Virulent Social Dilemmas
March 2020 changed everything. Not just because of COVID-19, but because millions of people suddenly found themselves trapped at home with nothing but screens for company. And in that perfect storm of isolation, anxiety, and endless scrolling, Netflix dropped “The Social Dilemma”—a documentary that would become the mainstream awakening I’d been waiting for since 2016.
I remember watching it with a mix of vindication and frustration. Finally, regular people were hearing what those of us in the industry had been grappling with for years. The documentary was incredibly well done—educational in the same vein as “Seaspiracy,” another cultural watershed that opened eyes to uncomfortable truths. But as someone who works in the industry and holds nuanced opinions, I found myself occasionally frustrated with the pedestrian explanations and the way certain issues were framed.
Take Cambridge Analytica, which the documentary positioned as this singular villain in the data abuse story. At the time, I believed the outrage was justified. But it became clear later that this was largely a partisan takedown—people were upset about the outcome, not the practice itself. The reality is that psychographic targeting and data manipulation were (and still are) pervasive throughout the entire advertising industry. Cambridge Analytica wasn’t an aberration; it was business as usual. The only difference was who they were working for.
But here’s what the documentary got absolutely right: it marked the moment when mainstream consciousness finally caught up to what activists, cypherpunks, and industry insiders had been warning about for years. People weren’t just learning about how Facebook and Google use their data to sell ad placements—they were discovering that these platforms listen through their devices, gather every digital breadcrumb possible to create their “digital twin,” and sell access to that twin to the highest bidder.
And Facebook and Google? They’re just the biggest players in a much larger game.
The Great Credibility Crisis
The real awakening wasn’t just about corporate surveillance—it was about the realization that these same data harvesting and algorithmic manipulation tools were being weaponized for political control. The 2008 Obama campaign had pioneered sophisticated digital organizing and micro-targeting, which seemed like democratic innovation at the time. By 2016, the Trump campaign took these techniques to their logical extreme, leveraging social media algorithms to spread targeted messaging that often blurred the line between persuasion and manipulation.
The same platforms that had enabled grassroots organizing were now facilitating the spread of conspiracy theories, disinformation, and extremist content. The algorithmic amplification of engaging content—regardless of its accuracy—created what researchers called “alternative epistemic bubbles.” But here’s where it gets interesting: many of those so-called conspiracy theories have since been vindicated.
We’re living through what I call the great credibility crisis. It started with discussions about “trusting the science” and devolved into “quit asking so many questions.” Meanwhile, people labeled as conspiracy theorists were being vindicated left and right as mainstream narratives were later corrected or exposed as hoaxes. Long-standing Hollywood rumors that were dismissed as hurtful gossip were suddenly being confirmed in courtrooms.
The list is extensive and uncomfortable: Jeffrey Epstein and Les Wexner, the Diddy revelations, COVID gain-of-function research, various Me Too movement revelations, connections between celebrities and questionable activities—all topics that migrated from fringe internet discourse to mainstream conversation in an unprecedented way. Even more controversial subjects like JFK assassination theories, mRNA vaccine concerns, or various other conspiracy theories suddenly didn’t seem so fringe anymore.
What’s fascinating is how the political spectrum seemed to flip. People who used to be considered “far left” were suddenly being rebranded as “far right” through what some call the “crunchy granola to alt-right pipeline.” I call it horseshoe theory—the far ends of any spectrum eventually start to resemble each other. Either way, it represents a deep dive into political rumors, gossip, and the recognition that many of our institutions are corrupt as hell.
From Celebrity Worship to Authentic Intelligence
But here’s the really significant part: this moment marks a cultural transition from worshiping celebrity and idealized images to craving authenticity and imperfect realness. Artists like Chappell Roan and Anthony Oliver, comedians like Andrew Schultz and Tony Hinchcliffe, and TikTok news personalities like Harry Sisson or Under the Desk News—they’re all benefiting from this shift toward authentic, unfiltered content.
This cultural pivot is happening against the backdrop of the first generation raised entirely online coming of age, just as artificially intelligent systems that are actually pretty fucking useful are becoming more pervasive by the minute. Gen Z’s response? “Touch grass”—get off the feed, out of the algorithm, off the screen, and outside in fresh air and sunlight. It’s not just about awareness of manipulation; it’s about recognizing the importance of nature in our lives and how being in the elements improves our health compared to enclosed artificial environments that foster disease, rot, and decay of mind, body, and soul.
