Heat Death of the Internet

Heat Death of the Internet
==========================
4 April 2024

You want to order from a local restaurant, but you need to download a
third-party delivery app, even though you plan to pick it up
yourself. The prices and menu on the app are different to what you
saw in the window. When you download a second app the prices are
different again. You ring the restaurant directly and it says the
number is no longer in service. You go to the restaurant and order in
person. You mention that their website has the wrong number and the
woman behind the counter says they have to contact the company who
designed the site for changes, which will cost them, but most people
just order through an app anyway.

You want to watch the trailer for an upcoming movie on YouTube but
you first have to sit through an ad. Then you sit through a preview
for the trailer itself. Then you watch the trailer, which is
literally another ad. When it ends, it cues up a new trailer, with a
new ad at the start of it.

The first page of Google results are links to pages that have scraped
other pages for information from other pages that have been scraped
for information. All the sources seem to link back to one another.
There is no origin. The photos on the page look weird. The hands are
disfigured. There is no image credit.

Your coworker sends you a PowerPoint pack to support a presentation
you are giving to the executive committee, but you can't make heads
or tails of it. You call them over Zoom and they tell you they used
ChatGPT to write it. You point out that it is near-unreadable, and
they ask what specifically is wrong with it. You mention that, for
starters, there are too many words on each slide. They tell you
they'll take care of it. They send you a new pack within the hour
saying they asked ChatGPT to remove 30% of the text. It makes even
less sense. You tell them you'll just rewrite it yourself.

A billionaire got mad, bought your favourite social media site and
ran it into the ground. A different billionaire got mad, bought the
magazine site you liked to read on your lunchbreak and shut it down
completely. A third billionaire did what they do best, bought the app
you use for networking and sold it off for parts.

You want to watch a TV show from your youth so you check a streaming
service, but it is not there, so you check a second streaming service
but it is not there, so you check a third streaming service and it is
not there. You search for it on Blu-ray but it doesn't exist, so you
search for it on DVD but it is out of print. You find a seller on
eBay who has it, but the listing reads ambiguous as to whether it is
the real thing or a burnt copy. You message the seller and they reply
with an automated response thanking you for your interest.

You can't read the recipe on your phone because it prioritises the
ads on the page. You bring your laptop into the kitchen and whenever
you scroll down, you have to close a pop-up. You turn AdBlock on and
the page no longer loads, then AdBlock sends you an ad asking for
money.

The Airbnb charges you a $150 cleaning fee, but insists the place
needs to be left spotless. There will be a fee if the bedding hasn't
been stripped and the dishwasher hasn't been emptied.

Your Uber driver is lost because his app hasn't updated and keeps
telling him to turn down streets that no longer exist. You still give
him five stars.

Your mother sends you a link to a breaking story, but the article is
behind a paywall, so you switch to the website where you do pay for
news but there's no mention of it.

You buy a microwave and receive ads for microwaves. You buy a
mattress and receive ads for mattresses.

Strangers on social media assume you are American and get mad when
you correct them.

Your Gmail is approaching storage capacity.

Your smart TV needs new firmware.

Your phone schedules an update.

Your friend has a short story published online but you need to pay
for a subscription to the site in order to read it. You message them
and ask if you could get a copy. They say 'sure' and send you a PDF.
You read the story and like it. You are curious about one detail. You
message them for more information and they recommend checking out the
Wikipedia page. You read the Wikipedia entry and there is a lot of
useful information supplied by a community. One of the sources cited
is a non-fiction book. You go to your local library's website and
although they don't have the exact book, they do have others by the
same author. You place a hold on two of them, then go get your shoes
on.

Gregory Bennett is a writer and filmmaker from Wellington whose
accent comes from Invercargill. They hold a Masters in Creative
Writing from the IIML and currently work for a disability support
services provider in Melbourne, Australia.

From: <https://www.takahe.org.nz/heat-death-of-the-internet/>