Author Archives: Garry Rodgers

About Garry Rodgers

After three decades as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police homicide detective and British Columbia coroner, International Best Selling author and blogger Garry Rodgers has an expertise in death and the craft of writing on it. Now retired, he wants to provoke your thoughts about death and help authors give life to their words.

GRAVES OF THE GREAT & FAMOUS

There’s something about cemeteries that fascinates folks—especially old cemeteries. At least cemeteries fascinate old folks like me. Walking amidst the granite headstones and marble markers, mausoleums and obelisks, I can’t help wondering who these souls were in life and what afterlife they’ve gone on to. If there’s afterlife at all.

When I have time in a new town, I’ll find a cemetery and drop in. I’ll wander about, read the names, and examine the dates. Sometimes their grave gives details about who the departed was, what they did, and who they were related to. Other times, there’s not much at all.

Three cemeteries stand out for me. One is in downtown Boston. Actually, there’s not just one cemetery in Old Boston. There must be at least ten small and separate burial groupings with slate stones dating to the 1600s spattered between historic buildings and modern skyscrapers.

Second is in a little village called Atlin. It’s in the far north of British Columbia and was a trail outpost during the 1898 Yukon Gold Rush. One Atlin cemetery marker is the twisted propeller of a crashed bush plane claiming the life of the buried pilot. Another is a simple white cross with the inscription African. Found Dead on the Trail.

The third is on Galiano Island. I live on Vancouver Island at British Columbia’s southern Pacific coast. Galiano is a separate one of the Gulf Islands Preserve where my wife and I found a getaway. It’s a must while on Galiano to visit the picturesque cemetery set on the finest oceanfront property within the Canadian west edge. Just ask Rita, my wife.

What got me going on this post was a hardcovered, pictorial book titled Graves of the Great & Famous—From Jane Austen to Elvis Presley. I found it on the discount table of a local bookstore, and I knew I had to buy it. That’s because when I started this site called Dyingwords twelve years ago, I set the tagline as Provoking Thoughts on Life, Death, and Writing. I’ve never veered from that, and this little publication fits nicely with my theme.

Come tour with me around the world and visit places where the great & famous are spending eternity.

Royals, Rulers & Politicians

Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times during his 44BC assassination in Rome. He was cremated, and today only a ruined alter marks the site. Quoting Caesar, “It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience”.

Richard III was King of England and died in 1485. His gravesite was lost until 2012 when archeologists discovered his bones underneath Grey Friars Priory in Leicester. They were positively identified through modern forensics and now rest in a tomb made of white Swaledale fossil stone with Kilkenny black marble inside Leicester Cathedral.

Vlad the Impaler was a vicious man. He earned his name from murdering around 20,000 prisoners of war and impaling their bodies on sharpened poles. Vlad died at the turn of 1476-77 in Transylvania, Romania where he ruled the country. He’s reported to be buried at the Monastery of Snagov near Bucharest. There’s no official marker.

Queen Elizabeth II recently passed on at the ripe old age of 96. She was the United Kingdom’s monarch from 1952 to 2022. Today she lies in the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. That was in 1821, and he lay buried until 1840 when the French king excused Napoleon’s behavior and had him reinterred in Paris. Then, in 1861, they dug Napoleon up again and placed him in a crypt under the dome in Les Invalides where his remains remain today.

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Washington, DC on April 15, 1865. The 16th US President is entombed at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. One of many tributes to President Lincoln is a 118-foot-tall granite obelisk that towers over the Lincoln Tomb.

The Unknown Soldier’s grave is a central point and an always-guarded site in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. It contains the body of an unidentified soldier from World War I and represents all American service people. The eternal flame marking President John F. Kennedy’s plot burns nearby.

Princess Diana, the People’s Princess, tragically died in a Paris car crash being driven by a drunk driver. Her funeral attracted worldwide attention including the greats in the entertainment world as well as royalty and the political elite. Diana was cremated and her ashes are in an urn located on a lush green island at the Spencer family’s Althrop estate in England.

