Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by seattle_spring 2337 days ago
How is it any different than a sports player getting millions of fans to glue to their TV screens watching them play? How about a highly paid actor convincing billions of people to glue themselves to the silver screen?

They're all forms of widespread entertainment and are valuable enough to pay good money for.

2 comments

Theres a difference. A top athlete is the highest form of human physical endurance. A top actor is the highest form of human self expression.

A top clickbait maker is really one of the highest forms of addiction producer.

Clickbait companies are really no different from porn or nicotine companies and top engineers today are producing said goods.

It depends on what they build exactly. Some things spark imagination. Some things are direct dopamine hits, no better than cocaine.

Sports and good TV are often in the former; they're addictive because they jog the mind. Even wrestling. Microtransaction games and social media often fall in the latter.