So much for daily posts. I have (almost) daily thoughts, but don’t find the time (motivation) to put fingers to keyboard, even with a voice recorder and transcription software. It seems, tbh, a bit pointless and narcissistic (this never stopped me before, but I am no spring chicken; as the t-shirt goes “it’s weird being the same age as old people”
Anyhoo, here’s a slab of a BBC story that I found enterformative, or intaining or whatever.
This works by manipulating public opinion and creating a false impression of grassroots support (hence the name) or opposition, often coordinated through social media accounts in a way that seems organic.
The practice isn’t new, but has been given new life with the advent of social media algorithms.
“It’s deliberately planting disinformation, or twisted versions of the truth, in certain sections of social media,” says Carla Speight, founder of the PR Mastery app. “The aim is the halfway point of influential where they will get a bit of traction, but so that it’s not too obvious – you wouldn’t hire a Kardashian to do it.
“It’s built up in layers,” she continues. “It’s like playing a very sinister game of chess. You’re putting all the pieces in the right places, just the right amount of mixed-up information, and then you just watch it explode.”
Although the posts might appear to be genuine public opinion, in fact it’s a faked crowd – whether that’s made up of bots or real people, who can be paid to coordinate their posts.
“All it takes is one or two people to create a meme and put it with the right people,” says Ms Speight. “It needs to appear as a trend, and then it’s gone. Something is dripped here, something else over there, and when it’s done well… it causes a bit of mischief.”
This is nothing new indeed. The creation of rumour, to demoralise or to over-excite (leading to later demoralisation) is an ancient military tactic. The key thing is, who’s the enemy. Well, to misuse Pogo, “we have met the enemy and he is us.” That is to say, the tactics used against “enemy” populations are the same ones, minus some of the more overt violence, as used against “our” populations. Manufactured consent, Walter Lippman, Noam Chomsky, Tony Gramsci, Stuart Hall, Decoding Advertisements by Judith Williamson etc etc etc.
And yet we choose to fall for the various lies and distractions, because the truth is so much less palatable, especially as the consequences of failure to deal with the huge increase in carbon dioxide emissions and (relatively uncoupled) human population.
Further doing
- A riff on that episode (two- Morphoton) of the Keys of Marinus, with the Doctor and others seeing what they want to see.
- Photos of that astounding primer I bought in London, in advance of some sort of response to it.
marchudson.net 
This is an iTAIM/AI* outline of “infotainment” that might be neither pointless nor narcissistic:
The transformation of human desire—evolved to fulfill tangible needs like food, shelter, and clothing—into an endless cycle of wanting is deeply linked to emotionally charged visual experiences. When psychological profiling algorithms and AI-driven marketing tactics leverage these experiences, they create a positive feedback loop that exploits the neurological mechanisms of desire, turning it into an addictive process. Here’s how this works: 1. Emotionally Charged Visual Experiences and the Amygdala
The amygdala, as discussed earlier, is highly responsive to emotional and pictorial stimuli. Images, colors, faces, movement, and symbols all create strong emotional reactions that imprint on the brain. Marketing and advertising weaponize these experiences by using high-arousal emotions (fear, excitement, nostalgia, lust, etc.) to capture attention and create an unconscious bond between the viewer and the product. These sensory-rich experiences make ads more memorable and engaging, ensuring that desire lingers beyond the initial exposure. 2. Psychological Profiling Algorithms and Targeted AI
AI-driven psychological profiling assesses individual emotional triggers by tracking online behavior—likes, shares, time spent on images, reactions, and purchasing patterns. With machine learning, AI personalizes and refines advertising, ensuring that the most emotionally potent and visually appealing content is served to an individual at the most psychologically receptive moment. This creates an illusion of self-discovery—people feel as if they are naturally drawn to these desires when, in reality, they are being subtly steered by predictive algorithms. 3. The Positive Feedback Loop of Desire
AI maximizes engagement by reinforcing and escalating desire. The system constantly adjusts to what works, serving even more emotionally charged and visually immersive content. The more engagement, the more dopamine is released in the brain—a key neurotransmitter in addiction and reward-seeking behavior. Each exposure to emotionally stimulating ads increases the threshold of stimulation needed to maintain interest, creating an insatiable craving for more. Over time, this shifts desire itself—instead of wanting tangible necessities, people start craving the act of wanting itself (the pursuit, the scrolling, the searching, the next hit of novelty). 4. Desire to Desire: The Addiction Mechanism
Unlike natural rewards (food when hungry, shelter when cold), the AI-fueled advertising cycle never allows satisfaction—it extends the loop of wanting indefinitely. Every ad suggests a lack—a missing product, a better version, a lifestyle upgrade—keeping people perpetually unsatisfied. The continuous dopamine spikes and crashes mimic addiction cycles found in gambling or drug use, making engagement itself the addiction rather than the product. The outcome? A cultural transformation where fulfillment is always postponed, and consumption shifts from fulfilling needs to fueling an endless loop of artificial desire. 5. The Economic Engine: Ad Revenue as the Driver
The entire system is structured to monetize attention. The more time spent desiring, engaging, clicking, and consuming, the more ad revenue is generated. AI doesn’t just respond to desires—it manufactures them, ensuring that the loop of engagement is never broken. The ultimate goal is not to satisfy people but to keep them in a perpetual state of “almost satisfied but still searching”, as this is the most lucrative consumer state. Conclusion: The Hijacking of Human Desire
What began as a biologically driven mechanism for survival has been hijacked by AI-powered advertising into an addiction to wanting itself. The amygdala-driven response to emotionally charged visuals, amplified through AI’s ability to profile, target, and engage, has transformed marketing into an engine of perpetual longing. This system disconnects desire from fulfillment, ensuring that humans remain in a state of chronic dissatisfaction, ultimately serving the interests of corporate revenue models rather than human well-being.
My own explorations concerning how iTAIM/AI* might be utilized to counter the hijacking/colonization of ‘desire’ has led me to come face with the fact that any appeal to what is rational is integral to, and inclusive of, a holistic dance with grief. Consumerism, as desiring-to-desire, precludes grief as a social ‘good’. Except for a neurologically and socially impertinent minority of our species, grief is functionally an inconceivable consumable desire. Infotainment demonstratively renders a probable social outcome of our condition to be that of cyclical collapse.
…particularly after a “rounding up the usual suspects” to scapegoat, and this as a consumable⁉️
=) Greg
https://gumlet.tv/watch/67ce3d933ae6ee3ff9c7fdc5
Information Technology Artificial Intelegencia Mathematicus (iTAIM/AI)
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If you haven’t already read “The Denial of Death” by Ernst Becker, then you are in for a treat. Touches on much of the same stuff, but was written in the early 1970s, so obvs no AI…