Is the Internet Really Dead?
There are more than a billion people on the internet at a time, yet why does the internet seem to be filled with so much uninteresting fluff? Most of which are just imitations of an original kernel of an idea repeated over so many time that it has become trite.
If you feel this way, it possibly could be a result of the environment you find yourself in. Most people would love to have interesting and great life-altering exchanges on the internet or maybe extract some value out of it. We inherently crave it; certainly why we feel so moved by wholesome interactions over the internet. However, this does not seem to be the case for a large majority of the people currently using the internet. The most common experiences I hear, good or bad, are all similar in the way of being relegated to a handful of walled gardens parroting the same thing over and over again until oblivion. People have often mutated their sense of humour as a defence mechanism, combating this banal and insidious cage they find themselves in online, however as happens with most ideas and/or movements; it gets diluted overtime till there is nothing left. Irrespective of how potent the message is, endless entropic repetition always whittles down meaning till there is only noise left. Some revel in this inherent meaninglessness of the resulting situation, however that is a bit too depressing of an self-eating loop for me. I would rather not be in the cage at all.
Hence I find myself gravitating towards more free and equitable environments. Thus, my burgeoning interest in the personal web and the "web revival" comes as a means of escape. No more doom-scrolling endlessly till the day has passed; nor engaging in endlessly incessant online bickering; or outrage farming for a precious more crumbs of attention. I would much rather hear from people who have something to say. Find your own voice and have it be heard, irrespective of what algorithms may dictate.
Now, for the reason I have used Wittgenstein's picture above, and the crux of my reasoning to adopt the "personal web". He has been largely influential on how I personally see language and the process of expressing myself in general. As per my interpretation of his works, meaning is not inherent in a language, meaning only exists in the context of the use of a language. In other words, "Meaning is Use". In my opinion expression operates in the same vein. The sample space for how expressive you are is the degree of freedom in your capacity express your internal processes. You learn more languages, learn more cultures and the degree or depth at which you can express your internal processes is far greater. Self-expression on the internet is cut from the same cloth. It is also something that adds to your state space for self-expression. Thus using and utilizing techniques that aid in more effective self-expression in my view broadens the vocabulary available for language of expression. Memes and emojis are an example of the expansion in our lexicon. They are capable of invoking and expressing very specific internal thoughts that may not have been available to us otherwise. Imagine, how many such avenues would open up to us if we engage in expanding our bandwidth for expression. Thus as I have convinced myself, relegating yourself to just the most popular handful of silos is restricting the richness of the language we use for self-expression. I suppose exploring new depths and opening new horizons makes you understand the human condition better. Unlike the philosophical zombie who resembles a human, has all the reflexes that a human should possess but no internal processes to drive them. A hollow facsimile of a real human being.
Thus the only way to look inward is to expand outwards.
Until next time.