neutral.zone

Thinking In And Of Vectors

March 21, 2025 · archive

Writing is difficult. Posting is easy. Posting is almost a compulsion.

::: {.bluesky-wrap .outer style=“height: auto; display: flex; margin-bottom: 24px;” attrs="{"postId":"3lktbbnp6on2d","authorDid":"did:plc:dki5xu3vgyo7ubl7vaw55zzq","authorName":"Internet Hauntologist","authorHandle":"neutral.zone","authorAvatarUrl":"https://cdn.bsky.app/img/avatar/plain/did:plc:dki5xu3vgyo7ubl7vaw55zzq/bafkreiatfsiaurf42wc47rtfm6tvkt7qujuzvcgjeil5htrq66f3a6e6pq@jpeg","text":"Posting is maybe equal parts hobby, compulsion, affliction. A chronic condition. Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it’s just there. Sometimes it’s a compulsion that can’t be turned off.","createdAt":"2025-03-20T17:53:03.543Z","uri":"at://did:plc:dki5xu3vgyo7ubl7vaw55zzq/app.bsky.feed.post/3lktbbnp6on2d","imageUrls":[]}" component-name=“BlueskyCreateBlueskyEmbed”} ::: iframe ::: {#app} ::: ::: :::

I’ve been chewing over a follow-up to my last post, Future Aftershocks. Having a wide open space to write is actually more challenging than having constraints. Posting forces you to fence in ideas—300 characters or less, like iambic pentameter for shitposting. Structure forces brevity, and brevity builds momentum.

Writing here? Different game. Harder.

Every writing workshop I’ve been to stresses the need for momentum—building it, keeping it, never letting it go. That’s part of why I’m posting this now. If I spend too long overworking a bigger piece, there’s a non-zero risk of it turning into just another side-project with no follow-through. Another Substack started with the best intent, fallen by the wayside.

I’m trying to prevent that. I’m trying to stay in motion.

Motion. Vectors.

I joke a lot about the "human alignment problem" on social media—not just because AI alignment seems like a hustle, but because misalignment is a real, lived issue. Why do people talk past each other? Why do our frames of reference keep fracturing?

I didn’t have to go far for wild examples. I didn’t need to cite the plaintive posts on Reddit begging folks to explain why people voted for Trump. The interactions between devs and users on Bluesky are vector epistemology in action.

For example, I posted this recently:

::: {.bluesky-wrap .outer style=“height: auto; display: flex; margin-bottom: 24px;” attrs="{"postId":"3lhwmgb4kvc2d","authorDid":"did:plc:dki5xu3vgyo7ubl7vaw55zzq","authorName":"Internet Hauntologist","authorHandle":"neutral.zone","authorAvatarUrl":"https://cdn.bsky.app/img/avatar/plain/did:plc:dki5xu3vgyo7ubl7vaw55zzq/bafkreiatfsiaurf42wc47rtfm6tvkt7qujuzvcgjeil5htrq66f3a6e6pq@jpeg","text":"The devs are operating from a “functional reality” vector:\n\n“Moderation at scale is impossible without automation”\n“We literally don’t have the resources to do this any other way”\n“This is how all big platforms work, whether people like it or not”\n“Users are being unrealistic about what’s possible”","createdAt":"2025-02-11T21:34:53.605Z","uri":"at://did:plc:dki5xu3vgyo7ubl7vaw55zzq/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhwmgb4kvc2d","imageUrls":[]}" component-name=“BlueskyCreateBlueskyEmbed”} ::: iframe ::: {#app} ::: ::: :::

::: {.bluesky-wrap .outer style=“height: auto; display: flex; margin-bottom: 24px;” attrs="{"postId":"3lhwmgb4mts2d","authorDid":"did:plc:dki5xu3vgyo7ubl7vaw55zzq","authorName":"Internet Hauntologist","authorHandle":"neutral.zone","authorAvatarUrl":"https://cdn.bsky.app/img/avatar/plain/did:plc:dki5xu3vgyo7ubl7vaw55zzq/bafkreiatfsiaurf42wc47rtfm6tvkt7qujuzvcgjeil5htrq66f3a6e6pq@jpeg","text":"The critics are operating from a “power and legitimacy” vector:\n\n“AI moderation is fundamentally untrustworthy”\n“This is about corporations using tech as an excuse to avoid responsibility”\n“AI is built on stolen data and biased systems”\n“If you don’t have enough human mods, that’s your problem”","createdAt":"2025-02-11T21:34:53.606Z","uri":"at://did:plc:dki5xu3vgyo7ubl7vaw55zzq/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhwmgb4mts2d","imageUrls":[]}" component-name=“BlueskyCreateBlueskyEmbed”} ::: iframe ::: {#app} ::: ::: :::

Neither side is wrong in absolute terms:

  • Devs are right that you can’t manually moderate 30M users.

  • Users are right that AI moderation is often unaccountable and flawed.

But they are completely misaligned in their understanding of the problem:

  • Devs see it as a logistical and resource issue.

  • Users see it as a structural and ethical issue.

Because they aren’t speaking the same epistemic language, every debate just turns into frustration, bad faith assumptions, and snark.

This goes beyond arguing about platforms. Detachment doesn’t protect you from the forces that shape the world you live in.

The Long Game Is Structural

The long game isn’t about conspiratorial placement of individuals—it’s about shaping conditions so that the right people rise to power naturally.

  • Trump in politics.

  • Musk in tech.

  • Carlson (or Rogan) in media.

None of them were placed at the top. But all of them thrived in an ecosystem designed to select for their traits. Systems do this, both explicitly and implicitly.

(This vector idea has been bouncing around in my circles—shoutout to Robotson for the back-and-forth on it.)

I suspect some of this thinking also overlaps with The Hacker’s Manifesto. Robotson pointed me to it in chat, and next thing I knew, I had a signed first edition off eBay—entirely by accident. Still working through it, but I’d be curious if others see the same connections.

The Real Question: Can We Fix This?

This is why I think thinking about thinking—understanding how we communicate and miscommunicate—is crucial. Either we mitigate these fractures, or we end up doing a Babylon 5 with microblogging, endlessly fracturing into new factions.

The market is fine with that. There will always be winners and losers in the tech rat race to build a better cognitive mousetrap.

I don’t think we have to settle for it.

But if we don’t figure out how to align our frames of reference, we’ll simply keep running the same failed simulations.