The increasing saturation of the internet with artificial content, the fading of human centered production, and the deterioration of digital memory have brought the discussions on the "Dead Internet Theory" back to the agenda in recent years.
Recalling that in the early days of the internet, forums, blogs, and open discussion platforms were social spaces where users both produced information and verified each other, Software Engineer Asst. Prof. Mehmet Kaan İldiz said, “Today, the internet is no longer a space that preserves organic discussions from the past. It has evolved into a flow dominated by superficial and repetitive artificial content.”
Stating that “The digital past is both disappearing and being replaced by an artificial past,” Asst. Prof. İldiz said, “At the core of the issue, as original human content weakens, the worn and faded areas are being filled by the hallucinations of artificial intelligence. While real memory is erased, a simulated memory takes its place.”
Üsküdar University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Software Engineering Department faculty member Asst. Prof. Mehmet Kaan İldiz evaluated the “Dead Internet Theory.”
What does the "Dead Internet Theory" mean?
Asst. Prof. Mehmet Kaan İldiz stated that the “Dead Internet Theory” is a speculative concept that questions the structural form the internet has taken today and serves a metaphorical function in understanding the transformation of digital ecosystems. He said, “Some components of the theory offer a thought provoking framework, especially in the context of the decline of human centered interactions, the increase in artificial content, and the corruption of collective digital memory. People’s tendency to invest original effort is also decreasing, which limits the originality of the produced intellectual content.”
Forums and blogs were the most important elements that formed the ‘human texture’ of the internet
Recalling that in the early days of the internet, forums, blogs, and open discussion platforms were social areas where users both produced information and verified each other, Asst. Prof. İldiz said, “The discussions, experiences, and collective productions of that era were the most important elements forming the ‘human texture’ of the internet. Of course, it is important to remember the depth of those discussions and the time people spent thinking before responding. However, today, most of this content is either inaccessible or unreachable within algorithmic feeds. Old forums have closed, archives have deteriorated, and millions of user discussions have turned into an unindexed and therefore unverifiable past.”
Digital memory is as fragile as human memory
Pointing out that this loss is not only a technical issue but also a reflection of the fact that digital memory, like human memory, has a fragile nature, Asst. Prof. İldiz continued: “The internet has now evolved from a space that stored organic discussions of the past into a flow logic dominated by superficial and repetitive artificial content. At this point, artificial intelligence hallucinations play a critical role. The fact that generative models sometimes produce unverified, fabricated, or context detached information adds an additional layer of uncertainty on top of old digital discussions that are already difficult to access. In other words, the digital past is both disappearing and being replaced by an artificial past. At the core of the issue, as original human content weakens, the hallucinations of artificial intelligence fill these worn and faded areas. While real memory is erased, a simulated memory takes its place.”
AI based search can generate a new narrative
Stating that it is becoming increasingly difficult to give a clear answer to the question, “What was really discussed in the past and how accurately does the information we reach today represent that?” Asst. Prof. İldiz said, “Because AI based search, summarization, and content generation systems, instead of transmitting the past as it was, can produce a new similarity based narrative between data. The inability of users to distinguish between real discussions and algorithmic reproductions creates a serious cognitive confusion. This also narrows the domain of productivity of the original expression of the human mind, even if it is only slightly distant from absolute accuracy.”
‘Digital Memory’ is turning into an increasingly simulative structure
From a neuroscientific perspective, Asst. Prof. İldiz stated that this situation directly affects the trust mechanism of the human mind. He said, “The mind needs verifiable historical traces. However, as discussions on the internet disappear and are replaced by artificial syntheses, what users perceive as ‘digital memory’ increasingly turns into a simulative structure. This weakens the traceability of real knowledge. Therefore, I interpret the Dead Internet Theory not as a claim that the internet has completely ‘died,’ but rather as the artificialization of digital memory and the silent and unnoticed pushing of human contribution into the background.”
Is the silent disappearance of the internet a death?
Asst. Prof. İldiz stated that the silent disappearance of the internet is described as a death for people who have adapted to the new order. He said, “The concept of the new world also characterizes this disappearance as the death of the internet. In this context, the main issue is not the quantity of content production, but the distancing of its source from humans and the increasing difficulty of verifying references to the past. While the living memory of the internet fades, artificial intelligence systems begin to fill this gap with their own fictional productions.”
Asst. Prof. Mehmet Kaan İldiz concluded his remarks with an important question for the future: “When we lose the real digital past, what foundation will the knowledge we produce in the future be based on? While searching for answers, how much will we lose our originality that is capable of producing questions? These questions will probably confront us with concepts like the ‘dead minds theory’ in an era where human productivity is decaying.”