Yes and I am going to spend the day speculating how it all ties back to Attention Is All You Need. https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762 " Attention mechanisms have become an integral part of compelling sequence modeling and transduction models in various tasks, allowing modeling of dependencies without regard to their distance in the input or output sequences"
Jeeze this is well written, I feel like this touch is on some of the things I have been feeling myself. "Succinctly… everything feels like crypto now?" Is actually somewhat close to what I was mentioning with my friends recently.
Can't recommend I See Satan Fall Like Lightning by Rene Girard enough. Your style of writing could articulate it's modern prevalence and necessity perfectly.
This is a great reference! Girard is such an important influence to many who are leading our world, which is very interesting. I recently wrote an essay about Peter Thiel, Girard, and how it has contributed to the Silicon Valley contrarianism/attention epidemic. https://industrialcomplex.substack.com/p/godly-monopoly-and-the-philosophy?r=1c51a5
This thought of attention being the most valuable commodity has become more and more important recently, it's actually the reason I downloaded Substack! When the time I scroll turns into revenue dollars for others, my attention literally is money.
And in a world/ market where literally everything I could ever want to learn, know, be, or buy is a few clicks and an apple pay away, how I spend my attention significantly changes my life.
It would be all too easy to take the easy path, thats the whole point of a commodity economy!! We pay for convenience and forget how prolonged attention is impactful, because we scroll away so fast.
I believe the recently released MIT study about how chatgpt can basically rot your brain exemplifies this perfectly: when we consistently take the path of least resistance, it becomes easier to forgot how to focus, and significantly harder to impactfully spend your attention on a prolonged issue.
I might be reaching with some of these connections, but when we are used to instantaneous rewards, working hard on one thing for a long time seems next to impossible, which is a perfect way to ensure nothing _real_ ever gets done
Huxley would have loved to see a widespread use of psychedelics if they were utilized properly. He was injected with LSD upon his death by his own request. I’d say analogues to his Soma are more akin to antidepressants and molly than weed and mushrooms. For all interested parties, read his “Island” which was his less known follow up to Brave New World.
I really like the way your brain goes and the way you work stuff out. I like this too. I do think the Speculation piece is weak; perhaps subjective. The components are random. Rogan, Musk, Carlson et al. Limited & often twisted specific audiences. I like the whole thing better as a powerful metaphor for a type of power rather than a predictive supply chain. But I am still thinking about it. In LA housing gets nothing but attention, but the Consumption piece is for naught. I think Polymarket transcends this supply chain too. Market manipulations for profit (pick Walz make $?). Keep it up. You rock.
Kyla, it is evident to me that you have a gift and you’re working hard to share it with the world. You have compelled me to subscribe as I want to support you. Thank you!
It’s quite alarming that we’re so blithely moving into a space where social media dictates more than our courts and congress. While I wholeheartedly agree with the basic sentiment that that’s what’s going on, it seems also concerning that ultimately attention that does not differentiate between signal and noise is doomed to a kind of bubble based on “vibe” speculations that allocate resources into things that just don’t work. Eventually, everything in an algorithm must “touch grass” and its value tested in the real world. It can’t stay in the cloud forever, so to speak!
it truly feels like we've entered a new age. consumption has never been more frictionless: one click and a new TV arrives at your home by supper. the commodification of everything (transport, health, social life, etc) has led to the oversaturation of the consumption market, meaning every single firm is now competing for the one thing humans have left to offer: attention.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound? Is the medium the message? Underneath the layers of internet protocol, there's machine language. The economic drivers presented here make for good political science, but sketchy economics, since physically some things can't hold up without all the dependencies considered. Reality is a special case. Speculation requires some detachment too. Failure is partisan. IMO one great benefit of AI is that it will teach people not to trust what they see. Another very good piece. Progress. Thank you.
Yes and I am going to spend the day speculating how it all ties back to Attention Is All You Need. https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762 " Attention mechanisms have become an integral part of compelling sequence modeling and transduction models in various tasks, allowing modeling of dependencies without regard to their distance in the input or output sequences"
Yes exactly!
Jeeze this is well written, I feel like this touch is on some of the things I have been feeling myself. "Succinctly… everything feels like crypto now?" Is actually somewhat close to what I was mentioning with my friends recently.
Can't recommend I See Satan Fall Like Lightning by Rene Girard enough. Your style of writing could articulate it's modern prevalence and necessity perfectly.
