Episode 317: The Dead Internet Theory

Like, share, follow, subscribe! From its inception, social media has gained an outsized role in our lives. Its inner mechanisms remain murky, serving up a collection of content it thinks we want to see. Now the real-world consequences of hyper-curated online spaces have never been more apparent. This week's episode is The Dead Internet Theory.

Courier Video: https://www.tiktok.com/@couriernewsroom/video/7435730132393839902

SOURCES

Books

• Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Burn-Book/Kara-Swisher/9781982163891 

• Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality by Renee DiResta: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/renee-diresta/invisible-rulers/9781541703377/

Online Resources

• Bots fired: examining social bot evidence in online mass shooting conversations, Nature.com:  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0359-x

• Closing the Stanford Internet Observatory will edge the US towards the end of democracy, Guardian:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/29/closing-the-stanford-internet-observatory-will-edge-the-us-towards-the-end-of-democracy

• Facebook’s Shrimp Jesus: The AI Art Phenomenon Explained, Man of Many:  https://manofmany.com/tech/shrimp-jesus-explained

• Google Search Really Has Gotten Worse, Researchers Find, 404Media:  https://www.404media.co/google-search-really-has-gotten-worse-researchers-find/

• I Am Running Out Of Ways To Explain How Bad This Is, The Atlantic:  https://archive.ph/4o5Hr

• Is anyone out there?, Prospect:  https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/technology/internet/67864/dead-internet-theory-ai

• Is the ‘Dead Internet’ theory suddenly coming true? This could be a sign, Fast Company:  https://www.fastcompany.com/91092650/dead-internet-theory-true-tiktok-ai-influencers

• Is The 'Dead Internet Theory' True? Shrimp Jesus Phenomenon Explained, Science Alert:  https://www.sciencealert.com/is-the-dead-internet-theory-true-shrimp-jesus-phenomenon-explained

• Justine Moore on Twitter, X:  https://x.com/venturetwins/status/1759671881404452983

• Maybe You Missed It, but the Internet ‘Died’ Five Years Ago, The Atlantic:  https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/08/dead-internet-theory-wrong-but-feels-true/619937/

• Meta's Threads is 'overrun' with liberal election fraud conspiracies, User Mag:  https://www.usermag.co/p/metas-threads-overrun-with-liberal-election-fraud-conspiracies

• Shrimp Jesus, 404 Media Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/17JtST3YRcimjhudG4P9qW?si=Lu7rNHtpS42j8z_OLQNrIA

• Social Media and News Fact Sheet, Pew Research Center:  https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet/

• The Artificial State, The New Yorker:  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/11/11/the-artificial-state

• The Dead Internet Theory, Explained, Forbes:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2024/01/16/the-dead-internet-theory-explained/

• The dead internet theory and the silent surge of bots, WIX Blog:  https://www.wix.com/blog/dead-internet-theory

• The dead internet theory: The rise of bot-to-bot interactions, Yahoo:  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dead-internet-theory-rise-bot-153513312.html

• The Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled, Platformer:  https://www.platformer.news/stanford-internet-observatory-shutdown-stamos-diresta-sio/ 

• The ‘dead internet theory’ makes eerie claims about an AI-run web. The truth is more sinister, UNSW Sydney:  https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2024/05/-the-dead-internet-theory-makes-eerie-claims-about-an-ai-run-web-the-truth-is-more-sinister

• The Time-Traveling Camera: A Short History of Digital Photo Manipulation, Science and Media Museum:  https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/digital-photo-manipulation-history

• Transcript: Kara Swisher, Author, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, Washington Post:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2024/02/27/transcript-kara-swisher-author-burn-book-tech-love-story/

• What is the dead internet theory?, LiveScience:  https://www.livescience.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/what-is-the-dead-internet-conspiracy

• What is the dead internet theory?, The Week:  https://theweek.com/media/what-is-the-dead-internet-theory

• Why TikTok is Becoming A Conspiracy Playground, Media Matters:  https://www.mediamatters.org/tiktok/video-why-tiktok-becoming-conspiracy-playground

• Will Shrimp Jesus Kill Social Media?, The Artificial Human: https://open.spotify.com/episode/23kh4RkGhugpCOnlv2fa94?si=dEXcRwRPRnmyZhEe6BhUcA