Plastic Humans
Humanizing the internet one click at a time.
HAL 9000:
It was an arduous morning on the pet farms in Guadalajara, tequila production was eradicated during the great civil war of 2040 so the economic resources of the state changed drastically. Who could blame them! I too would resort to the most practical way, especially after being pulverized by the androgynous alphas. You might know them as the genderless children of the future.
Anyway… I’m just an ordinary miner digging plastic from the carcasses of cattle, in the afternoon my group concludes its duties and we proceed to cultivate crypto jujus. It’s not a fancy life, but it’s what I have nonetheless.
Funny tho, all of this was unleashed by our supreme leader. A monarch so powerful that it managed to capture the attention of the entire world, if you still think that I am talking about Elon Musk, think again.
Our emperor is the algorithm!
Surely you were expecting this plot twist, now a days we love to blame this enigmatic mechanism. However that accumulation of zeros and ones is turning me into a cardboard puppet without good taste.
Wake up Mr. West:
Every working day leads me to share a few shots of mezcal with my friends, we sneak out of the technocratic ejidos to enjoy the turquoise sunset of the city. Next to the bonfire we gather all those who no longer have a cell phone, we are a group of marginalized and misunderstood artists who didn’t learn to dance like monkeys.
It amuses us to recall what it was like to create without expecting something in return, those golden years when imagination ran free and no one needed to replicate trends to be considered.
The good old times!
It’s even more entertaining to hear Andre’s point of view, some say that long ago he drank a potion that allowed him to become inmortal. They also told me that he was once the president of Mexico…
“Hugs not bullets I told the people, nonetheless they did not listen to the voice of my goose. In those years I was already tired… I tried as much as I could, but Tik Tok was too much for me, the youth lost itself.”
But what exactly did they lose, Andres?
“Their real voice, the ability to speak truth. They fell for the new, choosing to give away their talents for a robotic voice put into a six second video with dogs. Nothing required sincere human touch anymore.”
“The algorithm beat them…”
Andres takes a slight pause while cleaning a mustard stain on his shirt, he no longer answers my questions, he prefers to sleep while the breeze is still alive.
Many afternoons similar to this one I get distracted and imagine… What would my world be like if I had never sold myself to the internet?
Fairy dust:
Fire can destroy an entire forest, or it can be a tool to protect a home from bad weather, it all depends on the my focus at that moment. I bet you five pesos that there’s a similar phrase on the internet, although it does not bother me to know that some ideas were born in another head.
My timeline is not the most hospitable place, in fact people stopped smiling or sharing sincere ideas for a long time. I sense that it’s not a lack of creativity, but rather the voluntary choice to remain in the comfort of falsehood. The lies that the algorithm provides me, hiding my words through a simple song, constant access to news that alter my state of mind…
Whether it’s at dawn while micro plastics fall through the shower when I’m bathing, during my breaks when people use anime signs to communicate or before I go to sleep when I’m checking the likes with my name on.
This is our lie.
Craig Ferguson 2000:
Ugly future, right? Getting back to a much simpler prose, I want to give myself an opportunity to share the original point I wanted to make. My friend Lizzy gave me some clues:
- Lizzy: “I like to see puppies for example haha, but it pisses me off that all dog reels are the same, same trends, audios dynamics, etc. Only thing different is the dog.”
- “That robotic voice stresses me out, there’s less and less participation form the individual. So many formats with so little creativity…”
- “They’re getting shorter and shorter lately, I get a lot of people pushing for 6 second videos with shitty audio.”
I could go on quoting her, but I sense that you already understood the point. To hell with the algorithm! What I share, communicate, and experience comes from the depths of my soul. It can’t be dictated or programmed!
Surely some nerd will read this, and reply that the only thing the algorithm reflects are the tastes I have of myself. He might be right! It’s only job is to show the true nature of an individual, it is our black mirror into the abyss.
Is this tool a reflection fo my unconsciousness? A couple of paragraphs ago I wrote about the differences of fire, sometimes it destroys and other times it feeds a home.
I think that the algorithm comes from this same principle, an it’s my responsibility to mold this vehicle to communicate real truths. This is what I call the Craig Ferguson method.
Give me a venti full of shit:
The Craig Ferguson method is not a series of five steps to make better content, much less a rallying cry to give up the algorithm. Actually there’s no practical purpose for me choosing that name to express my views. Bingo, that’s the Craig Ferguson method!
Don’t you understand it? There you go again!
I write this letter knowing that only 20% of you will read it, I write in a peculiar way because that is how my mind works, even when I share thing about consciousness. Basically I accept the essence of my inner being, without refining it to the point of no return.
I do not abandon the principles that move my soul, I involve my whole being even my exposing my face or failures online.
There are moments when I use a popular song, or put a hashtag to improve a post. Nevertheless I can’t limit the truth within the art, it must be seen by others without filters.
The future is uncertain, but I want to be part of the group who shared their truth with everything, even the shit that smells bad. I am human, imperfect, with many mechanical failures. I know very well that this is what connects me with you, surely others will continue with the trends, probably our minds will rot due to all the memes we consume. No one has an idea of what a true living being is anymore.
The only thing I am certain of is that as long as I continue to speak without mincing words, screwing up by not using the right song and experimenting with formats that connect with you. I’ll keep my integrity established! That’s how I want the algorithm to reflect my spirit.
I am not a prisoner of software, I am a creator who will favor the truth that makes up men. Whether in the physical or digital world…
I AM..
