FIELD NOTES FROM THE FEED / PAGE 4
Field notes from an internet becoming easier to fill and harder to trust. AI slop, algorithm bait, fake authority, corporate goo, and the occasional thing still worth paying attention to.
Boomers don't actually use generative AI more than younger generations. So why have AI Jesus, impossible crafts and synthetic Facebook imagery become so associated with them? The answer says less about age than it does about what happens when technology finally stops making you feel stupid.
AI can imitate the surface of children’s entertainment almost instantly. What it cannot manufacture so easily is the human point of view that gives a story somewhere to come from.
YouTube says mass-produced and repetitive content should not be rewarded as authentic work. That is not an AI ban. It is still an admission that the factory smell has become hard to ignore.
Parents did not invent autoplay, infinite scroll or synthetic content farms. Yet somehow the person trying to make dinner is expected to personally audit the entire internet.
Slop culture is what happens when making content becomes easier than deciding whether it deserves to exist.
The disturbing part is not that the internet can fake almost anything. It is that we are getting used to wondering whether everything is fake.
The worst person in your feed may not believe a word they are saying. That is what makes rage bait so efficient.
At some point every company became thrilled to announce something. AI did not invent corporate slop. It gave it autocomplete.
Friction has become something every product wants to remove. Some kinds of work become valuable because friction stayed in the room.