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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

#221

Post by lazerpants »

ehecatl wrote: post #29
JepZ wrote: post #18

> Choice is such a messy thing to dive deep into, because then you realize that nobody knows what it means to choose. Actually, I think I do know what it means, but I have the feeling that many people do not like the idea, that their decisions are based on past experiences and that their free will is actually just the evaluation of their perceptions (of their truth) and therefore, it is nothing that comes from some s…

>> that their decisions are based on past experiences and that their free will is actually just the evaluation of their perceptions (of their truth) This might be pretty close to the mark, actually. Our conditioning to past, even collective, social, experience can become so all encompassing that we cannot imagine something "other". Perhaps psychopaths can? And that's a pretty scary thought.

I think meditation, some types of travel, and/or certain illicit drugs are important to people because they are able to temporarily experience what you have described as "other", to varying degrees, utilizing the aforementioned agents/techniques.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#222

Post by standupstandup »

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

Surely all news publications filter? That's a large component of their bias, if not the largest: what information they choose to highlight and which to suppress.

Note that the Intercept meets most of your criteria when it can, and Breitbart meets all but the "no ads" criteria. Both cite and link to sources at least sometimes, when those sources are citable.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#223

Post by addicted »

unholiness wrote: post #86

I personally haven't found the same effect in long-form media, such as: - Non-fiction books - University-centered online courses - Documentaries - Some of Netflix's original programs - Wikipedia's monthly news summaries - The "Great Courses" on Audible These media aren't thoroughly monetized on a pay-per-attention-stolen model. They're more optimized around having good reviews from friends and online. It makes me won…

Such a site would suffer from 2 major disadvantages.

In the absence of advertisement driven revenues, it would have to charge money, raising the barrier of entry compared to the current alternatives. In addition it cannot provide regular dopamine hits (because that’s the whole point) so it even feels less appealing than the alternatives.

More expensive and less appealing is a hard combo to succeed with.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#224

Post by addicted »

unholiness wrote: post #122
rhizome wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes me wonder if there might be the possibility of a Netflix for news, where an 3rd party curates and allows ratings of lengthier pieces on long-term issues, interviews with important figures, and 20-minute investigative reports (like I remember seeing on 60 minutes) Isn't this essentially the model that HuffPo and other news aggregators (rewriters) use? Hasn't really panned out in that context, but maybe there…

The question of who creates the content is mostly orthogonal to what I mean. I'm talking about is a platform where my decision to click/watch content is based on reviews and recommendations, not loud design and attention-grabbing headlines. In that world, the subscription model could make sense and content aggregation could make sense, but neither is required, nor does either addressing the issue on its own.

Recommendations is basically Facebook.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#225

Post by [deleted] »

ehecatl wrote: post #29
JepZ wrote: post #18

> Choice is such a messy thing to dive deep into, because then you realize that nobody knows what it means to choose. Actually, I think I do know what it means, but I have the feeling that many people do not like the idea, that their decisions are based on past experiences and that their free will is actually just the evaluation of their perceptions (of their truth) and therefore, it is nothing that comes from some s…

>> that their decisions are based on past experiences and that their free will is actually just the evaluation of their perceptions (of their truth) This might be pretty close to the mark, actually. Our conditioning to past, even collective, social, experience can become so all encompassing that we cannot imagine something "other". Perhaps psychopaths can? And that's a pretty scary thought.

[deleted]

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#226

Post by slimshady94 »

woodandsteel wrote: post #168
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…

Seems to me the only answer is web decentralization plus improving peoples skills for critical thinking and problem-solving communication.

Would a technical solution (web decentralization) really be necessary if a political solution (adequate regulations) was available for these issues?

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#227

Post by jacobra2 »

dhd415 wrote: post #160
jacobra2 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done something similar with my Android phone, and it's worked out decently. One problem I encountered though - I spent a lot of time on Reddit, and would check it subconsciously, so I deleted it. Now I find that I'm using Google Now, the left swipe off the home screen. In effect I took the attention from Reddit and gave it to Google. I'm not convinced that was a worthwhile trade. Given I can't delete Google Now,…

FWIW, you can disable Google Now on your phone. On the more recent versions of Android, you long-press an empty spot on your home screen, select "Settings", and then locate and disable the "Your feed" item.

Amazing. Disabled. Didn't know that, thank you!

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#228

Post by graeme »

asavadatti wrote: post #197
graeme wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh wow, dod not know about facebook local. Does it let you manage events you’ve been invited to, amd host events? I could avoid facebook entirely with that. Friend’s birthdays would be tye only thing i’d miss.

I believe there is a way to link your FB friend's birthdays to your google calendar.

True. Though then my calendar becomes terribly cluttered. (I care about maybe 20% of the birthdays on my list)

I think the birthdays only counted as "costless" when I was already checking and filtering through Facebook notifications, but that was an illusion.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#229

Post by mod »

jventura wrote: post #158
mod wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I frequently disable reddit, and sometimes HN, in my hosts file. I'm both happy and sad to discover that I don't even know what to do on the internet when they're not available. Happy because it forces me to do something else. Sad because I remember when I truly loved the internet, before reddit or HN, and I wonder why I don't have that love anymore. I really don't know how to use the internet these days.

> I really don't know how to use the internet these days. Same for me. Nowadays when I get bored and have some unproductive time to kill, I usually surf hacker news because I can't think of any other website to read as I quit other social media websites. It's the same happiness/sadness you mention, although the lack of options on the internet has been turning out to be more positive than negative as I've been reading…

I have turned to other things (that involve being outdoors or at least standing), but I do want to replace some misspent time with reading. I was a voracious reader in my youth, pre-internet, and I miss that. And even when comparing with HN comments--where the average quality is very high--most books just have a lot more to offer. When you add in FB and reddit, it's not even a comparison.

Sadly I find my attention span, even with a great read, has suffered greatly. I blame the internet, but maybe it's just me. It's very difficult to suffer through even a brief boring stretch now.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#230

Post by addicted »

standupstandup wrote: post #219
cracell wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't buy into this victim mentality I don't think we should be thinking about this from a psychological perspective but instead a sociological one. Yes individuals can disconnect and do whatever they need to assuming adequate resources but that's beside the point. If you think of people as boxes with inputs and outputs I think it's very worth understanding how social media impacts those boxes and what the long t…

You can't really know what the impact is. You probably can't even come up with a crisp, uncontroversial definition of what "social media" actually is. Most people seem to use the term to mean Twitter, but Twitter is garbage and lots of people don't use it at all. Is Hacker News "social media"? Is Slashdot? Is the comments section of the New York Times? Is IRC? The moment you start down the "we are weak and helpless a…

The demarcation line is pretty clear IMO (it isn’t even social media). It’s technology whose goal is to manipulate its users to engage with itself. And it hires an army of engineers, designers, scientists, and soon AI to achieve that goal.

Right now it’s social media that is at the forefront of this war with people. Tomorrow it might be a different technology.

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