say - all of these platforms ultimately now answer to authorities who will decide the extent to which they can be used for organising, and the moment they are a legit threat... they're done.

[Doktor Howl]

This is of course the reason the revolution won't actually happen.

As you mention.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

[Scribbly]

Dang that's pretty. Love the fonts tying together the beginning and end.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I'm not completely in love with the body font on this one, it might get another revision

[QuestionsTheSoil]

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/26/23773914/ai-large-language-models-data-scraping-generation-remaking-web
Everything is a war against human creativity.
Any form of human individuality that cannot be monetized must be replaced with soulless "productivity."
It's not about connecting users to each other, it's about feeding the machine.

I was probably the last gen that can still remember a point in time where the internet actively encouraged creating things to create them (remember Scratch? that was fun shit).
But it's a waste if it can't be monetized, right?

The internet is now a place to make other people money and to melt your brain