S6 [Becoming Image] E4: Darker Patterns [w/Ben Grosser]

What infrastructures shape what we’re allowed to do, see, or become? From Technical to Hot to Operational, what are the political ontologies of the contemporary image and how might we rethink interfacing with interfaces?

In this episode, artist Ben Grosser traces his background and early interest in computer music and scientific imaging, as well as early experiments in destabilising software assumptions. He explains his Demetricator works, browser extensions that hide visible social-media metrics to reveal how likes and counts condition users, and argues that platforms are designed for growth and compulsion. We talk through his “Praise-Prompt Envelope” theory, the dynamics of chatbot validation to shifting forms of literacy in the age of AI-generated text and dark patterns, and how platform interfaces engineer desire, culture and behaviour through the logic of engagement.