Thinkers, Scientists & Explorers

Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer who “discovered” America was a famous—perhaps infamous—sailor who died in 1506 at the age of 56. He was first buried at a Spanish convent but was exhumed and, for whatever reason, reburied on the other side of Spain. Some point between 1536 and 1544, Columbus’s bones we moved again. It’s not certain if he now lies at the magnificent Gothic cathedral in Seville or if he’s actually interred at the cathedral of Santa Maria la Menor in Santo Domingo.

Confucius said, “We should keep the dead before our eyes, and honor them as though still living.” Confucius was born in 551 BC, but his death date is uncertain. His gravesite is not, however. It’s in the cemetery bearing his name in Qufu, China, and his memorial is built in the shape of an axe.

Galileo Galilei came close to death in 1633 when he was tried by the Inquisition for heresy, claiming that the Earth was not the center of the universe—rather our planet revolved around the sun. He recanted and lived until 1642. Galileo was first buried unceremoniously in a small gravesite in rural Italy but in 1737, when authorities realized Galileo was right, they honored him in an eloquent tomb at the Basilica of Santa Croce. Not all of Galileo is there, though. They cut off three of his fingers and made them visible to the public in Florence’s Galileo Museum.

Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day in 1642 and lived until 1727. He was probably the most influential scientist of all time—save for Albert Einstein—formulating the laws of gravity and the principles of Newtonian physics. Newton lies in Westminster Abby among the royals, and there’s an exquisite monument in his memory.

Charles Darwin was a world-renowned naturalist and biologist who’s best remembered for his work on The Origin of the Species, aka Evolution. Today, evolution is no longer a theory, and Darwin earned his place in science history. Charles Darwin is buried in Westminster Abby a few feet away from Isaac Newton.

Karl Marx is a controversial character. He was an enigma in 1883 when he died, and he still is today. The German socialist philosopher’s grave at Highgate Cemetery in London, England is marked by a bronze bust on a granite pillar. It’s been repeatedly vandalized and has twice been bombed.

Dian Fossey is remembered for her primate zoology. In 1985, she was murdered by poachers in her cabin at a remote camp in Rwanda where she was studying mountain gorillas. Dian Fossey is buried along with her gorillas in a cemetery she established for these gentle creatures.

Yuri Gagarin was a Russian cosmonaut and the first human to fly in space. He died in 1968 when the test airplane he was piloting crashed. The cause of the mishap is still not clear and, of course, explained by conspiracy theories. Cosmonaut Gagarin was cremated, and his ashes are interred in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

Revolutionaries, Rebels & Humanitarians

Che Guevara survives in history as a Cuban revolutionary who, with Fidel Castro, fought for communism and dictatorship of the Caribbean Island. Forced into hiding in Bolivia circa 1967, Ernesto “Che” Guevara was executed by Bolivian forces, and his body was dumped in a mass grave along with six supporters. He was exhumed and identified in 1967, then reburied in a mausoleum at Santa Clara, Cuba.

Oliver Cromwell died of natural causes in 1658, nine years after King Charles I issued a death warrant for Cromwell whom the king accused of treason. He was first buried with great pomp and ceremony at Westminster Abby. However, that was not suitable for the king who had Cromwell dug up and his corpse publicly hanged from some gallows. He was then beheaded, and his head was put on display, piked on a pole outside Westminster Hall for the next twenty years. Over the centuries, Cromwell’s head bounced between collectors but was finally set to rest in 1960, being buried on the grounds of Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge.

Vladimir Lenin was the founder of the Soviet Union. After his death from natural causes in 1924, Lenin was embalmed, and his full body has continuously been on public display in a red granite mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square. For a few years, Joseph Stalin lay beside Lenin but that stopped, and Stalin is now inside the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

Martin Luther King Jr is remembered as the passive civil rights leader from America’s turbulent 1960s. James Earl Ray assassinated King in Memphis, Tennessee in April 1968. MLK was first buried in Atlanta, Georgia at Southview Cemetery. He was later moved to his final place at the Martin Luther King Jr Center, also in Atlanta.

Mahatma Gandhi non-violently fought for India’s independence and won it. Gandhi was assassinated in January 1948, and he was cremated as per Hindu custom. His ashes were scattered where three rivers meet in Allahabad. A black marble monument marks the site of Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation.

