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An Uncanny Moat

(www.boristhebrave.com)
34 points ibobev | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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munificent ◴[] No.42177775[source]
> Similarly, we’ll see the rise of junk personalities – fawning and two-dimensional, without presenting the same challenges as flawed real people. As less and less of our lives are spent talking to each other, we’ll stop maintaining the skill or patience to do so.

This is already happening. We just call them "influencers" or "YouTubers". These are still technically real people, but they're real people playing a sanitized character while appearing/claiming some degree of authenticity. They are actual photographed humans, but often wildly digitally retouched to be more beautiful than any actual person.

And people increasingly are replacing real relationships with parasocial relationships with these complete strangers. It's understandable: like junk food, it satisfies an immediate craving with no real effort on the part of the consumer. But long-term, it is deeply unhealthy.

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1. viraptor ◴[] No.42179502[source]
Or, existing for much longer than the yt personalities: Japanese idols. Unique but replaceable, idealised personas worshipped by lots of people. They're also the parasocial relationship magnets.
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2. theshrike79 ◴[] No.42182599[source]
Or the bands where the name stays the same and they rotate members regularly.