In its ideal form, Twitter would simply be the highway our digital consciousness drives down. Open to all, and with minimal tolls, this digital roadway would provide quick transport to wherever our minds desired to travel. Clear rules and regulations would be established to ensure the safety of all travelers. Yet the freedom of inquiry, creativity, thought, and speech would be emphasized. The user would have the freedom to curate their own experience; much like they do in the real world. Increased functionality would allow the user even more options for speaking to who they choose, and avoiding those they dislike. Like navigating a vast city, the user would determine which corners of the ‘Twitterverse’ they deemed safe, and which corners they deemed unwise to visit. In its ideal form, Twitter could be the central digital pathway that moves through liquid modernity and connects the metamodern hypergraph.
In the ‘Ready Player One’ science fiction books by Ernest Cline, the stories revolve around a virtual reality world called the ‘OASIS’. While advanced technology had allowed the OASIS to become a realistic virtual world in itself; it was the nature or spirit of the OASIS that is relevant to discussing what Twitter could be. The OASIS functioned as an open, digital universe. One whose reality seemed to be defined by its users as much as it was by its original creator. There were rules, and a certain amount of structure to keep things functioning smoothly. Yet the ultimate driver, and creator of the digital OASIS experience was the same as the real world - human consciousness. The OASIS allowed human consciousness to expand in ways that were impossible in the solid, material world.
This seems to be in line with the philosophical thinking of new Twitter CEO, Elon Musk. He has spoken and tweeted about the need to ‘expand the scope and scale’ of human consciousness. Whatever one thinks of his personality or politics, it’s hard to deny that his efforts toward creating efficient space travel have not moved humanity in this direction. Musk has called Twitter the world’s ‘de facto public town square’. He sees Twitter as the world's digital meeting place for discourse, thought, and creativity. Musk has not said this, but he might see the next evolution of human consciousness as a finalized version of his company, Neuralink. Humanity would merge with digital technology through brain implants, which would then allow for expanded human consciousness. In this reality, a platform like Twitter could connect us all; and we could interact without speaking a word, holding a phone, or touching a keyboard.
Yet like the OASIS in ‘Ready Player One’, the idea of humanity’s consciousness being completely merged with our digital machines is a long way off from being reality. The question for our current times is whether Twitter can become the primary digital communication pathway through our liquid modernity. As of now, platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok occupy distinct ‘mental lanes’ on our digital highway. An individual might have an account on each platform, and switch between them depending on what they wanted to say, share, or view. But what if there was a platform that was able to combine the best of all platforms, and attract the mental habits of most individuals? What if there was a platform so encompassing and flexible, that users eventually felt fulfilled to use it for all their digital communication? This was the fictional reality of the OASIS, yet I think it should be the goal for whatever version of Twitter Elon Musk is looking to create.
Unfortunately, there might be an inherent contradiction in Musk’s plans. I do believe he genuinely wanted Twitter to become a benevolent ‘digital town square’ before he purchased it. Yet the amount of financial leverage he had to incur to make the purchase might ultimately undermine any of his noble aims. For one has to ask the question whether the nature of corporate profit making and the nature of a truly ‘humanistic’, open digital platform can coexist. The nature of corporate power and profit considerations ultimately move corporate enterprises away from humanistic considerations. Examples of this would be the private healthcare system in the United States, the behavior of large multinational oil companies, or the failings of Facebook. Musk’s purchase of Twitter was a little like an individual overpaying for every road within a given state or country. The individual might repair all the roads, bridges, and tunnels. Yet in order to keep things afloat financially, they might have to charge tolls or create profit mechanisms that begin to harm the public good.
This leads one to consider what might be the ultimate nature of any modern day ‘OASIS-like’ platform that connects us all. It might need to have a public works foundation like the highway system, electric grid, or pre digital phone lines. Yet this public foundation would allow for private innovation, invention, and risk taking. This description sounds like the internet itself, yet it might have to apply to any all encompassing social media platform as well. This would mean the internet would be its own utility like, open platform; alongside any unified social media platform. Otherwise, humanity will continue to disperse its consciousness amid multiple platforms. Or eventually, through corporate consolidation; all our digital, social communications might be controlled by one individual or corporation.
Much has been rightly made of the corrosive effect ‘social media’ or our digital communications have had on public discourse, and human society in general. It is true that our digital platforms act as shortcuts to trigger our toxic evolutionary responses like tribalism, hedonism, envy, or status seeking. Yet it is also true that these platforms, and our need to use them, are not going anywhere anytime soon; they are here to stay. The hope is that as generations come and go, humanity will slowly gain control over its inherent evolutionary impulses versus the dynamic, digital stimulation of digital communication. Elon Musk probably sees his efforts to reform Twitter as an effort to unleash and (ultimately) merge human consciousness with our digital reality. The only question is whether the nature of the money that allowed him to buy Twitter will ultimately prevent him from fulfilling its promise.
*Afterword as of March 2023: Sadly it’s become clear that Elon Musk has taken hard lines on political and social issues that have destroyed any hope he would be a benevolent creator of a new communication platform. Ironically, his mind seems to have been warped by the very platform he sought to ‘save’. Regardless, the hope still remains that one day in the future, someone will create a platform that meets our modern moment and works towards the true expansion of the human mind.