Mother Theresa was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun who devoted her life to the downtrodden. She died in 1997 as peacefully as she lived her life. Mother Theresa’s miracles were documented by the church, and she was canonized as Saint Theresa of Calcutta in 2016. Her body is buried inside the convent where she lived at Kolkata.

Nelson Mandela died in December 2013 at the age of 95. Once a state prisoner for over two decades, Mandela rose to become the South African President and a world leader in humanities. He declined a second term as president due to failing health. Nelson Mandela is buried in Qunu in the Eastern Cape province.

Adolf Hitler is synonymous with pure evil. If you’d like to know what happened to Hitler’s body after his death, I wrote a blog post about it titled The Terrible Truth About Adolf Hitler’s Remains. You can read it here.

Writers, Poets & Playwrights

Charles Dickens was arguably the greatest novelist—certainly in the top five or ten. Who can dispute that Scrooge was an outstanding character? Dickens is buried with his family at Highgate Cemetery in London. His grave is a sought-after attraction.

William Shakespeare died at age 52 in 1616. Macbeth. Hamlet. Romeo and Juliet. Midsummer Night’s Dream. Othello. The list goes on. Shakespeare was the father of the five-act play—not the three-act structure. He is buried in a simple grave at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. A stone marking the spot does not bear Shakespeare’s name. Instead, it has a curse reportedly written by The Bard himself. It reads:

Good friend for Jesus sake forebear,

To did the dust enclosed here.

Blessed be the man that spares these stones.

And cursed be he that moves my bones.

Jane Austen was born in 1775 and died in 1817 at age 42. She wrote six of the most celebrated novels in the English language, and she is mandatory reading in most MFA programs. Austen is buried at Winchester Cathedral where her epitaph refers to “the extraordinary endowment of her mind”. It does not mention her books.

Mary Shelley was the mother of Frankenstein. Actually, she was Frankenstein’s inventor way back in 1818. Shelly was a pen name with her real one being Mary Woolstonecraft Godwin. Her mother died shortly after she gave birth to Mary, and she was raised by her father. Mary Shelley is buried at St. Peter’s Church in Bournemouth.

Hans Christian Anderson died in 1875. He authored many of the great children’s stories, fables, and fairy tales—notably something as simple and long-lasting as The Ugly Duckling. Mr. Anderson was Danish and was buried at Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen.

Oscar Wilde is buried at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His grave is marked by a massive limestone carving weighing 20 tons. He died in 1900 and, over the years, many souvenir hunters have chipped away, reducing it somewhat in weight. It’s now surrounded by a glass barrier.

Truman Capote is best recognized by Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but he did one hell of a good job with his hand at true crime—In Cold Blood. Capote died in 1984. He was cremated, and his ashes were divided among friends. Over the years they have been subdivided. In 2016, an envelope with part of Truman Capote’s ashes was sold at an auction for $50,000.

Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abby is a place many creatives would die for. Well-known names are interred there. Alfred Lord Tennyson, T.S. Elliot, and Henry James are some. Most of the hundreds of names inscribed at Poet’s Corner are tributes. The physical bodies lie elsewhere. In 1994, an addition was built to house the names of upcoming dead poets.

Artists & Designers

Leonardo da Vinci was a brilliant man. Absolutely brilliant in every fashion. I wrote an article on da Vinci here at Dyingwords titled The Astounding Secret of Leonardo da Vinci’s Brain. You can read it here. Da Vinci died in 1519 and was first buried in a churchyard at Ambroise, France. In 1863, he was exhumed and moved to the nearby Chapel of St. Hubert.

Michelangelo covered all the arts: painter, sculptor, architect, poet… He is best remembered for the fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. The last thirty years of Michelangelo’s life were in exile as a virtual prisoner in Rome. He died in 1564. Like so many others, Michelangelo was first buried in one place and moved to another. Today he is at Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence where there is a magnificent memorial to him.

Paul Gauguin was a French painter and sculptor. He and a guy by the name of Van Gogh were on-again-off-again friends and foes. Some say Gauguin taught Van Gogh how to paint. Others say it was the other way around. Regardless, Paul Gauguin left his mark. Today he lies underground at Calvary Cemetery on Marquesas Island in French Polynesia.

