[ben_w]

I beleive the argument being made here is a map-territory distinction — certainly I myself see it this way.

I mean, their other comment was:

> If we'd lose so much GDP, without losing anything of value, perhaps GDP is not a useful measure of the economy.

Meta etc., can pay taxes on the profits made from connecting advertisers to eyeballs, but what actual value do they really provide? What real value gets created due to this, that would otherwise not be created? If Meta is just moving money around, without helping more stuff get made, then whatever measure says "Meta is good" is a poor measure. Even Meta's taxable income would just become someone else's higher profit or cheaper goods.

(But: I presume my belief that ads are zero-sum, or close to thst, is correct; perhaps this is untrue).

[wizzwizz4]

Advertisement is positive sum: it connects people who need goods or services with people who can provide those goods and services. The modern advertising industry is negative-sum: the sheer cost to everyone far outweighs this theoretical benefit. (Most people I know will deliberately refuse to buy anything that's advertised at them, unless they have no other option.)

The "attention economy" is stealing people's time, then trying to sell it. Other people's cognitive resources are not yours to sell. (Are there really people who do not realise how cartoonishly evil this is?) Time was, people used to pay for big books full of advertisements. Would anyone pay to receive modern online advertising?

The advertising companies are a big part of why I don't have the money to spare to pay for "ad-supported" websites: I'm too busy trying to keep my personal life away from their mass surveillance systems, missing or declining opportunities in the process. I, and those around me, would be richer if not for this pointlessly-wasted effort, me establishing increasingly-impractical countermeasures to maintain my privacy, and them building increasingly-elaborate workarounds to spy on me anyway, all so they can try to sell me a washing machine.

Banksy put it best. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Banksy

> People are taking the piss out of you every day. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.

[lazide]

Agree - I think another way to put it, is the advertising industry is positive ROI directly, but has severe negative externalities. Especially when ramped up to the extent it currently is, and likely will continue to be even more.

It’s a similar analogy to global warming/fossil fuels IMO. As long as we don’t care about the somewhat invisible co2 part of it slowly cooking us to death, it’s awesome.