Oh, the irony! It’s 2024, and right as AI threatens to take over the digital world I have decided to go old school. Yes, I’ve started a blog – which I find wonderfully quaint. A bit like dusting off an old Walkman, and throwing in a cassette tape (side B).
Let’s rewind to the days of GeoCities, the digital sandbox where as a kid I first played webmaster. I can see it now: my site had bright red text on a neon yellow background, and it would play an 8-bit midi theme of The Pink Panther when (if) it ever fully loaded. It also had the dancing baby gif positioned prominently on the homepage.
That site wasn’t about practicality, search engine optimization or speed. It was my little playground, a place where I could mess around and unleash terrible memes and midi music on the world.
Site number two was on Xanga, which felt a bit like social media before social media was even a thing. I wrote reviews of TV shows and albums, which I (ahem) acquired through the somewhat shady means of Kazaa and Limewire. My friends would comment (usually something rude) and I would return the favour.
Then, like everyone else, I got swept up in the rise of social media. Platforms like Twitter and Instagram, and now TikTok and Threads, have become the places where everyone hangs out online. It’s all about quick posts and flashy photos – easy to upload, sure, but it’s mostly surface-level stuff, all polished with Photoshop and driven by whatever trend the algorithm decides is hot today.
But social media doesn’t leave much room for the meat and potatoes of content, the deep dives, the thoughtful insights, the stuff that actually makes you stop and think. It’s mostly fast food quick, to consume, quick to forget.
That’s why I’m leaning back into blogging. On a blog, you can explore ideas thoroughly, not just skim the surface. Blogs are where you can bypass the fleeting trends and focus on stories that deserve more than just a momentary glance on a social feed. And maybe that feels old school, but I think we’re all craving a bit more depth in our digital diets these days.
But enough romanticism, let’s get pragmatic here. We’re on the cusp of a new era: the rise of AI in search and the internet.
Google’s imminent “Search Generative Experience,” powered by its Gemini AI, promises to “revolutionize how we access information”. It’s supposed to cut through SEO-manipulated guff so there’s no more slogging through paragraphs of pointless preamble just to get to the information you need. In theory this sounds amazing. But in practice… that’s what I’m worried about.
As its name implies, Google’s Generative Search is designed to respond directly to user queries. For instance, ask for a recipe, and instead of directing you to various websites it will sift through its vast database – which contains hundreds and thousands of recipes – and present one to you. No clicks, no site navigation required. Google’s AI, which let’s face it, has already gobbled up the breadth of human knowledge, is built to provide quick, efficient answers.
While this seems convenient, there are huge drawbacks. I think this system of direct answers is going to lead to a homogenized internet, where interesting voices and unique content is going to be drowned out by the straightforward and direct responses curated by AI.
When AI selects and provides answers without human intervention, the results are obviously going to be limited to what has been programmed or learned by the machine. This means fewer random discoveries, less exposure to new and diverse views, and a potential decline in the incentive for people who make content to even bother. What happens when personal stories and opinions are lost, in favour of quick and generic AI summaries?
And that’s another reason why I’m starting a blog now, of all times. AI – with all its computational wizardry – fundamentally lacks everything that is fun and interesting about human creativity. It can regurgitate existing information in fun new ways, sure, but it lacks the ability to truly innovate or think outside the algorithmic box. It’s derivative by nature, forever looking backward rather than forward.
So why in 2024 am I starting a blog? Because it’s a great way to cut through the algorithmic noise, and write stuff that’s a little bit unexpected. Stuff that’s fueled not by data points, but by my silly – but wholly original – thoughts and musings.
After all, who else but a human could dream up something as delightfully absurd as a site with red and yellow hues blaring a MIDI Pink Panther theme?
So here I am, stepping back into the blogging world, ready to throw something interesting in the face of an increasingly predictable digital future.