Frank Lloyd Wright was a high-profile American architect. That’s an understatement to acknowledge this master builder. Fallingwater in Pennsylvania may be Wright’s signature piece, but the final place he built for himself outside Scottsdale, Arizona is, in my opinion, his finest hour. It’s called Taliesin West. Here’s a picture and, by the way, the precise location of Frank Lloyd Wright’s ashes on the property is a secret.

Coco Chanel was a French fashion icon. Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel brought back the little black dress. Her headstone at her grave in Switzerland’s Bois-De-Vaux Cemetery bears the images of five lions. Many think it’s a tribute to Chanel No. 5, and they’re right. Coco passed on in 1971 at the age of 87.

Christian Dior helped establish Paris as the fashion hub of the world. His name needs no explanation when seen on expensive and highly desired items of luxury. Dior died in 1947 and is buried in Callian Cemetery near Cannes, France.

Goya was a Spanish painter and printmaker. Francisco Goya only went by his last name and a lot of his work was not well known. Not well known until after Goya’s death. That was in 1828 at the age of 82. He was buried, reburied, and buried again. Now he lies at San Antonio de la Florida Chapel in Madrid.

Andy Warhol was the only artist who could make a Campbells Soup can famous. Warhol’s art included filmmaking, and he was a true leader in the pop movement. Andy Warhol died in 1987 at age 58. He’s buried at Saint John the Baptist Cemetery in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

Musicians, Entertainers & Sportspeople

Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, tragically died when he was 27. That was in 1971. He was buried at Pere Lachise Cemetery in Paris. Morrison’s grave is marked by a flat stone with an engraving in Greek. It translates to “True to his own spirit”.

Elvis Presley truly was the king of rock and roll. He died way too soon in 1977, aged 42. He should have only been getting started in life. Elvis is entombed at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee. May his spirit and angelic voice live forever. If you’re interested in the true cause of Elvis Presley’s death you can read a post I wrote about it.

Ludwig van Beethoven did well for a deaf composer. He died in 1827, and more than 20,000 people attended his funeral. Beethoven was buried at Vienna’s Wahring Cemetery. He was exhumed in 1863, studied, and reburied in the same place. However, in 1888, he was again exhumed and moved to the Vienna Central Cemetery where he lies below an impressive monument.

Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay in 1942. He became a true sports legend, dying at age 74 in 2016. Despite his outstanding boxing titles, many don’t know that Muhammad Ali won an Olympic Gold Medal when he was 18. At Ali’s funeral, Bill Clinton eulogized him “From a very young age, he decided to write his own life story”. Muhammad Ali rests at Cave Hill Cemetery in Kentucky.

Jimi Hendrix was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter extraordinaire. He died in London, England in 1970 at age 27. His body was flown back to Seattle and buried near his mother. Then, in 2002, Jimi Hendrix was reinterred to a new location in Greenwood Cemetery beneath a three-tiered marble memorial.

John Lennon was murdered outside his Manhattan apartment in 1980. It was a truly senseless act that stole this man of peace from the world. John Lennon was cremated, and his ashes were cast in Central Park within sight of where he died. The location is called Strawberry Fields.

June Carter Cash passed away in 2003 within months of the death of her husband, Johnny Cash. They’re buried side by side at Hendersonville Memory Gardens in Tennessee. A bench beside their graves has a plaque that reads “I Walk The Line”.

Karen Carpenter, noted for Close To You, We’ve Only Just Begun, Yesterday Once More, and many other massive hits, died in 1983 at 33 years old. She and her brother Richard recorded ten albums with millions of records sold. Karen Carpenter was originally interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, California, but the remains of Karen and her parents were moved to a new location at the Carpenter family mausoleum at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California in 2003.

Actors & Celebrities

Marilyn Monroe died of an accidental polypharmacy overdose in 1962. She was at the apex of stardom. Monroe’s funeral arrangements were made by her ex-husband baseball great Joe DiMaggio. Her cremated remains are in a crypt at Westwood Village Memorial Cemetery in LA. You can read my piece analyzing Monroe’s death here.

James Dean was accidentally killed at age 24 in a motor vehicle mishap. He was buried in 1955 at Park Cemetery in Fairmont, Indiana. Dean’s headstone has been stolen twice. The third one, still there today, is concreted to the ground with a rebar mesh.

