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Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

m.nautil.us

251–260 of 523 posts

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#251

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…

My company is working on this idea of Netflix for news, although we are not yet ready to test the payment part. If we succeed it may mean less news media but higher average quality.

ps: excellent article and grateful for people like James and Tristan sounding the alarm on the ill effects of the attention economy.

However, I disagree with his association of new media with populism and apparently suggesting a causal relationship. Populism has existed, and proliferated, well before mass media. It's more commonly associated with extreme wealth inequality.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#252

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

This may be what you want on many fronts: https://thecorrespondent.com/ https://thecorrespondent.com/principles * The Correspondent is openly subjective * The Correspondent is an antidote to the daily news grind * The Correspondent is entirely free of ads * The Correspondent does not strive to maximize profits Example Article: https://thecorrespondent.com/4664/why-do-the-poor-make-such-...

Looks great, I've signed up! Thanks!

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#253
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Every single time, over dozens of times, it resulted in bloody dictatorships. It is very much worth studying why this has happened and what kind of methods can be used to avert it. Not only is Marxism-Leninism not the only form of Socialist praxis (neither is Marxism the only Socialist theory for that matter), but it's unwise to dismiss "failures" for the reason that they were authoritarian. Allende, Sankara's Burki…

> Not only is Marxism-Leninism not the only form of Socialist praxis (neither is Marxism the only Socialist theory for that matter), but it's unwise to dismiss "failures" for the reason that they were authoritarian. I'm dismissing failures because every single time it ended in bloody dictatorships, but no, This Time It Will Be Different®. No, it won't. Funny how you talk about learning with the failures of history, b…

>but no, This Time It Will Be Different®.

Why do you think strawman thought-terminating cliches are an acceptable level of discourse? At best they serve to be distracting and needlessly hostile.

>but you keep insisting in trying again a system that again and again has proven itself to be horrible.

Not really; have you heard of Badiou's concept of the Communist Hypothesis? His argument is that Socialism, well, Communism has existed as an Idea for centuries, it is always the force to break down the "present state of things", it is the first element of society, the subversive one, to oppose the action of the State. To dismiss thirty years of research into Communism, creating branches such as anarchist Communism, communalism, feminist anarchism, Socialist technocracy and others with faux-empiricism is a little heavy handed in my view.

As for your support of the wonders of capitalism, neither I, nor Marx, Engels or any contemporary Communist denies its push to reduce poverty.

>shifting value from developed countries to developing countries.

"Shifting value" is a very strange way of saying that developing countries are being systematically exploited due to the low cost of labour because they have almost no training.

>but the current system has worked miracles

So did the feudal system, and in fact so did the Soviet system (which I do not by any means support).

>It can be improved

So can Socialism.

>but proposing a dramatic change to a system that ALWAYS results in bloody dictatorships makes no sense.

Capitalism itself was extremely dramatic, it came "soaked from head to toe in blood" as Marx put it. In fact, he dedicates two chapters of his magnum opus to detailing the bloody history of capitalism and the laws passed in Western Europe that allowed it to flourish.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#254
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…

My solution was to switch to a capped data plan... unlimited talk/text (which I've never found to be a problem) and 1GB of 4G data. Having a cap forces me to be mindful about how I interact through my phone. If I use too much Reddit, for example, I run out of data and fallback to 3G - acceptable for social/professional obligations but way too slow for wasting time. Lately I've been considering switching to 3G entirel…

Actually are there any good super cheap 3g only plans in the US? I went to Poland and they were a few bucks a month for unlimited 3G data which would be amazing.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#255
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…

forget the paradox of answering to that here, last month my dsl line broke down. For a week it would stabilize, then drop after a minute, repeating this forever. One day it stopped entirely and my brain expanded. Suddenly I would have to find enjoyment around me, and as most people know, suddenly time stops. Usually one might feel a dreadful bore (I used to) but this time it was relief plain and simple. At that point I know very well that a connected computer has a weird spot in ones mind, it's the source of satisfaction that is too shallow to really do so and keeps leaving you asking for more.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#256
Stop carrying your smartphone. Leave it at home. If you must because your family/work depends on you, then delete every app. Use your laptop as your main driver. If you need to, get a laptop with better battery life.

