[raxxorraxor]

I think this is a rationalization of an enormous waste of work. The effects generating wealth are indirect. In that regard you could argue that betting is generating wealth too. Advertising is like a hamster wheel people have to jump onto if they want their place in the market.

A similar amount of wealth would be generated if every advertised product would be represented by a text description, but we have a race to the bottom.

There is advertising and advertising of course but most of advertising is incredibly toxic and I would argue that by capturing attention, it is a huge economic drain as well.

Of course an AI would also be quite apt at removing unwanted ads, which I believe will become a reality quite soon.

[mlyle]

> A similar amount of wealth would be generated if every advertised product would be represented by a text description, but we have a race to the bottom.

I fear statements like this go too far. I can't agree with the first part of this sentence.

I feel this about both marketing and finance:

They are valuable fields. There are huge amounts of activity in these fields that offer value to everyone. Removing friction on commerce and the activities that parties take in self-interest to produce a market or financial system are essential to the verdant world we live in.

And yet, they're arms races that can go seemingly-infinitely far. Beyond any generation of societal value. Beyond needless consumption of intellect and resources. All the way to actual negative impacts that clutter the financial world or the ability to communicate effectively in the market.