How Social Media Will Become The Next Technology Used As Warfare In The 21st Century
By our enemies, and, out of necessity, by our own governments against our enemies
The Philosophical Background
It’s easy to see that the forces of rationality and irrationality have had a place in every single society of mankind. But we may have also been misled into believing that rationality was a place we could progress to.
Particularly with the advent of technologies and ideas that were newly rational in ways we’d never had before.
Philosopher, Bertrand Russell, wrote in An Outline Of Intellectual Rubbish (1943),
Aristotle, so far as I know, was the first man to proclaim explicitly that man is a rational animal. His reason for this view was one which does not now seem very impressive; it was that some people can do sums.
He goes on to say that the Greek system of numerals was complicated and cumbersome, and it was impressive for any man to be able to do them.
Thus, these and other developing rational capabilities of mankind might lead a society to view rationality as an aspiration we could progress towards––rather than an inherent function we already had.
But as society taught itself and future generations how to do things like arithmetic and formal logic… and as superstition was replaced with sensible things like “peer review” and other aspects of The Scientific Method, it was assumed that man was steadily evolving into a more rational version of mankind than ever before.
This was real progress towards rationality.
Only, there was a major setback.
One of the shocking factors that disrupted this idealism was the first and second World War. Which showed intellectuals across Europe that mankind is ever as irrational––and powerfully so.
In fact, the evil political aspirations of mankind during the 20th century showed humans that we might, in fact, possess a very real and sadistic kind of evil within us.
This led to many philosophers trying to reconcile the irrationality of humankind in a modern world of rational ideas and technologies. Some did it by studying irrationality at large––as Hannah Arendt diligently did in her books “On Revolution,” “The Origins Of Totalitarianism,” & “Eichmann In Jerusalem.”
Others, like the Existentialists did this, not by analyzing those irrational creatures outside of themselves. But by, instead, digging deep into the personal irrationalities we hold within us––so that we can confront and accept our inherent absurdity and the choices it gives us. One of the most famous books on Existentialism was even aptly named Irrational Man; a study in Existential Philosophy, by William Barrett.
But one thing was for sure, the spell was broken. Any illusion that man was a rational animal made an intellectual thinker appear to be “an old fogey from a bygone age.”
Bertrand Russell wrote in An Outline Of Intellectual Rubbish (1943),
“Man is a rational animal––so at least I have been told. Throughout a long life, I have looked diligently for evidence in favor of this statement, but so far I have not had the good fortune to come across it …
On the contrary, I have seen great nations, formerly leaders of civilization, led astray by preachers of bombastic nonsense. I have seen cruelty, persecution, and superstition increasing by leaps and bounds, until we have almost reached the point where praise of rationality is held to mark a man as an old fogey regrettably surviving from a bygone age.
And what led to this crisis wasn’t just the naivety of humankind being led astray by “preachers of bombastic nonsense.” (Although the mob mentality was dangerous and fueled authoritarian dictators).
But it was also the use of the most absurdly powerful and progressive technology in the modern era.
Which led to the invention of the world’s most dangerous weapons, including the atom bomb.
Philosopher, Karl Jaspers, wrote, In The Future Of Mankind (1958):
“New weapons of destruction have always been called criminal, the first cannon as well as the recent unrestricted submarine warfare of World War I; yet habit soon made them unquestioned facts of life. The atom bomb of today is a fact novel in essence, for it leads mankind to the brink of self-destruction.
Experts say definitely that it is now possible for life on earth to be wiped out by human action. The scientists who brought the new fact into being have also publicized it. Neither they, nor we laymen know how far atomic weapons manufacture has progressed …
The facts are shrouded in official secrecy. It is not publicly known whether –– if all bombs in stock were dropped –– the radioactive poisoning of the atmosphere would suffice to end life on this planet. One may be right in doubting that the day has come when all life on earth can be annihilated. But in ten years or less the day will come.
Think about the absurdity of the late 1950s, in which science––the most rational and progressive ideology mankind possessed––had now invented something that could be used to destroy all of mankind in a few simple decisions––
Decisions that were, suspiciously, in the hands of those who modern civilization now knew (because of WWII & the rise of fascism) had the potential to be the most irrational and corrupted demagogues that ever lived.
Essentially, one could sum up the paradox of the 20th century as the idea that our most rational technologies (like science and mathematics) had lent ultimate power to the most dangerous and irrational human beings among us.
Science had made the most evil and irrational humans more powerful than they’d ever been before.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, (the scientist sometimes called the father of the atom bomb), had to reconcile his participation in something powerful enough to be used by dangerous and irrational demagogues to destroy the entire planet.
“We knew the world would not be the same,” he said. “A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent.”
He also said, “The physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.”
I’ve heard many people, today, laugh as they recall the Duck & Cover drills they did in school in the early 60s, where they were taught to hide under their desks during a nuclear attack in order to protect themselves. They laugh because the idea that a desk could protect them from a nuclear weapon was absurd and pointless.
The early 1960s saw a change in the way we conceptualized modern warfare. It was Donald Brennan, a strategist for the futurist Think Tank, the Hudson Institute, who coined the phrase Mutually Assured Destruction. Abbreviated as MAD––to point to the inherent irrationality of any civilization holding weapons powerful enough to destroy all of life on this planet.
As these weapons that could merely “destroy lives” reached the critical height or climax in nuclear technology of mutually assured destruction, it was clear that a different kind of “cold” warfare would have to be employed.
And thus, the Cold War and its alternate power battles began.
