[Brian_K_White]

There is a quote that goes something like "The purpose of any system is whatever it does."

Whatever any system does, it's someone's intention that it does so. It's like an unavoidable truism. You can't say anything that gets around it.

[bluegatty]

Great. The system does what it does.

It's not 'destroying society'.

Not remotely in, any sense.

Many people seem to like Facebook. It's not really not causing harm, they are a minor nuisance at worst ... that you can avoid by ... not using it.

Open AI makes AI that you can use to do whatever.

That's mostly it.

[propstober]

yes and yes. a system can fulfill it’s function while simultaneously having massive impacts on society. we are only now experiencing the consequences of social media running rampant.

[Jensson]

Progress have massive impacts on society, printing press was running rampant and caused massive issues, protests, civil wars and in the end democracy. Historically giving people more access to information and communication has always been a good thing even if it caused problems short term.

[propstober]

equating social media and the printing press is tempting but reductive. esp with massive profit incentives, social media is often built for retention and conversion rather than for informative purposes. esp within the modern context. it is not a black and white picture. social media can exist responsibly. just because a technology represents "progress" there is much we can and should pay attention to. just blanket dismissing regulation and criticism for the sake of progress is lazy.

I highly encourage you to read: https://jonathanhaidt.com/social-media/

[bluegatty]

social media is not running rampant, and, social media is only a tiny fragment of 'the industry'.

[Brian_K_White]

"The system does what it does."

The statement was that the purpose of the system is what it does.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_wha...

Read at least the first couple lines and become microscopically less ignorant. Or don't. I'm not your mom.

[bluegatty]

I know exactly what the statement means - you seem to be the one blithely missing the point.

The 'system is doing what it is doing' and it's not 'destroying the world' it's improving it for the most part, with some negative externalities.

People on this thread are in such a juvenile nihilist head fog that they can't recognize what is going on around them, nor can they seem to even to be able to apply these metaphors, and when it's spelled out for them, they still don't get it.

There's nothing hugely wrong with 'the industry' even as it 'does what it does'.

[blackjack_]

Facebook literally heavily contributed or at minimum enabled and amplified at least one genocide (2017 Myanmar). That is the total opposite of "really not causing harm".

[jazzyjackson]

Plus they implemented "Organic Reach" where the bands I followed posted the flyers to their shows and Facebook only distributed the posts to ~10% of users subscribed to the band, so over and over again I would see a flyer for a show that happened 2 days ago. Deleterious to culture at large.

[sevenseacat]

> over and over again I would see a flyer for a show that happened 2 days ago

oh that's happened to me a couple of times, its fucking infuriating.

[bluegatty]

Facebook did not 'contribute' to that, first of all, second of all it's an enormously isolated incident in the grand scope of software industry.