[Wingman4l7]

That's a big assumption that this patent, a technology quite relevant to a massive media company, was filed only for future patent troll purposes. Plenty of seriously-intentioned ideas never materialize for a multitude of reasons.

The point is that the idea is now out in the wild and cannot be unseen, and however stupid or morally bankrupt it is, someone in the past did (and someone in the future will) think it was a good idea. And if and when it finally gets implemented for real, we all suffer.

The soda can validation 4chan meme isn't just a dumb joke. It's a warning.

[throwanem]

(Unrelated, but since your prior comment on Vegas "hacking" is too old to take replies: if you haven't, you should definitely check out Thomas A. Bass's 1985 The Eudaimonic Pie, which I believe may touch upon one of the stories you mentioned, and is also one of that kind in its own right; having occupied some train commutes with it in about 2001 or 2002, I can recommend the book not only for its information but also as a well-written, gripping read, if somewhat shockingly naïve by our 21st-century standard. Enjoy!)

[throwanem]

From the most unserious source imaginable, yes. Do you know of a company called "Chaotic Good?" Do you think they were the first to come up with the model?

But even if the 2013 post was as organic as you assume, I would think it worth finding a way to "warn" about the issue that doesn't make you look like a weird fringey incel lacking the social competence to read the kind of normal room which this website has emphatically never been nor even wished to be.