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It’s so emblematic of the moment we’re in, the Who Cares Era, where completely disposable things are shoddily produced for people to mostly ignore.
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In the Who Cares Era, the most radical thing you can do is care.
In a moment where machines churn out mediocrity, make something yourself. Make it imperfect. Make it rough. Just make it.
At a time where the government’s uncaring boot is pressing down on all of our necks, the best way to fight back is to care. Care loudly. Tell others. Get going.
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Smart words, well-written by Dan Sinker.
I like the fact that he correctly identifies that the “Who Cares Era” – illustrated by the bulk creation of low-effort, low-quality media, for a disheartened audience that no longer has a reason to give a damn – isn’t about AI.
I mean… AI’s certainly not helping! AI slop dominates social media (especially in right-wing spaces, for retrospectively-obvious reasons) and bleeds out into the mainstream. LLM-generated content, lacking even the slightest human input, is becoming painfully ubiquitous. It’s pretty sad out there.
But AI’s doing some useful things too: it’s not without its value, even just in popular use.
So while the “Who Cares Era” might be exemplified by the proliferation of AI slop… it’s much bigger than that. It’s a sociological change, tied perhaps to a growing dissatisfaction with our governments and the increasing feeling of powerlessness to change the unjust social systems we’re locked into?
I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t even know if it’s fixable. But I agree with Dan’s argument that a great starting point is to care.
And I, for one, am going to continue to create things I care about, giving them the time and attention they deserve. And maybe if enough of us can do that, just that, then maybe that’ll make the difference.