In the 1956 film “Forbidden Planet” a group of astronauts lands on a planet formerly inhabited by an extinct civilization. We learn that the highly advanced people on this planet had invented a machine that could transform thoughts into real life materiality. Unfortunately, deep down they harbored very human emotions of hatred and revenge, thoughts they had repressed and never expressed.
These thoughts were manifested into monsters, and very quickly the entire “civilization” ended in a wave of violence.
“Social” media is something like that machine. People can spew the worst thoughts that in earlier times might be buried deep in their subconscious but now are allowed to spring forth unfiltered. While this probably won’t lead to our extinction, it just might lead to the extinction of democracy.
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