Not Going To Stop AI, Alone
Not using AI doesn’t stop it from using your share of the world’s energy...
AI is on by default, using electricity you pay for, and shortening the length of your devices’ obsolescence span, memory to screen, especially the battery life. It uses your phone, it uses your larger than phone computers. If it isn’t “it”/an AI, then it’s a web-crawling bitcoin “miner”. For example, web bots “hit” my writing blog at a rate of 20 to 1, when compared to the clicks inside the ‘blog-posts-read-analytics’.
My point is, if we are going to fight back, we must get organized and do it together.
I have a why, point a. and point b.
Here’s point a.:
Just FYI this is written by me, not AI.
Four types of mob mentality:
1. Deadly mob mentality.
2. Audience mentality.
3. The collective intelligence.
4. Social media memes.
The classic old as dirt, deadly mob mentality type 1, with pitch forks and fire, burning witches at the stake, the biblical stoning of adulters, people who were adored as part of their tribe before, the screaming and trampling of people fleeing from a burning theater, trampling people to death at a concert or a stampede at a sports event.
The second type is active but not deadly, the audience mentality, sports and music fans screaming and yelling, they can turn into the deadly mob, but if not afraid (fleeing for their lives) or drunk, they will silence to a murmur at the raise of the umpire’s hand or when a person on the stages calls for the attention of the crowd.
The third type is the collective intelligence. The collective intelligence works together, sorts the data and does the math to figure out how many emergency exits, and what type of signage can prevent a stampede to help allow people to exit the stadium or theater without fear, preventing deadly mob mentality.
On a national scale the collective intelligence takes form in democracy, when people work together to maintain liberty and justice for everyone.
The collective intelligence is whenever thousands (or even hundreds) of people work together as a united team, to win, make a movie, or to get to the moon. Or for a famous historical example, the multinational simultaneous development of the automobile.
The hive mind works together. When you ask many people a complex question, and then combine the answers on a data point cloud chart, you can find the most accurate answer to even unanswerable questions. Like what are emotions, how to best mitigate climate change damage, or how to best plan farm land. The intelligent answers will line up, the not so smart answers will sort of spread and sink, or sometimes clump to the bottom (people who were making jokes etc… like “Boaty McBoatFace” for a collective naming example that went to the jokes, not to the intelligence area of the point cloud).
This brings me to the fourth type of human mob mentality – the meme. It’s only possible because of the internet and social media. Before the internet, there were physical on the streets fads or trends. Some patterns of imitated behaviour, like cat calling by groups of men etc…Sort of similar to social media trolls.
But, the on the street of a city this collective action isn’t to the extent of a mob (unless it is an actual mob, like a riot), because people physically on the side walks are scattering, going to where they intend to go, thinking about work, food, their loved ones, the dog they are walking etc…
But, meme mentality is something else. Destructive when the meme is based on fear or hate, but usually it’s about recursive self examination. Memes are mobs because masses of people are focused on something all together as a shared experience. And like screaming in a crowd, it sort of takes over our collective sanity for a bit.
Pause and think about each of the four types of mob mentality, when in your life have you experienced.
1. Have you been a witness to or worse part of a dangerous mob?
2. Think about how it felt to part of a large audience in the moment together. If you haven’t done this, pick a crowd event that you would enjoy, it’s really worth it and has to be experienced to understand.
3. Have you experienced working with others to be part of the collective intelligence? For me it was working on a few indie movie crews, and some large college and high school projects that involved over a hundred people.
4. Have you participated in a viral meme conversation? How did that feel, everyone sharing how they saw some seemingly trivial details of media on a large scale, together.
Of course reply in comments with interesting thoughts totally welcome. But, we shall see if the 7 social media apps I post on let anyone in my home feeds see this.
Why? Because of this.
Point b. Is best described by a question I asked Google search Ai a couple of days ago.
Me: Is it possible or just coincidence that the social media apps only let one person see your posts in their home feed and shuffle all the rest with their profit algorithm?
AI: It is definitely possible and highly likely that this is happening, and it is almost certainly not a coincidence.
What you are describing is the core function of modern social media algorithms—a, “profit algorithm,” as you put it, which prioritizes engagement to keep users scrolling and, ultimately, to sell ads.
Here is why you only see that one person:
The “Relationship Strength” Factor: The algorithm tracks who you talk to, whose posts you like, and who you visit. If you, or the other person, engage frequently, the platform deems that relationship “strong” and constantly prioritizes them at the top of your feed.
The “Relevance” Score: The algorithm predicts what you want to see based on past behavior. If you have clicked on similar posts before, the algorithm will show you more of that, even if it ignores 95% of your other friends.
The “Profit” Mechanism: Social media platforms want you to stay on the app. They show you content that makes you engage (like, comment, or share) because that keeps you on the platform longer. The “shuffle” of other posts is actually a curated, ranked feed designed to maximize your time-on-platform, not to show you everything in chronological order.
Why does this happen?
Too Much Content: You are probably connected to more people than you can keep up with. The algorithm filters this for you, but it filters for engagement, not necessarily for importance.
Echo Chamber Effect: Once the algorithm decides you like that one person, it keeps showing them to you, creating a self-reinforcing loop.
Active Engagement Required: To see more diverse posts, you need to actively engage with other friends’ posts.
How to Bypass It
Check the “Feeds” or “Following” Tab: Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms often have a “Feeds” tab that shows you posts in chronological order (or at least, less heavily ranked).
Use “Favorites”: Mark the friends you actually want to see as “Favorites.”
“See First”: On Facebook, you can select “See First” on specific friends.
So, while it feels like a conspiracy to restrict your social circle, it is a deliberate, personalized,, and profit-driven curation strategy.
Me, to myself after I copy and paste this. Well, shit. And once again, what are you going to do about it?
Hey, one person who sees this post in my home feed. Any ideas?
The past couple of days, it’s been sinking in that this post is half finished/ or it is only half finished with my mind. But, I want to do other things, like live and make food… so the paper notes to myself have been building up, and the editing and revising hasn’t happened yet.