Superstimuli
September 25, 2023 — March 14, 2024
Somewhere around the Goodhart-Moloch-supernormal-alignment-utility-addiction area, we find the concept of superstimuli, things that feel better (or worse) for us than they actually are for us.
1 Fun recent occurrences of the idea
Erik Hoel, Exit the supersensorium touches upon many themes; dreaming, addiction, myths and the entertainment-industrial complex. See also Living in the Supersensorium - by David Gasca. Musical Heresies by Roger’s Bacon makes the case for music being an evolved superstimulus.
The is a connection to adversarial training, in that while superstimuli might not be created with intent and foreknowledge to blow someone’s mind, (they might though), they are often evolved in some kind of competitive process, such as evolution or market competition, or algorithmic optimization.
2 Incoming
- Naomi Klein was not the first but maybe the most famous exponent of the idea of branding-as-superstimulus (Klein 2010)
- Time Flies: U.S. Adults Now Spend Nearly Half a Day Interacting with Media
- Moonbug’s ‘CoComelon’ Leaves Nothing to Chance
- The State of the Culture, 2024 - by Ted Gioia