The Social Dilemma

[doodle]

Has anyone else watched this? Quite an interesting insight into how we are being programmed by tech companies. For the libertarians here it might be an interesting challenge to think about how to big tech companies might be the most authoritarian danger we have to face. It's soft authoritarianism...not by force but by literally programming us and manipulating our behavior. They are intentionally exploiting vulnerabilities in human psychology to literally exert control over you like a puppet master pulling your strings.

[vnatale]

Has anyone else watched this? Quite an interesting insight into how we are being programmed by tech companies. For the libertarians here it might be an interesting challenge to think about how to big tech companies might be the most authoritarian danger we have to face. It's soft authoritarianism...not by force but by literally programming us and manipulating our behavior. They are intentionally exploiting vulnerabilities in human psychology to literally exert control over you like a puppet master pulling your strings.

You mean anything like this?

Dems Rat Out Bush To FCC

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dems-rat-out-bush-to-fcc/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhO27-w5-vk

Vinny

[Maddy]

You might enjoy these books, which will convince you that what you describe is EXACTLY what is going on.
https://www.technocracy.news/shop/?orderby=date

[flyingpylon]

Has anyone else watched this? Quite an interesting insight into how we are being programmed by tech companies. For the libertarians here it might be an interesting challenge to think about how to big tech companies might be the most authoritarian danger we have to face. It's soft authoritarianism...not by force but by literally programming us and manipulating our behavior. They are intentionally exploiting vulnerabilities in human psychology to literally exert control over you like a puppet master pulling your strings.

I mentioned it in another thread here somewhere. I’ve watched it and recommended it to others. I don’t think people understand just how sophisticated and manipulative this technology is.

[doodle]

Ok, so the technology is manipulating us to control the way we think...and Tom is afraid of government. At what point, Tom, do you think that for profit corporations that want to control the way we act and think become more dangerous? When they are capable of creating civil wars?

[doodle]

When humans create a technology has the ability to eradicate us...whether that is nuclear weapons, or AI, or these social media technologies that eroding societies and potentially leading to massive social unrest and war then it is the responsible action to regulate. But I forgot, you believe that it's a good idea for nuclear weapons to be available for purchase in walmart.

[Mark Leavy]

When humans create a technology has the ability to eradicate us...whether that is nuclear weapons, or AI, or these social media technologies that eroding societies and potentially leading to massive social unrest and war then it is the responsible action to regulate. But I forgot, you believe that it's a good idea for nuclear weapons to be available for purchase in walmart.

It's more a fox guarding the henhouse thing, doodle.

[Hal]

I also feel like me deleting Facebook a decade ago, and taking active measures to obscure my identity while surfing the web, has shielded me sufficiently from them. Through personal responsibility.

+1 Don't need any "protection" like what happened nearby

https://www.kidspot.com.au/news/shockin ... dcd31bb736

[Maddy]

Ok, so the technology is manipulating us to control the way we think...and Tom is afraid of government. At what point, Tom, do you think that for profit corporations that want to control the way we act and think become more dangerous? When they are capable of creating civil wars?

To me, the answer to this is simple: They acquire and maintain that kind of power only when enabled by their special relationship with government.

[doodle]

Ok, so the technology is manipulating us to control the way we think...and Tom is afraid of government. At what point, Tom, do you think that for profit corporations that want to control the way we act and think become more dangerous? When they are capable of creating civil wars?

The reason why government is always more dangerous than private companies is because government assumes a monopoly of physical force and imprisonment. As bad as Facebook could possibly be, Mark Zuckerberg can never legally send a SWAT team to my home, kick in my door and demand I do something at gunpoint.

But, let’s set that aside. Suppose I didn’t fear government. Well, I also don’t respect their abilities to accomplish anything. So even if I want the government to save me from social media, I don’t think they can do it.

I also feel like me deleting Facebook a decade ago, and taking active measures to obscure my identity while surfing the web, has shielded me sufficiently from them. Through personal responsibility.

