Murmurations, Algorithms, and the Disappearing Real

Read Renée Diresta's article on how online mobs act like flocks of starlings:

DiResta compares online mobs to murmurations—those shape-shifting flocks of starlings that move in coordinated, mesmerizing patterns. Each bird is a node, influencing its neighbors, creating something beautiful and cohesive.

Social media works the same way—except the choreography is driven by algorithms, not instinct. Designed for profit, these systems link millions of users through "collaborative filtering," serving content based on personal data and user behavior. The goal is simple: Keep you engaged. Keep showing you ads.

The same logic that fuels viral content also accelerates conspiracy theories. QAnon didn’t just emerge—it spread like a murmuration, regrouping after bans and reassembling elsewhere. It’s like Whack-a-mole in real time.

"We shape our tools, and thereafter they shape us." – John Culkin

Welcome to Hyperreality

Jean Baudrillard calls this hyperreality—a world where signs and symbols detach from meaning. Think Disneyland: a simulation more “real” than reality itself.

J.M.W. Turner – The Fighting Temeraire (1839)

"It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality." – Baudrillard

We no longer respond to the real world—we respond to a version of it that’s been modeled, packaged, and optimized to manipulate.

The Behavior Modification Empire

Jaron Lanier puts it bluntly: we're being experimented on.

"The whole thing has become like a gigantic behavior modification empire." - Lanier

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot – Souvenir de Mortefontaine (1864)

You’re not just seeing ads. You’re seeing content designed to keep you reacting. It’s not neutral. It’s engineered.

Alone, Together

Sherry Turkle points out the emotional cost: disconnection disguised as connection.

"We’re designing technologies that give the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship." - Turkle

Social platforms offer interaction without intimacy, connection without consequence.

Jules Breton – The Song of the Lark (1884)

The Romantic Response

The Romantics wouldn’t be subtle about this. They’d reject it outright: the echo chambers, the algorithmic manipulation, the loss of wonder, the simulated beauty. They would turn away from screens and look up—toward real murmurations, toward the sky, toward something unfiltered and alive.

They’d say: go outside. Watch the birds. Touch something real.

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