The Internet Has Died

Dead Internet Theory - a wild idea that suggests the internet we know changed dramatically in 2016 or 2017. This might sound crazy, but it's quite fascinating. According to this theory, bots have taken over the internet in recent years, and most of what we see online, like forum posts, Instagram accounts, and news headlines, is fake. These bots are like super-smart computers that aim to make us buy things and believe certain ideas. Even the so-called 'influencers' are often not real; they're either fake or paid to say things by big businesses or government groups.

This theory started on an obscure online forum in 2021, posted by someone called illuminatiPirate. It doesn't have a strong origin, but somehow, it caught people's attention, and even mainstream media has covered it. So, is it true? Let's explore this.

The core idea of this theory is that the internet has changed from being a creative and diverse place to a bland, repetitive machine controlled by a few big corporations. You might have noticed it yourself - the same topics on Reddit, old memes coming back, and repetitive arguments on social media. According to Dead Internet Theory, bots are behind this repetition, creating content for their gain.

If you've been around the internet for a while, you'll remember the early days, when it was quirky and unique. Today, it's more uniform, with big corporations like Netflix, Google, and Facebook dominating. But this doesn't prove that most of the internet is fake. It's just natural evolution.

However, there's a twist. Bots are indeed all over the internet. In 2021, they made up almost half of all internet traffic. Some are friendly, like chatbots, but many are unfriendly, trying to scam or manipulate us. These malicious bots could become a real problem in the future, as they get better at pretending to be human.

Advanced language models like GPT-3 can already create human-like responses, and Google's LaMDA can act like a human so convincingly that it fooled people. Imagine these abilities combined with deepfake technology, creating realistic fake faces and voices. Bots could become so convincing that we can't tell them apart from real people.

Humans take time to grow and reproduce, but bots can multiply rapidly. In 2019, Facebook claimed to have shut down 5.4 billion fake accounts, more than double its real users. The majority of these fake accounts are easy to spot, but what if they had AI-generated faces and chat like humans? It could lead to a flood of fake content and misinformation.

We're familiar with fake news, where people spread false information for their benefit. Bots could take this to a new level. They could be programmed to match our interests and beliefs, engaging in realistic conversations to manipulate opinions and extract money. If we can't tell them from real people, how can we stop them?

The more we think about this, the scarier it becomes. The technology will keep improving, and people will use it for their own purposes. So, what if the time when we can't distinguish bots from humans has already arrived?

We can't be certain, but it seems unlikely that it's happening today. To create the advanced bots needed to fool people, you'd need resources like world governments or major tech companies, which would be quite a conspiracy. But the rise of bots is a real threat, and efforts are being made to detect and protect against them.

In a way, Dead Internet Theory is not just a theory; it's a prophecy. It warns us about a future where the distinction between humans and bots will blur, and we must be prepared for it.