Start developing a personal philosophy of internet usage. Here is mine:

Category 3 [Abstain from completely] Reddit (Yes, all of reddit), Facebook ... Category 2 [Check once every couple days ~15 min total] Serious news sites (NYT, WashPo, WSJ) ... Category 3 [Check daily ~30 min total] Twitter (Follow helpful people only), HN, Medium

This article makes some really good points. Our media is becoming adversarial. Developing a time management plan is essential. I can't let my time fall victim to the system. I don't have enough to throw away.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#257
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A simple first step, which changed a lot for me: Keeping your phone on Do Not Disturb permanently. It (AT LEAST) frees you to decide when to check the phone, rather than letting these companies, (through notifications) decide for you when you're going to check your phone.

And once it's in DND mode, I trained myself to only unlock the phone when I saw a notification. I still pull the phone out of my pocket several times an hour, but a quick push of the home-button and a confirmation that there's nothing of interest leads to it going straight back into the pocket. It's liberating! Step 2 was removing the browser shortcut from the main screen, so there's less temptation to just 'fire it…

having a smart watch eliminated even that for me. they’re pretty fantastic triage devices (deciding what to ignore rather than making sure you’re instantly aware). i barely ever check my notifications any more. i see friends at cafes pull out their phones every few minutes and get distracted by facebook, but i’m quite content to have it just sitting on the table because i know it’s not doing anything

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#258
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is that free will cannot be exercised under certain circumstances because for-profit have found a hack to shutdown it. Sure completely surrendering it is disproportionate, but for me it would be more akin to banning certain toxic substances in food, like too much sugar cause addiction and health problems so consumers lose their ability to make an informed choice. Here we would simply ban certain practices i…

> The issue is that free will cannot be exercised under certain circumstances because for-profit have found a hack to shutdown it. No they did not. You don't go to Twitter/Facebook because your free will has been "shut down". You do it because you like it. If you don't want to do it, it is very easy to stop. You won't have excruciating pain and debilitating disease if you don't read what she did next, you heart won't…

People have tried the "Well, so stop doing it then" approach to fixing addiction. It doesn't work so well. Self-control is not infinite, and is context-dependent. I can ignore cravings when it comes to dessert, but I do feel a compulsive need to read up on everything about my latest hobby. Our brain is hard wired to be addicted to new/novel/stimulating. Naturally, different things are stimulating to different people. Programmers fall prey to this all the time. We waste countless hours tinkering with the latest shiny tech toy while our hobby projects collect dust. We click on articles detailing what we already know about the latest apple gadget, because we already read the 20 articles detailing the "leaks".

Click-bait is a real thing. It triggers a deep psychological need, varying from "let me read this article and comment on how wrong everyone is" to "this is psychological porn that completely agrees with how I feel". Companies whose business model is based on keeping your attention have gotten really good at keeping your attention. Its a form of break-down of free will. Like getting a whiff of the good stuff, when you really should know better to avoid it. Its not really that hard to understand, and I'm sure you understand it already. Whats unexplained is why you chose to blame the victim when there is an entire industry dedicated to setting up the trap.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#259
post #20
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't put it that way. The problem is that a ton of the stuff impinging on us is not knowledge. It's propaganda, fluff, stupid memes, click bait, and systems with interfaces designed to be addictive and to act like Skinner boxes. What I really see happening is a "part 2" repeat of the spam apocalypse that hit e-mail, Usenet, and other federated systems on the early Internet. In the late 1990s spam destroyed most…

I'm curious why this is getting downvoted without any response. You may not agree 100% but it's an interesting perspective nonetheless and certainly warrants a rebuttal instead of simply being hidden.

Having watched his account for a while I had come to the conclusion somebody is methodically downvoting all of his posts.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#260
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 might get a lot of flack for this, but the one option no one ever seems to mention in discussions like these is to “simply” cancel both your wifi and data plan. I did this almost nine months ago and neither my tech. career nor my social life has been impacted by any meaningful margin. Granted, I make more trips to Starbucks/other free wifi locations now, but my evenings are my own - they’re also significantly more peaceful.
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