Natalie Wood drowned at Catalina Island in California in 1981. There’s strong suspicion she was thrown overboard from their yacht by her husband, Robert Wagner. The case remains open and unsolved. Wood is buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles. I also wrote an article on Wood’s suspicious death circumstances.

Judy Garland lived from 1922 to 1969. She was best known for being Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Garland appeared in more than 30 films over a four-decade career. She was originally buried in New York but, in 2017, Garland was reburied at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles at the request of her children.

Bruce Lee exemplified martial arts on the screen. He died in 1973 of brain trauma—probably physical over-exertion—but the conspiracies live on. Lee is buried at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle alongside his son who passed away at age 28 while on location in a martial arts film.

Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles is the cemetery to the stars. Names like Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, James Stewart, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, and Carole Lombard are buried here. The list continues.

Bette Davis became a Hollywood star in 1930. She was 22. She was a multi-time Oscar nominee and won one for Best Actress. The woman with the famous eyes died in 1989, and she rests at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher were mother and daughter. They died within a day of each other. This was in 2016. They have a joint memorial at Forest Lawn.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NICE AND KIND

Some folks are nice and some folks are kind. There’s a difference, and you’ll recognize that difference when you read this wonderful, short essay written by Damola Morenikeji on his website bydamola.la. I found it through a link on The Morning Brew newsletter. It’s part of a new trend on Dyingwords where I find great works I feel will interest you and share them; hopefully you’ll share as well. With full attribution to Damola Morenikeji, here is “Kinda Nice”.

https://www.bydamo.la/p/kinda-nice?utm_campaign=mb&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=morning_brew

A kind person will help you understand reality as it is, prompt you to reflect, and nudge you to fine-tune your position till you get to a place where your resolution is helpful for you.

A nice person will tell you what feels good – and often what you think you want to hear at that time – even if it doesn’t help you move past that situation.

A kind person supports you as you adapt, grow, and evolve. They remind you that evolving as a human being isn’t something to be ashamed of. That everything evolves, and that’s life’s greatest accomplishment and reward.

A nice person likes the version of you they know and wants you to keep that version, at the risk of losing your place in the future. They are trying to shield you from the pain that comes from evolving – the experience of failing, learning, and improving into something new.

A kind person helps you remember the beauty of thinking and acting with a long-term view in mind. Happiness is collective flourishing for them.

A nice person thinks the long-term will take care of itself, and you should exploit things now – even if anyone but you get hurt. Happiness, for them, is zero-sum and immediate.

And when you experience pain, a kind person helps you see the progress that can come from the pain. They are gentle but truthful with their feedback. They nudge you to go to the pain instead of running from it. They support you as you note what the pain is like, how it makes you feel, and over time, what you will do about it.

A nice person doesn’t want to ‘kill the vibe’ and wants you to be comfortable. To them, nothing screams discomfort like pain. They may tell you not to think about the pain, and it will ‘disappear’.

A kind person sits with you as you navigate a tough situation. If they know you can build the skills to handle it, they don’t try to ‘save’ you by removing the situation. Instead, they support you as you find the strength and resources that the situation requires.

A nice person can’t stand you going through something that tough, so they jump in to save you. What the nice person forgets is that they are robbing you of the strength you need to deal with setbacks, the will to adapt and be resilient, and the reminder of the great things you can accomplish regardless of the situation.

A kind person reminds you about your internal locus of control. They remind you of your role in the outcome you are experiencing, and if you are wise, you’ll take absolute responsibility and hold yourself accountable. From the place of accountability, you can see clearly what you need to do.

A nice person gives you reasons why what you are experiencing isn’t really your fault, and how you can blame it on the government, the economy, and anything else but you. They understand your excuses. They know you are a good person, and life isn’t just fair to you.

And when you take on a new daunting project, the kind person tells you to find all the possible ways for it to be done, choose the best of it, and be flexible to change course during the journey. They tell you how daunting it will be and remind you of the courage and strength you carry.

The nice person will also remind you of how daunting it will be but tell you to set the bar low – at least for now – so it’s ‘easier’ to achieve. You know they mean well.

