[Extreme Civilization] Digital Totem Era

Wu Chao Hui (JEFFI CHAO HUI WU)

Article Date: Monday, July 28, 2025, 6:14 AM

——When cognitive degradation is cloaked in technology, we are returning to the cyclical starting point of totemic belief.

I have been paying attention to the structural changes deep within civilization. These changes do not stem from technological updates or product iterations, but rather from a moment in history when the most fundamental ways of human perception, language mechanisms, and cognitive entry points undergo a qualitative transformation. Now, I must solemnly present a judgment: we are currently in the "Digital Totem Era." This is not a literary metaphor, but a precise naming of the state of civilization's structure.

I. Original Totem: Cognitive Anchor Points in an Era of Information Scarcity

Totems have never been merely tribal carvings or religious symbols; they are a fundamental information bus. In an era without abstract writing, standardized languages, or logical scripts, they were the only protocol capable of maintaining cognitive order within the collective. In primitive tribes, a totem can signify identity affiliation—one can discern which clan you belong to from the animal figure you worship; it can also establish rules of conduct—deer-hunting clans do not kill deer, bear-chasing clans worship black bears; it can serve as an emotional motivator—through totem dances and masks, collective identity is established and emotions are mobilized; and it can even delineate cognitive boundaries—for tribe members, the totem is both the starting point and the endpoint of the world. Its essence is a visual cognitive model that replaces logic and systems, maintaining order solely through visual symbols and group emotions, and it is carved into rock walls. Even after a tribe migrates for a thousand years, as long as the image still exists, it retains its function of encoding civilization.

II. Digital Totem: The Stronger the Technology, the Weaker the Thinking

Today, we think we live in an era of exponential information explosion, surrounded daily by short videos, live broadcasts, memes, AI-generated images, dynamic stickers, influencer filters, and algorithmic recommendations, as if freedom and intelligence are multiplying. However, the reality is quite the opposite—we are returning to a totemic era, albeit a degraded version of totems cloaked in technology. The modern "digital totem" almost corresponds one-to-one with the four major functions of primitive totems: identity belonging has shifted from "totem = tribe" to "meme = community"; action rules have changed from "totem determines whether to hunt or not" to "algorithm determines whether to click or not, like or not"; emotional incentives have transformed from "totemic rituals and masks" to "popular videos, streamer filters, live broadcast sound effects"; and cognitive boundaries have evolved from "totemic myths represent the entire world" to "the world accessible through recommendation systems." The most fatal flaw is that digital totems lack rock walls; once devices lose connection, platforms change formats, or files become unreadable, primitive people could still see stone carvings, but we cannot even preview the images anymore.

III. Algorithmic Priests: The Invisible Controllers of Civilization

In ancient totemic societies, shamans or priests monopolized the interpretation of totems; they were not only the hosts of rituals but also the sole outlet for information. Today, this role has been replaced by algorithms. Primitive priests used timed sacrifices corresponding to push notification mechanisms, vague oracles corresponding to precise content triggers, and expelling tribes corresponding to digital punishments such as throttling, account bans, and comment deletions. Users believe they are freely scrolling, but in reality, they are merely operating within an invisible cognitive loop. Recommendation algorithms are not information services but a form of civilizational formatting mechanism.

IV. Sensory Verification: Language Disconnection After Short Videos

I am not someone who stands outside of technology and observes it coldly; I have been actively involved in the technological system since the 1990s. I have built forums, set up logistics systems, and written hundreds of structured articles, battling against AI and conducting repeated tests. Yet, even so, I must admit that digital totems are indeed quietly reshaping linguistic pathways. I have conducted multiple tests: after continuously scrolling through short videos for an hour, when I attempt to write, the result is not a lack of inspiration, but a direct disconnection in the language network—words lose their adhesive power, sentence groups cannot be organized, and the logical rhythm becomes fragmented. This is not distraction; rather, it is the language neurons being short-circuited by the totemic pleasure of images. Conversely, when I write after completing a round of standing meditation, the golden rooster stance, or Tai Chi, my logic is clear, my language is fluent, and my rhythm is stable. This is not merely a comparison of willpower, but a direct physiological confrontation between totemic stimulation and structural training.

V. Modern Totem Samples: Live Streaming Rewards, AI Drawing, Emoji Mythology

Today, people no longer need to go to tribal squares; they can complete their worship in front of screens: live-streaming rewards are akin to sacrifices, with viewers continuously offering to the主播 idol, while expressions, voices, and light effects serve as modern shamanic dances; AI-generated art is revered as a miracle, with the produced images praised as masterpieces, yet few question the underlying generation logic; memes have become the sole carrier of emotional language, with a single emoji capable of replacing ten sentences of dialogue, and without it, one may not know how to express themselves. Humanity is systematically regressing into a digital totemic tribe under the banner of "5G, AI, and cloud computing."

6. Why I Need to Record All of This

Because I have personally demonstrated that humans can operate complex systems without relying on totems. In 1997, I implemented dynamic logistics scheduling using Excel functions, without any algorithm modules; in 2001, I maintained a forum with 560,000 visitors using phpBB, without relying on referral traffic; to this day, I have written over three hundred articles without relying on memes to convey meaning, but rather expressing complete thoughts through structured language. I do not oppose technology, but I stand within the technology, dissecting its implicit violence.

VII. Resistance Plan: Personal Strategies for the Civilized Escape Pod

We cannot expect all of humanity to awaken, but we can prevent ourselves from being formatted. Set aside at least one hour each day for pure text input, disabling videos; write one article each week that does not rely on keywords and algorithm optimization; practice closed-eye standing meditation once a day to restore the "image-free balance system"; strive to engage in deep communication via email or forums, rejecting fragmented pleasures. The return of civilization is not anti-technology, but rather the reconstruction of the complete pathway of "language-body-logic."

VIII. Ultimate Proposition: Totem Carvings on Silicon Chips

The original totem is carved into the rock face, still existing a thousand years later; the digital totem is etched in flash memory, permanently disappearing once the operating system is replaced. Primitive people worshipped the thunderbird because they could only see its image; modern people worship AI-generated beauties, believing that this is the truth of intelligence. Future archaeologists may discover such records in the ruins of data: "They possessed global computing power, yet generated totems with algorithms; they had infinite languages, yet communicated with memes; they entrusted themselves to priests, unaware that they were making sacrifices."

Nine, writing is the spell I carve on the cave wall.

I write this article not to change anyone, but as a reminder of a civilized backup structure: if you can still read through a text without images from beginning to end, if you can still thoughtfully chew through sentences and generate logical structures in your mind, if you can still form independent judgment without relying on images—then you have not completely fallen into the cave of cognition, and you can still choose to walk out.