Fascism is an idea that resonates well with simple minds. If you are different from everyone else, you are the enemy. We are united and we are the same. Everyone must conform to the standard. Everyone speaks the same language. There is one leader for all and common goals. Marches, military songs, enthusiasm. Together we are strong! Fascio means “union, bundle, tie, association.” It’s so advantageous and convenient. This is what instincts dictate. But instincts are not reason.
Like any other simple and pleasant idea, this one is flawed. It undermines humanism. It turns people into robots. It leaves those who are different from the majority defenseless. Having survived the horrors of fascism, civilization strives to uphold new values. It tries, at least in words, to protect those in the minority, to support the unconventional, and to seek solutions in things that are far from “common truths” and “everyone does it.” Expressions like “mass culture,” “mass consumption,” and “public opinion” take on a negative connotation. Sort of.
At the same time, we are entering a new era where “nonconformity” is not being exterminated in gas chambers, but simply goes unnoticed. One can talk a thousand times about supporting nonconformity, but it cannot be supported if it cannot be seen.
The success of a business, as always, depends on optimizing costs and maximizing revenue. A product that satisfies 80% of the population and doesn’t require unconventional solutions is successful. Programs that execute business processes and business processes designed to be easily computerized create a new reality where a person with a unique request simply becomes invisible. They don’t exist. They are ignored. They won’t get answers to their questions. Contacting customer support won’t yield results, as this service also operates according to pre-written scripts. That’s it. “Hello, darkness, my old friend.”
This darkness is filling the world at a speed that leaves no room for reaction. Companies, administrations, services—everything a person encounters every day is increasingly tailored to the “average person.” The unconventional will simply die out or stop “desiring the strange.” What distinguishes humans from robots—the ability to improvise, the only way to respond to new challenges and unfamiliar situations—will disappear. Any process or program, by definition, works with already known situations. In such conditions, any “news” can become a catastrophe. We all remember the “Y2K computer problem.” Ha-ha, we said. But right now, humanity is heading toward a point where it could revert to the Stone Age because of some other trivial issue that simply wasn’t and couldn’t be anticipated in advance, due to something that isn’t even a Black Swan, but a black chick.
And to add even more darkness to this picture, we can remember the people who tend to mimic the behavior of those they interact with. It’s convenient and advantageous. That’s how instincts dictate. After spending time with robots, people themselves begin to perceive the surrounding “non-standard” as a bothersome obstacle that can simply be ignored. When you start asking people questions, they get lost; they don’t know how to respond, and they completely lose the ability to understand how to answer. They weren’t taught. The last questions they absolutely had to answer were from standardized tests. Yes, the standard, “machine-like” questions that require no thought. The correct and often incorrect answers are just something to be memorized. After all, digital fascism didn’t start yesterday. It began when it seemed appropriate to replace exams with tests and communication with questionnaires. And how is that any better than using a caliper to measure skulls?