Franco-Moroccan writer Leila Slimani, during her residency in Madrid linked to the Prado Museum, observes Goya's executions and Velázquez's maids of honor to denounce the contemporary obsession with being right. In her analysis, today's society wages a constant struggle to impose points of view, generating polarization and violence reminiscent of the disasters of war depicted by the museum's masters.
Algorithms painting digital trenches 🎨
The development of platforms and recommendation systems has optimized confirmation bias instead of dialogue. Algorithms prioritize content that generates visceral reactions, trapping users in bubbles where others' reason is an enemy. Thus, technology replicates the dynamics of Goya's paintings: each screen is a canvas where a battle for absolute truth is fought, with no room for doubt or complexity.
The ultimate app to always be right 📱
Slimani suggests that the next big development success will be an application that, upon detecting a contrary argument, projects a Goya filter onto the interlocutor so they resemble a character from his black paintings. The user can feel superior effortlessly, validated by an algorithm that whispers: you are right, the other is crazy. A technological solution to avoid having to listen.