[rawtxapp]

If you look at it from the perspective that ad-clicking has funded the biggest information retrieval system and the biggest human connection platform, yes it was overall socially beneficial.

[zepto]

A counterfactual is that those two things would have happened anyway, and the ad-funded model has deeply corrupted both of them.

[rawtxapp]

I don't think there's world with these counterfactuals in place, do you have any proof?

[zepto]

That’s not a meaningful way to discuss counterfactuals.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfactual_conditional