Heat Death of the Internet
==========================
4 April 2024
Heat Death of the InternetJust today I read this, very good! :-)
==========================
4 April 2024
...[end quoted plain text]
https://www.takahe.org.nz/heat-death-of-the-internet
Heat Death of the Internet
4 April 2024 in t110
You want to order from a local restaurant, but you need to download a >third-party delivery app, even though you plan to pick it up yourself.
The prices and menu on the app are different to what you saw in the
window. When you download a second app the prices are different again.
You ring the restaurant directly and it says the number is no longer in >service. You go to the restaurant and order in person. You mention that
their website has the wrong number and the woman behind the counter says
they have to contact the company who designed the site for changes,
which will cost them, but most people just order through an app anyway.
You want to watch the trailer for an upcoming movie on YouTube but you
first have to sit through an ad. Then you sit through a preview for the >trailer itself. Then you watch the trailer, which is literally another
ad. When it ends, it cues up a new trailer, with a new ad at the start
of it.
The first page of Google results are links to pages that have scraped
other pages for information from other pages that have been scraped for >information. All the sources seem to link back to one another. There is
no origin. The photos on the page look weird. The hands are disfigured.
There is no image credit.
Your coworker sends you a PowerPoint pack to support a presentation you
are giving to the executive committee, but you can't make heads or tails
of it. You call them over Zoom and they tell you they used ChatGPT to
write it. You point out that it is near-unreadable, and they ask what >specifically is wrong with it. You mention that, for starters, there are
too many words on each slide. They tell you they'll take care of it.
They send you a new pack within the hour saying they asked ChatGPT to
remove 30% of the text. It makes even less sense. You tell them you'll
just rewrite it yourself.
A billionaire got mad, bought your favourite social media site and ran
it into the ground. A different billionaire got mad, bought the magazine
site you liked to read on your lunchbreak and shut it down completely. A >third billionaire did what they do best, bought the app you use for >networking and sold it off for parts.
You want to watch a TV show from your youth so you check a streaming
service, but it is not there, so you check a second streaming service
but it is not there, so you check a third streaming service and it is
not there. You search for it on Blu-ray but it doesn't exist, so you
search for it on DVD but it is out of print. You find a seller on eBay
who has it, but the listing reads ambiguous as to whether it is the real >thing or a burnt copy. You message the seller and they reply with an >automated response thanking you for your interest.
You can't read the recipe on your phone because it prioritises the ads
on the page. You bring your laptop into the kitchen and whenever you
scroll down, you have to close a pop-up. You turn AdBlock on and the
page no longer loads, then AdBlock sends you an ad asking for money.
The Airbnb charges you a $150 cleaning fee, but insists the place needs
to be left spotless. There will be a fee if the bedding hasn't been
stripped and the dishwasher hasn't been emptied.
Your Uber driver is lost because his app hasn't updated and keeps
telling him to turn down streets that no longer exist. You still give
him five stars.
Your mother sends you a link to a breaking story, but the article is
behind a paywall, so you switch to the website where you do pay for
news but there's no mention of it.
You buy a microwave and receive ads for microwaves. You buy a mattress
and receive ads for mattresses.
Strangers on social media assume you are American and get mad when you >correct them.
Your Gmail is approaching storage capacity.
Your smart TV needs new firmware.
Your phone schedules an update.
Your friend has a short story published online but you need to pay for
a subscription to the site in order to read it. You message them and ask
if you could get a copy. They say 'sure' and send you a PDF. You read
the story and like it. You are curious about one detail. You message
them for more information and they recommend checking out the Wikipedia
page. You read the Wikipedia entry and there is a lot of useful
information supplied by a community. One of the sources cited is a non- >fiction book. You go to your local library's website and although they
don't have the exact book, they do have others by the same author. You
place a hold on two of them, then go get your shoes on.
Gregory Bennett is a writer and filmmaker from Wellington whose accent
comes from Invercargill. They hold a Masters in Creative Writing from
the IIML and currently work for a disability support services provider
in Melbourne, Australia.
40tude Dialogue - Download* >https://www.barghahn-online.de/4td_faq/download/4d2b38.exe >https://www.barghahn-online.de/4td_faq/download/dialog_41.zip
Sysop: | Keyop |
---|---|
Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
Users: | 388 |
Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
Uptime: | 05:59:48 |
Calls: | 8,220 |
Calls today: | 18 |
Files: | 13,122 |
Messages: | 5,872,261 |
Posted today: | 1 |