Now before y’all throw pitchforks at me for a number of simplifications I made here, I did so with intent so let me break them down real quick.

1. Threads is not yet federated. The whole discussion of should or shouldn’t we federate with the zucks is not the subject of this piece. Rather, it’s that many of us came to Lemmy to escape much of what is on commercial social media in the first place. I found this post ironic in that sense which is why I made it.

2. Digital pollution is a catch all for data pollution, generative spam, devaluation of digital media, link rot, algorithmic monotony and climate change caused by mining + generative tech. I really didn’t want to get into the nitty gritty of the internet’s zombification with this comic so that’s the phrase I went with.

3. Antithetical is a bit extreme of a statement but I do not believe that you can have artificial scarcity if generative tech exists. There will inevitably be a few cryptobros that really hate this take but oh well.

4. I am unapologetic about my use of Ai because most of my comics are about Ai’s impact on entertainment. Although I am relatively sure this crowd isn’t as offended as the art communities, I had a career in Hollywood VFX before my current job as a creative consultant. And I’m old enough that Ai feels like deja vu to the emergence of digital art and then 3D which ended my first career in stopmotion effects. In short, been there done that!

Thanks for reading. More of my stuff is available at GnarlyComics.com