carcinization on the internet

 there is this natural phenomenon in the world which is called "carcinization" which essentially is this evolution philosophy where overtime through different lineages, different species end up evolving into a crab. the evolution converges into crab-like features - independently and of massively disconnected species. this happens because, very colloquially and reductively [and for the sake of what I am trying to convey] is the peak body form. the most optimized evolutionary type ensuring the greatest survival and thriving benefits. from having more protection to having more wiggle room in the way they eat their food - a lot of factors affect this eventual evolution. this convergent evolution is also very much present in the digital world.

there is this known often-imitated phenomenon known as the "youtuber voice" and what does that entail? that entails a person speaking in this very melodic singing voice as opposed to how they or anyone else might regularly speak. seems like over dialects and cultures, this would not follow - and yet, throughout cultures, languages and communities - this persists. the youtuber voice persists. i sometimes consume english content and sometimes hindi - despite hindi and english wildly different in their pronunciations, their consonants, their inflections - the singing voice persists. we hear the classic "What's up you guys, this is Brandon here and let's get started" in "To kaise ho sab log! Chalo shuru karte hai!" and if you're anyone who spends even minuscule time consuming content online, you read it in this voice. you read it in the youtuber voice, the singing voice, you almost instinctively knew how to read like a youtuber because alike the crabs, the youtubers have converged into the most optimal voice patterns. which gurantees the most optimized click-through rate and retention time.

this doesn't stop at voices and follows itself to the way thumbnails are designed. youtube throws a bunch of features at its creators where even in the largely monolithic style of thumbnails - you can do further A/B research on a live video and find out the most optimal thumbnail was and how was each thumbnail performing - youtube swaps out thumbnails at random for different groups of people so the statistics can be fed back to the creators - allowing them to further optimize their look and feel of the videos. this is carried forward in the way they edit the video - the text/subtitles appearing on screen as they speak. the background music pausing itself when it's a punchline, the digital zoom-ins, the cropping at places, the meme "reaction videos" dispersed at random in between - all is a result of evolution and careful research.

this is obviously also not limited to youtube but rather across a plethora of platforms and content forms. there is this unifying factor that binds them and that is their willingness to converge and to accept the commodification which follows making content at a large scale. niche youtubers with unique voices can have a come-up, survive and thrive even but they will never make mainstream. they will simmer just below the mainstream. at most, there are a few handful that will reach that insane regular >10M view count [or likes or whatever] on their videos. because most, unless they give up their individuality and their unique style and accept the way of the crab, shall remain simmering just below the breakthrough point.

and this is by design, these platforms are commodified, attention is commodified. the way people react follows the same tone in different circles. while a tiktok user more intune to pop/queer culture might reply with crying emojis and "skdksds" and "is this clairo shade" and "definitely served cunt" - a instagram user might keep commenting generic one-liners similarly such as "bro thought he...", "blud is.." with skull emojis and phonk edits. the common thread being the unison singing they do, the commodification that goes beyond just conformism. the incentive to being in unison far outweighs the fruits of originality in our digital era and I fear it might only get worse from now on. we need to actively fuck out of such spaces, stir up shit and create unique avant-garde non-algorithm friendly shit that we are passionate about because otherwise there shall come a time where there is nothing that stands between you, your precious time and the ultimate commodification - ai generated slop.