Torment Nexus
Part of a series on Catchphrases. [View Related Entries]
Related Explainer: What Is 'Torment Nexus?' The 'Man-Made Horrors' Trope Explained
About
Torment Nexus is a trope of creating a product that was originally described in fiction as something that for the benefit of humanity should never be created. Spawned by a viral tweet, the catchphrase "Don't Create the Torment Nexus" has been used to describe such occurrences. Examples include MoviePass' eye-tracking technology, similar to a Black Mirror episode, and Netflix's Squid Game reality show, based on a show of the same name that was intended as a commentary on capitalism and human exploitation.
Origin
On November 8th, 2021, two weeks following Meta presenting their metaverse vision at Meta Connect 2021, Twitter[1] user @AlexBlechman made a humorous tweet in which he described a tech company blindly creating Torment Nexus from a sci-fi novel called Don't Create the Torment Nexus. The tweet gained over 35,000 retweets and 120,800 likes in seven months (shown below).
Spread
The post by AlexBlechman received viral spread through reposts on other social media in the following weeks. For example, on November 22nd, 2021, Redditor CalibanDrive reposted it to the /r/ABoringDystopia[2] subreddit, where it gained over 15,800 upvotes in seven months. A repost to the /r/Cyberpunk[3] subreddit made on January 22nd, 2022, received over 10,300 upvotes in five months.
Following the tweet, the phrases "Torment Nexus," "Don't create the Torment Nexus" and variations achieved virality as a comment on news of various perceivably dystopian technologies being developed, similar to the Man-Made Horrors Beyond My Comprehension meme. For example, on February 13th, 2022, Twitter[4] user @ThomasPortz replied with a screenshot of the Torment Nexus tweet to the news of MoviePass intending to track people's eyes through cameras while they watch ads, similar to a scene from a Black Mirror episode. The tweet gained over 360 retweets and 4,000 likes in four months (shown below, left).
![Franco Ronconi @FrRonconi - Jan 7 In the future our lives will be infused by #6G-powered #Mixed Reality, at a very high speed (up to 200 Gbps) #AR #VR #MR #Metaverse #China #CES2022 @JoannMoretti @CurieuxExplorer @anand_narang @Hana_ElSayyed @TheAditya Patro @Pawlowski Mario @MargaretSiegien @kalydeoo @enilev K 发送消息 19 X=3- AREA TERACTIVE NEW AN Am 五星好评 chua star LEKS 0:00 3.1M views Jul 1,869 18,239 El Gato Astronomico @MitchyDelta Replying to @FrRonconi @Joann Moretti and 8 others I'm so glad so many people are working hard to create the Torment Nexus 4:21 AM Jan 9, 2022. Twitter Web App 5,200 : ←]](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/386/540/e0d.jpg "I'm so glad so many people are working hard to create the Torment Nexus")
On June 14th, 2022, after Netflix announced the development of a reality TV show based on its hit survival drama Squid Game, multiple tweets bringing up the Torment Nexus trope were made. For example, a tweet[5] by Twitter user @NerdyChineseBoy (shown below, left) gained 10,400 retweets and 60,000 likes in less than 24 hours, and a tweet[6] by @blockwonkel received over 190 retweets and 1,000 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, center).
Related Memes
You May Live To See Man-Made Horrors Beyond Your Comprehension
You May Live to See Man-Made Horrors Beyond Your Comprehension is a quote spoken by Nikola Tesla at the first Electrical Exhibition in September 1898 in response to a question about militarizing his radio-controlled model rowboat invention. The quote has been used in memes including image macros and photoshops over the course of the 2000s, often in response to cringeworthy or cursed content. The quote is often written, "You will live to see man-made horrors …"
Search Interest
External References
[1] Twitter – @AlexBlechman
[2] Reddit – They thought it was an instruction manual
[3] Reddit – Don’t Create the Torment Nexus
[4] Twitter – @thomasportz
[5] Twitter – @NerdyChineseBoy
[6] Twitter – @blockwonkel
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![Juno @jsketch12 - 4h Something something Torment Nexus from Don't Create the Torment Nexus Reid Southen @Rahll - 8h Leave it to capitalism to try and get people to work for the last 6-8 hours they truly have to themselves. I'm all for lucid dreaming, but this sounds like some kind of fresh hell. INDEPENDENT NEWS SPORTS VOICES CULTURE LIFESTYLE TRAVEL PREMIUM Tech Lucid dream startup says people can work in their sleep Prophetic's Halo device could help workers practise demos or perform creative problem solving. its creator says Anthony Cuthbertson Monday 04 December 2023 11:17. [2] Comments @f 14 Subscribe Menu 1 202 1.1K ılı 27K : 口企](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/718/202/5b2.png "Something something Torment Nexus from Don’t Create the Torment Nexus")
![Franco Ronconi @FrRonconi - Jan 7 In the future our lives will be infused by #6G-powered #Mixed Reality, at a very high speed (up to 200 Gbps) #AR #VR #MR #Metaverse #China #CES2022 @JoannMoretti @CurieuxExplorer @anand_narang @Hana_ElSayyed @TheAditya Patro @Pawlowski Mario @MargaretSiegien @kalydeoo @enilev K 发送消息 19 X=3- AREA TERACTIVE NEW AN Am 五星好评 chua star LEKS 0:00 3.1M views Jul 1,869 18,239 El Gato Astronomico @MitchyDelta Replying to @FrRonconi @Joann Moretti and 8 others I'm so glad so many people are working hard to create the Torment Nexus 4:21 AM Jan 9, 2022. Twitter Web App 5,200 : ←]](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/386/540/e0d.jpg "I'm so glad so many people are working hard to create the Torment Nexus")
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