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| Was he a visionary or an evil genius. My guess is that he likes both of those labels. (AcontinuousLean.com) |
The hook for a prophetic vision by twentieth century artist Andy Warhol is “I think everybody should like everybody”—see the Facebook connection, yet. The full insight is revealed in a 1963 Art News interview, and brings the realization that the man who commercialized fine art by using the commercial sector for inspiration was surfing the consciousness that brought us the fab of social media.
Warhol: Someone said that Brecht wanted everybody to think alike. I want everybody to think alike. But Brecht wanted to do it through Communism, in a way. Russia is doing it under government. It’s happening here all by itself without being under a strict government; so if it’s working without trying, why can’t it work without being Communist? Everybody looks alike and acts alike, and we’re getting more and more that way.
I think everybody should be a machine. I think everybody should like everybody.Art News: Is that what Pop Art is all about?Warhol: Yes. It’s liking things.Art News: And liking things is like being a machine?Warhol: Yes, because you do the same thing every time. You do it over and over again.
Mat Honan did a brilliant piece in Wired that explores the Andy Warhol nod to our current reality. The above interview inspired him to embark on a liking crusade, in which he liked everything Facebook presented him—sort of the cyber version of Supersize Me. Facebook uses algorithms to command it’s robot army to dictate your feed. The algorithms are complex and take the interests of you, your friends, paid sponsors, and who knows who else to customize your experience.
Wow, Zuckerberg has good taste in art. (ffffound.com)
Random hyper-liking caused Mat’s News Feed to change dramatically in a short amount of time. After checking in and liking a bunch of stuff over the course of an hour, the human beings vanished and the robots lorded brands and consumer messaging over him. Facebook also favored the content mills. Most of his feed was usurped by Upworthy and the Huffington Post.
Before ending his first day of liking, Mat hit the Like button on a post with a pro-Israel message.
You like the Tea Party one time and your labeled for life. (The Liberty Tree)
By the next morning, the items in his News Feed had moved very, very far to the right. The robots taunted him with the 2nd Amendment and an anti-immigrant page. Liking them gave him the chance to like Ted Cruz and Rick Perry. The Conservative Tribune beat against his screen, begging to be liked, but no matter how many times he acquiesced, the tribune was never satisfied.
Mat learned the basic formula:
A sentence recounting some controversial news. Good!A sentence explaining why this is good.A call to action, often ending with a question?
It’s a specific form of Facebook messaging, designed to entice interaction, but has caught on and is now found everywhere on the Internet that is looking for interaction—which is everywhere.
The “like” and the “favorite” are the new metrics of success in this brave new world—literally. Personal relationships as well as commercial and political ones are all measured this way.
Oh well, we can’t all be human beings, but we can all like human beings. Thanks Lord Warhol.
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