attention economies in the age of the troll - #1

Everything is energy changing forms, a cosmic system that converts substance-less light into animated matter. If the Sun goes dark, so do we. It hasn't, not yet, but in the digital age, the conceptual transfer of sunlight in the form of attention has given tremendous power to the ecosystem of ideas.

Ideas, like energy, exist beyond perception in a place without mass. We cannot touch them, but they are real. They take up no space, but are responsible for everything around you. And they disappear without attention. Blockchains exist because humans thought about them, and they thrive or collapse based on how many people trade their units of value, which is an idea. Ideas begin as sunlight which animates plants, which are consumed by animals to keep themselves alive. You are using some of your most recent meal, that sunlight converted into food, to read these words. If you share the article, you are adding more energy, if your cohorts do the same, the idea spreads, and a system of support emerges. Your attention is no different than any measure of value. It is fuel, it is wheat, it is light-in-a-complex-form, and with enough of it, an influencer can purchase coffee, an iPod, or the presidency.

The interesting fact about the attention economy, is that it ignores emotion. If you invoke the name of a controversial figure as a means of tearing her down, you have done the opposite. You have given her power, which is attention, which is sunlight, the literal animating force of the universe. In the digital space, to attack is to empower. Only by ignoring an idea can you hope to kill it. And the trolls know this. They understand that, in the age of attention-based wealth, the easiest way to grab sunlight is to be annoying. "Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches." Warhol said that. He understood. Love and hate are two sides of the same currency. If you stand at the center of a storm of human focus, whatever the intent, you are receiving the most powerful and refined substance in the known universe. With enough human energy you can do anything.

The rise of the troll and the advent of the attention economy is not a fad, it is an evolution of an ancient principle: you harvest what you plant. If you plant trolls, you grow trolls. It doesn't matter if you were trying to stomp them out. Any attention given to a system makes it grow.

Where you spend your time, what you watch, and who you interact with is an ecosystem facilitating the transfer of energy. The sun is using you to animate your interests. Remember this the next time you respond to a comment, share an article, or kick down some some STEEM. Your attention matters. It is currency. It is life. And you cannot destroy a troll by feeding it.

My name is katch withak. I am a writer, portrait painter, and tattoo artist in Jersey City. Thank you for your light.