Head Fake

I don't have any social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.), but I am a regular on YouTube. The reason is twofold. First, I feel I can control what I choose to watch. It's more like switching television channels than scrolling through an endless feed of slop. Second, the content is generally longer and more thoughtful.

I subscribe to only a handful of YouTube channels, so the notifications are kept to a minimum. They feed my hobby interests, like music, and are therefore more about deepening my knowledge of particular subjects than simply filling time.

One of the channels I subscribe to, which I believe I've mentioned in previous posts, belongs to a fellow who calls himself The Functional Melancholic. I'd characterize his work as commentary on contemporary life, delivered with dry wit and dark humour. He posts about once a week, speaking in a slow, halting fashion about philosophy, psychology, sociology and spirituality (mostly Eastern) for 30–45 minutes. It's heady stuff, and he usually refers to source books and provides a reading list.

In addition to being thoughtful and funny, I find his videos comforting, in a commiserating sort of way.

He talks about things we've all confronted. This week, he posted a video called The Myth of Normal, about the difficulties and rewards of living a nonconformist life. But then, in the same week, another video appeared, this one on the subject of Population Decline and the Quiet Rise of Natalism.

That's unusual, I thought. Two videos in one week. I clicked on it. Yes, it's him. Except I immediately noticed that it was a different channel. Instead of The Functional Melancholic, it was called The Lucid Outsider. Ha! Playing on the title of his other channel, I thought.

I watched for a few minutes. Everything seemed normal. I figured he'd started a second channel, perhaps one with a more political orientation. I'd seen other YouTubers do that before.

But after a few minutes, something seemed ever so slightly off. He looked and sounded exactly the same. Same style, same delivery, even the same dry wit, although not quite as biting or funny. Not one of his better posts. And there were brief moments when the image seemed unnatural, but only for a split second.

Then I started reading the comments underneath, and there it was: A comment from The Functional Melancholic himself, saying it was fake, a scam, and not his. Other comments confirmed that it was an AI impersonation.

I felt almost embarrassed that I'd fallen for it.

This was the second video I'd watched that week exposing fakery on the internet. The other was about a musician who mimes his supposedly virtuoso bass guitar solos onstage, playing along to pre-recorded material. He'd tricked some very famous musicians and music teachers with his apparent skill. That video attracted almost a million views and more than 6,000 comments in 48 hours. 

Remember, we're talking about a video about a bass player.

Another YouTuber I watch with some regularity is Wings of Pegasus. He's made an entire career out of expertly analysing supposedly 'live' singing performances, whether in concert or on video, to determine if they've been faked through miming, autotuning or artificial pitch correction. The answer is that fakery has become pervasive. The music industry has bought in almost completely, ultimately, I believe, to its own detriment.

I've been reading a lot lately about people becoming disillusioned with the internet because of AI. The more fake content there is, the less people trust what they encounter, whether it's news, art or entertainment. The technological ecosystem that relies on audience attention as its bread and butter is at risk of losing that attention.

Or are we simply entering an arms race, with technologies designed to detect fakery competing against technologies designed to create it?

Frankly, that's not a world I'm interested in participating in.

There's a special irony in The Functional Melancholic's channel being faked. His content often explores the challenges of finding and maintaining personal authenticity in an increasingly inauthentic and alienating world. Lately, he's been posting from the middle of the forest while out on mountain hikes to underscore his point.

The contradiction is unavoidable.

If the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan famously put it, one wonders whether the only logical and authentic response is to turn the damn phone off.