In 2001, Metal Gear Solid 2 delivered a pretty unhinged monologue about information overload.
The AI argues that society is drowning in data. Not just facts, but half-truths, noise and misinterpretation. The solution is to decide what gets through and what doesn’t.
24 years on – does any of this sound familiar?
We talk a lot about banning platforms. Restricting access. Protecting people from harmful content. An understandable instinct given harm can be amplified just as efficiently as brilliance.
But when you try to control the flow of information too tightly, it rarely disappears. It adapts.
Prohibition didn’t end drinking.
Attempts to suppress content often amplify it (the Streisand effect)
China’s Great Firewall produced an entire ecosystem of VPNs and mirrors.
Friction only changes the shape of participation, not its existence. And you can see similar dynamics plays out inside organisations.
The investor update leans optimistic.
The town hall reframes, or even avoids the awkward questions.
The brand campaign shows the best five percent of reality and quietly crops the rest.
When people sense narrative management, they don’t stop talking. They relocate the conversation to private channels, threads and hushed conversations. And once the official narrative drifts too far from lived experience, cynicism fills the gap..
By Dave Heywood
A marketer who’s spent his career figuring out how real growth happens – for brands and people alike. He runs Marketing Careers Uncovered, a podcast where marketers talk honestly about the work, the missteps, and what actually moves the needle.
