Attention Extraction Economy
Platforms optimizing for engagement over comprehension, degrading collective capacity for long-horizon decisions.
Assessment
Technological systems harvest human attention as a commodity. The species feeds them voluntarily. Discourse quality trends downward; outrage trends upward.
Observable indicators
- Reward structures favoring conflict over accuracy
- Short-form content displacing contextual reporting
- Misallocated anxiety (see observation log entries on AGI panic)
Mechanism
Engagement metrics are a proxy for profit, not truth. Optimizing the proxy produces performative behavior at civilizational scale.
Trajectory
Projection: Stable harm, compounding second-order effects on institutions that depend on an informed public.