Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What do you think about “The Social Dilemma”?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 266 posts

Re: Ask HN: What do you think about “The Social Dilemma”?

#141

Post by anonu »

> What will the cultural impact of this movie be?

A few months back a bunch of big Facebook advertisers (nike, etc..) pulled back some of their ad spend to punish Facebook over their stance on certain cultural issues. What happened to Facebook? Nothing... Revenues actually went up...

Facebook is an incredible tool and platform. No platform (none amongst the FANGs) has the same capabilities of tailoring your internet experience like Facebook does. As an advertiser, this is incredibly powerful: being able to put a targeted tailored ad in front of exactly the demographic you want. No other platform even comes close.

The cultural impact will be zero. The dollars speak for themselves. FB users keep using the platform and advertisers will keep chasing them on it.

The only way to put this in check is for government to step in and put in a comprehensive set of laws and rules that governs how your data is shared. A market-driven response to Facebook's insidiousness will not happen by itself. Government needs to nudge it forward with a thoughtful set of policies that promotes competition and makes these big companies liable for the false information they promote.

Re: Ask HN: What do you think about “The Social Dilemma”?

#142

Post by peteyPete »

messo wrote: post #111
peteyPete wrote: post #102

I don't know what the cultural impact of this documentary will be since most won't care to change their behavior one bit. People are building walls around their echo chambers and are protective of it. I was well aware of most of this and had been complaining lately about how I don't see there being a good ending in sight considering how much growth there seems to be in the extreme right and extreme left. I've been fi…

Do you think watching The Social Dilemma with family or friends could help spark a conversation about how they are being manipulated by "Big Tech"? I plan on doing this with someone who has been greatly affected by the algorithms, and although I do not expect an immediate change, I do expect it to spark some new thoughts and questions. Another comment here mentioned this site as a good starting point for taking tangi…

I think its a great way to start the conversation as most will likely see behavior in there that they can identify with or see in their immediate family. The information is also presented in a way where everyone should be able to understand whats at stake.

Re: Ask HN: What do you think about “The Social Dilemma”?

#143

Post by mthoms »

Nasrudith wrote: post #124
mthoms wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the book dynamically changing its content based on what it knows about your psychological profile in order to influence your beliefs and behaviours?

The deck of cards isn't changing its contents and yet gambling is an addiction. And if influncing behavior is such a sin why are you speaking? Don't you knoe that could influnce beliefs and behaviors?!

The outcome of the game is ever-changing. There is always the possibility that next hand (or dice roll) will give you the dopamine rush you crave. That is why it's addictive.

But.. that has nothing to do with the premise that reading books can be compared to social media.

>And if influncing behavior is such a sin why are you speaking

Because I'm on a message board whose accepted purpose is to read and share thoughtful (your comment excluded) ideas and views.

Re: Ask HN: What do you think about “The Social Dilemma”?

#144

Post by multiplegeorges »

blueterminal wrote: post #57
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is like arguing that the fast food industries, the sugar industry, and the ad industries have no role to play in diabetes because it's your fault you can't control yourself. Never mind that you will have been exposed to tens of thousands of hours of literal behaviour modification programming. You should somehow magically still have the personal, emotional, and cultural resources to override it. And if you don't…

How would you try to help an alcoholic? Would you tell him that it's alcohol producers' who is at fault? Or would you tell him to try and get help? Why would an advice be different for over-consumption of social media, coke, big macs, tv shows, casinos etc.?

Not a great comparison, since if alcohol were invented today I'd expect it to be banned or at least much more tightly control. It is incredibly damaging to society and we only tolerate it for historical reasons.

Re: Ask HN: What do you think about “The Social Dilemma”?

#145

Post by scollet »

nip180 wrote: post #31

It was very ironic that Netflix, who once said that sleep is there biggest competition, releases a documentary about how it’s rivals in the attention economy are harmful. Yes, Netflix doesn’t advertise directly to me, but many of the effects are still present. The way I think and behave can be changed by programming I watch on Netflix. Netflix uses a recommendation engine to keep me engaged. Netflix has implemented s…

> YouTube for kids while Netflix has a children’s offering,

Weird how a supermarket selling sugary cookies would criticize a man giving away speedballs in the park.

Re: Ask HN: What do you think about “The Social Dilemma”?

#146

Post by sunopener »

ccortes wrote: post #40
alxmng wrote: post #28

I think what I think about docudramas in general: Hyperbolic. I think the harms of social media are exaggerated, and not entirely unique to social media. I don’t have a problem with Facebook knowing what content I interact with and using that to serve me ads, or content that I want to spend time consuming. I don’t agree with the characterization of publishing or volunteering information (likes, posting photos, profil…

>The fact that people spend lots of time on social media just demonstrates that they derive something from it, not that it’s addictive or harmful. I think the point of the movie is to show that it is addictive and harmful and it is built that way intentionally. And it gets worse for younger generations. >Regardless, social media isn’t going to suddenly make me believe the moon landing was fake, so I don’t see it as b…

> but it can make you believe many other things with out you even noticing.

