A special intelligence can happen, almost as lightning happens, on social media; there’s a special stupidity that frequently happens, as mudslides happen, also on social media.
Sometimes data is shared that leads to smart, collaborative group-think. But often in a social media setting, as we respond to the clusters of endorphin hits which come so very rapidly, homo sapiens 1.0 is prone to mindlessly clutching at those feelings, jumping to conclusions–stupid conclusions. I look forward to homo sapiens 2.
I don’t blame social media per se. It merely illuminates our slavery to instinctual reactive responses. It takes advantage of it and rubs our primeval snouts in it. Our nightmarish history, with The Holocaust, with wars fought for religion, with slavery–is yet another manifestation of our outmoded neurological firmware, our faulty epigenetic programming. We’re glitched with primitive neuro programming, to go alongside with our capacity for engineering and art and science.
Social media is an accelerant, as in firefighting jargon. It makes human nature’s rampant irresponsibility worse. It can accelerate the good, but oh so often accelerates our worst impulses.