Well, it's a sad part of culture in 2022 - an enormous abandonment of creativity or authenticity for clicks.

Even sadder that it works.

It reminds me of the ancient concept of patronage. If you were a patron, you housed and fed your client, and in return, they were expected to act the part out. So if you had a garden hermit, they needed to act their part out, and act grateful and glad to you. If you treated them badly, say, giving them a crappy house to hermit about in, they were expected to still act grateful to your face, but damage your reputation behind your back.

Somewhere today the concept of cultural patronage is still a thing. We the audience give you clicks and attention and see the ads that make you dollars, you the influencer play the role of an entertainer that gives us enjoyment for giving you our entertainment. We've identified what parts of you entertain us, so play your part, client.

And thus the influencer is in some ways the influenced.

Is there an estimate somewhere of how many garden hermits there were in history?

Authentic people exist and always will; you just have to work to find them and support them.

If all you see are the click-optimized, by definition you are looking in the clicking arena where they will be the most present.

> Even sadder that it works.

As B.F. Skinner might have predicted.

As Plato predicted in fact.