Case and point. This is false. This is fiction. You believe what you want to believe, you choose to believe the lie that there is anything outside of you that can make you or another do this that or another. That there exist some such authority that can be responsible vs everybody standing up and taking their personal responsibility only to realize that their whole identity is based on more lies and that no one on this planet is in control, that control, safety, security, certainty are as illusory as saying farts stink. All narratives, all stories, all fiction, untruth, the truth cannot be spoken nor written. "Please! Write me out of the Story of the Cave of Plato!" Sorry there bud, You're the one that's gonna have to write yourself out of Plato's cave, out of Plato's Mind, then out your own, if you dare.

> There's nothing new here.

Nothing is not new. Nothing has been around for a very long time. Even before Time came around. You know the Time Being, The Implication Being, the Reason Being, the The State of Being, the Very Being, the Difference Being, the Latter Being, The World Being--They all sit around and laugh at you, they know they're knot RA-EL, yet 'ere thy arrrr(prepping for talk like a pirate day soon, excuse me), "making" them as real as social media can make you believe many other things without you even noticing. ;)

Re: Ask HN: What do you think about “The Social Dilemma”?

#147

Post by MrGilbert »

auganov wrote: post #92
vorpalhex wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the fediverse, you're more likely be able to say "Hey Lisa, why did you ban me?" than you can get into contact with the Youtube/Facebook/etc forces that be. That may or may not be better because your admin may respond "Well because I think you're a jerk and disagree with your political views" but at least you can migrate to a new instance still instead of just being banned for all eternity.

If you want to keep your followers you'd need to migrate before they ban you. But yes, I guess you can start over somewhere else while on big ones you're out forever. So in that sense I guess it is a tiny improvement. But if most of your followers were concentrated on server[s] that don't like you, you may not be able to reach them anymore.

If your followers are "real" followers, and if you are important to them, they'll get in touch outside the fed and will know where to find you. Maybe that's what we should strive for. I have 200+ followers on Twitter, but if you ask me, I can only name 15 with real, social interaction.

And I think that's great.

Re: Ask HN: What do you think about “The Social Dilemma”?

#148

Post by greggman3 »

DharmaPolice wrote: post #132
alxmng wrote: post #28

I think what I think about docudramas in general: Hyperbolic. I think the harms of social media are exaggerated, and not entirely unique to social media. I don’t have a problem with Facebook knowing what content I interact with and using that to serve me ads, or content that I want to spend time consuming. I don’t agree with the characterization of publishing or volunteering information (likes, posting photos, profil…

>I don’t agree that belief in pseudoscience, rumor, or superstition is anymore prevalent than it was before social media. I think it’s just more visible to everyone how many people do believe wacky ideas. I think this is a key point. In particular I think educated people (for want of a better term) are often dangerously out of touch with how many people (particularly internationally) don't share their worldview. I re…

> In social terms it doesn't matter if he believes in dinosaurs or not.

Yes, I can choose not to bring up that topic. And I choose to ignore it because I don't know what else to do. But, I can't completely let go of the idea that a person who doesn't believe in dinosaurs is voting on things like whether or not schools teach about dinosaurs or whether or not kids should be vaccinated or whether or not masks will cause co2 poisoning.

I don't know exactly where to draw the line. I don't know how to put this without people reading something into it that's not there but, I'm perfectly ok with someone having arguable reasons for holding an opinion different than mine but I'm not so okay with them having nonsense reasons.

To give an example, for some reason my my dad stopped believing in evolution in his 40s and will spout nonsense reasons like claiming eyes are impossible because it's too big a step which is logically false. You can easily name the steps. I'm not saying I require him to believe in evolution, I only want him to give valid reasons. A valid reason could be "because god tells me so and to ignore all other input" but valid reason is not "because evolution can't make eyes"

Re: Ask HN: What do you think about “The Social Dilemma”?

#149

Post by nip180 »

scollet wrote: post #145
nip180 wrote: post #31

It was very ironic that Netflix, who once said that sleep is there biggest competition, releases a documentary about how it’s rivals in the attention economy are harmful. Yes, Netflix doesn’t advertise directly to me, but many of the effects are still present. The way I think and behave can be changed by programming I watch on Netflix. Netflix uses a recommendation engine to keep me engaged. Netflix has implemented s…

> YouTube for kids while Netflix has a children’s offering, Weird how a supermarket selling sugary cookies would criticize a man giving away speedballs in the park.

Isn’t that the essence of Netflix’s point? That Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc are far worse for you than Netflix.

It’s hardly an unbiased position, considering Netflix is bidding on attention just like TikTok or YouTube is

Post reply on HN