Now, I’m the first to admit that the idea of Tik-Tok being able to read our minds is pretty fucking bonkers. It’s just not something the average person can process as a serious concept. If you broach such an idea, people are going to laugh at you or roll their eyes or think you’re nuts or all three.
And I honestly can’t say I blame them.
But, I don’t know, man. Some of the videos that Tik-Tok pushes me are very, very specific to me. And then happens all the time. The latest incident was when I got pushed a video about why it is that it’s easier to accidently fall asleep on the couch than to intentionally fall asleep in your bed. I sleep on the couch all the time and this is an eerie insight into my interior monologue.
In fact, just in the last few days, I’ve given the idea of sleeping in a proper bed a lot of thought. And, then, there you go, I get pushed a video about that very subject.
Spooky. Spooky. Spooky.
But I have no proof and there’s no reason to believe that all of this isn’t just co-incidence.
I’m very well aware that any suggestion that Big Tech can read our minds is demonstrably bonkers. It’s just not something any reasonable person can take seriously. And the only reason why I even mention it or keep thinking about it in a very conspicuous manner is how often Tik-Tok pushes me videos that are very, very specific to me personally.
If there was any reasonable explanation for how their “algorithm” knew something specifically about me, then I would dismiss the idea that digital telepathy was possible just like any one else.
But consistently since I started using Tik-Tok, I have been pushed videos that seem to reference specific things that I’ve thought about — and told no one else about. I have not written about it. I have not tweeted about it. I have no spoken about it. It’s something that’s been exclusively a part of my internal monologue.
I guess it seems so ridiculous on the face of it because it’s just something the average person is unwilling or unable to believe is even possible. We would know about it if they were doing it, right? For Big Tech and Tik-Tok to read our minds, it would be such a big technological advancement that they would tell us about it, right? Right?
But Arthur C. Clarke said once that, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” If Tik-Tok can read our minds, this is what I think is happening — it’s not granular. They can’t turn off any specific element of what your thinking about, so you only notice what’s going on when it deals with issues surrounding your body.
It’s things to do with the body that your most likely not tell anyone else about and, as such, when you get pushed videos by Tik-Tok that reference such things, you notice that it’s something you haven’t told anyone about.
Now, of course, you could say that it’s similar to how Target got in trouble once for sending to a young woman’s home coupons for pregnancy related things, even though she had not told her family yet. It think figuring out that someone is pregnant through what they do online is a lot different that being pushed a specific video about this or that thing about your body that has exclusively been a part of your internal monologue.
Another thing that goes against the idea of digital telepathy is someone, somewhere, would know the technology exists and, as such, it would leak out and we would know about it. It’s well known that Facebook and others have been looking into digital telepathy, but Facebook recently made a big deal about how they were scrapping the project.
So, I don’t know. For the time being, I’m just going to have to accept that I sound bonkers for even mentioning the possibility that Big Tech can read my mind through my cellphone.
We live in an era of post-accountability. Trump is above the law. And if you’re racist or misogynistic in the public sphere, then you cry about being “canceled” and get your own chat show on Fox News.
With that in mind, I wonder if anyone would actually care if my personal paranoia about Big Tech being able to read our minds would really matter in real terms if a document leaked proving it was all real. Just think of the massive about of corrupt bullshit that Trump has managed to get away over the last few years without any real accountability.
He’s a corrupt, criminal idiot and he’s probably going to become president against in 2024.
So, the case could be made that if Big Tech can, in fact, read our minds, that it’s actually hurting itself in the long run. I know, personally, I would like the opportunity to by a $1,2000 mindcap that would allow me to interact directly with the Internet without even having to deal with the bullshit of the Metaverse.
Even if that wasn’t a possibility, given that we all but know that ETs are real and it’s a lulz, I think outside a few pointed rants from far Right and far Left thought leaders that the whole thing would be forgotten within one or two newscyles.
Which leaves me to believe, again, that the only way we have return to accountability is some sort of civil war. Only when things grow REALLY EXISTENTIAL will the idea that was once so assumed — if you do something bad you’re held accountable — will come back.
I have too much on my plate creatively to do anything with this, but here’s a fragment of a movie idea that someone, somewhere should do something with. The idea has a touch of magical realism to in a vein similar to The Enteral Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Same same, but different.
The idea is that there’s an app that not only can read your mind, but also manipulate you. So, what happens is our hero keeps seeing a woman who is perfect for him, the love of his life, on his For You Page, but she lives in NYC. But he knows if he ever met her in person, they would fall in love — or at least he would.
So, the plot is something like, he studies the young woman, travels to NYC and they meet. He uses what he’s seen from her videos to strike up a relationship with her.
Now, this is the point where I don’t know what happens. I like the idea that the couple realizes that the app (a Tik-Tok clone) really is reading their minds and they have some sort of adventure together to prove this to the rest of the world.
One of the more curious developments in social media of late is how Tik-Tok of all things is now a female dominated social media service. Or, put another way, it’s either that or because Tik-Tok is actively reading my mind it knows I’m something of a male lesbian and as such I get a peek into what women are seeing on the app. (wink.)
Julia Fox, Tik-Tok lightening rod.
My “For You Page” is dominated by cats, some politics, a little bit of weird conspiracy theory, hot chicks and women talking about various aspects of being female. I’m very pleased that women, for once, can dominate a corner of the online world.
