The Internet's Creative Constraints: Reclaiming Our Digital Legacy

Goodbye Substack – find me at zakelfassi.com

[Originally posted on https://zakelfassi.com/blog/2024/2024-09-02-the-internets-creative-constraints-reclaiming-our-digital-legacy]

Today marks my 15th year on Twitter—now X. I find myself reflecting on the future of publishing in the digital age. This milestone coincides with a pivotal moment in our collective digital evolution, one that I explore in depth in my upcoming book, "Information Beings: Myth-Information and Reality Engineering in the Holoverse."

The Paradox of Digital Publishing

In this era of centralized social media platforms, we've witnessed a paradox: these platforms have made it incredibly easy to publish content while simultaneously limiting our creativity and expression. The convenience of platforms like Substack, X, TikTok, Instagram, and others comes at a cost—we're essentially renting our digital legacy to walled gardens that exist outside the open internet.

This situation mirrors patterns of rent versus ownership in the physical world. Just as renting a home limits our ability to build equity and leave a lasting imprint, publishing exclusively on third-party platforms restricts our capacity to cultivate a true digital legacy. We're trading long-term ownership for short-term convenience, a bargain that may prove costly in the information-rich future I envision in "Information Beings."

The Shift from Open to Closed Systems

The web was originally built on a foundation of competition to create valuable, discoverable content. This ecosystem, driven by search engines and SEO, encouraged the proliferation of open, accessible information. However, we're now shifting towards an internet dominated by closed systems where content, no matter how brilliant or unique, remains trapped and undiscoverable by third parties, search engines, and consequently, the Large Language Models (LLMs) that shape our digital future.

The fragmentation of our digital landscape vividly illustrates the constraints of platform-dependent content creation. Consider the divide between X (formerly Twitter) and Meta's Threads: If you're active on X, you're effectively walled off from the conversations, ideas, and communities flourishing on Threads—and vice versa– just because the two CEOs are frenemies. This digital segregation forces us into a choice: remain isolated within our chosen platform's ecosystem or undertake a cumbersome "digital migration."

The Burden of Digital Migrations

These migrations—switching primary platforms or maintaining multiple active presences—have become an unwelcome yet increasingly frequent necessity in our online lives. We find ourselves compelled to uproot our digital identities, rebuilding networks and reestablishing our presence with each platform shift. This cycle not only disrupts our online continuity but also fragments our digital legacy across multiple, often incompatible systems.

What we're experiencing isn't merely social media burnout—it's Social Avatar Burnout. We're exhausted from constantly reinventing and maintaining multiple versions of our online selves across various platforms. Each digital avatar requires energy to cultivate, engage, and maintain, leading to a fragmented sense of digital identity and an increasingly disjointed online presence.

Moreover, this platform-hopping dance isn't just inconvenient; it's a stark reminder of our lack of true ownership over our digital contributions. With each migration, we risk losing access to past content, connections, and the context that gives our online presence meaning. It's a poignant illustration of why cultivating a platform-independent digital homestead—like a personal website—is more crucial than ever for preserving our digital legacy and maintaining genuine connections in our increasingly fractured online world.

The Concept of Information Beings

In "Information Beings," I posit that we are more than just users of technology—we are dynamic patterns of information in constant flux with the digital realm. This perspective underscores the importance of owning and cultivating our digital presence. As we navigate what I call the "Holoverse"—a vast, interconnected realm of information that underlies all of existence—the need for personal digital sovereignty becomes paramount.

This realization has led me back to zakelfassi.com, my personal blog. Originally launched in 2010 under the domain concep.ma and migrated in 2013, it represents my commitment to building a foundation for my digital legacy—one that exists beyond the constraints of any single platform. I also secretly hope Archive.org's future satellite servers would preserve all this long after humanity itself has passed.

Recent posts on zakelfassi.com that haven't been shared via Substack include:

1. "The Inner-Outer Mirror: A Thought Experiment in Information Being Reality" (August 31, 2024) - A philosophical exploration of consciousness and reality through the lens of a cleaning experiment.

2. "AI-Powered Live Coding for Civilization Data" (August 29, 2024) - An unscripted video journey through history, AI, and data visualization.

3. "Information-Centric Leadership" (August 28, 2024) - Principles and strategies for leading in our data-driven world, developed during my time at Meta.

4. "The Identity-Action Nexus: Navigating the Post-AI Information Deluge" (August 20, 2024) - An exploration of digital identities and online actions in an AI-driven world.

5. "A Quiet Reboot and a Project Introduction" (July 18, 2024) - Announcing my latest project, the book "Information Beings: Navigating Myth-Information in the Holoverse."

These posts exemplify the diverse, in-depth content that thrives on a personal platform. After all, infinite games and canvases are more fun to create on anyways. They allow for the kind of expansive, interconnected thinking that platforms like Substack, while useful, can sometimes constrain.

To facilitate engagement across various platforms, comments on posts at zakelfassi.com will be linked to third-party platforms where they're shared. This means that people on X can comment on X, those on other platforms can engage there, and so on. This approach allows for broader participation while I think of a more integrated solution for cross-platform discussions to not fall in the same trap.

A Turning Point: LLMs and the Future of Content Creation

Fortunately, we're at a massive turning point. The emergence of LLM assistants has democratized content creation, providing us with the tools to cultivate rich, personal digital gardens. This technology, combined with a renewed focus on open web standards, offers a path forward. We can move from an age of "forever-rent and be happy" to one where we "build a foundation for your, and your family's digital legacy."

As I argue in "Information Beings," our digital footprints are more than just data—they're extensions of our consciousness, integral parts of our identities in the information age. By reclaiming ownership of our digital presence, we're not just securing our personal legacies; we're contributing to a more open, diverse, and resilient web ecosystem, outside LinkedIn, X, and wherever else you may rent-for-ads online.

A Call to Action

The future I envision—and the one I'll soon invite you to explore in "Information Beings"—is one where every individual has the tools and motivation to create their own digital sanctuary. This isn't just about personal branding or online presence; it's about actively participating in shaping the collective consciousness of our digital age.

As we stand on the brink of this new era, I challenge you to reconsider your digital habits. Are you building a lasting legacy, or simply renting space in someone else's vision of the internet?

A Note to Subscribers

To my Substack subscribers: As predicted in "memento mori: substack edition", "The Zak El Fassi Experiment" newsletter is coming to an end. However, I'm excited to announce that you'll continue to hear from me via email updates from zakelfassi.com, where I'll be publishing my blog again. These emails will compile my latest thoughts and explorations.

I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks to those who have read the early draft preview of "Information Beings." Your feedback and enthusiasm have been invaluable in shaping this work.

A note on platforms: While Substack offers a simple way for writers with an established audience to monetize their work, it's not ideal for those seeking to claim their digital existence and ensure their legacy in the age of AI. For "serious people" looking to build a lasting digital presence, owning your platform remains crucial.