Society of the Psyop, Part 1: UFOs and the Future of Media - Journal #147

Part 1 of Trevor Paglen’s series on the history of psyops.

We once looked at pictures. Then, with the advent of computer vision and machine learning, pictures started looking back at us. Now, something even stranger is happening. Generative AI, Adtech, recommendation algorithms, engagement economies, personalized search, and machine learning are inaugurating a new relationship between humans and media. Pictures are now looking at us looking at them, eliciting feedback and evolving. We’ve entered a protean, targeted visual culture that shows us what it believes we want to see, measures our reactions, then morphs itself to optimize for the reactions…

saved by

• McKane Andrus
• Aadharsh Pannirselvam

related reading

• The Future of Everything is Lies, I Guessaphyr.com
• Dario Amodei — The Adolescence of Technologydarioamodei.com
• The Rise and Fall of Agent Civilizationsdwarkesh.com
• The Artificial Intelligence Revolution: Part 1 - Wait But Whywaitbutwhy.com
• The Possessed Machines: Dostoevsky's Demons and the Coming AGI Catastrophepossessedmachines.com
• Dario Amodei — The Adolescence of Technologydarioamodei.com
• It Looks Like You’re Trying To Take Over The World · Gwern.net (reader mode)gwern.net
• How to Psyop Yourself: A Zoomer Manifestomarsreview.org
• Why Everything is Becoming a Gamegurwinder.blog
• AI Induced Psychosis: A shallow investigation — LessWronglesswrong.com
• Why Everything is Becoming a Gamesubstack.com
• The Dark Forest and Generative AImaggieappleton.com