Tom, there will always exist a monopoly of force. There has to and it has to adminstered or governed according to rules....if not then we live in a world where might makes right....inherently worse in my opinion. Even if you personally believe there shouldn't be your opinion is in the such extreme minority that your dream will never come to pass. Having this monopoly of force administered by a democratically elected accountable government is probably the best we can hope for during our lifetimes. If this type of technology erodes those institutions and leads to civil war and autocratic governments then I guarantee you your life is going to get a whole hell of a lot less free. And as KBG clearly stated, if the military is pulled into this you don't have a chance in hell in fighting back. You can sit there clutching your ar-15 while they shoot a cruise missle through your window or drone strike you on your way to your car.

As far as these tech companies they have created a technology that is being utlized to tear down the institutions that undergird our democratic freedoms. Just like Einstein later regretted his work that led to construction of Atom bomb, workers at these tech companies have recognized how destructive this technology has become not only to human health and happiness, but how it poses a fundamental survival risk to our species.

You advocate for just deleting Facebook. While that is a good idea and I also don't have any social media, I think you underestimate how easy that is and how this isn't just facebook. I don't know enough about this topic to even begin to pretend to know how to regulate it. Perhaps the AI is so smart that it could evade regulation, at that point I guess we will depend on the ethics and conscience of the engineers of this technology to walk away from the monster they have created and let it die.

Ok, so the technology is manipulating us to control the way we think...and Tom is afraid of government. At what point, Tom, do you think that for profit corporations that want to control the way we act and think become more dangerous? When they are capable of creating civil wars?

To me, the answer to this is simple: They acquire and maintain that kind of power only when enabled by their special relationship with government.

Can you explain this? I don't understand how a tech company gathering your personal data and information and then utlizing that to manipulate you has anything to do with a special relationship with government. The internet space was and is like a libertarian frontier land where there really were no rules and regulations. If these tech companies started marketing ads to kids telling them to smoke crack and kill their parents would that be because government enabled that?

I also feel like me deleting Facebook a decade ago, and taking active measures to obscure my identity while surfing the web, has shielded me sufficiently from them. Through personal responsibility.

+1 Don't need any "protection" like what happened nearby

https://www.kidspot.com.au/news/shockin ... dcd31bb736

Shocking this happened in Australia. The citizens peacefully handed over most of their guns and now the government is kicking in doors when someone spoke against their response to COVID.

Can you imagine a US-based law enforcement agency risking their lives kicking in a door, with the number of guns Americans have, in order to silence their digital COVID protest?

Yeah, they do. SWAT teams...like the one that killed Breonna Taylor. Anyways, where does it say they kicked in her door? It says she greeted them at her door in their pajamas? Is this police overreach? I'd say so. Sounds like maybe you should be participating in some BLM protests trying to get these instruments of oppression defunded. So confusing that you support the president of law and order wanting to send in the national guard at social unrest but then have an extreme amount of paranoia regarding government use of force and police overreach.

[doodle]

Can you imagine a US-based law enforcement agency risking their lives kicking in a door, with the number of guns Americans have, in order to silence their digital COVID protest?

Yeah, they do. SWAT teams...like the one that killed Breonna Taylor. Anyways, where does it say they kicked in her door? It says she greeted them at her door in their pajamas? Is this police overreach? I'd say so. Sounds like maybe you should be participating in some BLM protests trying to get these instruments of oppression defunded. So confusing that you support the president of law and order wanting to send in the national guard at social unrest but then have an extreme amount of paranoia regarding government use of force and police overreach.

That wasn’t a SWAT raid to silence a covid protest.

And Breona’s boyfriend inside the apartment fired a gun at the police, hitting one of them. Before the police fired back at him.

There was no SWAT raid to silence protestor...that didn't happen.

Are you defending police in Breonna Taylor case? I'm throughly confused. Police kicked down door and didn't identify themselves....even if they did, who is to say it isn't just a robber proclaiming themselves to be police. I would think you would fall on the boyfriends side.

[doodle]

So back to the inanimate object principle. Breona died because some inanimate objects are illegal to possess and liberals cry foul, yet these are the same liberals who want SWAT teams to kick in doors and take “assault weapons” from the hands of millions of law-abiding peaceful Americans that own them.

Liberals cry foul over drugs? From my understanding it is the radical left that is predominantly pushing for the decriminalization of drugs....at least it's the liberal cities that are actually doing that...like portland and now seattle.