The increasing saturation of the internet with artificial content, the fading of human-centered production, and the degradation of digital memory have brought the 'Dead Internet Theory' discussions back to the agenda in recent years.
Reminding that in the early days of the internet, forums, blogs, and open discussion platforms were social spaces where users both produced information and validated each other, Software Engineer Assist. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kaan İldiz said, “The internet has ceased to be a space that stores organic discussions from the past and has evolved into a flow logic dominated by superficial and repetitive artificial content.”
Stating that “the digital past is both disappearing and an artificial past is being created in its place,” Dr. İldiz added, “Essentially, as original human content atrophies, artificial intelligence's hallucinations cover these worn and atrophied areas. While real memory is erased, a simulated memory takes its place.”
Assist. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kaan İldiz from Üsküdar Üniversitesi, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Software Engineering (English) Department, evaluated the “dead internet theory.”
What does the “Dead Internet Theory” mean?
Stating that the “Dead Internet Theory” is a speculative concept that brings the current structural form of the internet into debate and serves a metaphorical function in understanding the transformation of digital ecosystems, Assist. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kaan İldiz said, “Some components of the theory offer a thought-provoking framework, especially in the context of decreasing human-centered interactions, the proliferation of artificial content, and the degradation of collective digital memory. People's inclination towards original efforts is also decreasing, which limits the originality of the thought content produced.”
Forums and blogs were the most important elements forming the ‘human fabric’ of the internet
Reminding that in the early days of the internet, forums, blogs, and open discussion platforms were social spaces where users both produced information and validated each other, Assist. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kaan İldiz said, “The discussions, experiences, and collective productions of that period were the most important elements forming the ‘human fabric’ of the internet. Of course, it's necessary to keep in mind the answers given by people after long consideration and the depth of the discussions. However, today, much of this content is either inaccessible or unreachable amidst algorithmic flows. Old forums closed down, archives corrupted, and millions of user discussions turned into an unindexable, thus unverifiable, past.”
Digital memory, like human memory, has a fragile structure
Pointing out that this disappearance is not merely a technical problem but also a similarity indicating that digital memory, like human memory, has a fragile structure, Assist. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kaan İldiz continued:
“The internet has ceased to be a space that stores organic discussions from the past and has evolved into a flow logic dominated by superficial and repetitive artificial content. At this point, artificial intelligence hallucinations play a critical role. Generative models sometimes produce unverified, fabricated, or contextually isolated information, adding an additional layer of uncertainty over old digital discussions that are already difficult to access. In other words, the digital past is both disappearing and an artificial past is being created in its place. Essentially, as original human content atrophies, artificial intelligence's hallucinations cover these worn and atrophied areas. While real memory is erased, a simulated memory takes its place.”
AI-based search can generate a new narrative
Expressing 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 access today represent it?”, Assist. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kaan İldiz stated, “Because AI-based search, summarization, and content generation systems, instead of transferring the past as it is, can create a new similarity-based narrative among the data. For users, the inability to distinguish between real discussions and algorithmic reproductions creates serious cognitive confusion. This also narrows the field of productivity for original human expression, even if slightly distant, that has high accuracy.”
‘Digital memory’ is increasingly turning into a simulated structure
From a neuroscientific perspective, noting that this situation directly affects the trust mechanism of the human mind, Assist. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kaan İldiz 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’ is increasingly turning into a simulated structure. This weakens the traceability of real information. Therefore, I approach the Dead Internet Theory not as an assertion that the internet is completely ‘dead,’ but rather in the sense of the artificialization of digital memory and the silent, unnoticed marginalization of human contribution.”
Is the silent disappearance of the internet a death?
Stating that the silent disappearance of the internet is described as a death for people accustomed to the new order, Assist. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kaan İldiz said, “The concept of the 'new world' also describes this disappearance as the death of the internet. In this context, the real issue is not the quantity of content production, but its detachment from human sources and the increasing difficulty of verifying references to the past. As the living memory of the internet fades, artificial intelligence systems begin to fill this void with their own fictional productions.”
Assist. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kaan İldiz concluded his words with an important question mark for the future:
“When we lose the real digital past, what foundation will the information we produce in the future rest upon? How much of our originality to produce questions will we lose while searching for answers? These questions will probably emerge with concepts like the ‘dead minds theory’ in a period where human productivity is decaying.”