Another week, another day in which I am sitting in my room, in front of my computer, spinning a record as I type. This week’s pick is rap duo Armand Hammer’s 2020 album, Shrines. With some of the best verses I have heard in my life, the duo brings an incredible piece with some great beats to go along with. This album was released during the pandemic, the underligning theme of existential dread and paranoia goes very well with the topic I wish to discuss today.
In my last Digital Media class, we discussed the concept of the “World Brain”. This got me thinking about how Google, as a tool of “World Brain”, can be quite dangerous. Now, I gotta come clean, I did not completely understand what the “World Brain” was, (something that is definetly my fault) so perhaps what I will discuss today is not too relevant. What I want to really talk about is how search engines may feed into one’s paranoia (in this case I’m going to be using Google but it may as well be anything).
2017: Lil Pablo’s Earthquake Adventures
I would like to begin by sharing an anecdote. In 2017, during the month of September, Mexico City suffered through an intense wave of multiple earthquakes. At the time, I was living there as just another 10 year old-looking 13 year old with lots of anxiety. Having grown up in Mexico City, I was no stranger to earthquakes, none of us were, however, the earthquake that occured on the 17th really shook (pun intended) all of our lives. Although the first strong earthquake had struck ten days earlier, the damage done mostly happened in the Southern state of Chiapas, far from affecting me directly. Not to mention that I was asleep so I completely missed it. On the 17th however, the circumstances were different. The epicenter was closer so the impact was larger, the 7.1 magnitude earthquake did quite a lot of damage to the city. What is most interesting however, was that 32 years earlier, to the day, another strong quake had hit the city. It was a big tragedy, so many lives lost due to poor city management, corruption, unefficient authorities, as of course, the terrifying power of Mother Nature herself. Due to that, every 17th of September, the whole country holds earthquake drills. That 2017 day, we had done the drill in the morning, at the same time as everyone, little did we know that a few hours later, we would have to put those skills to use.
I can’t exactly remember the earthquake itself, but the week after, I can remember vividly. We had been given time off school due to the major damage. We were all a bit weary of leaving our houses, the fear of another earthquake striking, or of looting that was happening across the city was very present. However, what truly frightened me, was a YouTube video. At that age, I would watch so much YouTube that it basically raised me. I felt safe there, but sometimes as a young, unknowing kid, you end up falling down a rabbithole of recomendations. The video said something along the lines of “THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SEPTEMBER EARTHQUAKES”. I clicked on it, I was greeted by a man wearing a coat like some type of Pokemon professor. He started to talk about how the first earthquake hit on the 7th, then how the next one hit on the 17th, how it was no coincidence that it had happened on 2017. How 2 times 17 was 34, and September is the ninth month of the year, if we substract 7, we get two. If we then substract 2 from 34, we get 32, which is the amount of years that had happened since 1985. He then said that the week has 7 days, then, something about the bible that leads him to the conclusion that it was a sign of the end of times, which would occur on the 27th.
Of course nowadays, I would not think much about this kind of video, I’d just be mad that someone would use this situation where real lives were lost to make some conspiracy video. But, at the time I was gullible, I saw it and started to watch more and more similar videos. I went on Google, I searched whether the world would en on the 27th of September 2017. I soon found many similar videos or “articles” that commented on similar ideas. I was terrified.
Even after said doomsday passed, I was still scared every day that had a seven on it. Every hour, minute, second that had this cursed number chilled me to the bones. As time passed, I got over this irrational fear to the number seven. What I now have is an interesting anecdote that makes me think about how Google, as a tool of “World Brain”, with all the information you want, can have negative effects on society. We can have all this information, but it is all presente as “truths”, all presented in an unfiltered way that can either confirm your most baseless ideas.
BUGS UNDER YOUR SKIN
This is a double-edged sword, it is good to have all this information readily available, but are we doing it in the best way? This is where I would like to conduct a little experiment. This might not be the perfect way to prove my point but it is interesting nonetheless.
I remember coming across the meme seen above somewhere on my insta feed. I found it, and still do, hilarious. It is a bit hard to explain what it refers to but in my mind, it is an ironic use of a phrase that I’m sure at least some people in the world have suffered through. Like me with the earthquake apocalypse, I’m sure someone has had the paranoia of there being bugs under one’s skin (though I’m guessing sometimes it was the case but I am referring to the cases in which it was just a symptom of very bad anxiety). This got me thinking, what if someone who took this meme literally would have a negative psychological reaction to it?
I thus googled that very same thing only to find similar results to what had happened to me in 2017. Google has given me said unfiltered information, given me all the reasons why there might be bugs under my skin. It has also shown me the very meme I was referencing. The point I wish to make with this comical interjection is that search engines will give you unfiltered information what will confirm whatever belief it is that you had. I think that in the cases I have discussed, the impact is mostly individual, but it can have bigger impacts. If, for example, someone of far-right, dangerous beliefs were to google things that would relate to their biases, the unfiltered information would allow them to confirm their beliefs rather than give them information that challenges them, and asks them to think critically. It is in this way that i believe search engines such as google can have a negative effect as a tool of “World Brain”.
Song Rec of the Week:
This week I shall recomend my favorite track off of Shrines. With a beautiful beat, courtesy of August Fanon, E L U C I D (of Armand Hammer) shows off his storytelling abilty through a chilling perspective. The featured Curly Castro raps as a hook, a postmodern take on 90s legend Redman’s verse on the track How High. Then, billy woods (other half of Armand Hammer) brings an also delightful verse.
Track: Pommelhorse by Armand Hammer, featuring Curly Castro
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