The hyperindividual. Alone in a world built just for you
Disclaimer: yes, I used AI to help rework this text. I know, ironic. But the reflections are mine. Just a weekend thought.
Lately I’ve been wondering. If everything is personalized, who are you really?
AI no longer just suggests. It shapes. You listen to music you supposedly chose. You read news that fits you. You think things that feel like yours. But might as well not be.
We’re all living in a bubble. Everything tailored. Everything frictionless. It feels efficient. Until you realize you haven’t had a new thought in months.
A world built around you. But who else is in it
Society is becoming more and more individual. To the point of absurdity. Everyone gets their own truth. Their own pace. Their own feed. Their own algorithm. But how do we still learn to deal with difference? With surprise? With the unexpected?
We’re drifting away from anything shared. And it comes at a cost.
Leadership adrift. Algorithms quietly in charge
You see it in politics too. Decisions shaped by popularity. Not direction. Polls, reactions, clicks. That’s the new compass. And meanwhile the real decisions are made by platforms. Invisible. Unaccountable. But steering everything.
Imagination used to be a skill. Now it’s a service
We used to need creativity. Now it’s pre-generated. You don’t have to make things up anymore. It’s delivered. Flawless. Polished. Infinite. But still strangely hollow. As if the edges were removed.
The next generation. Everything but hunger
If kids grow up with instant gratification, do they still learn to long for something? To wait? To imagine?
They may grow up with access to everything, except the one thing that builds inner space. Silence. Boredom. Missing something. That’s where ideas used to come from.
Our generation. Connected to everything. But less moved
We’re somewhere in between. No longer fully offline. Not completely digital either. We scroll through landscapes. Follow each other in real time. Everything is accessible. But less tangible.
Are we still touched by things? Or just constantly triggered?
And what about free will
We think we make choices. But algorithms often decided before we even knew we had a decision to make.
It still feels like freedom. Because it fits us perfectly. But who built that profile? And based on what?
Free will might still exist. But it’s managed. Optimized. And therefore limited.
One last thought
We’re getting a world that matches us perfectly. But maybe that’s not the point. Maybe we want to be confused now and then. To stumble onto something unexpected. To feel something that doesn’t fit.
And still I love my exocortex My digital sparring partner The assistant that seems to understand me better than I do myself
But at what cost
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