Here’s one story of the future.
There are 3 companies that matter. Google, Facebook, and ByteDance. Each owns a short-form video platform. They make money by addicting people to their platform, and day-after-day convincing a larger fraction to buy what they advertise. Their profits go into making their platforms ever more effective.
Years pass. Over time more people become users and users stay for longer. Eventually, everyone is addicted. Conversation is made up entirely of describing videos you’ve seen until it ceases to exist entirely.
There are hold-outs, sure. Some university professors, some monks. People stranded on islands. It’s a damn good drug, after all.
Only one of these companies will win. Why should it continue convincing its users to buy from other users when it can simply convince people to do things. The labor of the human race at its fingertips.
How far along the path are we? We have the AI algorithms. We have masses of addicts. Maybe the platforms can only get so good. Maybe people will decide to put down their phones and think for themselves.
But just to be safe: Stay off the drip, okay? I want someone to talk to in 10 years.