[jungturk]

"Serving ads" is just the commercial application. All of the infrastructure used to harness (coordinate? co-opt?) the attention of the many and direct it toward some desired aims will surely end up being a tremendously transformative social capability.

Hard to see the upside for humanity as we've understood it to date, but its definitely going to be more impactful than just making a buck.

[chaboud]

Nerds solving interesting problems find a way. Folks (myself included) worked on Privacy Pass for verifiable ad attestation, but the power of blinded attestation is meaningful in ways beyond advertising authenticity validation.

For folks at the implementation level, the problem is often the prize. I just need to get paid enough to not care about how much I get paid. And implicitly contributing to social good is a form of gamification that works well. I've encountered lots of folks who operate in the same way. Yes, we're paying a bit more of a "feed the beast" tax than the good old days, but we're still able to operate with a remarkable degree of latitude.