The Butlerian Jihad, for the uninitiated, is from Frank Herbert’s Dune series. It refers to a mass revolt (10,000 years before the events of the main series) against “thinking machines,” and explains why there are no computers in the Dune universe.

More and more, I am convinced that social media, influencers, and algorithms are the single greatest threat to our continued existence as a species. That may seem hyperbolic, but how else do you explain noted psychopath RFK Jr. now being in a position to create an “autism database” (aka eugenics catalog)? Or the existence of the entire cabinet of our current American government, for that matter? Our alternate, bespoke realities are beginning to splinter and swallow real life.

From Renée DiResta’s book Invisible Rulers (an essential read, imo):

The internet is where reality is made. You might think that sounds dramatic or absurd—the world existed prior to the internet and is governed by the laws of physics. A tornado will destroy your house whether you choose to believe it’s real or not. But for many other topics, determinations of what is “real,” “true,” or “accurate” come about by way of social consensus. People come together in groups to evaluate rumors, stories, experiences, and information and decide the truth of a matter, so perception shapes reality. Out perception of what’s happening around us today is significantly informed by what we see online. Many people get their news, spend their time, and come together to discuss the issues of the day on the internet, particularly social media. And of course, what happens online doesn’t stay online.

And it’s all being hyper-accelerated by my least favorite thing in the entire world: generative AI, the “new aesthetic of fascism” (“It's embarrassing, destructive, and looks like shit: AI-generated art is the perfect aesthetic form for the far right.” Hell yeah.) Technology, which should be built to help us, is now, more than ever, actively killing our souls.

Why I’m Spiraling This Week:

• Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College: “ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project.” This whole article leaps from one jaw-dropping anecdote to another; the “what are we even doing here?” levels of absurdity are off the charts.

  It’s not just the students: Multiple AI platforms now offer tools to leave AI-generated feedback on students’ essays. Which raises the possibility that AIs are now evaluating AI-generated papers, reducing the entire academic exercise to a conversation between two robots — or maybe even just one.

• Facebook Allegedly Detected When Teen Girls Deleted Selfies So It Could Serve Them Beauty Ads: This company is run by an absolute sociopath. How do these people sleep at night?

  Though Facebook's ad algorithms are notoriously opaque, in 2017 The Australian alleged that the company had crafted a pitch deck for advertisers bragging that it could exploit "moments of psychological vulnerability" in its users by targeting terms like "worthless," "insecure," "stressed," "defeated," "anxious," "stupid," "useless," and "like a failure."

• “How Come I Can’t Breathe?”: Musk’s Artificial Intelligence Company Draws a Backlash in Memphis: “The company’s turbines — enough to power 280,000 homes — run without emission controls in an area that leads Tennessee in asthma hospitalizations.” Take a wild guess who has to suffer the most so we can keep pretending AI is some kind of miracle cure for society.

  Today, more than 90 percent of residents living in Boxtown’s ZIP code are Black, with a median household income of $36,000, according to the Census Bureau. It’s also home to more than 17 industrial facilities — some of which share an industrial park with xAI — that release enough toxic pollution to require registration with EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory.”

• “We now have to start acting as if we live in East Germany, and Instagram is the Stasi.” If you take anything away from this week’s newsletter, please find 20 minutes to watch the video below. I came to it a little late, and was not aware of Carole Cadwalladr’s story, but this woman is a hero:

How about a soothing balm after all that darkness? Put this on if you want to get lost in an amazing menagerie of jazz and ambient electronica. Good for listening while washing the dishes.