[tomp]

The best paid careers are in HFT, which is far less harmful than e.g. ad optimisation (the business of most big tech)

[zestyping]

Interesting — could I hear your argument why?

[tomp]

The only people HFT “harms” are traders, i.e. voluntary participants in the “get rich” game who are likewise trying to win, but aren’t good enough.

BigTech ads are instead non-consensually forced upon people and steal their attention (best case) or manipulate their thoughts/desires (worst case)

[Dracophoenix]

> BigTech ads are instead non-consensually forced upon people and steal their attention (best case) or manipulate their thoughts/desires (worst case)

Those who make the ads and those who view them are voluntarily exchanging their time and attention with each other. They're traders in the same way high-frequency traders are.

[tomp]

maybe in theory, but in practice ads are everywhere and completely unavoidable in everyday life