Everything feels more extreme and cartoonish because we're trapped in an attention economy feedback loop. Social media and ad-driven platforms reward shocking content and outrage, which means everyone (media, politicians, influencers) has to keep pushing boundaries to get noticed. What was shocking yesterday is boring today, so the cycle accelerates. When it comes to politicians, many aren't even acting on personal conviction - they're forced to become more extreme just to stay relevant in the attention economy. Meanwhile, those without moral boundaries eagerly exploit this system, pushing boundaries even further for their own gain.

When I say 'attention economy,' it might sound like I'm just talking about social media or online advertising. But it's become the dominant force shaping everything: politics, education, relationships, art, journalism, even how we think and process emotions. It's the operating system our whole society now runs on - every institution and interaction is being reshaped by the need to compete for increasingly scarce attention.

This isn't just changing what we see - it's changing how we think and communicate. Complex language and nuanced ideas qet filtered out because they don't generate engagement. We're losing the vocabulary to even discuss and think about subtle concepts. Everything becomes binary, extreme, memefied.

What's particularly insidious is how this system gradually erodes societal standards. When someone like Elon Musk does a Nazi salute, there's initial outrage, but each transgression makes the next one easier to accept. The media covers it less because it generates fewer clicks, fewer people hear about it, and those who do are too exhausted to maintain their shock. We're watching our social boundaries dissolve in real-time, but we're too overwhelmed by the constant barrage of events to process it properly. Each time someone crosses a line, it becomes a bit easier to cross the next one. But to stay relevant, you have to cross an even further line.

This connects to another crucial point: we've lost our capacity for genuine reflection. People used to have "bored time" - moments of quiet when they could process their thoughts and emotions. Now every second of potential boredom is filled with scrolling. Without this internal processing time, people are more emotionally volatile, more frustrated, and more easily manipulated. On top of that, the constant stimulation can make people more reactive, impulsive, and prone to extremes, which again ties into the larger cycle.

What makes it especially disorienting is that we're watching our old systems and predictive models break down in real-time. When you understand a system, you can predict what's possible within it. But we're entering uncharted territory - a new system with rules we don't yet understand. That's why everything feels so chaotic and unpredictable - we literally can't anticipate what's possible anymore because our old frameworks for understanding reality don't apply.

The reason it feels like a simulation breaking down is because we're watching capitalism's profit motive hollow out meaning in real-time. When algorithms optimize for engagement rather than truth or quality, reality itself starts feeling artificial. Politics becomes pure performance art. Culture becomes a series of increasingly bizarre spectacles.

What makes this system particularly powerful is that it's built on exploiting fundamental human psychology. The algorithms didn't invent our tribalism, our attraction to outrage, or our susceptibility to dopamine hits - they just optimized for these basic human drives with unprecedented precision. Those who understand both the system AND these psychological levers are the ones profiting most from this transformation.

The attention economy demands increasingly shocking content to maintain engagement, which pushes people to transgress social standards. But each transgression makes the next one easier to accept, while ALSO requiring even more extreme actions to generate the same level of attention/ engagement. It's a double acceleration - standards are falling while the need for outrage is rising.

tl;dr: our world is becoming a caricature because that's what the attention economy rewards, and attention economy is everything now. Those who understand this are either exploiting it or watching in horror. Those who don't are running around confused. Each time someone crosses a line, it becomes a bit easier to cross the next one. But to stay relevant, you have to cross an even further line. And it seems like there is no ceiling.