It feels different because it IS different.

Warning: this is not an uplifting post, but it's important.

In my latest interview I spoke with Damon Beres, Senior Editor at The Atlantic. As we talked about where we are right now with social media, and how fast things are changing, he said:

There’s something about how things are now that seems like it’s kind of the worst it’s ever been in a lot of ways, and I do feel like my feelings and opinions about all of this are shifting a little bit. And I’m still resolving a lot of that. - Damon Beres

I found myself thinking about a post I had recently seen last month on LinkedIn by Dylan Orchard, a PhD candidate at King’s College. I shared his quote with Damon, and keep thinking about it so I want to pull it out and focus on it for a moment. Watch/listen and I’ll tell you why after.

Dylan says: “This isn’t a tech issue, it’s not even a regulatory issue - it’s a large portion of our ruling political and financial classes quietly accepting the necessity of CSAM, encouraging suicide and self harm, deepfake porn and a laundry list of other abhorrent things as the price of doing business.”

Damon calls it a “mask-off moment.” He says that

“the sad thing is that… for those of us who live in this world and kind of obsess about tech news… like there’s been an element of truth to that statement for a long time. But that’s a good point… that’s a really big point. But the new thing is that it is an open sewer.”

So while there are elements that are consistent, what is different is (1) the scale, (2) the pace, and (3) the now very public and normalized acceptance of all of this.

The Epstein files loom heavy in the background here. I hear this quote and instantly think of how painfully consistent it is with the nauseating scale of abuse and impunity that are coming through the Epstein files.

Dylan goes on in his quote to say: “The technology may be the catalyst for this push but the nascent culture behind it is something else entirely.”

What the Epstein files are showing us is that in some ways, this “culture” is not nascent… in fact, it’s so entrenched in the highest levels of our society that it has literally ended up *codified* into the software that our world now runs on. Literally. This also comes through the Meta trial in LA right now… ( btw The Tech Oversight Project is doing a fantastic job covering all the tech trials.)

I’m not quite sure what to do with this, but for now I just want to highlight that the relationship between power and the technology we use is MASSIVE, and it is shaping our lives and communities in very real ways.