But one lesson we can learn from the 20th century is not just that human beings are still capable of being irrational, despite all rational progress we thought we had made.
And it’s not just that this irrationality is powerfully dangerous and can lead, even, to the entire destruction of the human race.
It’s that ALL TECHNOLOGIES WILL BE USED AS CORRUPTIVE TOOLS FOR EVIL IN TIME.
Essentially, every single technology that is ever invented on this planet will at some point be used in warfare by powerful demagogues that seek to take advantage of the most advanced and modern technologies to gain illicit power over others.
Even, and especially, if those technologies were never even invented as weapons.
Even when peaceful men and women among us invent technologies of leisure, creativity, pleasure, cultural growth, or merely economic growth––it will only be a matter of time before the most corrupted among us find a way to turn that technology into a weapon of power struggles and warfare.
Think of
Cars (1886) → Tanks (1916 - WWI)
Planes (1903) → Military Planes (1916 - WWI)
Handheld Radio (1906) → Military communications (1916 - WWI)
Broadcast Radio (1906) → The spread of Nazi Propaganda to homes (1930s - WWII)
In the early 1900s, most people would have viewed cars, planes, and radios as simple recreational and enjoyable tools for the masses. Sure, it changed culture. It made life more interesting and enjoyable.
It even increased our ability to travel and communicate with other humans. Bringing more social awareness and societal growth as a whole. But even innocent tools can be converted into powerful weapons.
And, indeed, they were. It wasn’t long before governments used these technologies to intimidate, murder, and protect their power.
Now I want you to think about the 21st century. We only began it 24 years ago. But it’s clear that we already have a few recreational technologies that have supercharged our culture and our economy into a new era (just like planes, telephones, cars, radios, and television did for the 20th century).
Some of these new technologies are
Computers
The Internet
Email
Cellphones
As well as the technologies that further developed from combinations of the above. For example: the 20th century had televisions and radio. But we have
Streaming Professional (Netflix, et al)
Youtube Streaming (home videos)
Podcasts
Social Media livestreaming (that can stream real world events––even war––as we saw with Ukraine)
And while the 20th century had telegrams & telephones to increase communication, we now have lightning speed communication between people from all over the world, via
email,
chat,
text,
and even video messaging––like we had during the pandemic with Skype & Zoom.
And I think it’s time we start to talk about one of the most influential and underestimated technologies that merely began as fun and games––and is now being leveraged as a powerful weapon by irrational and dangerous demagogues.
Social Medias (such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok)
Social media is a very powerful cultural “network technology” that connects people and drives them towards meaningful social change.
Some of the networks created are local. People find each other via their local surroundings. Like Next Door or Facebook.
Other networks are driven by interests. Like Goodreads, Instagram, or Pinterest.
Other networks are driven by learning and information. Like YouTube & blogging.
And others, still, are networks driven by their ideologies and beliefs. Like Twitter & now Bluesky.
And it’s through our connection to each other in this social network technology, that humans can do everything from simple creative actions (like how-to videos) to mass organization & social movements. Like:
The Arab Spring (2010-2011)
The Women’s March (2017)
The #MeToo Movement (2017)
The Black Lives Matter Movement (before & after the George Floyd Protests)
So where am I going with all of this?
I believe that Vladimir Putin, Elon Musk, and Xi Jinping are three powerful and dangerous men who have realized that Social Media “Network Technologies” can be leveraged as weapons against nations. And they’re giddy with that newfound power.
In our Modern Era, we’re reaching a breaking point similar to 1914 when all of the technologies that were simply used for “fun, games, & work” (like cars, planes, & radio)––began to be leveraged as weapons of power and war against nations in order to feed the power games of the corrupt & irrational demagogues among us.
Only now, these “fun, games, & work” technologies of the 21st century are things like
Network Technologies (Social Medias like X, Facebook)
Communication Technologies (Telegram)
Streaming Technologies (Youtube, Tik Tok, & streaming on other Social Medias)
& soon-to-be AI Technologies (like Deepfake photos & Deepfake videos).
QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION:
What are some of the “innocent” technologies from the 20th century that changed society & how were they abused by powerful demagogues (such as the plane)?
What were some of the explicit weapon technologies invented and used by demagogues (such as nuclear weapons or missiles)?
What are some of the “innocent” 21st century technologies we have already invented or are currently developing that will be abused & used as powerful weapons in upcoming warfare? (social media, for example)
What are some of the explicit 21st century technologies that have been developed as weapons? (such as drones)
5. How can governments prepare themselves for this warfare? Should governments begin using Social Media & other technologies as weapons against our enemies?
In the 20th century, powerful demagogues abusing modern technologies for warfare led to an estimated 125 million deaths in WWI & WWII. As well as unspeakable evil and cruelty (as in the case of the Nazi extermination camps).
Will our modern technologies be abused in ways that lead to death (Such as Telegram being used in the invasion of Ukraine by Russia)?
Or will it lead to “Cold” or Cold War-esque power struggles? In which propaganda & games are played against our opponents in order to assert power without bloodshed. As we all saw with X in the 2024 U.S. Election.
Especially as Elon Musk used Russian propaganda, the throttling of liberal accounts, & even, laughingly, AI Deepfakes against his opponents––(and in the assistance of a slightly fascist campaign by Trump)
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Bluesky
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P.S. I want to thank those who participated in last week’s discussion! If I have not yet responded to your comments, please be patient with me. Last Sunday, I drove 12 hours to pick up a new 8-week-old German Shorthaired Pointer puppy. Her name is Freyja and she’s a urine-filled menace with tiny alligator teeth.
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