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Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

m.nautil.us

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Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#131

Post by tammer »

senko wrote: post #128
tribune wrote: post #34

I've been coming to resent my smartphone more and more, essentially because of this. I recently quit using tobacco. I remembered all the warnings from my school health classes about how hard it was to quit once you start, how there's a physical dependence and all that. It was uncomfortable at times, and there were plenty of cravings to get over, but I was ultimately successful. I can compare this to the couple of tim…

Here's how I (try to) keep the Internet-based distractions to a minimum: * Uninstall twitter, facebook and other social apps from your phone; only use the computer (or other device that's not constantly in your pocket). * Even on your computer, log out of twitter, facebook and others. Only log in when you want to look into something (eg. check the social events, send a message), and use private/incognito mode for thi…

I follow a similar protocol & find it very helpful. The missing link for me was the events function of Facebook, which I find endlessly useful. Luckily FB now has a standalone app specifically for this, Facebook Local. Its no-nonsense, no ads, just relevant events. Plus, the feed it gives you actually ends!

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#132

Post by Trav5 »

tribune wrote: post #34

I've been coming to resent my smartphone more and more, essentially because of this. I recently quit using tobacco. I remembered all the warnings from my school health classes about how hard it was to quit once you start, how there's a physical dependence and all that. It was uncomfortable at times, and there were plenty of cravings to get over, but I was ultimately successful. I can compare this to the couple of tim…

I got a smart watch so I could stop carrying my phone everywhere. (Gear s3 with a cell modem)

Due to idiosyncrasies in how it works, I'm now stuck with both!

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#133

Post by ShabbosGoy »

bdamm wrote: post #66
auggierose wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't check your work email on the go. Quit facebook. It is actually pretty simple!

I don't know why you got downvoted. It's both simple and hard. I quit facebook back in March. Yep, some people don't talk to me anymore. But you know what? I talk with other people more, and I'm enjoying those relationships more. It's also hard; this is a top-of-class addiction. There's nothing easy about rewiring the reward circuit of your brain. And definitely Facebook, work email and in my case ycombinator news, a…

Yeah, HN is scary because browsing it will give you a subconscious feeling that you worked on something important.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#134

Post by anigbrowl »

zamalek wrote: post #71
yosito wrote: post #9

As someone who works in tech, I like the analogy of a DoS attack. The root of the issue is attention capitalism. Our attention is essentially a resource being exploited for profit. In that scenario, we're effectivley no longer in control of our own free will as long as someone else can profit by controlling it. On an individual scale, we can give it relatively benign labels like "distraction". But when you look at it…

Attention as well as free will is a scarce resource on a personal level. I used to seriously question why anyone would buy almost identical Apple devices year-after-year; where-as I'd spend at least a day researching which Android devices were available. The truth is that it's a bloody phone. I was expending all my free will on trivialities and wasn't making choices that actually matter. I think this problem is more…

* I'd spend at least a day researching which Android devices were available. The truth is that it's a bloody phone. I was expending all my free will on trivialities and wasn't making choices that actually matter.*

Given the everyday utility of a phone, a bad choice comes with significant economic costs of wasted time and frustration stemming from poor performance/reliability. If you don't already have a preference (eg based on trying the preferred device of a trusted friend) then it's entirely rational to spend some time researching your options, up to some significant portion of the cost you expected to save by picking an android over an iphone.

I'm into synthesizers and if you think people nerd out on phones you'll probably be horrified at the energy and passion spent debating the merits of machines that produce subtly different kinds of bleep bloop noises. I don't spend as much time on that any more, and have also simplified and slimmed down my synth choices to a smallish number of devices I really like, but I don't consider the prior time wasted; it was only through that extensive and intensive knowledge-gathering that I was able to make those aesthetically optimal choices for my own music-making pleasure. It's harder to be simple than it is to be complex. Simplicity is easy to imitate, but imitators aren't usually innovators.

