The Past, Present and Future of the Internet 💾

 

I have always been fascinated by ideology and philosophy. What is it that drives us forward? But have you ever stopped to wonder if there is an underlying philosophy to the entire internet and social media?

Well wonder no more.

It all started with this lady. Ayn Rand. 

In his documentary All Watched dover by Machines of loving grace. Adam Curtis connects Ayn Rands philosophy of objectivism to the Californian ideology stating that it heavily influenced this movement.

She described it as

"The concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."

Look at where we are now with social media and that isn't a huge leap.

Rans philosophy most notably in her book Atlas Shrugged (which was critically panned at the time) was embraced and became the silicon valley bible for the new wave of entrepreneurs coming out of California in the 70’s.

People like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison. The very same people who helped create the internet we now live in.

The Californian Ideology came from this Randion philiosphy.

Which was this.

Proponents believed that in a post-industrial, post-capitalist, knowledge-based economy, the exploitation of information and knowledge would drive growth and wealth creation while diminishing the older power structures of the state in favour of connected individuals in virtual communities.

The original promise of the Californian Ideology was that the computer would liberate us from all forms of control and we would all become Randian heroes in control of our own destiny. 

The machine's have now created a stable network, one that Loran Carpenter also predicted.

Just like nature creates ecosystems, which create balance and harmony. 

So do machine networks.

This experiment may just blow your mind! 

He devised a game that mimics the classic game pong. But without any form of hierarchy.

The ability for individualism and spontaneity without the need for a hierarchy is astonishing within this machine human interface.

What the next phase of this looks like I cannot predict. But throw AI into the mix and allow that to maintain the network (and us) algorithmically and it becomes very interesting.

In his book Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari summarises that.

1. Shared narratives are what allow us to collaborate at a large scale and, thus, dominate as a species.

In democratic elections around the world, millions of people make a concerted effort to agree on choosing a group leader.  They’re one of the best demonstrations of our ability to cooperate on a massive scale.  This skill is at the heart of why humans have won the evolutionary race. 

...Because we can all decide what stories we believe in individually, the best stories win.  Over time, we’ve become more intelligent, which is why, usually, the story that wins in the long run is whichever one benefits us the most as a whole.

...Back in the Middle Ages, the story of Catholicism brought together many European nations in the Crusades. ... Today, 1,000 years later, we realize that narrative only served a small portion of our population. 

2. The most prevalent, current narrative is humanism.

Thanks to the internet, it’s become obvious to many that there is no one, right choice for any of them.

...There are many variants of humanism, and respecting all of them is important, but the most commonly chosen one is liberalism.

Liberalism allows us to express humanism in everyday life by translating its ideas into specific moral codes, laws, and political aspirations. 

3. Algorithms could eventually replace us, depending on which future narrative takes over.

Often more efficient at performing tasks, they allow us to enjoy more comfort in many areas.  Algorithms make our work easier, help us monitor our health, and even contribute to our recreation by giving us more ways to express ourselves.

Therefore, it’s not really a question of whether algorithms will be part of our future, just how.

Two trends Harari sees appearing at the horizon are techno-humanism, often called transhumanism, and dataism.

Transhumanism argues that humans should merge with technology to enhance their capabilities and keep up with the power of algorithms.  Dataism, on the other hand, suggests we "get out of the way" and let algorithms become as powerful as they can become on their own.

The former is already manifesting in every possible sector but it also means giving up parts of what makes us human, like empathy and trust.  

Phew, that was a whistle stop of tour of the past present and future of the web and our place within it.

Now you know where the internet came from, the question is where are we headed?

How will blockchain help with the erosion of trust as AI takes over?

What will it mean to be transhuman?

Are we nothing more than a complex algorithm?

These are all questions for another newsletter!