column:weekly monmon talk
[62] SNS and the Age of “Post-Truth”
1. “Like!” — Dopamine on Demand
What is this strange rush—the sense of being watched, the sudden jolt that pushes you to want more? Each time you get a “Like!” the dopamine hits again. What is this feeling—this little high that feels like recognition, validation, even if all you did was post a borrowed photo, not some grand opinion piece or original artwork? What is this?
Communication should be the beginning of mutual understanding, of coexistence, built on respect. The goal should be the free individual. Instead, what we see is the herd instinct: the craving for low-level approval, the search for scapegoats, the emotional bonding that comes from excluding someone else—just to feel safe for a fleeting moment. Emotion spins in circles, never rising to reason.
Still, “Like!” does feel kind of nice. The little Japanese particle 'ne'! plus an exclamation mark—it really works. In English it’s just “Like,” flat and plain, no “!” at all. English doesn’t even have particles to convey such fine emotional nuance. Language is culture made visible.
- “Blue thumbs are the new blue pills—welcome to the dopamine Matrix.” -
2. “Really?” — When Likes Become Lies
And the herd? It never truly opens outward, never embraces the other. It stays self-contained. That can be valuable—sometimes. But when “Like!” itself becomes the purpose, reality begins to warp. Clicking “Like” while thinking Really? The free space meant for free individuals becomes a cage that binds.
We start by sharing experiences. But then, the experience is idealized, abstracted: from I wish I could have this to I should be able to have this. And so we begin to manufacture beautiful experiences. Not 100% fake, but curated, edited—experiences consumed as products, experiences as capital in capitalism.
It’s a shift from induction to deduction, from grasping the world empirically to explaining it rationally. If the pieces fit, reason is satisfied. Reason justifies emotion.
- “Instagram isn’t fake—it’s just Photoshop for reality.” -
３. “Wow!” — Reason as Emotion in Disguise
Why does it happen? Because reason demands meaning in everything—or maybe reason is just the name we gave to that mental compulsion. Reason is itself a kind of emotion. The problem is, does it rank higher than the others? We “understand” logically, but emotions don’t allow it. That’s the structure. Reason seeks meaning and hopes. Emotion loses meaning and despairs. Same roots, same soil.
The meaning of life is always cultural—built inside societies reason itself created. We weave meaning from the values of the communities we belong to. If those values collapse, then we must create new ones—as long as reason remains reason. But man is not so wise as to build a culture entirely from scratch. Hayek was right about that.
Miracles, myths, legends throughout history and religion—they were the original “post-truth.” Impossible realities that must have happened. Or rather: could have happened. Humanity’s relentless search for truth, meaning, hope—that’s the truly “amazing” function, unique to us.
- “Behind every ‘wow’ is a brain just trying to cope.” -
4. “No fair!” — Ressentiment Goes Viral
Everyone unconsciously believes they are the one and only unique being. We merely remind ourselves that others must exist the same way. This skeptical view is itself a product of reason. The innate conviction of I alone exist collides with the learned conviction that others must exist too.
Every individual’s grasp of reality is, in a sense, “post-truth.” From the spark of That’s not fair! comes the drive toward the “greatest happiness of the greatest number.” Armed with the rational logic of democracy, we pursued “truth.” But maybe everyone’s just tired now. Maybe “truth” itself feels like “post-truth.”
And “That’s not fair!”—what Nietzsche called ressentiment—was the seed that birthed Christianity. A magnificent codification of emotion, the dazzling cathedral of “truth” born of bold action and deep thought.
- “‘That’s not fair!’—the oldest viral hashtag in human history.” -
5. “Huh!?” — The Warm, Fuzzy Trap
“I got energy from you.” “I want to give you strength.” Words like bonds, connections, heart-to-heart ties—they sound warm. But say them out loud, and suddenly they feel suspicious. Especially when “bond” in its original sense meant the rope that ties down livestock—or people. Wasn’t human history a fight to be free from that? If it’s really a warning against excessive freedom, then have the courage to say so.
So what is that warm, fuzzy feeling we chase? Why is SNS—this excess of seemingly meaningless communication—so addictive? It’s brain candy. Constant fireworks with no ordinary days in between. Emotion runs wild. Reason, once the cap, has been unfastened by the modern ego. And no one knows where that leads.
Maybe the vast digital space of SNS, beyond “post-truth,” is already birthing new “truths.” A godlike presence riding a pale unicorn might be descending even now. And critics, of course, will thunder: SNS is the new opium of the people.
- “Warm bonds or soft chains? Post-truth doesn’t say.” -
- “We don’t ‘like’ the truth—we edit it.” -
-And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him.-
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