| We've basically flooded the information space with r-strategists. In evolution, rapid reproduction gives an advantage to spamming low-quality offspring [1], and rapid selection without agglomeration [2,3] incentivizes antisocial behavior. Ideas spread, mutate, and evolve just like animals [4]. So when the Internet made it free for anyone to transmit information to millions of people instantly, trustworthy information sources [5] and prosocial cultural values started dying [6], as literally the worst and craziest people become dominant [7,8,9,10,11]. ...Presumably "AI" is going to make this even worse, and immeasurably so. --- 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/K_selection_theory 2. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Context_collapse 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_newspapers 6. https://theweek.com/culture-life/third-places-disappearing 7. https://globalnews.ca/news/1157137/internet-trolls-are-sadis... 8. https://www.engadget.com/2018-03-19-study-shows-distribution... 9. https://old.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most... 10. https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/news/2023/why-are-online-po... 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakistocracy |