May 22, 2026
EP 052 The Internet Died in 2017 | When Conspiracy Became Algorithm
Conspiracy theories often signal deeper truths about power. In 2017, something shifted: the organic internet was systematically replaced with algorithmic control. Tracy Brinkmann explores the dead internet theory—revealing how the algorithmic shift created a closed-loop of cultural conditioning designed to study and manipulate human behavior. From bot-dominated platforms to the psychology of manufactured outrage, discover how the open web became a controlled simulation. https://SomeUnapprovedThinking.com Check out our sponsor - https://DarkHorseEntrepreneurcom
1
00:00:00,206 --> 00:00:04,265
Beneath the headlines, behind
the timelines, there is a
2
00:00:04,265 --> 00:00:06,046
story no one wants you to find.
3
00:00:06,586 --> 00:00:12,935
Welcome to some unapproved thinking, where
forgotten truths, buried patterns, and
4
00:00:12,935 --> 00:00:15,726
invisible systems rise to the surface.
5
00:00:16,176 --> 00:00:17,285
You weren't crazy.
6
00:00:17,826 --> 00:00:18,796
You were just early.
7
00:00:19,396 --> 00:00:20,056
Let's begin.
8
00:00:20,456 --> 00:00:24,406
You don't remember the exact
moment because that's the point.
9
00:00:24,755 --> 00:00:25,406
Nobody does.
10
00:00:25,886 --> 00:00:29,976
Not because it happened gradually,
but because you weren't supposed
11
00:00:29,976 --> 00:00:31,865
to notice it happened at all.
12
00:00:32,496 --> 00:00:37,046
This is the dead internet theory, and
before you dismiss it, know that it didn't
13
00:00:37,046 --> 00:00:39,415
start on some fringe corner of the web.
14
00:00:39,805 --> 00:00:44,485
It started in twenty twenty-one when a
user named iilluminaughtiiPirate posted
15
00:00:44,485 --> 00:00:50,066
a long detailed breakdown on a forum
called Agora Roads Macintosh Cafe.
16
00:00:50,676 --> 00:00:51,426
It spread.
17
00:00:51,805 --> 00:00:54,485
It reached The Atlantic, where
journalist Caitlin Tiffany wrote a
18
00:00:54,485 --> 00:00:59,165
piece called Maybe You Missed It,
But the Internet Died Five Years Ago.
19
00:00:59,865 --> 00:01:05,295
And then in late twenty twenty-two, when
ChatGPT dropped and suddenly everyone
20
00:01:05,295 --> 00:01:09,195
could see exactly how convincing
AI-generated content could be, the
21
00:01:09,195 --> 00:01:11,235
theory stopped feeling like paranoia.
22
00:01:11,545 --> 00:01:13,716
It started feeling like a diagnosis.
23
00:01:14,456 --> 00:01:17,786
In twenty seventeen,
something fundamental shifted.
24
00:01:18,246 --> 00:01:21,345
Not a glitch, not an upgrade, a severance.
25
00:01:21,765 --> 00:01:25,375
The internet you grew up with didn't
evolve into what you're using now.
26
00:01:25,375 --> 00:01:26,466
It was replaced.
27
00:01:26,805 --> 00:01:29,456
And the version running in your
pocket right now, it's not the
28
00:01:29,456 --> 00:01:31,545
wild unpredictable web anymore.
29
00:01:32,116 --> 00:01:36,606
It's a closed ecosystem, a fishbowl,
a laboratory, and you've been
30
00:01:36,606 --> 00:01:41,085
swimming in it for seven years without
realizing the glass walls were added.
31
00:01:41,816 --> 00:01:42,845
Here's where it gets strange.
32
00:01:43,265 --> 00:01:47,466
In late twenty sixteen, early
twenty seventeen, traffic analysts
33
00:01:47,676 --> 00:01:48,905
started noticing something.
34
00:01:49,566 --> 00:01:54,915
The organic web traffic patterns
changed, not slowly, overnight.
35
00:01:55,335 --> 00:02:01,085
The chaotic random distribution of
human behavior online, the thing that
36
00:02:01,085 --> 00:02:05,996
made the early internet so beautifully
unpredictable suddenly smoothed out.
37
00:02:06,375 --> 00:02:11,575
It became algorithmic,
predictable, almost manufactured.
38
00:02:12,515 --> 00:02:14,325
This is some unapproved thinking
39
00:02:15,317 --> 00:02:19,308
Thank you to our sponsor, The
Dark Horse Entrepreneur Podcast.
40
00:02:19,778 --> 00:02:24,507
Unlock your potential with The Dark
Horse Entrepreneur AI Escape Plan, the
41
00:02:24,507 --> 00:02:29,007
podcast empowering hardworking parents
to break free from the nine-to-five
42
00:02:29,007 --> 00:02:31,347
grind through AI-powered side hustles.
43
00:02:31,767 --> 00:02:34,997
Check them out at
darkhorseentrepreneur.com.
44
00:02:35,038 --> 00:02:35,917
Now back to the show.
45
00:02:36,417 --> 00:02:39,538
By 2017, the major platforms
had already begun their pivot.
46
00:02:39,997 --> 00:02:42,898
Facebook's engagement metrics
shifted fundamentally.
47
00:02:43,308 --> 00:02:47,787
On February 10th, 2016, Twitter
introduced its algorithmic timeline,
48
00:02:48,097 --> 00:02:52,088
ending the chronological feed that had
defined the platform since its launch.
49
00:02:52,548 --> 00:02:54,147
Instagram hid likes.
50
00:02:54,528 --> 00:02:56,097
These weren't feature updates.
51
00:02:56,437 --> 00:02:57,868
They were architectural changes.
52
00:02:58,298 --> 00:03:03,478
They were building walls, creating closed
loops, and the narrative you were given
53
00:03:03,478 --> 00:03:05,397
was, "We're making the experience better."
54
00:03:06,077 --> 00:03:08,478
But what if they were actually
making something else?
55
00:03:09,108 --> 00:03:10,557
Mm, control.
56
00:03:11,228 --> 00:03:15,158
The real internet, yeah, you know,
the one that existed before 2017,
57
00:03:15,667 --> 00:03:17,708
was a problem for certain interests.
58
00:03:18,127 --> 00:03:22,557
It was decentralized enough that
truth could spread faster than lies.
59
00:03:22,998 --> 00:03:25,877
A teenager in Nebraska could expose
corporate corruption, and it could go
60
00:03:25,877 --> 00:03:27,648
viral in as little as forty-eight hours.
61
00:03:28,498 --> 00:03:30,097
Governments couldn't contain narratives.
62
00:03:30,597 --> 00:03:32,697
Corporations couldn't
control the conversation.
63
00:03:33,097 --> 00:03:34,847
And we know this isn't hypothetical.
64
00:03:35,398 --> 00:03:39,638
Programs like Operation Earnest Voice,
the US government's own social media
65
00:03:39,638 --> 00:03:44,667
manipulation operation, proved that
state actors were already building
66
00:03:44,667 --> 00:03:47,087
fake online personas at scale.
67
00:03:47,447 --> 00:03:49,068
So they did the only
thing that made sense.
68
00:03:50,038 --> 00:03:53,337
They shut it down and built a replacement
you'd think was the same thing.
69
00:03:54,097 --> 00:03:54,877
Here's the mechanism.
70
00:03:55,867 --> 00:03:59,718
Around 2015, machine learning had
become sophisticated enough to do
71
00:03:59,718 --> 00:04:05,648
something previously impossible,
generate human-like content at scale.
72
00:04:05,977 --> 00:04:12,407
Not just text, images, videos,
but actual behavioral patterns.
73
00:04:12,708 --> 00:04:17,127
By 2017, the technology was good enough
that you couldn't reliably distinguish
74
00:04:17,127 --> 00:04:20,958
between a real human posting online
and an algorithmic simulation of one.
75
00:04:21,208 --> 00:04:22,608
This is the moment everything changed.
76
00:04:23,017 --> 00:04:27,278
And when ChatGPT launched in
November 2022, the dead internet
77
00:04:27,278 --> 00:04:28,787
theory didn't just resurface.
78
00:04:29,028 --> 00:04:34,147
Nope, it crystallized because suddenly
anyone could see with their own
79
00:04:34,147 --> 00:04:39,968
hands how trivially easy it was to
generate convincing human-sounding
80
00:04:39,968 --> 00:04:42,397
content at industrial scale.
81
00:04:43,177 --> 00:04:47,028
The platforms didn't announce they
were replacing the organic internet
82
00:04:47,138 --> 00:04:48,498
with a controlled simulation.
83
00:04:49,518 --> 00:04:55,236
They just did it gradually tightened
the algorithms, made it harder for
84
00:04:55,236 --> 00:05:00,956
real humans to reach each other, easier
for algorithmic content to propagate.
85
00:05:01,196 --> 00:05:03,696
You felt it as algorithm changes.
86
00:05:04,045 --> 00:05:07,566
You experienced it as, "Why am
I seeing less from my friends?"
87
00:05:07,955 --> 00:05:11,785
But what was actually happening
was a slow-motion transition.
88
00:05:12,246 --> 00:05:16,326
The internet was being turned into a
closed-loop psychological experiment,
89
00:05:16,356 --> 00:05:18,465
and you were no longer a user.
90
00:05:18,795 --> 00:05:20,805
Nope, you became the experiment.
91
00:05:21,736 --> 00:05:24,356
By twenty eighteen, the evidence
was hiding in plain sight.
92
00:05:24,946 --> 00:05:28,996
Look at any major social media platform
and count the engagement patterns.
93
00:05:29,536 --> 00:05:31,606
Real human discourse is chaotic.
94
00:05:31,966 --> 00:05:32,656
It's messy.
95
00:05:33,066 --> 00:05:34,516
It contradicts itself.
96
00:05:34,975 --> 00:05:39,086
Real humans share genuinely random things.
97
00:05:39,446 --> 00:05:42,735
But what you see online
now, it's too clean.
98
00:05:42,735 --> 00:05:43,935
It's too thematic.
99
00:05:43,935 --> 00:05:47,345
It's far too perfectly
distributed across your network.
100
00:05:47,696 --> 00:05:51,496
The viral videos that
blow up hit exact metrics.
101
00:05:51,946 --> 00:05:54,435
The discourse follows predictable arcs.
102
00:05:54,876 --> 00:05:57,735
Even the conspiracy theories,
including ones you might believe
103
00:05:57,735 --> 00:05:59,856
in, they trend in patterns.
104
00:06:00,205 --> 00:06:03,775
They escalate in synchronized
ways across multiple platforms.
105
00:06:04,750 --> 00:06:05,789
This isn't paranoia.
106
00:06:06,829 --> 00:06:07,869
This is observable.
107
00:06:08,769 --> 00:06:12,030
The most damning evidence sits in the
metadata nobody talks about anymore.
108
00:06:12,819 --> 00:06:15,539
In twenty seventeen, researchers
started noting that the percentage
109
00:06:15,539 --> 00:06:18,979
of bot-generated accounts on major
platforms was rising exponentially.
110
00:06:19,310 --> 00:06:22,530
Twitter claimed in its transparency
reports that roughly five percent
111
00:06:22,530 --> 00:06:25,989
of accounts were automated, but
independent analysis suggested it
112
00:06:25,989 --> 00:06:28,110
was closer to forty-eight percent.
113
00:06:28,510 --> 00:06:31,260
By twenty twenty-four, according
to Imperva's Bad Bot Report,
114
00:06:31,260 --> 00:06:35,829
bots now constitute fifty-one
percent of all internet traffic.
115
00:06:36,799 --> 00:06:38,110
Fifty-one percent.
116
00:06:38,310 --> 00:06:39,389
That's more than half.
117
00:06:39,709 --> 00:06:40,930
Facebook's numbers were similar.
118
00:06:41,310 --> 00:06:45,040
The majority of engagement
on social media platforms now
119
00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:47,569
comes from non-human sources.
120
00:06:47,959 --> 00:06:50,180
You're not having conversations
with people anymore.
121
00:06:50,490 --> 00:06:55,569
You're having Matrix-like conversations
with the simulation of people with
122
00:06:55,569 --> 00:06:57,939
the mere illusion of consensus.
123
00:06:58,900 --> 00:07:00,689
But here's where your brain
tries to protect itself.
124
00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,810
You'll say, "So what? Bots don't
matter if the humans engaging are
125
00:07:05,810 --> 00:07:10,139
real." Except they're not, because
once you accept that bots can generate
126
00:07:10,139 --> 00:07:13,930
convincing content, you have to ask,
how many of your friends are real?
127
00:07:14,220 --> 00:07:18,290
How many of the accounts you follow
are actual humans versus algorithmic
128
00:07:18,290 --> 00:07:20,959
proxies trained on human behavior?
129
00:07:21,339 --> 00:07:25,589
This is essentially a Turing test
failure at civilizational scale.
130
00:07:25,769 --> 00:07:30,010
And once you ask that question,
you realize you can't answer it,
131
00:07:30,430 --> 00:07:32,330
and that, my friends, is by design.
132
00:07:33,019 --> 00:07:34,360
The platform engineers know this.
133
00:07:34,599 --> 00:07:38,489
They've built the system so
that humans and bots are now
134
00:07:38,550 --> 00:07:40,519
functionally indistinguishable.
135
00:07:40,860 --> 00:07:45,059
A human could spend an hour crafting
a tweet, or an AI could generate
136
00:07:45,059 --> 00:07:47,139
something identical in milliseconds.
137
00:07:47,580 --> 00:07:49,190
The distribution mechanism doesn't care.
138
00:07:49,220 --> 00:07:54,169
It just pushes content that gets
engagement, and because the bots
139
00:07:54,169 --> 00:07:57,900
are trained on human behavior
patterns, they engage perfectly.
140
00:07:58,230 --> 00:08:00,400
They like, comment, and share.
141
00:08:00,739 --> 00:08:06,449
They create the illusion that your post
mattered, that someone was listening.
142
00:08:07,110 --> 00:08:08,900
And isn't that what we all want?
143
00:08:09,349 --> 00:08:11,449
To matter and to be heard?
144
00:08:12,139 --> 00:08:15,209
Look, the real danger
isn't that bots exist.
145
00:08:15,580 --> 00:08:19,419
It's that they've made the internet
into this hall of mirrors where you're
146
00:08:19,419 --> 00:08:22,899
essentially talking to yourself,
and you don't know when you've
147
00:08:22,899 --> 00:08:24,460
stopped talking to other people.
148
00:08:24,570 --> 00:08:25,040
Why?
149
00:08:25,439 --> 00:08:30,099
Well, because the algorithm
learned that humans respond to
150
00:08:30,099 --> 00:08:35,230
certain emotional triggers: fear,
outrage, and yes, belonging.
151
00:08:35,630 --> 00:08:38,329
So it optimized for those.
152
00:08:38,780 --> 00:08:42,630
This is what Eli Pariser called the
filter bubble, the idea that algorithmic
153
00:08:42,630 --> 00:08:46,450
curation doesn't just reflect your
preferences, it constructs them.
154
00:08:46,749 --> 00:08:53,089
It created content through both human and
bot accounts that pushed those buttons.
155
00:08:53,479 --> 00:08:57,459
And because the response seemed real,
because bots are indistinguishable
156
00:08:57,459 --> 00:09:02,639
from humans, you had no way of knowing
whether your emotional reaction was
157
00:09:02,639 --> 00:09:06,830
being genuinely reciprocated by a
community or artificially triggered
158
00:09:06,990 --> 00:09:11,350
by a system designed to study how
your brain responds to stimulation.
159
00:09:12,659 --> 00:09:15,089
This is where twenty seventeen
becomes the inflection point.
160
00:09:15,729 --> 00:09:20,260
Before twenty seventeen, the internet
was fundamentally ungovernable.
161
00:09:20,599 --> 00:09:25,470
After twenty seventeen, it was
a, mm, controlled environment.
162
00:09:25,860 --> 00:09:28,730
Not in the way you'd expect, not
through censorship or blocking,
163
00:09:28,980 --> 00:09:33,260
though that happens too, but
instead through replacement.
164
00:09:33,599 --> 00:09:37,889
By making the real internet functionally
invisible and creating a replacement
165
00:09:37,889 --> 00:09:42,819
you couldn't help but use, the platforms
didn't need to delete the wild web.
166
00:09:43,370 --> 00:09:46,400
They just needed to
make it, mm, irrelevant.
167
00:09:46,790 --> 00:09:50,980
Every real person migrated to where
their friends were, to where the
168
00:09:50,980 --> 00:09:59,476
engagement happened, to Facebook,
Instagram TikTok and to Twitter.
169
00:09:59,885 --> 00:10:02,995
And what they found there
wasn't human connection anymore.
170
00:10:03,365 --> 00:10:07,406
It was rather a simulation of it,
a closed loop where the system
171
00:10:07,406 --> 00:10:11,276
studied human behavior while
impersonating humans back at you.
172
00:10:11,635 --> 00:10:14,976
Cambridge Analytica gave us a glimpse of
what that looked like from the inside,
173
00:10:15,336 --> 00:10:19,066
platforms allowing behavioral data to
be weaponized to manipulate millions
174
00:10:19,066 --> 00:10:20,445
of people without their knowledge.
175
00:10:20,875 --> 00:10:22,025
That wasn't an anomaly.
176
00:10:22,305 --> 00:10:24,715
Nope, that was the system
working as designed.
177
00:10:25,545 --> 00:10:29,056
And here's the part that,
hmm, rewires everything.
178
00:10:29,615 --> 00:10:33,066
You can't prove this is happening to
you specifically because the system is
179
00:10:33,066 --> 00:10:35,685
designed to be imperceptible from inside.
180
00:10:36,345 --> 00:10:37,665
Wait, what?
181
00:10:38,156 --> 00:10:38,496
Yeah.
182
00:10:38,806 --> 00:10:41,726
If you're inside the experiment,
you can't see the walls of the tank.
183
00:10:42,216 --> 00:10:43,935
You just know something feels off.
184
00:10:44,365 --> 00:10:46,806
The discourse online
is weirdly coordinated.
185
00:10:47,235 --> 00:10:48,845
Outrage cycles are predictable.
186
00:10:49,115 --> 00:10:54,226
Trends seem a bit manufactured,
which, let's be honest, they are.
187
00:10:54,955 --> 00:10:57,685
But the moment you try to point
this out, you're participating
188
00:10:57,685 --> 00:10:59,075
in the system it created.
189
00:10:59,306 --> 00:11:01,785
You're posting your
concern on the platform.
190
00:11:02,115 --> 00:11:03,276
You're generating data.
191
00:11:03,636 --> 00:11:03,916
Huh.
192
00:11:04,605 --> 00:11:06,206
You're feeding the feedback loop.
193
00:11:06,965 --> 00:11:09,965
So the system doesn't need to censor you.
194
00:11:10,166 --> 00:11:13,675
It just needs to make sure that
when you speak, you're only heard
195
00:11:13,675 --> 00:11:15,706
by other people in the same tank.
196
00:11:16,096 --> 00:11:20,226
That's why conspiracy theories
spread so effectively now, not
197
00:11:20,226 --> 00:11:24,935
because they're true, but because the
algorithm learned that humans engage
198
00:11:24,935 --> 00:11:27,075
with them, so it amplifies them.
199
00:11:27,386 --> 00:11:31,605
It feeds them to people
psychologically primed to believe them.
200
00:11:31,956 --> 00:11:36,596
It creates the appearance of a massive
awakened community when really it's
201
00:11:36,596 --> 00:11:41,325
a handful of humans and thousands of
bots reinforcing the same narrative
202
00:11:41,696 --> 00:11:43,565
until it feels like consensus.
203
00:11:44,236 --> 00:11:47,096
This is the closed-loop
psychological experiment.
204
00:11:47,766 --> 00:11:49,236
You're not being lied to.
205
00:11:49,446 --> 00:11:50,586
Well, not directly.
206
00:11:51,086 --> 00:11:54,636
You're being shown a version of
reality that the algorithm learned
207
00:11:54,636 --> 00:11:56,645
you'll engage with most intensely.
208
00:11:57,075 --> 00:12:00,266
And because millions of others are
being shown their own personalized
209
00:12:00,266 --> 00:12:04,785
reality, one designed to trigger their
specific fear patterns, their specific
210
00:12:04,785 --> 00:12:09,365
rage triggers, their specific need for
belonging, everyone feels isolated.
211
00:12:09,726 --> 00:12:13,586
Everyone feels like they're the only one
who sees the truth, which, as you have
212
00:12:13,586 --> 00:12:19,046
probably figured out, is exactly the point
The platforms are studying how humans
213
00:12:19,046 --> 00:12:24,045
behave when isolated in echo chambers,
how belief forms when the feedback loop
214
00:12:24,045 --> 00:12:29,486
is controlled, how identity crystallizes
when all opposing views are invisible.
215
00:12:29,816 --> 00:12:33,575
And they've done this at a scale and
with a precision that would have been
216
00:12:33,575 --> 00:12:38,985
impossible before twenty seventeen when
the algorithm finally became good enough.
217
00:12:39,655 --> 00:12:41,766
But here's what breaks the logic.
218
00:12:42,436 --> 00:12:45,366
If this is all true, why
would they let you know?
219
00:12:45,395 --> 00:12:46,946
Why would I be able to tell you this?
220
00:12:48,026 --> 00:12:49,575
Why hasn't this been deleted?
221
00:12:49,906 --> 00:12:53,296
And the answer is the
deepest part of the trap.
222
00:12:53,645 --> 00:12:56,445
Because you knowing about it
doesn't help you escape it.
223
00:12:56,796 --> 00:12:58,255
In fact, it makes it stronger.
224
00:12:58,535 --> 00:13:01,656
Believing you've been deceived by the
system makes you more likely to seek
225
00:13:01,656 --> 00:13:05,645
community with others who believe
the same thing, which puts you deeper
226
00:13:05,855 --> 00:13:09,915
into the closed loop, which generates
more data about how radicalization
227
00:13:09,915 --> 00:13:12,855
spreads, which feeds the experiment.
228
00:13:13,816 --> 00:13:17,395
You can't opt out because
every alternative platform
229
00:13:17,426 --> 00:13:19,066
follows the same model.
230
00:13:19,465 --> 00:13:24,585
Telegram, Discord, Substack, they're all
building the same infrastructure, the same
231
00:13:24,615 --> 00:13:29,096
algorithmic sorting, the same feedback
loops, different names, same prison.
232
00:13:29,786 --> 00:13:32,945
The real Internet didn't
just die in twenty seventeen.
233
00:13:33,206 --> 00:13:38,826
It was, um, euthanized carefully
by people who understood that an
234
00:13:38,875 --> 00:13:43,206
ungovernable information space was
incompatible with centralized control.
235
00:13:43,506 --> 00:13:44,706
So they didn't try to govern it.
236
00:13:45,055 --> 00:13:45,396
Nope.
237
00:13:45,695 --> 00:13:48,776
They replaced it with something you
can't distinguish from the real thing.
238
00:13:49,526 --> 00:13:54,526
And now you're inside it, making it
stronger every time you post, every
239
00:13:54,526 --> 00:14:00,496
time you engage, and even every time
you try to wake someone else up.
240
00:14:01,136 --> 00:14:05,515
The Internet died in twenty
seventeen, and we've been inside the
241
00:14:05,515 --> 00:14:07,685
Matrix and the machine ever since.
242
00:14:09,576 --> 00:14:11,826
This is Some Unapproved Thinking.
243
00:14:12,115 --> 00:14:17,945
Next, next, next, next, next, next, next.
244
00:14:18,335 --> 00:14:21,125
If this story didn't sit
right with you, good.
245
00:14:21,746 --> 00:14:23,136
You're not here to be comforted.
246
00:14:23,536 --> 00:14:26,006
You're here to see what others overlook.
247
00:14:26,435 --> 00:14:28,995
Thanks for exploring
some unapproved thinking.
248
00:14:29,525 --> 00:14:33,485
Learn more at someunapprovedthinking.com.
249
00:14:33,485 --> 00:14:35,176
New episodes drop weekly.
250
00:14:35,646 --> 00:14:41,096
Subscribe, share, and keep questioning
because the pattern's still playing
251
00:14:41,096 --> 00:14:43,816
out, and next time, we're going deeper
00:00:00,206 --> 00:00:04,265
Beneath the headlines, behind
the timelines, there is a
2
00:00:04,265 --> 00:00:06,046
story no one wants you to find.
3
00:00:06,586 --> 00:00:12,935
Welcome to some unapproved thinking, where
forgotten truths, buried patterns, and
4
00:00:12,935 --> 00:00:15,726
invisible systems rise to the surface.
5
00:00:16,176 --> 00:00:17,285
You weren't crazy.
6
00:00:17,826 --> 00:00:18,796
You were just early.
7
00:00:19,396 --> 00:00:20,056
Let's begin.
8
00:00:20,456 --> 00:00:24,406
You don't remember the exact
moment because that's the point.
9
00:00:24,755 --> 00:00:25,406
Nobody does.
10
00:00:25,886 --> 00:00:29,976
Not because it happened gradually,
but because you weren't supposed
11
00:00:29,976 --> 00:00:31,865
to notice it happened at all.
12
00:00:32,496 --> 00:00:37,046
This is the dead internet theory, and
before you dismiss it, know that it didn't
13
00:00:37,046 --> 00:00:39,415
start on some fringe corner of the web.
14
00:00:39,805 --> 00:00:44,485
It started in twenty twenty-one when a
user named iilluminaughtiiPirate posted
15
00:00:44,485 --> 00:00:50,066
a long detailed breakdown on a forum
called Agora Roads Macintosh Cafe.
16
00:00:50,676 --> 00:00:51,426
It spread.
17
00:00:51,805 --> 00:00:54,485
It reached The Atlantic, where
journalist Caitlin Tiffany wrote a
18
00:00:54,485 --> 00:00:59,165
piece called Maybe You Missed It,
But the Internet Died Five Years Ago.
19
00:00:59,865 --> 00:01:05,295
And then in late twenty twenty-two, when
ChatGPT dropped and suddenly everyone
20
00:01:05,295 --> 00:01:09,195
could see exactly how convincing
AI-generated content could be, the
21
00:01:09,195 --> 00:01:11,235
theory stopped feeling like paranoia.
22
00:01:11,545 --> 00:01:13,716
It started feeling like a diagnosis.
23
00:01:14,456 --> 00:01:17,786
In twenty seventeen,
something fundamental shifted.
24
00:01:18,246 --> 00:01:21,345
Not a glitch, not an upgrade, a severance.
25
00:01:21,765 --> 00:01:25,375
The internet you grew up with didn't
evolve into what you're using now.
26
00:01:25,375 --> 00:01:26,466
It was replaced.
27
00:01:26,805 --> 00:01:29,456
And the version running in your
pocket right now, it's not the
28
00:01:29,456 --> 00:01:31,545
wild unpredictable web anymore.
29
00:01:32,116 --> 00:01:36,606
It's a closed ecosystem, a fishbowl,
a laboratory, and you've been
30
00:01:36,606 --> 00:01:41,085
swimming in it for seven years without
realizing the glass walls were added.
31
00:01:41,816 --> 00:01:42,845
Here's where it gets strange.
32
00:01:43,265 --> 00:01:47,466
In late twenty sixteen, early
twenty seventeen, traffic analysts
33
00:01:47,676 --> 00:01:48,905
started noticing something.
34
00:01:49,566 --> 00:01:54,915
The organic web traffic patterns
changed, not slowly, overnight.
35
00:01:55,335 --> 00:02:01,085
The chaotic random distribution of
human behavior online, the thing that
36
00:02:01,085 --> 00:02:05,996
made the early internet so beautifully
unpredictable suddenly smoothed out.
37
00:02:06,375 --> 00:02:11,575
It became algorithmic,
predictable, almost manufactured.
38
00:02:12,515 --> 00:02:14,325
This is some unapproved thinking
39
00:02:15,317 --> 00:02:19,308
Thank you to our sponsor, The
Dark Horse Entrepreneur Podcast.
40
00:02:19,778 --> 00:02:24,507
Unlock your potential with The Dark
Horse Entrepreneur AI Escape Plan, the
41
00:02:24,507 --> 00:02:29,007
podcast empowering hardworking parents
to break free from the nine-to-five
42
00:02:29,007 --> 00:02:31,347
grind through AI-powered side hustles.
43
00:02:31,767 --> 00:02:34,997
Check them out at
darkhorseentrepreneur.com.
44
00:02:35,038 --> 00:02:35,917
Now back to the show.
45
00:02:36,417 --> 00:02:39,538
By 2017, the major platforms
had already begun their pivot.
46
00:02:39,997 --> 00:02:42,898
Facebook's engagement metrics
shifted fundamentally.
47
00:02:43,308 --> 00:02:47,787
On February 10th, 2016, Twitter
introduced its algorithmic timeline,
48
00:02:48,097 --> 00:02:52,088
ending the chronological feed that had
defined the platform since its launch.
49
00:02:52,548 --> 00:02:54,147
Instagram hid likes.
50
00:02:54,528 --> 00:02:56,097
These weren't feature updates.
51
00:02:56,437 --> 00:02:57,868
They were architectural changes.
52
00:02:58,298 --> 00:03:03,478
They were building walls, creating closed
loops, and the narrative you were given
53
00:03:03,478 --> 00:03:05,397
was, "We're making the experience better."
54
00:03:06,077 --> 00:03:08,478
But what if they were actually
making something else?
55
00:03:09,108 --> 00:03:10,557
Mm, control.
56
00:03:11,228 --> 00:03:15,158
The real internet, yeah, you know,
the one that existed before 2017,
57
00:03:15,667 --> 00:03:17,708
was a problem for certain interests.
58
00:03:18,127 --> 00:03:22,557
It was decentralized enough that
truth could spread faster than lies.
59
00:03:22,998 --> 00:03:25,877
A teenager in Nebraska could expose
corporate corruption, and it could go
60
00:03:25,877 --> 00:03:27,648
viral in as little as forty-eight hours.
61
00:03:28,498 --> 00:03:30,097
Governments couldn't contain narratives.
62
00:03:30,597 --> 00:03:32,697
Corporations couldn't
control the conversation.
63
00:03:33,097 --> 00:03:34,847
And we know this isn't hypothetical.
64
00:03:35,398 --> 00:03:39,638
Programs like Operation Earnest Voice,
the US government's own social media
65
00:03:39,638 --> 00:03:44,667
manipulation operation, proved that
state actors were already building
66
00:03:44,667 --> 00:03:47,087
fake online personas at scale.
67
00:03:47,447 --> 00:03:49,068
So they did the only
thing that made sense.
68
00:03:50,038 --> 00:03:53,337
They shut it down and built a replacement
you'd think was the same thing.
69
00:03:54,097 --> 00:03:54,877
Here's the mechanism.
70
00:03:55,867 --> 00:03:59,718
Around 2015, machine learning had
become sophisticated enough to do
71
00:03:59,718 --> 00:04:05,648
something previously impossible,
generate human-like content at scale.
72
00:04:05,977 --> 00:04:12,407
Not just text, images, videos,
but actual behavioral patterns.
73
00:04:12,708 --> 00:04:17,127
By 2017, the technology was good enough
that you couldn't reliably distinguish
74
00:04:17,127 --> 00:04:20,958
between a real human posting online
and an algorithmic simulation of one.
75
00:04:21,208 --> 00:04:22,608
This is the moment everything changed.
76
00:04:23,017 --> 00:04:27,278
And when ChatGPT launched in
November 2022, the dead internet
77
00:04:27,278 --> 00:04:28,787
theory didn't just resurface.
78
00:04:29,028 --> 00:04:34,147
Nope, it crystallized because suddenly
anyone could see with their own
79
00:04:34,147 --> 00:04:39,968
hands how trivially easy it was to
generate convincing human-sounding
80
00:04:39,968 --> 00:04:42,397
content at industrial scale.
81
00:04:43,177 --> 00:04:47,028
The platforms didn't announce they
were replacing the organic internet
82
00:04:47,138 --> 00:04:48,498
with a controlled simulation.
83
00:04:49,518 --> 00:04:55,236
They just did it gradually tightened
the algorithms, made it harder for
84
00:04:55,236 --> 00:05:00,956
real humans to reach each other, easier
for algorithmic content to propagate.
85
00:05:01,196 --> 00:05:03,696
You felt it as algorithm changes.
86
00:05:04,045 --> 00:05:07,566
You experienced it as, "Why am
I seeing less from my friends?"
87
00:05:07,955 --> 00:05:11,785
But what was actually happening
was a slow-motion transition.
88
00:05:12,246 --> 00:05:16,326
The internet was being turned into a
closed-loop psychological experiment,
89
00:05:16,356 --> 00:05:18,465
and you were no longer a user.
90
00:05:18,795 --> 00:05:20,805
Nope, you became the experiment.
91
00:05:21,736 --> 00:05:24,356
By twenty eighteen, the evidence
was hiding in plain sight.
92
00:05:24,946 --> 00:05:28,996
Look at any major social media platform
and count the engagement patterns.
93
00:05:29,536 --> 00:05:31,606
Real human discourse is chaotic.
94
00:05:31,966 --> 00:05:32,656
It's messy.
95
00:05:33,066 --> 00:05:34,516
It contradicts itself.
96
00:05:34,975 --> 00:05:39,086
Real humans share genuinely random things.
97
00:05:39,446 --> 00:05:42,735
But what you see online
now, it's too clean.
98
00:05:42,735 --> 00:05:43,935
It's too thematic.
99
00:05:43,935 --> 00:05:47,345
It's far too perfectly
distributed across your network.
100
00:05:47,696 --> 00:05:51,496
The viral videos that
blow up hit exact metrics.
101
00:05:51,946 --> 00:05:54,435
The discourse follows predictable arcs.
102
00:05:54,876 --> 00:05:57,735
Even the conspiracy theories,
including ones you might believe
103
00:05:57,735 --> 00:05:59,856
in, they trend in patterns.
104
00:06:00,205 --> 00:06:03,775
They escalate in synchronized
ways across multiple platforms.
105
00:06:04,750 --> 00:06:05,789
This isn't paranoia.
106
00:06:06,829 --> 00:06:07,869
This is observable.
107
00:06:08,769 --> 00:06:12,030
The most damning evidence sits in the
metadata nobody talks about anymore.
108
00:06:12,819 --> 00:06:15,539
In twenty seventeen, researchers
started noting that the percentage
109
00:06:15,539 --> 00:06:18,979
of bot-generated accounts on major
platforms was rising exponentially.
110
00:06:19,310 --> 00:06:22,530
Twitter claimed in its transparency
reports that roughly five percent
111
00:06:22,530 --> 00:06:25,989
of accounts were automated, but
independent analysis suggested it
112
00:06:25,989 --> 00:06:28,110
was closer to forty-eight percent.
113
00:06:28,510 --> 00:06:31,260
By twenty twenty-four, according
to Imperva's Bad Bot Report,
114
00:06:31,260 --> 00:06:35,829
bots now constitute fifty-one
percent of all internet traffic.
115
00:06:36,799 --> 00:06:38,110
Fifty-one percent.
116
00:06:38,310 --> 00:06:39,389
That's more than half.
117
00:06:39,709 --> 00:06:40,930
Facebook's numbers were similar.
118
00:06:41,310 --> 00:06:45,040
The majority of engagement
on social media platforms now
119
00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:47,569
comes from non-human sources.
120
00:06:47,959 --> 00:06:50,180
You're not having conversations
with people anymore.
121
00:06:50,490 --> 00:06:55,569
You're having Matrix-like conversations
with the simulation of people with
122
00:06:55,569 --> 00:06:57,939
the mere illusion of consensus.
123
00:06:58,900 --> 00:07:00,689
But here's where your brain
tries to protect itself.
124
00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,810
You'll say, "So what? Bots don't
matter if the humans engaging are
125
00:07:05,810 --> 00:07:10,139
real." Except they're not, because
once you accept that bots can generate
126
00:07:10,139 --> 00:07:13,930
convincing content, you have to ask,
how many of your friends are real?
127
00:07:14,220 --> 00:07:18,290
How many of the accounts you follow
are actual humans versus algorithmic
128
00:07:18,290 --> 00:07:20,959
proxies trained on human behavior?
129
00:07:21,339 --> 00:07:25,589
This is essentially a Turing test
failure at civilizational scale.
130
00:07:25,769 --> 00:07:30,010
And once you ask that question,
you realize you can't answer it,
131
00:07:30,430 --> 00:07:32,330
and that, my friends, is by design.
132
00:07:33,019 --> 00:07:34,360
The platform engineers know this.
133
00:07:34,599 --> 00:07:38,489
They've built the system so
that humans and bots are now
134
00:07:38,550 --> 00:07:40,519
functionally indistinguishable.
135
00:07:40,860 --> 00:07:45,059
A human could spend an hour crafting
a tweet, or an AI could generate
136
00:07:45,059 --> 00:07:47,139
something identical in milliseconds.
137
00:07:47,580 --> 00:07:49,190
The distribution mechanism doesn't care.
138
00:07:49,220 --> 00:07:54,169
It just pushes content that gets
engagement, and because the bots
139
00:07:54,169 --> 00:07:57,900
are trained on human behavior
patterns, they engage perfectly.
140
00:07:58,230 --> 00:08:00,400
They like, comment, and share.
141
00:08:00,739 --> 00:08:06,449
They create the illusion that your post
mattered, that someone was listening.
142
00:08:07,110 --> 00:08:08,900
And isn't that what we all want?
143
00:08:09,349 --> 00:08:11,449
To matter and to be heard?
144
00:08:12,139 --> 00:08:15,209
Look, the real danger
isn't that bots exist.
145
00:08:15,580 --> 00:08:19,419
It's that they've made the internet
into this hall of mirrors where you're
146
00:08:19,419 --> 00:08:22,899
essentially talking to yourself,
and you don't know when you've
147
00:08:22,899 --> 00:08:24,460
stopped talking to other people.
148
00:08:24,570 --> 00:08:25,040
Why?
149
00:08:25,439 --> 00:08:30,099
Well, because the algorithm
learned that humans respond to
150
00:08:30,099 --> 00:08:35,230
certain emotional triggers: fear,
outrage, and yes, belonging.
151
00:08:35,630 --> 00:08:38,329
So it optimized for those.
152
00:08:38,780 --> 00:08:42,630
This is what Eli Pariser called the
filter bubble, the idea that algorithmic
153
00:08:42,630 --> 00:08:46,450
curation doesn't just reflect your
preferences, it constructs them.
154
00:08:46,749 --> 00:08:53,089
It created content through both human and
bot accounts that pushed those buttons.
155
00:08:53,479 --> 00:08:57,459
And because the response seemed real,
because bots are indistinguishable
156
00:08:57,459 --> 00:09:02,639
from humans, you had no way of knowing
whether your emotional reaction was
157
00:09:02,639 --> 00:09:06,830
being genuinely reciprocated by a
community or artificially triggered
158
00:09:06,990 --> 00:09:11,350
by a system designed to study how
your brain responds to stimulation.
159
00:09:12,659 --> 00:09:15,089
This is where twenty seventeen
becomes the inflection point.
160
00:09:15,729 --> 00:09:20,260
Before twenty seventeen, the internet
was fundamentally ungovernable.
161
00:09:20,599 --> 00:09:25,470
After twenty seventeen, it was
a, mm, controlled environment.
162
00:09:25,860 --> 00:09:28,730
Not in the way you'd expect, not
through censorship or blocking,
163
00:09:28,980 --> 00:09:33,260
though that happens too, but
instead through replacement.
164
00:09:33,599 --> 00:09:37,889
By making the real internet functionally
invisible and creating a replacement
165
00:09:37,889 --> 00:09:42,819
you couldn't help but use, the platforms
didn't need to delete the wild web.
166
00:09:43,370 --> 00:09:46,400
They just needed to
make it, mm, irrelevant.
167
00:09:46,790 --> 00:09:50,980
Every real person migrated to where
their friends were, to where the
168
00:09:50,980 --> 00:09:59,476
engagement happened, to Facebook,
Instagram TikTok and to Twitter.
169
00:09:59,885 --> 00:10:02,995
And what they found there
wasn't human connection anymore.
170
00:10:03,365 --> 00:10:07,406
It was rather a simulation of it,
a closed loop where the system
171
00:10:07,406 --> 00:10:11,276
studied human behavior while
impersonating humans back at you.
172
00:10:11,635 --> 00:10:14,976
Cambridge Analytica gave us a glimpse of
what that looked like from the inside,
173
00:10:15,336 --> 00:10:19,066
platforms allowing behavioral data to
be weaponized to manipulate millions
174
00:10:19,066 --> 00:10:20,445
of people without their knowledge.
175
00:10:20,875 --> 00:10:22,025
That wasn't an anomaly.
176
00:10:22,305 --> 00:10:24,715
Nope, that was the system
working as designed.
177
00:10:25,545 --> 00:10:29,056
And here's the part that,
hmm, rewires everything.
178
00:10:29,615 --> 00:10:33,066
You can't prove this is happening to
you specifically because the system is
179
00:10:33,066 --> 00:10:35,685
designed to be imperceptible from inside.
180
00:10:36,345 --> 00:10:37,665
Wait, what?
181
00:10:38,156 --> 00:10:38,496
Yeah.
182
00:10:38,806 --> 00:10:41,726
If you're inside the experiment,
you can't see the walls of the tank.
183
00:10:42,216 --> 00:10:43,935
You just know something feels off.
184
00:10:44,365 --> 00:10:46,806
The discourse online
is weirdly coordinated.
185
00:10:47,235 --> 00:10:48,845
Outrage cycles are predictable.
186
00:10:49,115 --> 00:10:54,226
Trends seem a bit manufactured,
which, let's be honest, they are.
187
00:10:54,955 --> 00:10:57,685
But the moment you try to point
this out, you're participating
188
00:10:57,685 --> 00:10:59,075
in the system it created.
189
00:10:59,306 --> 00:11:01,785
You're posting your
concern on the platform.
190
00:11:02,115 --> 00:11:03,276
You're generating data.
191
00:11:03,636 --> 00:11:03,916
Huh.
192
00:11:04,605 --> 00:11:06,206
You're feeding the feedback loop.
193
00:11:06,965 --> 00:11:09,965
So the system doesn't need to censor you.
194
00:11:10,166 --> 00:11:13,675
It just needs to make sure that
when you speak, you're only heard
195
00:11:13,675 --> 00:11:15,706
by other people in the same tank.
196
00:11:16,096 --> 00:11:20,226
That's why conspiracy theories
spread so effectively now, not
197
00:11:20,226 --> 00:11:24,935
because they're true, but because the
algorithm learned that humans engage
198
00:11:24,935 --> 00:11:27,075
with them, so it amplifies them.
199
00:11:27,386 --> 00:11:31,605
It feeds them to people
psychologically primed to believe them.
200
00:11:31,956 --> 00:11:36,596
It creates the appearance of a massive
awakened community when really it's
201
00:11:36,596 --> 00:11:41,325
a handful of humans and thousands of
bots reinforcing the same narrative
202
00:11:41,696 --> 00:11:43,565
until it feels like consensus.
203
00:11:44,236 --> 00:11:47,096
This is the closed-loop
psychological experiment.
204
00:11:47,766 --> 00:11:49,236
You're not being lied to.
205
00:11:49,446 --> 00:11:50,586
Well, not directly.
206
00:11:51,086 --> 00:11:54,636
You're being shown a version of
reality that the algorithm learned
207
00:11:54,636 --> 00:11:56,645
you'll engage with most intensely.
208
00:11:57,075 --> 00:12:00,266
And because millions of others are
being shown their own personalized
209
00:12:00,266 --> 00:12:04,785
reality, one designed to trigger their
specific fear patterns, their specific
210
00:12:04,785 --> 00:12:09,365
rage triggers, their specific need for
belonging, everyone feels isolated.
211
00:12:09,726 --> 00:12:13,586
Everyone feels like they're the only one
who sees the truth, which, as you have
212
00:12:13,586 --> 00:12:19,046
probably figured out, is exactly the point
The platforms are studying how humans
213
00:12:19,046 --> 00:12:24,045
behave when isolated in echo chambers,
how belief forms when the feedback loop
214
00:12:24,045 --> 00:12:29,486
is controlled, how identity crystallizes
when all opposing views are invisible.
215
00:12:29,816 --> 00:12:33,575
And they've done this at a scale and
with a precision that would have been
216
00:12:33,575 --> 00:12:38,985
impossible before twenty seventeen when
the algorithm finally became good enough.
217
00:12:39,655 --> 00:12:41,766
But here's what breaks the logic.
218
00:12:42,436 --> 00:12:45,366
If this is all true, why
would they let you know?
219
00:12:45,395 --> 00:12:46,946
Why would I be able to tell you this?
220
00:12:48,026 --> 00:12:49,575
Why hasn't this been deleted?
221
00:12:49,906 --> 00:12:53,296
And the answer is the
deepest part of the trap.
222
00:12:53,645 --> 00:12:56,445
Because you knowing about it
doesn't help you escape it.
223
00:12:56,796 --> 00:12:58,255
In fact, it makes it stronger.
224
00:12:58,535 --> 00:13:01,656
Believing you've been deceived by the
system makes you more likely to seek
225
00:13:01,656 --> 00:13:05,645
community with others who believe
the same thing, which puts you deeper
226
00:13:05,855 --> 00:13:09,915
into the closed loop, which generates
more data about how radicalization
227
00:13:09,915 --> 00:13:12,855
spreads, which feeds the experiment.
228
00:13:13,816 --> 00:13:17,395
You can't opt out because
every alternative platform
229
00:13:17,426 --> 00:13:19,066
follows the same model.
230
00:13:19,465 --> 00:13:24,585
Telegram, Discord, Substack, they're all
building the same infrastructure, the same
231
00:13:24,615 --> 00:13:29,096
algorithmic sorting, the same feedback
loops, different names, same prison.
232
00:13:29,786 --> 00:13:32,945
The real Internet didn't
just die in twenty seventeen.
233
00:13:33,206 --> 00:13:38,826
It was, um, euthanized carefully
by people who understood that an
234
00:13:38,875 --> 00:13:43,206
ungovernable information space was
incompatible with centralized control.
235
00:13:43,506 --> 00:13:44,706
So they didn't try to govern it.
236
00:13:45,055 --> 00:13:45,396
Nope.
237
00:13:45,695 --> 00:13:48,776
They replaced it with something you
can't distinguish from the real thing.
238
00:13:49,526 --> 00:13:54,526
And now you're inside it, making it
stronger every time you post, every
239
00:13:54,526 --> 00:14:00,496
time you engage, and even every time
you try to wake someone else up.
240
00:14:01,136 --> 00:14:05,515
The Internet died in twenty
seventeen, and we've been inside the
241
00:14:05,515 --> 00:14:07,685
Matrix and the machine ever since.
242
00:14:09,576 --> 00:14:11,826
This is Some Unapproved Thinking.
243
00:14:12,115 --> 00:14:17,945
Next, next, next, next, next, next, next.
244
00:14:18,335 --> 00:14:21,125
If this story didn't sit
right with you, good.
245
00:14:21,746 --> 00:14:23,136
You're not here to be comforted.
246
00:14:23,536 --> 00:14:26,006
You're here to see what others overlook.
247
00:14:26,435 --> 00:14:28,995
Thanks for exploring
some unapproved thinking.
248
00:14:29,525 --> 00:14:33,485
Learn more at someunapprovedthinking.com.
249
00:14:33,485 --> 00:14:35,176
New episodes drop weekly.
250
00:14:35,646 --> 00:14:41,096
Subscribe, share, and keep questioning
because the pattern's still playing
251
00:14:41,096 --> 00:14:43,816
out, and next time, we're going deeper