I'm an ex-Facebook exec: don't believe what they tell you about ads

Post by pinewurst » Tue, May 02, 2017, 11:51 PM UTC

devoply wrote: post #41

jolux wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not questioning, that's rejecting wholesale without a proper argument as to why. And frankly I don't at all see the ethical analogy between luxury athleisure and payday loans, and it seems to me you'd have to be pretty damn fucking self-deluded to think they're remotely comparable.

it's a good that a demographic buys. that's the way that ethically bereft corporations see it. i would even guess that this is how zuck sees it. people who buy jay-z buy obama. people with lower income buy payday loans. there is nothing ethical about any of this unless you want to add the ethical dimension. corporations are expected not to. and yet the data is allowing them more and more to target these "opportunitie…

Post by Clubber » Tue, May 02, 2017, 11:54 PM UTC

jolux wrote: post #33

hammock wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You ought to continue to read past that. Because you missed his point. He goes on to basically question "ethics" entirely: >What did this tool start spitting out? Every ethnic stereotype you can imagine....People who liked Jay Z were more likely to like Obama – it was one of the statistical truths Facebook couldn’t be seen espousing. I disagreed. Jay Z is a millionaire music tycoon, so what if we associate him with t…

That's not questioning, that's rejecting wholesale without a proper argument as to why. And frankly I don't at all see the ethical analogy between luxury athleisure and payday loans, and it seems to me you'd have to be pretty damn fucking self-deluded to think they're remotely comparable.

Post by TheSpiceIsLife » Tue, May 02, 2017, 11:58 PM UTC

devoply wrote: post #55

enraged_camel wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>it's a good that a demographic buys. Oxygen and carbon monoxide are both gases. One of them is poisonous to humans.

Corporations will sell you just enough rope to hang yourself unless the government steps in and tells them not to through regulation. But that's the antithesis of business, neo-liberal economics will argue. Canada still sells asbestos to third world countries for instance.

Post by dualogy » Tue, May 02, 2017, 11:59 PM UTC

enraged_camel wrote: post #52

devoply wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's a good that a demographic buys. that's the way that ethically bereft corporations see it. i would even guess that this is how zuck sees it. people who buy jay-z buy obama. people with lower income buy payday loans. there is nothing ethical about any of this unless you want to add the ethical dimension. corporations are expected not to. and yet the data is allowing them more and more to target these "opportunitie…

>>it's a good that a demographic buys. Oxygen and carbon monoxide are both gases. One of them is poisonous to humans.

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 03, 2017, 12:00 AM UTC

moomin wrote: post #11

Wow, I can't decide if this guy is more morally or intellectually bankrupt. Seriously, "sometimes data behaves unethically"? Data doesn't do anything. Not even analysis or deep learning does anything. People (or programs written by people) execute decisions on the basis of data. It's still the people being unethical. Big data isn't some magic wand that absolves you of moral responsibility, but it's extremely interest…