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Honestly, I like both of your posts. Thanks for the follow-up. Your thoughts are insightful. I hear it a lot that "too much information is ruining us", but what about crap daily newspapers that came in mass around 1900, then radio, then over-air television, then cable television? All of these are about providing large amounts of low quality information. These days, you can get satellite TV with 500 (five hundred!) channels. It must be 99% rubbish content. I guess the difference now is that the web is much more interactive, and our minds can be more easily hooked as a result. Dunno; when I was growing up, the kids who gorged themselves on shitty cable TV weren't the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. I feel the same now in the Internet era. My point for this post: Each time I hear (paraphrased): "It is different this time.", I try to imagine the world 25 years ago. Then think: Is this really
that different? Most of time, I think, "No, it isn't that different." (I use the same mental exercise when I hear people say that "this generation is so different than the last for reason A, B, or C.") |
a) None of these were, first algorithmically, and then using machine learning, optimized to constantly grab attention and maximize interaction time on an individual basis.
b) None of them had the interactive effects where peoples interactions with one another are guided and used, to draw them into echo chambers which are, again, designed to maximize interaction time.
> Then think: Is this really that different?
Yes. It is. Simple example: How do politically motivated troll armies influence an election in a reality where people don't use social media as their primary news source? Answer: They don't. They can (and likely have) bought some space in some low-quality tabloid through strawmen, but that has nowhere near the range and impact of one guy in some government office pretending to be 100000 "Average Joes" halfway across the globe.