Notes From The Circus

Look, I know that’s a harsh opening. Your fingers are probably already twitching toward the comment button to tell me I’m an elitist asshole. Fair enough! But hear me out before you start composing that righteously indignant response.

I’m inclined to agree with Sam Harris, who speculated on his podcast that Elon Musk was driven insane by his own capture by the Twitter algorithm. Harris quit Twitter himself and claims it dramatically improved his mental health. Watching Musk’s transformation from eccentric innovator to digital shitposter-in-chief, it’s hard not to wonder if the world’s richest man fell victim to the very algorithm he would eventually own.

Let’s consider a delightfully bizarre parallel: Ketamine is known to have neuroplasticity-enhancing effects on the brain, which is why it’s effective at treating PTSD and depression. But this is a double-edged sword. If you’re going to put your brain into “reprogramming mode” with the use of a drug, you might want to consider what you’re reprogramming it with. And I’m not sure the Twitter algorithm and doom scroll is the training set you should use!