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The Great Flatteningstratechery.com/2024/the-great-flattening/?access_token=eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6InN0cmF0ZWNoZXJ5LnBhc3Nwb3J0Lm9ubGluZSIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJhdWQiOiJzdHJhdGVjaGVyeS5wYXNzcG9ydC5vbmxpbmUiLCJhenAiOiJIS0xjUzREd1Nod1AyWURLYmZQV00xIiwiZW50Ijp7InVyaSI6WyJodHRwczovL3N0cmF0ZWNoZXJ5LmNvbS8yMDI0L3RoZS1ncmVhdC1mbGF0dGVuaW5nLyJdfSwiZXhwIjoxNzE4MTg4NzMyLCJpYXQiOjE3MTU1OTY3MzIsImlzcyI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXBpLnBhc3Nwb3J0Lm9ubGluZS9vYXV0aCIsInNjb3BlIjoiZmVlZDpyZWFkIGFydGljbGU6cmVhZCBhc3NldDpyZWFkIGNhdGVnb3J5OnJlYWQgZW50aXRsZW1lbnRzIiwic3ViIjoiV3NyTHlycjZxZW1WQWdFR0NqTW0zNCIsInVzZSI6ImFjY2VzcyJ9.NgkSZcz_OwkjW7TH6FNBKp7iHS1K6VPyf-xlU6tk1kEXbTuBZzP7kwYsU4WIEpXM4Ab-1DZxZhIus-1-1OtQ6HMi5DdJZqKYcCoARikBeSSkWFtPNGAVpBeOnWzYan2eSUrpGXeuKVq7g5aXv6zNDHoMqHuScb9jE7gFMIa4E3BdafrvjIQ0020M6tUQrm5jinP31XBSQrLUUU2cY_M6QjTn5Hh0CjLUUfNbrJz2yBuvC-egYBpyVersqGIHphD7ZDetF225mvWhhSMbpjeVPqXunJ__GjyFjB_Azlwy_k1exgM4wT0auYJe3jI7KGxWPu2gYm2ZlT8A5itGD0npgQ
1035 sats \ 5 comments \ @freetx 13 May culture
  • Google broke down every publication in the world into individual pages; search results didn’t deliver you to the front page of a newspaper or magazine, but rather dropped you onto individual articles.
  • Facebook promoted user-generated content to the same level of the hierarchy as articles from professional publications; your feed might have a picture of your niece followed by a link to a deeply-reported investigative report followed by a meme.
  • Amazon created the “Everything Store” with practically every item on earth and the capability to deliver it to your doorstep; instead of runnings errands you could simply check-out
  • Netflix transformed “What’s on?” to “What do you want to watch?”. Everything from high-brow movies to budget flicks to prestige TV to reality TV was on equal footing, ready to be streamed whenever and wherever you wanted.
  • Sites like Expedia and Booking changed travel from an adventure mediated by a travel agent or long-standing brands to search results organized by price and amenities.
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968 sats \ 3 replies \ @davidw 13 May
This is a great assessment.
In short, the analog world was defined by scarcity, which meant distribution of scarce goods was the locus of power; the digital world is defined by abundance, which means discovery of what you actually want to see is the locus of power. The result is that consumers have access to anything, which is to say that nothing is special; everything has been flattened.
It seems to me that many people predicted via the internet that we would all become super intelligent with access to the worlds information at our fingertips. The flattening effect effectively increasing the amount of concepts and information to learn, but has led to a distinct lack of specialism and meaning. At least for the majority of folks today.
I expect or hope that will change with AI at our fingertips. But there is an argument to say this trend will only continue. I hope we’ll find many many more specialists, with the skills, tools and attention-span to go deep into new terrains. Otherwise our brains might as well be flattened like pancakes. Time to level-up and ‘go deep’ people.
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60 sats \ 2 replies \ @freetx OP 13 May
The flattening effect effectively increasing the amount of concepts and information to learn
I think the article does a good job of laying out how the interface of the internet is about to change with advent of AI. I think an AI agent is going to be the only interface people use going forward.
"make a circular blue logo using the letters B M G and make it look high tech"
"make a 30 second video explaining the concepts of the PDF I wrote. Provide a subtle musical backing track under the narration to keep the viewers interest"
"explain to me how change the cabin air filter in a 2024 BMW..."
At one level this is going to be profound leap forward in productivity ... at another (like you say)...we are all going to become "jack of all trades, masters of none"
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @davidw 13 May
Exactly. The idea of split-testing a button color is going to sound silly in a world when everything is recalled through an agent, either with no visual interface at all, or some refined interface (possibly 3D) personalised to our tastes.
It’s only a future where we run our own open-source AI locally will it optimise more profound learning, and deliver tailored education to our unique skills & preferences.
Any other approach where we use agents gated by tech conglomerates is a continuation of the prior decade and a barrier to us progressing properly.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 13 May
People can exaggerate their skills and knowledge and eloquence using AI tools
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Athena 13 May
Nice post!
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