When you ask for feedback, the kind person will be warm and constructive in their feedback. But they will hold nothing back. They understand that the process of asking for feedback means you trust them enough for them to tell you the truth as they see it, even if it may bruise your ego.

The nice person doesn’t want to hurt your feelings, they also will give you warm feedback. But just the good one. They don’t see it as their responsibility to tell you the ‘bad’ part. They imagine you’ll eventually hear it – maybe from the market, from those you serve, or from life.

If you have to choose between being nice and kind, the latter is a better option. The ultimate responsibility we all have is to be kind.

THE ADDICTIVE DISTRACTION OF DIGITAL DOPAMINE

We’ve all seen them. Those walking zombies aimlessly lost with their face in their phones and utterly oblivious to the forest, the trees, and the traffic. They’re devastatingly distracted by the Kim Kardashian of happiness molecules—dopaminehopelessly and unknowingly addicted to their next rush of digital downloads fixed by non-stop scrolls.

This is a relatively new phenomenon, and it’s married at the hip to digital information dictated by the internet; digital devices and internet content controlled by the tech giants gaining ground on the entertainment industry. It’s here, and it’s not going away. At best, the digital dopamine addiction can only be controlled.

What’s sad is this dopamine distraction is harming society’s young. So many teens and twenties are hooked on their smartphones. Statistics say youths around the world spend far more time connected to the web than playing with their peers. The digital pandemic is so sick that it’s created an industry of wellness trying to treat digital dopamine addiction.

It’s also radically changed the entertainment world as well as the online support systems where Big Tech carries market cap values into the trillions of dollars. And those Big Tech titans are intentionally designing their algorithms to purposely distract viewers from facing reality. We’ll get into what’s going on in Tech, the downfall of the entertainment industry, how algorithms work, what dopamine is, and what motivates psychopath billionaires like Mark Zuckerburg to digitally prey on innocent and unsuspecting tweens.

What got me going on this piece was an article by Ted Gioia (The Honest Broker). The title is The State of Culture, 2024. These opening lines grabbed me. “Not much changes in politics. Certainly not the candidates. So, forget about politics. All the action is happening in mainstream culture—which is changing at warp speed. 2024 will be the most fast-paced—and dangerous—time ever for the creative economy. I want to tell you why entertainment is dead. And what’s coming to take its place.”

Mr. Gioia continues on to explain how the bigger entertainment shark once ate the little art fish. Then how the huge distraction whale swallowed the shark which, in turn, was devoured by the colossal addiction monster. He equates it to a cultural food chain and demonstrates it with these graphics:

It’s always been hard to be an artist. In the entertainment business, the primary artist is the content producer or concept developer. We were once called writers.

Until recently, the entertainment industry had been on a growth roll. So much so, that any content considered artsy was crushed as collateral damage by the forces of ever-needed new shows—regardless of if the productions were good or not.

That’s suddenly changed. It won’t help the art fish and it won’t help the shark. It won’t even help the whale because the whole online world is moving to a distraction model. And that’s to serve the phenomenon of dopamine addiction caused by the short and extremely fast pace of stimuli like reels, toks, clicks, instas, tubes, pushes, autoplays, variable rewards, and infinite scrolling. It’s an addictive distraction game, and it’s played colossally well by the Big Tech algorithms.

The fastest growing sector of the culture economy is distraction. Call it scrolling or swiping or wasting time or whatever you want. But don’t call it art or entertainment. It’s just ceaseless activity and is highly addictive because each short piece causes a dopamine release. Yes, the tech builders know it and it’s planned that way.

The key to the distraction model is that each stimulus only lasts a few seconds. To maintain the dopamine rush, the stimuli must be repeated. Over and over and over and over.

Gioia’s article says this is not just the hot trend for 2024. It can last forever because the distraction model is based on body chemistry, not on fashion or art. Our brains are wired to reward brief bursts of distraction by smoothing us with a dopamine hit. He calls it the Dopamine Loop and it looks like this:

This is the familiar cycle of addiction. Now, through the online distraction model, it’s being applied to the culture and creative world—and billions of people. They (we) are unwitting volunteers in the biggest social engineering experiment ever unleashed in human history.

Tech wants to create a world of junkies where Tech will be the pushers and dealers. Addiction is the goal. They don’t say it openly. They don’t need to. Just look at what they do.

