The Dead Internet Theory is a conspiracy theory that, when we take the conspiracy theory out of it, ceases to be an unrealistic or far-fetched idea, and starts to be very obvious. Like many theories (such as the Anthropic principle), it has strong and weak forms. The strong form is a variant on the great conundrum of stoner epistemology: what if everyone else in the world is a robot, dude? The weak version is that the internet sure has changed, hasn't it?
I don't believe that I am the
…A tax on something that causes social harm.
"One who desired knowledge of man apart from the fruits of knowledge would seek it in the history of religious enthusiasm, of martyrdom, or of love; he would not seek it in the market-place."
—Arthur Pigou
The English economist Arhur Pigou constructed a Utilitarian argument that, in short, highlighted the need to increase the cost of harmful activities, with a
…I am coming to realize that my behaviors as a young child resembled that of cats in ways too numerous to call coincidence.
It is not simply that I was aloof, or even that I hated the idea of needing to work with other people for anything. It is that I would routinely hide in closets, hide under tables, crawl under beds, make little caverns out of the fold-out foam seat portions of the cheap couches and hide in those, hide under blankets --
…It feels like archaeology, this excavation, sifting through silicon tablets inscribed with the chronicles of a fallen civilisation. Here we find evidence of its rituals and celebrations, its values and cuisine, its talismans and taboos. We see this was once a vibrant, living culture of two: one that told stories and wrote songs, and made art and made war and made love.
There are none today who can say what it meant to live it. The scattered survivors of
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