Killer App
Yesterday, in my blog, I mentioned that we all worked for giant social media companies for free, generating streams of data they then use to sell us stuff. Today, when I opened up Firefox, my browser of choice, I found the following news story on the front page: You Have a New Memory. In the story was this: “Barely more than a decade later, the internet is not the tool. I am the tool. Somehow, I have been instrumentalized by the internet, which operates me through my phone. It often feels like the internet is reading my mind.”
The story goes on to talk about how everything we do is data that someone somewhere is parsing to feed us back information and ideas that resonate with us. Mostly so that we’ll buy stuff. And I’m actually good with that. Because I’ve discovered a lot of interesting things, and bought them, too. And it works with ideas, so I’m guessing I’ll see even more things about ways humans are interacting with the internet. It’s a different world today, folks. You may think you can opt out by getting off Facebook, but to really disconnect you’d need to throw away your phone and dump every smart device in the house. Good luck with that.
In case you missed it, there was a communication revolution, on par with what happened after the advent of telephones, then radio, movies, and finally TV. Now days, they all come in one device, but it’s that ubiquitous internet that is really the killer app, changing our lives in mysterious ways, and there is more to come, I’m sure. I can hardly wait, and did you see what that guy did on TikTok?