  • Everything is being designed to lock users into an addictive cycle.
  • Platforms are shifting to scrolling and reeling interfaces.
  • Algorithms punish you for leaving sites.

There’s more. Apple, Facebook, and others want you to wear their virtual reality goggles. They are specifically made to swallow you through stimuli like the tiny fish in the food chain charts. You’re invited to live as a passive recipient of make-believe like a pod slave in The Matrix.

This is the new culture, and it’s here in 2024. Instead of movies and TV shows, we’re being served an endless stream of seconds-long vids. Instead of symphonies, we’re satisfied with sound bits, usually accompanied by a slick little pic.

The most striking feature of the new culture is the absence of culture. It’s mindless entertainment—escapism—of compulsive activity. It’s the dopamine culture.

Here’s where the science gets ugly. The more addicts rely on stimuli for their fix, the less pleasure they get. At a certain point, which our brains are designed for, this cycle creates anhedonia. That’s the medical word for the complete absence of enjoyment.

Dopamine deprivation takes over and the addict is broken. The scrolling cycle causes pain, not pleasure, and the pain causes more pain as the addict scrolls. It becomes a hopeless cycle and a spiraling downfall.

To quote Ted Gioia, “Some companies get people hooked on pills and needles. Others with apps and algorithms. But either way, it’s just churning out junkies. That’s our dystopian future. Not so much Orwell’s 1984. It’s more like Huxley’s Brave New World.”

Dr. Anna Lembke is a world-leading addiction expert. She’s Chief of Staff at Stanford University’s Dual Diagnosis Addiction Clinic which deals with patients who have multiple addiction issues. Dr. Lembke wrote a recent book titled Dopamine Nation that topped the New York Times Bestseller List.

She calls the smartphone the modern-day hypodermic needle. As the doctor puts it, “We turn to it for quick hits, seeking attention, validation, and distraction with every swipe. Since the turn of the millennium, behavioral (as opposed to substance) addiction has soared. Every spare second is an opportunity to be stimulated, whether by entering the TikTok vortex, scrolling Instagram, swiping through Tinder, or binging on online porn, online gambling, or online shopping.”

Dr. Lembke refers to a World Happiness Report that clearly shows many people in high-income countries are far less happy than they were a few years ago. She blames this on the scroll-and-dopamine culture. “We’ve forgotten how to be alone with our thoughts. We’re forever interrupting ourselves for a quick digital hit, meaning we rarely concentrate on taxing tasks for long or get into a creative flow. The zone.”

Dr. Lembke continues to explain that addiction is a spectrum disorder. It’s not as simple as being an addict or not being an addict. Addiction is deemed worthy of clinical intervention and care when it significantly interferes with someone’s life and functioning ability. When it comes to digital addiction, she says, the effect is pernicious.

To understand addiction, you must first understand dopamine which she dubbed “The Kim Kardashian of molecules” owing to its mainstream prominence. Dopamine is a chemical often called “The Feelgood Hormone” and its molecular structure (resembling an insect with dual antennae and an offset tail) has even become a popular tattoo.

Rather than giving us pleasure itself, dopamine motivates us to do things we think will bring us pleasure. Like reading a fantastic book or watching a top-notch film. As the brain’s major reward and pleasure neurotransmitter, dopamine drives us to seek food when we’re hungry and sex when we’re horny. But there’s a side effect. The higher the dopamine release, the more addictive the thing.

“We experience a hike in dopamine in anticipation of doing the thing as well as actually doing it. As soon as it’s finished, we experience a comedown or dopamine dip. That’s because the brain operates through a self-regulating process termed homeostasis meaning for every high there’s a low. What we really want is that second piece of chocolate cake or to watch another episode but if we’re not severely addicted, the craving will soon pass.”

Scientists first identified dopamine in 1957. It’s a precursor to addiction with 50% due to genetics and 50% due to environmental excesses. The human brain hasn’t changed since 1957 but our access to additive things has incredibly increased. Exposure to the internet, for instance.

Where back in the ‘50s the focus was on family and work, reading and sports, today’s world gives you unlimited pleasure at the click of a mouse or loading an app. When we over-download pleasure, homeostasis causes our brain to bring us lower and lower. We sink into a joy-seeking abyss called anhedonia.

