Bowl of Cereal

Internet culture is one of my favourite topics to research, but I feel that most of the coverage surrounding Internet culture is not reaching its full potential. Most of these YouTubers and writers that cover Internet phenomena do it in a way that is explanatory, not exploratory. They usually don’t bother providing any original observations or analysis, and they rarely make any gestures that guide the readers towards productively using the knowledge they provide. Basically, they don’t take their work seriously enough. Even though LessWrong is a forum dedicated to creating productive knowledge, I do not see many threads on here that discuss Internet incidents and personalities. And I’ve searched! I believe that this is a major oversight for our community. Firstly, solving Internet problems is often realistically attainable. If you see something online that could negatively impact society for example, you can simply make a post that promotes the opposite of what the harmful post was saying. This can make up for the damage that was caused from the other post. Or maybe, someone who’s involved in the incident you discuss will search their name in a search engine and come across your post. This way, your post can directly influence the issue you are discussing while remaining within the LessWrong cultural context. One thing that is unique about Internet posts is that they’re simultaneously theory and action. This is partly because your Internet activity influences what the algorithm shares to the rest of the world; partly because of the dynamic and easily accessible interactivity of the Internet; and partly because of your ability to make Internet posts that contribute to people’s worldviews and subsequently, their actions. I’m planning on making a series of LessWrong posts that analyze Internet stories and explore their role in a greater social context. My focus on Internet culture is partly because of my limited access to reliable news sources that could give me t