version

Well-known member
You could argue one example of psychic influence is they've made such an impression on the public consciousness that, rightly or wrongly, they've seemingly united more or less the entire establishment against them (assuming they aren't colluding on some bigger plan for the internet as a whole) and are being hauled over the coals for it.
 

version

Well-known member
Was the 'like' button a creation of Facebook's? I've just noticed ours is the same as theirs.

Screenshot-from-2021-10-06-04-52-48.png
 
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Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
You could argue one example of psychic influence is they've made such an impression on the public consciousness that, rightly or wrongly, they've seemingly united more or less the entire establishment against them (assuming they aren't colluding on some bigger plan for the internet as a whole) and are being hauled over the coals for it.
Yeah that is interesting, as the right wing criticism seems to revolve around censorship of political speech, and the left wing criticism seems to revolve around the allowed proliferation of hate speech and misinformation. FB does seem to be subject to this tug of war dual tension.
 

sus

Well-known member
But this insistence that their will can overcome the emotion, the fomo, the aversion to being ostracized, etc.

As I understand it, they control, via pattern-recognition algorithms, what novel content users get exposed to, and what advertisements they receive. Sure this may vary operationally across social media platforms, but in general this practice is one that I would consider psychically influential, I.e all but determining the information consumption pathways of unscrupulous people (as opposed to we geniuses who end up on the likes of Dissensus).
And this is true but an algorithm optimizing over a democratically sourced content pool, based on engagement, seems less nefarious than two or three television channels programming for the entire country, no?
 

sus

Well-known member
My argument is that if we could imagine the same viral effects happening with widespread email, then it's more a problem of how information moves through populations, global connectivity problems, etc. A network problem, is how I'm inclined to see it. We can't handle being this networked—at least gracefully, yet.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
And this is true but an algorithm optimizing over a democratically sourced content pool, based on engagement, seems less nefarious than two or three television channels programming for the entire country, no?
Much less nefarious I’d agree, but there was also less robust data capture then, presumably. But yes I still agree our present arrangement is a step forward from broadcast television.
 
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Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Yeah I think there is just a collective learning curve that results in suffering that shouldn’t be attributed entirely or even mostly to big tech platforms.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
That’s the primary significance of that hearing, in my mind. That legislators are finally having their eyes opened to how the realities of children are being heedlessly impacted by algorithms that are capitalistically optimized with virtually no governmental oversight. And I’m a cyberpositive capitalist myself.
 

william_kent

Well-known member
speaking of witch

Zuckerberg statement to facebook employees

now that today's testimony is over, I wanted to reflect on the public debate we're in. I'm sure many of you have found the recent coverage hard to read because it just doesn't reflect the company we know. We care deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health. It's difficult to see coverage that misrepresents our work and our motives. At the most basic level, I think most of us just don't recognize the false picture of the company that is being painted.
Many of the claims don't make any sense.
 

william_kent

Well-known member
some random thoughts over coffee:

facebook started out as the "elite university" version of "hot or not" - this Haugen person was a founder of "Hinge", a mobile dating app ( maybe stealing IP from her stint at facebook? now she's a "whistleblower", not a "thief" ) - tin foil hat wearing friends have suggested that apps like Tinder & Grindr ( and now "Hinge" ) are a perfect means for an intelligence service to collect compromising details...
 

luka

Well-known member
good conversation. i think versions instincts are good. its painful to have to admit but my views on this often coincide with Gus to a large extent. i really cant stand when people post graphs and think it proves anything though. nothing depresses me and sickens me more than a graph.
 

william_kent

Well-known member
just looking at 'Hinge" on the apple app store

1633510193822.png

I found this claim to be particularly creepy:

* We ask how your dates are going. After exchanging phone numbers with a Match, we’ll follow up to hear how your date went so we can make better recommendations in the future.
 

luka

Well-known member
non social media version

mao bot

It is man's social being that determines his thinking. Once the correct ideas characteristic of the advanced class are grasped by the masses, these ideas turn into a material force which changes society and changes the world.
 
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