Dark forests and the new internet

Last week we spoke remotely at the Sonar Festival in Barcelona. This is the text and slides of our talk.My name is Yancey Strickler. Thank you for having me.Today I'm going to talk about how we and society are changing. In ways that are uncomfortable and ways that are very different from the present.I don't endorse all of these ideas, nor do I think they lead to simplistic or purely positive outcomes. I'm here speaking as a witness, sharing the parts of the picture that I see.There's an unusual feeling in the air. Parts of life feel increasingly scarce. Areas where there used to be soft tissue and durable muscle that held us together, we can feel their absence. It happened slowly, then all at once.We see the ends of the highways. We've reached the parts of the ladder where rungs are missing. A free floating feeling. How long before gravity pulls us down?All of this starts with the internet, of course. Thirteen years ago social media was ascendent. The wide openness of the world felt…