Dark Age Two

Historical Darkness

Defining the historical Dark Ages is important, as the name suggests a ‘darkening.’ It does not imply societal chaos outright, though the collapse from the ‘light’ of classical antiquity’s robust city state culture left far-reaching forms of societal instability. Literacy rates were much lower in that era. The historical focus falls upon Europe. The era predates modern empiricism and math and cultures featured devout populations of various faiths. Naturally, these predate the paradigm shift that would occur with the proliferation of the mass adoption of the mechanical worldview. Superstition was prevalent. Though literacy levels had dipped after Rome’s fall, how could a ‘second dark age’ qualify as ‘dark’ in a post-industrial, affluent, ‘connected,’ material-and-information-rich society? Ray Kurzweil had already argued against the potential for dark age of innovation by pointing out that contemporary research funding from governments and the private sectors alike will continue in almost all future scenarios. Along with cheap raw compute power and abundant sources of data, even the average person would be capable of invention, innovation, synthesis, creation. Even with few essential resources, the average person often does.

Data Inaccessibility Ruled Out

A librarian at UVA had mentioned their understanding of term “digital dark age.” According to the reference/archival community, this variation of the term refers to the hypothesized inability of future generations to access or read digital media due to some form of technical constraint. An example of this phenomenon exists in hypotheticals: “How can a DVD be accessed if no DVD drives exist in 1,000 years?” or “How can we access digital information if there is no electricity to power computers or communications infrastructure after a global catastrophe?”  This definition would be a result of something like advanced societal decline, a global catastrophe, or vast amounts of elapsed time. Though this kind of a digital dark age refers to data loss, literacy and critical thought could be a component worthy of consideration for a societal dark age.

Synthetic Data – Cause and Effect

Inversion

Another definition or component of a ‘digital dark age’ could involve a theorized ‘inversion.’ Such an inversion parallels a theory known as “Dead Internet theory.” Currently existing as conspiracy due to lack of hard evidence, this trajectory is of course possible. The proliferation of AIs sourced of large language models (LLM) and those which produce generative art fuel this kind of speculation.

An ‘inversion’ within the composition of the the internet refers to an inflection point regarding the sum of all data that exists on the internet. It is said to occur when the total amount of content generated by programs (e.g., bots, AI) exceeds that which is generated by humans. The content created by programs could feature large amounts of unclean data, exacerbating the proliferation of misinformation.

Bots

A 2022 report on internet bot traffic published by Security Magazine May 11 2023, provides some compelling information. The report, issued by Imperva (a top-ranked provider of website security services), attributes 47.5%  total web traffic to bots. 30.2% of bot traffic was classed as “bad bot” activity. 51.2% of bad bots were further classified as “advanced” in their level of sophistication. Considering that a security company benefits from the specter of “bad bots,” this data, while compelling, really needs a counterpoint or a source of impartial statistics.

The ability to take in and decipher good vs. bad data would nonetheless become even more critical in a digital landscape polluted by nonsense or falsehoods.

Impact Upon Society Alone

Innumerable alarmists and scholars alike claim that decline can be evidenced by the composition of the internet generated by humans users. Related terms include “deviancy amplification spiral,” a result of media hype, and “link rot,” a phenomenon involving the growing proliferation of broken internet links. Both reflect the influence of bad data. Ironically, many alarmist fears are not grounded to reality by peer-review evidence-based sources. Societal impact is the pragmatic concern.

Something that is more palpable and concrete can be gleaned from talks and articles related the to Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts, a link to Jaron Lanier’s website for the book of the same name. Dubbed the “Godfather of Virtual Reality,” Lanier is a well-connected polymath and figurehead within the tech industry. Lanier is outspoken regarding the negative effects that result from social media use.

Some aspects of social media algorithms are known to be geared toward retaining the attention of end users by eliciting emotional responses through a deliberate manipulation of individual feeds. Content served to end users becomes more shocking or outrageous, is often of a divisive subject matter, and ultimately increases engagement due to the emotions elicited in the process. Algorithms automate this addictive process at the expense of the social impact created in and through the individual. Real moderators and ethics are often left by the wayside. The shifts in perspective created by such programming are thought to be palpable at the level of the collective – society.

How Facebook Algorithms Can Fight Over Your Feed expands upon this idea. Modern advertisements are served in a similar automated manner. Clearly, an awareness of such practices and the presence of harm reduction in the form of strong critical thinking skills could alleviate some of these qualms.

Critical Thought Comes to Correct: Accessing and Reading

Literacy rates, globally, have risen. Between 2000 and 2020, global youth literacy grew from 87% to 92% while the gender gap narrowed. Girls still have lower literacy rates than boys (-2%), though regional disparities skew this average slightly. Overall, the greatest barrier noted in these reports was a lack of Information Communications Technology (ICT) skills. Considering that much of humanity’s knowledge is now held within the ‘library’ of the internet, being able to operate a computer or smartphone is an additional factor that can be associated with literacy. UNICEF offers some literacy datasets for interested parties in addition to providing some perspective-generating graphics of those datasets.

Literacy and ICT skills are not the sole factors which determine the collective intelligence of a society. The dissemination of fake facts, misinformation, and propaganda have effects that can ripple. Measuring critical thought and basic reasoning skills as applicable to the real world or the trajectory of societies seems ungraspable, though an educated and cognitively strong populace surely correlates with a bright and able society. The average intelligence of a population is just one factor can be thought to contribute any longitudinal shifts.

Preview

How does one link any trends to the trajectories of societies when these cannot be empirically examined? As far as worries or concerns, we humans tend to pick the odd one out, the outlier, the abnormality. Masters of adaptation in possession of the most complex and efficient computational device tucked inside each of our heads, and though inviting of a joke of some kind, there still is much hope to be acknowledged and much gratitude to have.

The rise of corporations as influential bodies that exert great control over societies may be of interest. Will MNCs bear more influence upon nations as weighted into the possibility of semi-autonomous corporate city states climbing towards pinnacles of material goods – despite geographic and political governing as an ostensible placeholder of regulation or oversight? Though possible, a focus on societies remains more important. It’s the aftereffects of any contributing hypothetical factor which matter.

While a non-dark-non-light age is better defined, neutral focus must shift to public-facing worries that may contribute to less-favorable outlooks of future eras. Conspiracy theories are to remain excised from this dialog entirely, as such lines of thought are often not grounded in fact or cannot be fully substantiated in reality.

Examining the impacts of climate change are also of salience in terms of humanity’s response, while global political interactions are a subject which can mostly rest. The rise and falls of civilization is of interest; a work by Noam Chomsky regarding the decline of the USA becomes quite useful if the theory can viably be superimposed at the global level across cultures. This may also unexpectedly provide some hope-filled pro-utopian contrasts. Empathy, entropy as a driving force, concerns of individual health & mental health, resilience & romance in the wealthy & connected world, and several examinations of classic fiction will either appear or be woven herein.

While many of us worry about the future, it may help to remember that all people always have. Shifting toward gravity-bearing good news will serve as the counterbalance of outright hopeful truths. While some subjects breached may be disheartening, others will automate the luxury of that truer balance toward hopeful outlooks.