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How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

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Re: How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

#331

Post by iamcasen »

greggman wrote: post #290

I had a mildly negative reaction to this article which seems different from most people's reactions here Yelp example: I get that yelp is limiting my options but what did I do before yelp? Pretty much I just went to the 4 or 5 places I already knew instead of seeing if there was something new nearby. I tried hundreds of new places because of recommendations from Google Maps or Yelp that I likely would not have tried…

I think his point about Yelp was more that THEY CONTROL all those new choices you explored. Yelp becomes the gate keeper that restaurants and bars must appease in order to show up in their list that you are looking at.

Re: How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

#332

Post by hueving »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #35
lars wrote: post #30

Wow, I'm glad this was posted. I think the way we use technology today will be looked back on the same way we look back at naive cigarette smoking in the 1950s. Modern app design isn't about creating things that are good for the user, but about creating want in the user. This is a problem. For example, there are several studies showing that using Facebook in general makes people less happy. User happiness just happen…

I think the more apt metaphor is lead in Roman pipes. They knew lead exposure made you crazy but they still used it in their pipes, on their plates - and it drove them mad. After the planet has warmed beyond a point of no return, after antibiotic resistant bacteria make routine surgery a life-or-death decision, after we have squandered away our resources and used what little we had left to wage futile wars, we will f…

How is incorrect antibiotic usage related to anyone claiming it's good for GDP? Seems like a pretty weak strawman.

Re: How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

#333

Post by hueving »

clock_tower wrote: post #272
panglott wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More problematic may have been using sugar of lead to sweeten wine. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/sugar-of-lead-a-d...

I was about to post that myself: the dangers of lead acetate. IIRC, that sweetener is what deafened Beethoven as well, and I'd call it a good argument for minimally-processed/natural food...

There are plenty of natural poisonous berries. Doesn't mean we should start using them as sweeteners instead.

Re: How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

#334

Post by phantarch »

greggman wrote: post #290

I had a mildly negative reaction to this article which seems different from most people's reactions here Yelp example: I get that yelp is limiting my options but what did I do before yelp? Pretty much I just went to the 4 or 5 places I already knew instead of seeing if there was something new nearby. I tried hundreds of new places because of recommendations from Google Maps or Yelp that I likely would not have tried…

There's definitely positive value in the services and apps that you mention, otherwise people wouldn't begin using them initially.

I think the key difference between the services and living life with "Pre-Internet" substitutes is that all of the services have been designed and engineered to elicit a certain usage.

When you use something that was designed, there's a certain set of axioms governing that thing. You've got to buy into someone else's interpretation of value. If you're aware that the other person's interpretation is different from your own, then you'll be much more likely to have the self-control needed to interpret its value for yourself. The danger is that most people don't do that and as a result fall prey to their own assumptions based on what they were told is valuable.

The trickle of pre-internet information doesn't compare to the firehose we have today. There's not one single solution and I agree that a governance of these ethical ideals will be tricky no matter what form it takes.

Re: How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

#335

Post by [deleted] »

hueving wrote: post #332
rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the more apt metaphor is lead in Roman pipes. They knew lead exposure made you crazy but they still used it in their pipes, on their plates - and it drove them mad. After the planet has warmed beyond a point of no return, after antibiotic resistant bacteria make routine surgery a life-or-death decision, after we have squandered away our resources and used what little we had left to wage futile wars, we will f…

How is incorrect antibiotic usage related to anyone claiming it's good for GDP? Seems like a pretty weak strawman.

[deleted]

Re: How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

#337

Post by clock_tower »

hueving wrote: post #333
clock_tower wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to post that myself: the dangers of lead acetate. IIRC, that sweetener is what deafened Beethoven as well, and I'd call it a good argument for minimally-processed/natural food...

There are plenty of natural poisonous berries. Doesn't mean we should start using them as sweeteners instead.

That's certainly true, but that doesn't mean I trust sucralose and stevia extract (or food-grade aluminum, or long-term storage in BPA-bearing plastic).

Nor do I trust certain natural additives or physical processing methods; chemical is full of unknowns, but natural can be harmful too. I try to avoid white flour and added sugar, for example, and I have my doubts about how good of an idea it was to breed all this sweetness into modern fruit...

Re: How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

#338

Post by ekianjo »

pyre wrote: post #135
rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dangerous doesn't mean too dangerous. Nuclear energy is dangerous but any projection of energy use that accommodates growing population and energy usage AND expects carbon reductions AND doesn't include growing nuclear use is simply impossible. EDIT: Also worth noting that there is a clear correlation between the increase of electronics/battery recycling in the West and lead poisoning cases in Kenyan children where t…

Nuclear power can be done safe, but we also have many examples of it not being done safe. Saying, "well it will be different this time. We will build systems to make corruption, laziness, and dangerous actions impossible!" is believing in a pipe dream.

Coal has killed way more than nuclear energy so far. Please check data before having an opinion.

Re: How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

#339

Post by sn9 »

chillacy wrote: post #253
perseusprime11 wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 Smartphone is a universal addiction as opposed to cigarette smoking. If we do not do something about this, our future humans will walk around with stiff necks as this will be coded into our DNA and we will evolve accordingly.

That's not really how evolution works.. there would have to be selection pressure that would favor the smartphone addicted

There would have to be selective pressure for people with the genetics for a naturally forward leaning head.

For most people, that's bad posture deviating from a more neutral head, so isn't genetic.

Re: How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

#340

Post by thesrcmustflow »

> One major reason why is the #1 psychological ingredient in slot machines: intermittent variable rewards.

I first came across this concept in a Hello Internet podcast, and it's amazing how much you see it in just about everything on the internet once you've heard of it.

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