I will discuss Girard next week!!! EXCELLENT reference
This is a great reference! Girard is such an important influence to many who are leading our world, which is very interesting. I recently wrote an essay about Peter Thiel, Girard, and how it has contributed to the Silicon Valley contrarianism/attention epidemic. https://industrialcomplex.substack.com/p/godly-monopoly-and-the-philosophy?r=1c51a5
This thought of attention being the most valuable commodity has become more and more important recently, it's actually the reason I downloaded Substack! When the time I scroll turns into revenue dollars for others, my attention literally is money.
And in a world/ market where literally everything I could ever want to learn, know, be, or buy is a few clicks and an apple pay away, how I spend my attention significantly changes my life.
It would be all too easy to take the easy path, thats the whole point of a commodity economy!! We pay for convenience and forget how prolonged attention is impactful, because we scroll away so fast.
I believe the recently released MIT study about how chatgpt can basically rot your brain exemplifies this perfectly: when we consistently take the path of least resistance, it becomes easier to forgot how to focus, and significantly harder to impactfully spend your attention on a prolonged issue.
I might be reaching with some of these connections, but when we are used to instantaneous rewards, working hard on one thing for a long time seems next to impossible, which is a perfect way to ensure nothing _real_ ever gets done
Orwell was wrong and Huxley was right. Brave New World is proceeding apace.
Edit: Huxley was even ahead of the curve on psychedelics. The next president will campaign on free weed and mushrooms.
RFK Jr is already doing that!
"Orwell was wrong and Huxley was right. Brave New World is proceeding apace."
I wonder...
But it ain't over till it's over, at any rate. We can step back from the brink.
Huxley would have loved to see a widespread use of psychedelics if they were utilized properly. He was injected with LSD upon his death by his own request. I’d say analogues to his Soma are more akin to antidepressants and molly than weed and mushrooms. For all interested parties, read his “Island” which was his less known follow up to Brave New World.
Kyla is one impressive thought-provoking young lady. Just a brilliant piece of work and thank you for it!
thank you!
I really like the way your brain goes and the way you work stuff out. I like this too. I do think the Speculation piece is weak; perhaps subjective. The components are random. Rogan, Musk, Carlson et al. Limited & often twisted specific audiences. I like the whole thing better as a powerful metaphor for a type of power rather than a predictive supply chain. But I am still thinking about it. In LA housing gets nothing but attention, but the Consumption piece is for naught. I think Polymarket transcends this supply chain too. Market manipulations for profit (pick Walz make $?). Keep it up. You rock.
thank you Michael! the components definitely seem random - im not sure if its a metaphor or supply chain.
What a great read! I've been following, but now subscribed.
Thanks so much!!
Just want to say I’m new here and I’m really enjoying your writing!
thanks so much for being here!
Kyla, it is evident to me that you have a gift and you’re working hard to share it with the world. You have compelled me to subscribe as I want to support you. Thank you!
soooo well-written & well-researched!!
Thought provoking and well written.
Thought provoking and smart.
It’s quite alarming that we’re so blithely moving into a space where social media dictates more than our courts and congress. While I wholeheartedly agree with the basic sentiment that that’s what’s going on, it seems also concerning that ultimately attention that does not differentiate between signal and noise is doomed to a kind of bubble based on “vibe” speculations that allocate resources into things that just don’t work. Eventually, everything in an algorithm must “touch grass” and its value tested in the real world. It can’t stay in the cloud forever, so to speak!
Yeah, there's a whole Experience layer to add to Kyla's "Attention Supply Chain". I have thoughts! Mainly that there is a sort of two way street of:
1. A person's Experiences informing how/where/what their attention is focused.
2. A person's attention generates Experiences, and in an echo-chambered / fractured world... that translates into reinforcement of their Beliefs.
See the Results Pyramid for more detail on Experiences > Beliefs > Actions > Results.
You’re on to something here with the notion of attention capture capability and how it sets narrative.
it truly feels like we've entered a new age. consumption has never been more frictionless: one click and a new TV arrives at your home by supper. the commodification of everything (transport, health, social life, etc) has led to the oversaturation of the consumption market, meaning every single firm is now competing for the one thing humans have left to offer: attention.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound? Is the medium the message? Underneath the layers of internet protocol, there's machine language. The economic drivers presented here make for good political science, but sketchy economics, since physically some things can't hold up without all the dependencies considered. Reality is a special case. Speculation requires some detachment too. Failure is partisan. IMO one great benefit of AI is that it will teach people not to trust what they see. Another very good piece. Progress. Thank you.