A crisis of authenticity

If you spend any amount of time on a computer in 2026, you may find yourself thinking, as I frequently do, that computers have started to suck. The Internet, especially, sucks. The number of distracting Skinner Boxes vying for your attention are astounding, compounded by the fairly recent development of AI-assisted content generation. Is the Internet dead?

If you’re unfamiliar with the Dead Internet theory, the basic contours of the thesis are pretty simple: since 2016, technology has been able to generate plausible human-like text in response to a wide range of inputs. Thus, the majority of what you see online these days that purports to be human-made is some automated process that is engaged in some sort psychological op to sell you things, manufacture consent, or otherwise manipulate public opinion.