Immediate gratification defines the dopamine culture. It means we’re constantly living in our limbic brain which possesses emotions rather than in our pre-frontal cortex that plans for the future, solves problems, and develops personality. When we depend on our digital companions to help us escape life’s issues, the limbic system loves the distractions.

We need time away, Dr. Lembke prescribes. She recommends a 24-hour unplugging once a week or a least locking the phone in a drawer for an hour. I’m not a doctor, but I strongly prescribe Dr. Lembke’s book Dopamine Nation. Here’s a screenshot of its blurb on Amazon:

So, medically, what is dopamine? This natural drug that seduces and intoxicates addicts? Let’s use the web itself for a quick distraction.

Dopamine is a type of monoamine neurotransmitter produced by your brain to act as a reward center. It regulates functions like memory, movement, motivation, mood, attention, and more. Like happiness and escapism. It’s the chemical messenger connecting your nerve cells.

Dopamine plays a role in your fight or flight syndrome. It’s designed, from an evolutionary perspective to reward you when you’ve done well. As humans, we’re hardwired to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Dopamine is good in the short term but bad in the long.

We’ve talked about the drug, and we’ve talked about the addiction. We’ve talked about the culture, and we’ve talked about the change. Now let’s talk about the technology and who controls the algorithms that have changed the culture and sell the dopamine drug of addiction.

The word “algorithm” is everywhere. In print, online, and in AI—Artificial Intelligence. Facebook knows when you’ve been naughty, and it knows when you’ve been nice. Google knows more about you than your spouse does. ChatGPT? Like The Carpenters sang, “We’ve only just begun.”

So here I go again with Chat. (Sorry, Chat is here until AGI arrives and then…) I asked the tool-bot to explain, clearly and simply, what an algorithm is. It replied:

Algorithms are step-by-step instructions or procedures for solving a problem or completing a task. They’re like recipes for computers telling them what to do to achieve a specific goal. Here’s a breakdown of how algorithms operate:

  • Input — Data, numbers, texts, habits
  • Process — Organizing into logic
  • Output — Results, conclusions, actions

It told me algorithms can be simple like processing numbers or extremely complex like algorithms used in AI programs such as ChatGPT. I also asked it how algorithms track our online behavior. It said:

  • Data Collection — Watches and records what you’re doing
  • Data Processing — Extracts meaningful information to its purpose
  • Pattern Recognition — Figures out where you’ve been
  • User Profiling — Figures out who you are
  • Behavioral Prediction — Calculates what you want
  • Feedback Loop — Checks to see if it’s right

Sound spooky? It does to me. Think of every time Facebook showed you something that aligned with your thoughts. I asked Chat how algorithms do this. What tools they use. It said:

  • Cookies
  • IP Address Tracking
  • User Accounts and Profiles
  • Pixels and Scripts
  • Social Media Activity
  • Browser History

During my chat with Chat, that insightful bot said something that made me think. It said, “User engagement and monetization can contribute to addictive patterns of behavior. It’s essential for tech companies to balance their business interests with ethical considerations and prioritize the well-being of their users.”

Tech companies own the internet. They have complete control over a user’s feed. Ultimately, their minds. Let’s look at the top five tech companies and their worth. As of yesterday, 23 February 2024, here are their stock market capitalization standings:

5. Meta — $1.21 Trillion

4. Amazon — $1.74 Trillion

3. Alphabet — $1.77 Trillion

2. Apple — $2.80 Trillion

1. Microsoft — $2.99 Trillion

Let’s not overlook Nvidia on this list of distraction builders. Nvidia makes the chips (the brains) that allow the techs to invent algorithms that addict their users to online dopamine dependence. This is Nvidia’s $1.72 Trillion stock market performance over the past five years:

It’s not only money that motivates Big Tech to mess with people’s minds and devastate their lives. It’s more than that. It’s power. Control. Manipulation. Dominance. Marketplace position. Not just stock market growth and capitalization.

As a distraction—maybe a digital dopamine hit—watch this four-minute clip of Mark Zuckerberg getting smoked over the coals of justice in a recent US Congressional hearing about harming children online. It’s worth the price of admission.