There Is A Killer In Our Family

Technology has gifted us with a new resource to build a Pseudo Family,

FaceBook and the hundreds of online sharing platforms have 'F'd' an entire generation by abridging their human experience. They have faked their sphere of influence and substituted a digital impression of "friends".  And Zuckerberg swears he did it For Your Own Good.

I explored this in my 2022 eBook “f’d: For Your Own Good”.

The US Army actually developed the software that allowed Zuckie to create the social network concept of sharing and bloviating everything that no one normally would.

In the early 60's military security specialists were very concerned that any attack on our country could easily undermine the defenses if it could shut down the telephone system. Later an MIT engineer working with the Department of Defense and the Advanced Research Project Agency (DDARPA) proposed a "networked" system of computers to link the various defense departments to bypass the phone system. By 1970 a small network was sending messages across the country, and by the end of that decade the concept of "handshakes" would allow messages to link with multiple networks around the world. But it wasn't until the 90's that a system to "browse" the various sources of information was introduced. It was called Mosaic. What followed were a tsunami of sharing platforms, to allow for airline reservations, for sharing research and scientific information, to email applications, and then millions of independent websites, all connecting to millions of links too. And then some ambitious college computer science students took the technology to create a sharing platform that featured photos and text, immediate transmission posts and unique storing and identification nodes.

It wasn't until the advanced smart phone came along that the service went into overdrive. But what really changed things was when the impact of it's widespread usage became the object of close scrutiny. Some of the earliest developers recruited intelligence specialists who had experience with secret military projects like MKUltra, Paperclip, and Hummingbird to develop applications that invoke specific psychological responses. It was important to provide content that consumers viewed as friendly, fun and easy. But it was even more important that the program required the user to interact and do so regularly.

They were looking to create a subliminal dependency that would use visual, audio and intellectual ques to trigger involuntary responses while quietly playing on positive emotions.

It all seems so wonderful, so incredibly friendly and smart. It gave us new paths to share life experiences with family and friends, no matter how far apart they may be. Win win, right? Technology has gifted us with a new resource to build a Pseudo Family, to ease our anxieties and to expand our consciousness. It is all For Your Own Good. But like most things in life, everything has a price, even if it appears to be free. Every coin has two sides. 

Current studies show that Facebook and other social media platforms are having devastating effects on young minds and lifestyles. We don't need science to tell us what we can see for ourselves. People don't interact with each other any more. It is hard to get young people to look you in the eye during a conversation.

Texting while driving is killing more people than COVID19.

Combined with hours of video gaming, social media participation is dominating the human experience on earth. Though the systems aren't yet inserted under our skin, humans are closer than ever to being integrated with machines.

The integration of media, of health devices and with virtual reality systems is racing forward and Google, Facebook, Tik Tok and others are leading the way. With web searching information engines bringing us precise data at a moment's notice, who needs a brain? In fact, as time passes, the human brain is becoming an anchor to information retrieval. It is not nearly as accurate and reliable as technology, so it may as well be relegated to the operation of the body's vital functions.

At least for now.