The Bridge Generation: Digital Natives with Analog Wisdom
But Gen Z isn’t operating in isolation. The real drivers of this cultural shift are what I consider the bridge generation—those born roughly between 1992 and 1997. Their lives perfectly span the analog-digital divide, making them primed conduits for facilitating the social transition we’re navigating right now. They’re digital natives and pioneers in all the ways that matter, but they still grew up with enough analog technologies and old-world inconveniences to relate to past generations. They remember Y2K, 9/11, BTK, and other major events from wall to wall TV news that was the dopamine inducing, advertiser priming, predecessor to the social media timeline.
Meanwhile, Millennials have largely checked out and sold themselves to the system, embracing the curated, luxury, personality-free aesthetic that Gen Z rightfully roasts them for. Gen X remains the sideshow they’ve always been—part of that original cypherpunk crowd but mostly silent these days. And the older generations are either silent, sycophantic sheep, or perpetually offline.
This generational dynamic creates an interesting paradox. Gen Z craves the authenticity and depth that many of their peers lack, but they often don’t have the attention span or won’t exert the discipline to consume long-form content like documentaries, much less books or audiobooks. (Pro tip: listen on 2x speed and you’ll feel better.) Meanwhile, the generations that do have that attention span are largely disengaged from the platforms where these conversations are happening.
Government-Big Tech Collusion Exposed
The government and big tech collusion that many suspected was finally exposed through revelations like the Twitter Files, which detailed how social media platforms were working with government agencies to suppress speech and manipulate public discourse. This wasn’t theoretical anymore—it was documented reality.
I can speak to this personally. I’ve been deplatformed by Twitter and Google for publishing news in the web3 digital sovereignty space, and was recently deplatformed by my email provider as well. Interestingly, I left my role as AI product expert on the accelerated growth team at Google in October 2020—right around when “The Social Dilemma” was released, but before any of my deplatforming events, which happened in 2021, 2022, and 2025.
The pattern was clear: platforms were deplatforming people whose information has since been validated, while the previously accepted “science” was being discredited in favor of what was once labeled “misinformation.” It became obvious that government and publicly traded companies were colluding through regulatory bodies to harm citizens in favor of supporting preplanned initiatives that would drive more revenue for their campaign partners. Classic regulatory capture—our government bought and paid for by lobbyists.
The Ultimate Irony: Chasing AI While Craving Authenticity
But here’s the ultimate irony that defines our current moment: for millennia, governments and societies have been chasing what computer scientists call “Roko’s Basilisk”—the theoretical superintelligent AI that could reshape reality itself. Now, on the eve of AI’s penultimate inception, the dominant cultural movement is about desiring organic, natural, offline, authentic connections. It’s a backlash response to artificial intelligence, specifically because of how it’s been used to destroy life and authentic human connection to date.
We’re simultaneously rushing toward artificial intelligence while desperately craving authentic intelligence. And that tension—between the artificial and the authentic—is creating space for entirely new approaches to marketing, business, and human organization.
Three Paths Forward: Collaboratism as the Third Way
This cultural awakening creates three potential paths forward. We could embrace techno-paternal feudalism, where big tech and government merge into a benevolent (or not so benevolent) authority that manages our lives for us. Or we could go full crypto anarcho-capitalism, where decentralized systems eliminate traditional institutions entirely. Both sound like scary hellscapes to most people.
But there’s a third option I’ve been noodling on—something I call “collaboratism.” It’s a team-based economic system that focuses on win-win-win outcomes and maximizes everything in productive balance. It requires navigating hard conversations, but it offers a path between digital authoritarianism and technological chaos.
The mainstream awakening spurred on by “The Social Dilemma” wasn’t just about data abuse—it was about recognizing that we’re at a fundamental fork in the road. The choices we make about technology, privacy, and authentic human connection in the next few years will determine whether we build systems that serve human flourishing or human subjugation.
And for those of us in marketing, this cultural shift toward authenticity isn’t just a trend to exploit—it’s a fundamental restructuring of how brands and consumers relate to each other. The age of manipulation through surveillance capitalism is ending, not because of regulation, but because people are simply not going to tolerate it anymore.
The question is: what comes next? How do we build marketing systems that serve authentic human connection rather than exploit it? How do we harness the power of artificial intelligence to enhance rather than replace authentic intelligence?
That’s where our story really begins.