I do agree with your larger point about the undesirability of a surfeit of economic choice. If all you wanted was a phone that worked and you could afford it, there's nothing wrong with just getting whatever is widely hailed as the best one out there. I know nothing about cars and care less, so if I have to get a car I'd probably just get a Honda Civic due to its reputation for low-maintenance reliability. But I understand why people who enjoy driving or have some other reason to care have strong preferences about different vehicles.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#135

Post by jjawssd »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #117
tribune wrote: post #34

I've been coming to resent my smartphone more and more, essentially because of this. I recently quit using tobacco. I remembered all the warnings from my school health classes about how hard it was to quit once you start, how there's a physical dependence and all that. It was uncomfortable at times, and there were plenty of cravings to get over, but I was ultimately successful. I can compare this to the couple of tim…

I just ignore my phone sometimes. Nobody will ever call to give you money. I got off FB in 2010. Don't use Twitter. These things are a lot less hard than people make them to be. If some news is important it will arrive at some point. I agree for those with children it becomes a different story.

If they only use phones and really want to get through to you they will leave a voicemail. Never pick up calls from unknown numbers.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#136

Post by ckastner »

> Modern Media is a DoS Attack on Your Free Will

Being saturated by Modern Media is an exercise of Free Will.

An attack is an act of force that requires active defense. The Modern Media is not forcing me to ready anything, nor do I have to actively defend myself against the Modern Media.

If turning of your cell phone for a period seems like an unfathomable task to you, perhaps you didn't have that much Free Will in the first place.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#137

Post by wffurr »

erasemus wrote: post #98
wffurr wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, I would say the same thing about advertisers.

Yes but no one claimed advertising was 'driven by a democratic process'. Marxists keep telling people what they want, and of course lying to them, even as the bodies are piling up. At the centenary of Russian Revolution, with 50 million dead, it's hard to believe one can still see hammer and sickles around the place. Yet one can.

That's exactly why the democratic process part is so important. Without the peaceful exercise of power via democracy, all that's left is violence, and nobody in their right mind wants that.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#138

Post by qznc »

shmageggy wrote: post #33

I would gladly pay for something like what is advocated for in this article, but I'm not aware of anything like it. A news publication that: * Has the goal of filtering rather than flooding * No ads * No pop-ins 3/4 of the way through the article telling me about four other articles I should read * No endless scrolling * Upfront about bias * Cites sources

Correctiv is a non-profit org: https://correctiv.org/en/correctiv/

They are part of a large network: https://gijn.org/member/

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#139

Post by wallace_f »

anigbrowl wrote: post #92
wallace_f wrote: post #65

A meta comment on this article: I have posted this concept here, and on other social media platforms, and seen it posted as well... usually to the tune of a few upvotes... It reminds me of Keyne's General Theory, where most of the ideas had already been floated for quite a while but were always derided as "crackpot," or basically heresy. It took a well-connected elite, combined with a failure to explain the current s…

The social aspects of information propagation are anything but marginalized. The problem, as in the days of yellow journalism, is that sensation is easier to monetize than the truth and this creates opportunities for bad actors to flourish. Of course there's a possibility for over-reaction and repression, but personally I think that the best solution is more information, in the sense of accessible trackbacks (not unl…

>so people can see where stories originate and learn to be skeptical of stuff that comes from consistently unreliable or bizarre sources.

This is closer to the problem, not the solution.

This caused the NASA Challenger disaster (authorities silenced engineers who warned of foam strike).

This caused the US to lose the space race (all the authority and "intelligence community" was behind the Vanguard rocket).

This caused the Gulf of Tonkan, Iraq, Iran-Contra...

Consider the recent JPMorgan money-laundering story was for days published in English only on the site Zerohedge,[1]

The WaPo literally accused Ron Paul in their news section of being a Russian Propogandist

Consider CNN broadcasted that it is illegal to read Wikileaks.

Collusion in Syria between the US and terrorists was always published first only on "disreputable" news sites.

Democratic control is better than autocratic control.

1 - https://www.handelszeitung.ch/unternehmen/finma-jp-morgan-sc...

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#140

Post by xxyyttuq1 »

If you haven't seen it, watch The Century of the Self [1]. It's largely a documentary about the emergence of PR as an application of propaganda to control the population in times of peace, revolving around Edward Bernays. [2]

Viewing the modern situation through a lens informed by the history put forth in the documentary, there's nothing surprising in the least going on - it's the logical progression, and exactly what Bernays would aspire to do had the technology been available.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

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