I just find it curious as to why this happened. I think some of it may be that one, younger women who have grown up with the Internet their entire lives are comfortable with being on camera and, even more importantly, because I’m male a sizable portion of the women I’m seeing are hot. They’re hot social media influencers who are already used to running around being salacious with not a lot of clothes on while on Instagram.
So, in a sense, Tik-Tik is a natural progression from what we’ve seen with photography for years on Instagram. Some of the very-female oriented content I’ve seen on my FYP has been rather eye-opening. Like, at one point, I kept seeing a video where a woman narrated a very detailed graphic illustrated depiction of the female genitalia. I’m all for such stuff, but it was rather unexpected on my FYP otherwise filled with the Green brother explaining this or that unknown part of the scientific world.
Anyway, this development with Tik-Tok is pleasant and unexpected. We’re so used to Incels attacking women for not having sex with them that it’s nice that women can do whatever the fuck they want on a social media planform and not feel like it’s a hostile environment for once.
So, how do you explain this one. The last few days, I’ve been thinking hard about some very huge, sharp lives a kitchen drawer in my kitchen. I’ve told no one one about this until now.
And, then, sure enough, I was using Tik-Tok recently and I was pushed on my For You Page what seemed like two or three videos about…huge knives. I get that there is plenty of assumptions that Tik-Tok can make about me because its “algorithms” study how I use the service. I get it. That makes total sense.
But what I don’t understand is why I would get pushed videos about…knives? after I had been thinking hard about the potential dangers of…knives. I know that correlation is not causation but, still. That’s just spooky.
Does that mean that Tik-Tok — and Big Tech in general — have the ability to read our minds. I honestly don’t know. But it’s definitely something I would like someone, somewhere to look into.
Weird “coincidences” like this continue to happen over and over again with me an Tik-Tok to the point that it’s eerie and spooky and maybe a little bit unsettling.
Either way, whatever’s going on with Tik-Tok — which is pretty close to the Chinese government — should be looked into. If they’re reading the minds of America’s youth, then God only knows what they could do with that information. And if their algorithms really are that good, then that, too, needs to be looked into.
For some reason, I’ve found myself with a skin condition similar to what Michael Jackson suffered from. My version is not nearly as bad and, in fact, after I scraped off a huge chunk of skin it now is invisible.
Then, today, I was scrolling through Tik-Tok and…there was a couple doing something in a video and the woman obviously was suffering from the same condition, although hers was far more obvious.
It’s very, very spooky. I’ve told absolutely no one about what happened to my skin until now. The only person who knew it was happening to me, was me. Why would I be pushed that specific video so soon after the idea of having that condition myself had filled my mind? And, what’s more, the woman had the condition on her face in a conspicuous manner — something I was really worried about when I first noticed what was going on.
Very, very strange.
And, yet, it can’t possibly be digital telepathy, right? That’s just crazy talk? I mean, if Tik-Tok was reading American minds, then that means the Chinese government probably has access to that information, as well. So, that can’t be happening. I need to cool it with such talk before people think I’m even more bonkers than they already do.
Well, if Tik-Tok really can read my mind, then I guess my old joke about being a “male lesbian” has some validity — Tik-Tok has come to believe I’m lesbian. I get pushed all these ads for lesbian friendly products and some very interesting gynecological videos that as a man are rather eye opening. Oh boy.
But this does make me think about how much heart the novels I’m working on have. I’m not saying that I have any particular insight into the female experience as man — holy shit, no — but I do think it’s at least possible I’m not going to embarrass myself TOO much.
I’m trying to be as empathetic to the female experience as is possible for a man to be. But, I have very low expectations on that front. I just don’t want to embarrass myself, that’s it. My dad, who is a man of few words, told me growing up, “Son, there’s one thing in this world you can never understand and that’s a woman.”
So, I’ve taken that to heart writing these novels. But these first few novels in the series owe lot to Mare of Easttown. Writing something as good as that limited series is my goal, that’s my aspiration. The first two books in the series are very much an homage to Mare of Easttown’s take on the life of an older woman in a small town.
All of this is because I find writing women far more interesting than writing me. Men are pretty simplistic compared to women. It’s a huge challenge for me, a man, to write believable female characters.
I was in a position to count a few hundreds recently. Then, would you believe that within 24 hours, I was pushed a video about $100s? I know this sounds like just a coincidence, but, I don’t know.
It’s spooky.
And, as I’ve said before, the issue is either Tik-Tok can read our minds in some way or their algorithms really are that good. Neither one of those scenarios makes me feel all that great.
Either one of those scenarios is enough to make one sit-up and taken notice. In either situation, I would support some sort of Congressional investigation to figure out what the fuck is going on and what the Chinese government is doing with such information.
But, given that American Big Tech is probably using the same technology, there’s a good chance that any such investigations would make THEM nervous, too.
Several times the last few days, I have again noticed that Tik-Tok has an eerie tendency to pick up things that are rolling around in my mind. I struggle to see how they can push some of the thing they do without being able to read my mind in some way.
And, yet, it definitely comes across as crazy talk to suggest such a thing.
And the last thing I need is for people to think I’m any more crazy than they already do. It’s just very very weird. It seems as though if Tik-Tok was reading my mind it’s designed to push me things connected to my body or things that I think about really intently for a sharp moment.
It’s all very strange. And, yet, I guess I have to just write it off to co-incidence and repeated mistaken coloration.
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