Man on the Moon
Everybody's getting closer together
Everybody's feeling further apart
Everyone worries about where we're headed
Everyday news - we're on high alert
Everyday we dreading something upsetting
Everyday feels like the world's getting dark
Everyone suffers and wishes it better
This is a lesson I'm taking to heart
This is our human condition - but it's amped
Up by human creation - digitization
Viva the internet - it connects us
Person to person - nation to nation
It's amazing
But that's not the whole situation
When you gaze into the abyss
It's back into you the abyss is gazing
It's crazy - the rapid cadence - that
We've embraced mass surveillance
Masquerading in the apps that
Fascinate as they invade us
Nasty agents manipulate us
No time to be complacent
There are reasons to be anxious
Cyberattacks are getting cancerous
Businesses exposed to ransoms
Our children to predation
See the tension? Tech advances
Making new risks that we're facing
Today we gotta navigate - which
Innovations - are worth embracing
If it means that we're degrading
Civilization's foundation
Show me your math - show me intelligence
Show me the truth - free of embellishment
Show me the tech - you have in development
That will protect us from malevolence
Show me respect - and humanity
And the ways you allay the insanity
Show me investments in real breakthroughs
We didn't put a man on the moon cuz of fake news
They say data is the oil of the modern economy
How far do we take that metaphor?
The world's information at the ready
Yet, here we are - getting petty and immature
It's a climate change of the mind
We've never been more distracted
So we find ourselves in a bind - our
Lives are the resource being extracted
Tell me, who pays for social media?
Not you - the accounts are free to ya
So ads are the business model - and
That's really the start of this problem - cuz
The math says that to maximize profits, they
Gotta feed us what angers and shocks us
We respond back with a flurry of comments - and
That's when things get toxic - cuz
We preach free speech on these streets
But online, seems that means extremes
Theories - conspiracies - obscenities
We've all seen plenty these - we're
Analyzed and antagonized - then
Weaponized 'til we amplify - our
Outrage - both on the left and right
And turn a bell curve to a halfpipe
Ay - so where we headed?
We've become what we once dreaded
Grabbing attention like it's credit
Polarized - but not magnetic
Our empathy for others? Deadened
Intelligent debate? Forget it
A welcome mat to an Armageddon
Democracy needs help - call a medic!
So when you sow division
Just know you're doing Putin's bidding
With time to burn, he's rushin' us
Down a course headed for collision
But even without potential collusion
Hate and confusion spew like pollution - we're
Gonna need an evolution in Social's
Revenue model to see a solution
Show me your math - show me intelligence
Show me the truth - free of embellishment
Show me the tech - you have in development
That will protect us from malevolence
Show me respect - and humanity
And the ways you allay the insanity
Show me investments in real breakthroughs
We didn't put a man on the moon cuz of fake news
I meditate and don't medicate
Now is no time to hesitate
We've opened up Pandora's box
Can't close it now - can't change the locks
The road to hell is paved with good
Just cuz you can, don't mean you should
We have no simple answers
Let's start asking better questions